And it came to pass, when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had made a raid upon the south, and upon Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag and burned it with fire;
David and his men come back to Ziklag after three days on the road and find only smoke where their homes had been. The disaster raises hard questions. Why did God allow it? What was it meant to do in David? How much of it could be undone?
Ziklag was not a place God gave David. He asked for it from Achish, a Philistine king, after deciding his life was finished under Saul.
David gave way to sad unbelief when he said in his heart, "Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul" (1 Sam. 27:1). So he went to Achish, king of Gath, and asked for a place to live in one of the country towns. Then "Achish gave him Ziklag that day." David spent a full year and four months in the land of the Philistines. That time shows none of the brightness of his earlier days in the wilderness with his followers.
Notice what the fire took: the one thing David had gained by compromise.
David had received Ziklag as his wages for going over to the uncircumcised. Was it not "the wages of unrighteousness"? But the Lord can cut holes in the bags where we put money like this. And so He does here. While David was in the camp of the Philistines, the people of the south raided Ziklag and burned it. They carried off everything in it — wives, children, cattle and all. These were the very people David had beaten and slaughtered earlier.
David had gone to Achish for help. Notice what that choice cost him, and when the cost fell due.
David is here made to feel the bitter result of having turned to Achish for help in his day of need. He had taken up his position among the uncircumcised, and so he must share their misery. Had he stayed among the mountains of Judah, he would have escaped all this sorrow. His God would have been a wall of fire around him. But he had fled to Ziklag to escape Saul. And then, at the very moment when Saul was falling on Mount Gilboa, David was weeping over the ruins of Ziklag.
Saul had already destroyed this nation once. So why are Amalekites raiding here?
God gave Saul a decisive victory over the Amalekites, and he "devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword." This clearly refers to all the people they were able to find, since we read of the Amalekites again in 1 Samuel 27:8 and 30:1. The picture behind this is plain. However firmly we judge the lusts of the flesh, they always have a way of springing back, like poisonous weeds.
The same writer asks why Amalek came now, and what David was doing when they came.
Coming back to Ziklag, David and his men find themselves described by the meaning of the name Ziklag: "enveloped in grief." Earlier David had attacked the Amalekites in at least one area, killing men, women and children. Other Amalekites who were left would likely hear of it, so this raid could have been payback. In any case, David had not been caring for his own city. He was on an ill-advised trip with Achish. When we are not on guard and in communion with the Lord, the lusts of the flesh (which Amalek pictures) will almost certainly take advantage of us. This will not bring a believer's total destruction, but it will rob him of much that God has entrusted to him.
Look closely at what the raiders were not allowed to do.
After burning it, they took the whole population away captive along with the plunder. But "they killed no one." What grace of God! In this cruel attack by a pitiless enemy all the captives were spared. So God was judging His servant by measure, with a judgment aimed at his restoration. Still, David had to feel the discipline deeply for it to bear fruit.
David brought this on himself. Watch where he turns, and how God answers.
The Lord spoke to David's heart through affliction, loss and sorrow. How humbling that his followers were ready to stone him! They understood that his behaviour had brought the disaster on them. It was then that he turned to the Lord. "David strengthened himself in the LORD his God." Here we see the difference between him and Saul. There is no word of rebuke for the sixteen months David had wandered from the Lord. Instead the Lord assures His servant that he would recover all.
- Choice. Ziklag came from a moment of unbelief. David decided Saul would kill him one day, so he asked a Philistine king for shelter.
- Consequence. The fire fell on what compromise had bought. God can cut holes in the bag that holds such wages.
- Culprit. Amalek pictures the flesh. Judge that enemy once, and it still springs back the moment we drop our guard.
- Care. The blow was measured. The raiders took everything and killed no one. God aimed the discipline at David's restoring, not his ruin.
- Comeback. David strengthened himself in the LORD. God met him with no rebuke for the wasted months, only the promise that he would recover all.
and had taken the women captives that were in it; both great and small they had put none to death, but had carried them off, and went on their way.
David and his men came back from the Philistine camp to find their home town of Ziklag in ruins. Raiders struck it while its fighting men were away, and carried every captive off alive — the one mercy the rest of the chapter hangs on.
