David abode in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill-country in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God didn't deliver him into his hand.
but God delivered him not into his hand: which suggests, that it was only the providence of God that secured him, or, in all probability, such was the diligence of Saul, that he would have found him out, and he must have fallen into his hands, as he expected.