Reflections on 1 Samuel 30

1 Samuel 30 (Contemporary English Version)

1. It took David and his men three days to reach Ziklag. But while they had been away, the Amalekites had been raiding in the desert around there. They had attacked Ziklag, burned it to the ground,
   
2. and had taken away the women and children.
   
3. When David and his men came to Ziklag, they saw the burned-out ruins and learned that their families had been taken captive.
   
4. They started crying and kept it up until they were too weak to cry any more.
   
5. David's two wives, Ahinoam and Abigail, had been taken captive with everyone else.
   
6. David was desperate. His soldiers were so upset over what had happened to their sons and daughters that they were thinking about stoning David to death. But he felt the LORD God giving him strength,
   
7. and he said to the priest, "Abiathar, let's ask God what to do." Abiathar brought everything he needed to get answers from God, and he went over to David.
   
8. Then David asked the LORD, "Should I go after the people who raided our town? Can I catch up with them?" "Go after them," the LORD answered. "You will catch up with them, and you will rescue your families."
   
9. David led his six hundred men to Besor Gorge, but two hundred of them were too tired to go across. So they stayed behind, while David and the other four hundred men crossed the gorge.
   
10. (SEE 30:9)
    
11. Some of David's men found an Egyptian out in a field and took him to David. They gave the Egyptian some bread, and he ate it. Then they gave him a drink of water,
    
12. some dried figs, and two handfuls of raisins. This was the first time in three days he had tasted food or water. Now he felt much better.
    
13. "Who is your master?" David asked. "And where do you come from?" "I'm from Egypt," the young man answered. "I'm the servant of an Amalekite, but he left me here three days ago because I was sick.
    
14. We had attacked some towns in the desert where the Cherethites live, in the area that belongs to Judah, and in the desert where the Caleb clan lives. And we burned down Ziklag."
    
15. "Will you take me to those Amalekites?" David asked. "Yes, I will, if you promise with God as a witness that you won't kill me or hand me over to my master."
    
16. He led David to the Amalekites. They were eating and drinking everywhere, celebrating because of what they had taken from Philistia and Judah.
    
17. David attacked just before sunrise the next day and fought until sunset. Four hundred Amalekites rode away on camels, but they were the only ones who escaped.
    
18. David rescued his two wives and everyone else the Amalekites had taken from Ziklag.
    
19. No one was missing--young or old, sons or daughters. David brought back everything that had been stolen,
    
20. including their livestock. David also took the sheep and cattle that the Amalekites had with them, but he kept these separate from the others. Everyone agreed that these would be David's reward.
    
21. On the way back, David went to the two hundred men he had left at Besor Gorge, because they had been too tired to keep up with him. They came toward David and the people who were with him. When David was close enough, he greeted the two hundred men and asked how they were doing.
    
22. Some of David's men were good-for-nothings, and they said, "Those men didn't go with us to the battle, so they don't get any of the things we took back from the Amalekites. Let them take their wives and children and go!"
    
23. But David said: My friends, don't be so greedy with what the LORD has given us! The LORD protected us and gave us victory over the people who attacked.
    
24. Who would pay attention to you, anyway? Soldiers who stay behind to guard the camp get as much as those who go into battle.
    
25. David made this a law for Israel, and it has been the same ever since.
    
26. David went back to Ziklag with everything they had taken from the Amalekites. He sent some of these things as gifts to his friends who were leaders of Judah, and he told them, "We took these things from the LORD's enemies. Please accept them as a gift."
    
27. This is a list of the towns where David sent gifts: Bethel, Ramoth in the Southern Desert, Jattir, Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa, Racal, the towns belonging to the Jerahmeelites and the Kenites, Hormah, Bor-Ashan, Athach, and Hebron. He also sent gifts to the other towns where he and his men had traveled.
    
28. (SEE 30:27)
    
29. (SEE 30:27)
    
30. (SEE 30:27)
    
31. (SEE 30:27)
    

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    After Achish, the Philistine king, sent David and his men home to Ziklag rather than fighting with the Philistines against the Israelites, David found his city in ashes and everything gone. All the women and children along with all the livestock had been taken by the Amalekites who had raided the Negev. Their raid had included both Israelite as well as Philistine towns. David and his men were distraught at the loss of their families. His men even threatened to stone him maybe thinking that if he hadn't led them off to fight with the Philistines they could have protected their city.
    
    We see David's true character shine forth in his response to this crises. These are the times when a person's true character can be seen. Various commentaries are critical of David's actions in choosing to live among the Philistines and planning to go to war with the Philistines against Israel. But I don't believe David's faith or his loyalties ever waivered. Instead, I believe God was guiding him and preparing him for his role as king of Israel. Distraught over their losses, David turned to the Lord.  He had Abiathar the priest bring him the ephod.  The ephod contained the Urim and Thummim which were sacred stones used to discern the will of God. At David's inquiry about what to do, God told him, "Pursue them, for you will certainly overtake them and rescue the people." (30:8)
    
    So David pursued the Amalekites and found them spread out over a large area "eating, drinking, and celebrating because of the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and the land of Judah." (30:16) David and his men soundly defeated the Amalekites allowing only 400 of them to survive who managed to escape on camels. They rescued all of the women and children and all the plunder the Amalekites had taken, including what they had taken from other towns they had raided. Following this victory David's men went from wanting to stone him to shouting, "This is David's plunder."
    
    Dividing the spoils of victory was a delegate situation which David handled very wisely. His wise leadership had developed during this period of his preparation for kingship. First David made the policy among his fighting men that those who stayed behind with the supplies would share equally in the spoils with those who fought the battle. Then, in this particular situation, David sent portions of the plunder to elders in Judah whose towns had been raided by the Amalekites along with the message, "Here is a gift for you from the plunder of the LORD's enemies."  (30:26) Those to whom he sent portions of the plunder included the places where David and his men had roamed during their period of running from king Saul.
    
    Whether David was intentionally paving the way for his eventual claim to the throne in Israel or simply being generous and considerate, he was definitely establishing support for the day in which he would take the throne. A day that was drawing near.