Ziklag was struck while its men were away on business they should never have taken up. One commentator links the raid to where David had been, and draws a warning for any believer who stops watching.
When David and his men returned to Ziklag, they found themselves described by the meaning of Ziklag's name, "enveloped in grief." The Amalekites had invaded while they were away. They did not kill the women and children, but took them captive. David had earlier attacked the Amalekites and killed men, women and children (1 Samuel 27:8-9). Other Amalekites still living would likely hear of it, so this attack could have been payback. At any rate, David had not been caring for his own city. He was on an ill-advised trip with Achish. This is an important spiritual lesson for us. When we are not on guard and in fellowship with the Lord, the lusts of the flesh — which Amalek pictures — will almost certainly take advantage of us. This will not destroy a believer completely, but it will rob him of much that God has entrusted to him.
Achish, the Philistine king, gave David Ziklag as the price of leaving his own people. That gain did not hold.
David had received Ziklag as his wages for going over to the uncircumcised. Was it not "the wages of unrighteousness"? But the Lord can cut holes in the bags where we put such money as this. And so He does here.
The raiders were no accident. They came from the very nation God had already condemned.
If grace is to be shown, it must be according to holiness; there could be no grace any other way. And so the government of God must act now in chastening. God must search David out and make him face his condition. So there is a sudden raid from the south. Some of that very tribe on which God had pronounced judgment — a judgment Saul had lost his throne for not carrying out properly — attack Israelites and Philistines alike, burn Ziklag while it has no defenders, and carry away everything in it.
Not one person was killed. One writer sees in that the limit God set on the blow, and points to Job, who lost everything he had but kept his life.
Terrible! Nothing could be worse than this except death. But the good hand of God had prevented that — as we read here, "They killed no one, but carried them off and went their way." It was the same with Job. The enemy's hand touched everything but life. ... And so it is in all the discipline God gives His saints. God always spares and preserves whatever is needed for His abounding grace at the last.
Sparing every captive shows what the discipline was for.
In this cruel attack by a pitiless enemy every captive was spared. So God was judging His servant by measure, with a judgment aimed at his restoration. Still, the discipline must be deeply felt if it is to bear fruit.
David had gone to Ziklag for safety. The smouldering ruins taught him what such safety is worth.
Ziklag may shelter you for a time, but it will perish. And even while it lasts, you pay for it by sacrificing a good conscience toward God and toward His people. A heavy price for a short relief from pressure! How much better to endure the pressure for a time!
The same writer does not stop at the loss. He says the failure itself became David's teacher.
The Lord makes the very failure of His children bring them blessing, because it leads them to seek a more prayerful watchfulness of spirit and a closer walk with Him. ... It taught him more of the deep reality of God's grace and faithfulness. It let him see that when he was brought down to the very bottom of human things, he could find God there in all the fullness of His grace.
- Absence — Ziklag fell because its defenders were away where they should never have gone. What we leave unguarded is what the enemy carries off.
- Measure — The raid was real judgment, but judgment weighed out. The enemy touched everything but life. The aim was recovery, not ruin.
- Mercy — "They killed no one" is the grace hidden inside the blow. God keeps alive what His later kindness will need.
- Price — Shelter borrowed from the world costs a clear conscience, and it perishes anyway. The pressure David fled would have cost him less.
- Profit — At the very bottom of human things David found God. The loss taught him a closer walk than Ziklag's comfort ever could.
And David and his men came to the city, and behold, it was burnt with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters were taken captives.
David comes home to Ziklag from the Philistine camp and finds only ashes. Why did God let this fall on the man He had chosen, and what were the ruins meant to say to him?
David was away with Achish, the Philistine king, when Amalek struck. One writer starts with the meaning of the town's name:
Returning to Ziklag, David and his men find themselves described by the meaning of Ziklag's name, "enveloped in grief." They had been away at least some days, and the Amalekites had invaded the land, sacking Ziklag and burning it… David had not been caring for his own city, but was on an ill-advised trip with Achish. There is an important lesson for us here. When we are not on guard and in communion with the Lord, the lusts of the flesh (which Amalek pictures) will almost certainly take advantage of us. This will not destroy a believer, but it will rob him of much that God has entrusted to him.
