Sela-Hammahlekoth

Sela-hammahlekoth is a place-name in the wilderness of Maon, given as the site where Saul broke off his pursuit of David when news of a Philistine raid forced him to turn back.

The Rock of Escape

The setting is Saul's hunt for David through the wilderness of Maon. At the moment Saul is closing in, a messenger reaches him with word that the Philistines have made a raid on the land, and Saul withdraws: "So Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines: therefore they called that place Sela-hammahlekoth" (1Sam 23:28).

The naming is etiological — the deliverance is fastened to the geography. The rock itself becomes the marker of the moment David slipped Saul's grasp.