1 Samuel 30:1-31
1 And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire;
2 And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way.
3 So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives.
4 Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.
5 And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.
6 And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved,a every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.
7 And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David.
8 And David enquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.
9 So David went, he and the six hundred men that were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those that were left behind stayed.
10 But David pursued, he and four hundred men: for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.
11 And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat; and they made him drink water;
12 And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins: and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him: for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights.
13 And David said unto him, To whom belongest thou? and whence art thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days agone I fell sick.
14 We made an invasion upon the south of the Cherethites, and upon the coast which belongeth to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.
15 And David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this company? And he said, Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this company.
16 And when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad upon all the earth, eating and drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah.
17 And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled.
18 And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives.
19 And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all.
20 And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drave before those other cattle, and said, This is David's spoil.
21 And David came to the two hundred men, which were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they had made also to abide at the brook Besor: and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him: and when David came near to the people, he salutedb them.
22 Then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial, of thosec that went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them ought of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away, and depart.
23 Then said David, Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the LORD hath given us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us into our hand.
24 For who will hearken unto you in this matter? but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike.
25 And it was so from that day forward,d that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day.
26 And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold a presente for you of the spoil of the enemies of the LORD;
27 To them which were in Bethel, and to them which were in south Ramoth, and to them which were in Jattir,
28 And to them which were in Aroer, and to them which were in Siphmoth, and to them which were in Eshtemoa,
29 And to them which were in Rachal, and to them which were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to them which were in the cities of the Kenites,
30 And to them which were in Hormah, and to them which were in Chorashan, and to them which were in Athach,
31 And to them which were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were wont to haunt.
1 Samuel 30:7. Abiathar brought the ephod. None but the priest could wear this, and as the highpriest could not consult the oracle without the knowledge of his sovereign, Abiathar wore the ephod, and enquired at David's command, in the place of devotion.
1 Samuel 30:14. The Cherethites; Cretans and islanders who had settled among these less occupied lands.
REFLECTIONS.
How restless and wicked is the heart of man! Shall the earth never be at rest; and shall the wicked never be still? No sooner did the remnant of Amalek, who had escaped the sword of Saul and of David, hear of the war between Philistia and Israel, than they judged it a favourable opportunity to plunder both the countries. And those men and nations who are not reformed by the judgments of God, are not far from destruction.
David, who seemed doomed to adversity, since the day he left his father's peaceful flocks, had scarcely escaped from the jealousies of the princes, before he found a greater calamity in the burning of Ziklag, and in the capture of both his wives and all the people. This was a heavy stroke. Every man was bereft of his wife, his children, his property: but great trials make manifest the heart of man. They all wept till they could weep no more; the invader was fled, and they had no hope. Revenge on the enemy seemed not in their power; therefore the wicked were resolved to stone David as a criminal for leaving the city defenceless.
Mark now the difference in the characters of men. While the wicked had no consolation but revenge, David had recourse to God; and where else can we go in the day of trouble. He called for Abiathar and the ephod, that he might enquire of God. This was the way to retrieve the calamity, and rise by the counsel and blessing of heaven. The Lord, ever mindful of the promise at his anointing, bade him pursue, and promised him success.
Mark also how providence corresponded with the oracle. They found a servant in the field, cruelly abandoned of his master, but graciously left as a guide to David. They overtook the enemy on the confines of his country, when he supposed all dangers past; when he was making a feast, exulting in his success, and saying, this is David's spoil! Ah, little did he think that this night God would execute the residue of the sentence, and blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven. And little do the wicked think, during their cups and their feasts, that perhaps the long suspended strokes of insulted heaven are about to be inflicted in the severest manner, and that God will strike them as Amalek and Belshazzar, in the midst of their riot.
David, poor and ruined three days ago, having no hope but in his God, was now rich and victorious. He recovered all the women and children, all the cattle and spoil that Amalek had taken from the Philistines or Cherethites, from Judah, and from Ziklag; he acquired laurels in the estimation of all surrounding nations which faded not away, and was enabled to make presents to the princes of Judah, and others who had showed him kindness in his exile. Oh how much was he indebted to the envy and jealousy of the Philistine princes: or rather, to God who constantly overruled the calamities of this exile for good. Now the sons of Belial who served him of necessity, had their mouths shut. Now they were confounded for having in the violence of passion proposed stoning the Lord's anointed. And surely the christian cannot but read the character of his God, in all the calamities of David. From the day he left the peaceful flocks of his father, to this day, he had seen little but a succession of afflictions, and afflictions which would have overwhelmed any man who had not the strongest confidence in God; but these calamities were to him always productive of salvation, of honour, and of piety. What then have we to fear from the malice and envy of men? They will fall into their own pits, and their feet will be entangled in their own net.
We learn last of all, that David as a prince was distinguished by equity. He fairly shared the immense booty with the two hundred men who had guarded his baggage, and were detained by extreme weakness. A prince of known probity and honour has the confidence of all his country; and the lustre of his moral character far exceeds the lustre of his fortune and his birth. What then is the confidence we should repose in Christ, the Prince of the kings of the earth?