Of all David owned, it was Ziklag that burned. One writer asks how David came to own it at all:
David had received Ziklag as his wages for going over to the uncircumcised. Was it not "the wages of unrighteousness"? But the Lord can cut holes in the bags where we put such money as this. And so He does here. While David was in the camp of the Philistines, Ziklag was visited and burnt. The people of the south, whom David had beaten and slaughtered earlier, carried off all that was in it — wives, children, cattle and all.
Another writer lists what David had lost by the time he stood in the ashes:
Surely when David saw the smouldering ashes of Ziklag, and found his wives, children, and everything taken from him, he had a practical lesson on the evil and sorrow of taking anything from the world. It is hard to imagine a more painful state than his on that day. For a year and four months he had been following a course that might have left him with an uneasy conscience toward God. The men whose protection he had thrown himself on had cast him off. His place of refuge was burned. His wives and property were gone. And his own companions, who had followed him through all his wanderings, were threatening to stone him.
The families were taken captive, not killed. One writer reads that restraint as mercy inside the discipline:
While David was away, Amalek seized Ziklag, David's city, no doubt to take revenge (compare 1 Sam. 27:8). They burned it and carried the whole population away captive with the spoil, but they killed no one. What grace of God! In this cruel attack by a pitiless enemy every captive was spared. So God was judging His servant by measure, and with a judgment that aimed at his restoration. Still, the discipline had to be felt deeply if it was to bear fruit.
Another writer finds the same restraint in the story of Job:
Nothing could exceed this but death. But the good hand of God had held death back. As we read here, they killed no one, small or great, but carried them away captive. It was the same with Job. The enemy's hand touched everything but his life. Life was spared then and now, because of God's purpose of goodness for how Job's life would end, and because of a like purpose towards the offending culprit, David. And so it is in every chastening of the saints. God always spares and preserves what is needed for His abounding grace at the last.
The loss was not David's alone. One writer weighs where the blow fell:
If David chose to join himself to the enemies of God, with no regard for His interests, he could not expect God to protect him while he was doing it. And we may be sure there was no more tender place to touch him than Ziklag, where those dear to him and to his followers were. Trouble that falls on a man's household is often felt more sharply than a blow aimed at himself… What a responsibility a leader has! If he goes astray, he carries with him all who follow, and involves them in the same chastening that falls upon him.
Why did God allow so hard a blow? One writer answers from God's side:
It is a turning-point in the dealings of God with the soul of David, who had slipped far from Him. How could it satisfy His heart merely to overrule and keep David back? He loved him too well to leave him as he was. The Amalekites become the instruments of discipline. They raid Ziklag and carry off the wives, sons and daughters of David and his men, along with everything they owned.
- Absence — David was away with Achish instead of guarding his own city. Unguarded ground is where Amalek strikes.
- Wages — Ziklag was David's pay for going over to the Philistines, and God cut a hole in that bag.
- Measure — God spared every captive. The chastening aimed at restoration, not ruin.
- Others — the blow fell on wives, children and every follower. A leader's wandering drags his people into his discipline.
- Love — the fire was not rejection but affection: He loved David too well to leave him as he was.
Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.
David and his men come home to Ziklag and find only ashes. Their wives, children and homes are gone. They weep until the weeping itself runs out. Two questions press. Why did God let this fall on His own servant? And what were those tears worth?
To escape Saul, David went to live among the Philistines and asked their king Achish for help. One writer traces the smoke rising from Ziklag straight back to that move.
David is here made to feel the bitter result of having asked Achish for help in his day of need. He had taken his place among the uncircumcised, and so he had to share in their misery. Had he stayed among the mountains of Judah, he would have escaped all this sorrow. His God would have been a wall of fire around him. But he had fled to Ziklag to escape Saul. And then, at the very moment when Saul was falling on Mount Gilboa, David was weeping over the ruins of Ziklag.
The raid did not fall on David's own body. It took his family — and the families of every man who had followed him.
If David would join himself to God's enemies, with no regard at all for God's interests, he had no reason to expect God's protection in that course. And we may be sure of this: God could touch him in no more tender place than Ziklag, where those dear to him and his followers were. A man often feels a blow to his household more sharply than one aimed at himself… What a responsibility a leader has! If he goes astray, he carries with him all who follow, and involves them in the same chastening that falls on him.
The raiders burned the town and carried the people off, but they killed no one. That restraint shows what God was doing, and why the grief had to run so deep.
In this cruel attack the pitiless enemy spared every captive. So God was judging His servant by measure, and with a judgment whose object was his restoration. Still, David had to feel the discipline deeply for it to bear fruit… And to make the cup of bitterness overflow, the companions he had led until now are full of resentment over their sons and daughters. They hold him responsible for this disaster, turn against him, and talk of stoning him.
Everyone in the camp wept. Only one man did more than weep.
Poor David! He wept. They all wept. But he strengthened himself in the LORD his God. Weeping was common to them all. But Scripture records that strengthening of David alone. Here he stood alone, and this dealing of God with him no doubt restored his soul… The saint of God can never be too low, or too desperate, for God to come in and bring him out of it.
Grief on this scale looks like abandonment. Commentators read it the opposite way — as the work of a Father who is after His child, not against him.
In all this God was dealing with His dear child. He did not mean to crush him, but to bring him to a right sense of the course he had been following among the Philistines. When David saw the smouldering ashes of Ziklag, he found himself stripped of his wives, children and everything. That taught him a practical lesson about the evil and sorrow of taking anything from the world.
God had seemed silent while David enjoyed a pagan king's favour. In the wreckage He proves nearest.
In this chapter we see how God restores David. He uses the discipline that David's lack of holiness had made necessary. But in the middle of this discipline God could be with him — and this is infinitely precious. The God who was absent in the day of Achish's favour is now present in the middle of disaster. David is struck in what is dearest to him. This causes him great sorrow, but it produces the peaceable fruit of righteousness.
- Cause. Ziklag's ruins grew from David's own step into Philistine territory. A place taken from the world could not shelter him from the world's misery.
- Measure. God weighed the stroke. The raiders took everything and killed no one. Judgment aimed at recovery, not destruction.
- Reach. A leader's wrong turn does not stay private. Every man with David wept for his own sons and daughters, then turned on him.
- Depth. The sorrow had to run to the end of their strength. Discipline bears fruit only when the heart feels it.
- Result. Everyone wept. Only David went on to strengthen himself in his God. That, not the weeping, was the turning point.
And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jizreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.
David and his men come back to Ziklag and find it burned and empty. This verse names the personal cost inside the general disaster: two of the captives are David's own wives. It raises a hard question — why did God let the enemy reach this far into the life of a man He had chosen?
Commentators read this raid as discipline, not bad luck — and they trace it to God's love for David.
1 Samuel 30 is a turning point in God's dealings with the soul of David, who had slipped far away from Him. How could it satisfy His heart just to overrule and hold David back? He loved him too well to leave him as he was. The Amalekites become the instruments of discipline. They raid Ziklag and carry off the wives of David and his men, their sons and their daughters, and everything belonging to them.
God touched David where he would feel it most — not his body, but his household. One writer also weighs what a leader's fall costs the people who follow him.
God had given no assurance that a man walking in disobedience would have his interests protected. If David chose to join the enemies of God and ignore God's interests, he need not expect God's protection while he was doing it. And we may be sure there was no more tender place to touch him than Ziklag, where those dear to him and his men lived. Trouble in a man's household often hurts more than trouble that strikes his own body. Later, when his child died, David felt his sin more heavily than if illness had laid him low... What a responsibility a leader carries! If he goes astray, he takes with him everyone who follows him, and draws them into the same chastening that falls on him.
Ziklag was David's pay from Achish, the Philistine king whose camp he had joined. What he gained that way did not stay in his hands.
David had received Ziklag as his wages for going over to the uncircumcised. Was it not "the wages of unrighteousness"? But the Lord can cut holes in the bags where we put money like this. And that is what He does here. Ziklag was raided while David was in the Philistine camp. The people of the south burned it and carried off everything in it — wives, children, cattle and all. These were the people David had earlier beaten and slaughtered.
The raiders could have killed, and did not. One writer finds God present in the disaster, measuring every blow.
God was absent in the day of Achish's favour. Now, in the middle of disaster, He is present. After burning Ziklag the raiders carried the entire population away captive along with the spoil, but they had put none to death. What grace of God! In this cruel attack by a merciless enemy, every captive was spared. So God was judging His servant by measure, with a judgment aimed at his restoration. Even so, David had to feel the discipline deeply before it could bear fruit... Those dearest to David are among the captives. Noble Abigail is taken into captivity. Faith had joined her to her husband's wandering life and sufferings, and she had no part in his conduct at the court of Achish.
The verse names Abigail by her first husband, Nabal. His death freed her, and the life she chose next held both hardship and honour.
Having gained her freedom by death, Abigail becomes the wife of David. She leaves her high position to join herself to David in his sufferings and wanderings. She gives up the ease and comfort that belonged to a woman of substance. In this new path she will indeed know suffering and hardship. David's enemies will even take her captive in the day of Ziklag. But she will also share his throne in the day of his reign at Hebron.
The verse names both women. One writer finds meaning in the names and offers it as a suggestion, not a proof.
David had two wives to rescue... The names of his wives are suggestive. Ahinoam ("the beauty of the brother") may be taken to represent Israel, and Abigail ("joy of the father"), the bride of the Lamb.
- Cause. David joined the Philistine camp and left Ziklag unguarded. God gives no promise of protection to a man walking in disobedience.
- Target. The blow landed on his household, the tenderest place he had. Trouble in the family hurts more than trouble in the body.
- Reach. A leader's wandering does not stop with him; every man with David lost wives and children too.
- Limit. No captive was killed. The judgment was measured, and its aim was restoration, not ruin.
- Love. Behind the raid stands a God who loved David too well to leave him where he was.
And David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him; for the soul of all the people was embittered, every man because of his sons and because of his daughters; but David strengthened himself in Jehovah his God.
David and his men come home to Ziklag and find the town burned and their families gone. Then the men who had followed him talk of stoning him. This verse holds a man at the lowest point of his life — and the same man finding strength in God.
David had spent sixteen months living among the Philistines, away from the Lord. Writers link the disaster at Ziklag to that choice, and they name the aim behind it.
In all this God was dealing with His dear child, not to crush him, but to bring him to a right sense of the course he had been pursuing among the Philistines. David saw the smouldering ashes of Ziklag. He felt himself stripped of his wives, children, and everything. Surely this was a practical lesson to him on the evil and sorrow of taking anything from the world. We can hardly picture a more painful condition than David's when he returned to Ziklag. He was cast off by the very people whose protection he had thrown himself on. His place of refuge was burned. His wives and property were gone. Last of all, his companions were threatening to stone him.
The raid alone did not turn him. It was the threat from the men who loved him.
The last lesson of needed chastening had fallen on his heart. The blow of the Amalekites did not do it. But David's men loved him, and he loved them so much — and now they were about to stone him. That broke open the depths of him, and the waters held back so long flowed out, not in judgment, but in grace. His soul was restored. He strengthened himself in the LORD his God. For a man of the world this would have been despair. In David it produced a repentance he never had to regret, and turned him to the Lord, simply and completely.
The chapter records grief shared by the whole company. It records encouragement in only one man.
Poor David! He wept. They all wept. But he strengthened himself in the LORD his God. Weeping was common to them all. Strengthening himself in God is only said of David. Here he was alone, and no doubt his soul was restored by this dealing of God with him.
The same writer sets David beside Saul: "Saul never joined hands with the Philistines, yet Saul at Endor was deserted by God. David, who had fallen so low, could still, at Ziklag, inquire of God, and was assured of victory. The saint of God can never be in too low, too desperate, a condition for God to come in, and bring him out of it."
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David did not turn to a God he had just met. He turned to the God who had already helped him.
But for the man of God, discipline is a bitter tonic that strengthens his soul instead of weakening it. When he has lost everything, David finds God again as his resource. He "strengthened himself in the LORD his God" (v. 6). He knew this faithful God, who had helped him in the past in all his distresses. God had not changed. Today David finds Him the same as He was yesterday and the same as He will be for eternity.
He had faced a lion, a bear and a giant. This was different, and the difference is the point.
He had never before been so tested. Yet God was enough, and David knew this. So we read, "David strengthened himself in the LORD his God." Happy, well-founded encouragement! Happy the soul that knows it! Happy the man who could rise from the very deepest depths of human misery, up to God and His never-failing resources! Faith knows God to be fully equal to all human need, human weakness, human failure, human sin.
David had failed Him. What he heard back from God shows how God treats a servant who has failed.
The Lord, through affliction, loss and sorrow, spoke to the heart of David… And here the Lord graciously met His servant who had failed Him! There is no word of rebuke for the sixteen months David had wandered from the Lord; instead the Lord assures His servant that he would recover all.
- Cause. David's ruin at Ziklag followed sixteen months among the Philistines. God's hand was in it, "not to crush him," but to bring him back.
- Crisis. The burned city did not break him. His own men's threat did — and there his soul was restored.
- Choice. Everyone wept. Only David strengthened himself in God. Grief is shared; faith is personal.
- Confidence. He strengthened himself in "his God." That is the God who had helped him before, the same "yesterday and for eternity."
- Consequence. No word of rebuke came — only the Lord's assurance that he would "recover all."
And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, Bring near to me, I pray thee, the ephod. And Abiathar brought the ephod near to David.
David has come back to Ziklag to find it burned, his family gone, and his own men talking of stoning him. Instead of chasing the raiders, he calls for the priest and the ephod — the ordinary way of asking God what to do.
The ephod was a garment, but what it held mattered more than the cloth.
David asks Abiathar the priest to bring the ephod. This was the garment the high priest wore over his robe. Inside the ephod was the breastplate holding the urim and thummim — twelve precious stones, each one standing for a tribe of Israel (Ex. 28:6-21). People used it to ask God questions. The twelve stones teach a vital truth. God answers only out of His love and care for ALL Israel. He never answers out of favouritism, as though taking one person's side over another. Saul could not use it properly, because he loved himself and not Israel.
The same twelve names shape how God's people should ask anything of Him now.
We too today must remember never to ask God for something that is inconsistent with the unity of the entire body of Christ, the Church. This would be sectarianism of which God can never approve.
David had not asked God anything for a long time.
"And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, 'Bring me the ephod.'" Can he not now ask the Lord? It had been a long time since he last did. He had been far from God. "And David inquired of the Lord, 'Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?'" And if David encourages himself in the Lord, the Lord certainly encourages David.
The loss itself was God's hand on a man who had drifted away.
The chastening hand of the Lord now rests heavily on wayward David, who had drifted away from Him... He had gone into an alliance with the enemies of God and His people, and now he finds that the Lord let the enemy touch his possessions. Through affliction, loss and sorrow the Lord spoke to David's heart... He sought the presence of the Lord. Once more he asked the Lord through Abiathar, who had the ephod. And here the Lord in His grace met His servant who had failed Him! There is no word of rebuke for the 16 months David had wandered away from the Lord. Instead the Lord assures His servant that he will recover all.
Any soldier would have set off after the raiders without a second thought. David asked first.
At once Abiathar and the ephod are what he turns to: "And David inquired of the Lord, 'Shall I pursue this troop?'" Of course nature had already decided the matter. But the man of faith will not move just because nature tells him to. Faith asks when everything looks plain. It also finds a plain road when everything is confusing.
Saul asked God questions too, and heard nothing back.
The Lord has abandoned Saul. When Saul asks about the army of the Philistines, "the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets." Saul is left to himself. He finds that nothing can rescue him from the results of his sin, or master them. What can he turn to but the witch of Endor?... David, on the other hand, encouraged himself in the Lord his God. He recovers the plunder from the Amalekites and rescues his two wives. Nothing was missing, small or great, sons or daughters. David recovered all.
Sending for the ephod was one instance of something that runs right through David's life.
In the sheep pastures, fighting the lion and the bear, facing Goliath, in the wilderness of Judah, at Keilah, or at Ziklag (1 Sam. 30:6-7) — David is a dependent man, and so a strong man. Nothing pleases God more than this. Our walk is unsteady and we keep changing course because we lack this dependence... Our path only becomes complicated when we fail to turn to God before we decide.
No Christian has to send for a priest to get an answer.
The Christian has this guidance too, and in a far better way. The Jew had it in an outward form, since everything in Israel was outward by comparison. We have it within, by the Holy Spirit Himself. No one can pretend the Urim and Thummim were better. For those you had to go to the priest each time you needed an answer. Now One who knows all the truth lives in us always.
- Loss — God's own hand was in the disaster. David sends for the ephod only when the loss has done its work.
- Strength — first David encourages himself in the Lord. Then God answers him, with no word of rebuke for the months away.
- Ephod — the twelve stones stood for every tribe. God's answer could never favour one group over the rest.
- Question — nature had already decided to give chase. Faith asks anyway, even when the road looks plain.
- Recovery — Saul asked and heard nothing, so he turned to the witch of Endor. David asked, and recovered everything. Dependence made him strong.
And David inquired of Jehovah, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he said to him, Pursue; for thou shalt assuredly overtake [them] and shalt certainly recover.
David comes home to Ziklag to find it burned, the families gone, and his own men ready to stone him. His first move is not a war council but a question to God — and the answer comes back larger than the question.
Asking for the ephod marks a return. One writer notes how long it had been since David last asked God anything.
"And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, Please bring me the ephod." Can he not now inquire of the Lord? It was long since he had done so. He had been far from God… And if David encourages himself in the Lord, the Lord surely encourages David.
Another writer compares David here with the David of his strongest days. Depending on God had marked him then, and now he returns to it.
Samuel was the man of prayer and intercession. In the same way, David, in the time of his strength, was the dependent man who consulted and inquired of the Lord. He returns to this. The Lord who had refused to answer Saul answers David.
Of course he should chase the raiders. Anyone could see that. So why ask?
At once Abiathar and the ephod are what he turns to. Nature had, of course, already decided the question. But the man of faith will not move at the bidding of nature. Faith asks when everything seems plain, just as it finds a plain road when everything is confusing.
The way to God had never closed on David's side. The problem lies elsewhere.
The priest had accompanied David in all his wanderings, just as the believer can never lose, by his own acts, his place of access to God and the priestly intercession of our Lord. The way is always open for him to inquire of the Lord. God always has a mind for His children and knows what is best for them when they are at their wits' end. It is faith alone that will inquire of Him. As long as human effort might still accomplish something, the soul is not likely to turn to God. But here David inquires, and he meets with a most gracious response.
David does not guess at God's mind. He uses the means God had given, and the garment itself carries a lesson.
David asks Abiathar the priest to bring the ephod. This was the garment the high priest wore over his robe. In the ephod was the breastplate. It held the urim and thummim, the twelve precious stones, each one standing for a tribe of Israel. It was used for inquiring of God. The twelve stones stress a vital truth. God will answer only on the basis of His love and care for ALL Israel, not from any partisan viewpoint, as though He favoured one person over another. Saul could not rightly use it, for it was not Israel that he loved, but himself.
David asked two things out loud. Underneath them, one writer hears a third.
He recognises now the judgment of God. He must humbly appeal to God's deep compassion: Is it final? And how prompt and tender the answer is! Then at once he is a man of action again, the energetic and courageous leader of men.
Now set David beside Saul. Saul asked God and got no answer.
Saul forfeits all by disobedience and finally perishes; whereas David prospers in the school of adversity… and recovers everything from the enemy's hand.
One writer reads the whole scene as a picture. A city is stripped bare, its king turns to God, and God sends him after his enemies with a promise.
David comes to Ziklag and finds the city burned and everything taken away. His enemies have had their way and done whatever they liked… It is just a picture of what the world has done with Jesus… See what David does here. He turns to the Lord. And the Lord's answer is striking: "Pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue." It will be just the same with the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Ruin. Ziklag was burned and everything was gone. That loss is what drove David back to God.
- Return. He had not inquired of the Lord for a long time, yet the way was still open — the ephod and the priest were still with him.
- Ask. The road ahead was obvious, and he asked anyway. Faith asks when everything seems plain, instead of moving because nature says so.
- Answer. God had refused to answer Saul. He answered David at once, and He answered more than David asked: not just the chase, but the outcome.
- All. Saul forfeits everything and perishes; David recovers everything from the enemy's hand. One writer sees a picture there of Christ, rejected now, who will yet recover everything.
So David went, he and the six hundred men that were with him, and they came to the torrent Besor; and those that were left stayed behind.
Raiders had burned Ziklag and carried off the families. David asked God whether to chase them, and the answer came back at once: go, and you will get it all back. Verse 9 is the first step of obedience. Within a few miles it exposes how little strength the six hundred had.
The chase was the obvious move, yet David began with a question to God. One writer notes how the answer turned him back into a leader, and what the pace cost:
Nature had, of course, already decided this; but the man of faith will not move at the bidding of nature. Faith asks questions when everything seems plain, just as it finds a plain road in the middle of all perplexities... And how prompt and tender is the answer: "Pursue! for you shall surely overtake, and without fail recover." Then at once he is a man of activity again, the energetic and courageous leader of men. By the time they reach the brook Besor, a third of his little army are flat on the ground from the speed they made. They are only four hundred now, with the stamp of weakness on them — and weary and worn themselves, we may be sure; but the battle is to be the LORD's.
David himself is only just recovering, and the men with him do not all have the same strength. One writer treats the collapse at the brook as something to expect:
Reaching the brook Besor, two hundred, from sheer weakness, have to give up the pursuit, and David with the four hundred press onward. We need not be surprised if, in recovery, there are those whose feebleness of faith does not lead them onward, but this cannot hold others back. God is with His saints who have set their face to carry out His purposes and will fight for them.
The brook has a name with a meaning. One writer makes it part of the lesson, and adds a frank point about suffering:
On his journey after the enemy, two hundred stayed behind, being so faint that they could not cross the brook Besor (meaning "good news"). It is not given to all on behalf of Christ, as it was to the Philippian believers, "that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake." But Romans 8:17 is written for all: "and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him."
The two hundred were not thrown away. They stayed behind with a job to do. One writer calls that job real service, and treats the fighters' role as the more dangerous one:
At the brook Besor two hundred men, too weary to follow the troop, stop and stay behind to guard the baggage. They lacked strength; nonetheless their function was useful to David and to their brothers and should not be despised. The role of active fighters is highly visible and exposes us much more to spiritual pride than a more humble position does. David's companions prove this later in this account. They credit their own prowess with the victory that God alone prepared for them and then granted.
What happens to the men who drop out on the road? One writer's answer reaches past David to Christ:
If there are some Christians who are faint in their Master's service, the Lord will not forget them. David does not forget his men. He is a good master. Now Christ is my Master, and He does not forget any active service. A cup of cold water given in His name is held in everlasting remembrance.
One writer reads the scene as a picture of Christ and puts us with the exhausted two hundred, not with the four hundred:
Before Christ entered the inheritance He means to share with us, a mighty conflict had to take place with all the powers of earth and hell, and there could be no one with Him there. Had we been witnesses of it, what could we, poor helpless things, have done more than His disciples did? We could not so much as have crossed the brook Besor! But our great David came out in the face of our helplessness, after conquering every enemy, with this wonderful decree: "As his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike." And from that day forward he made it a statute and a rule for Israel.
- Asked first. The pursuit began with a question to God, not with instinct — faith asks even when the road looks obvious.
- Went fast. Obedience at speed flattened a third of the army. Their weakness showed up because they were moving.
- Stopped short. Two hundred could not cross Besor. Feebleness appears even in a season of recovery, and it cannot hold the rest back.
- Still posted. Guarding the baggage was real service. The quiet place carries less danger of pride — and in the end both groups shared the spoil alike.
- Not forgotten. A good master remembers the faint; even a cup of cold water given in Christ's name is held in everlasting remembrance.
And David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind, who were too exhausted to go over the torrent Besor.
Raiders had just burned Ziklag and carried off every wife and child. God told David to chase them, and promised he would recover everything. Verse 10 records the cost of that chase. Two hundred of the six hundred men could go no further, so only four hundred went on.
A third of the army drops out. One writer notes how hard they had driven themselves, and what it left David with:
At once he is a man of action again, the energetic and courageous leader of men. By the time they reach the brook Besor, a third of his little army lies collapsed from the speed they have made. So they are only four hundred now, and they carry the stamp of weakness. They themselves, we may be sure, are weary and worn out. But the battle is to be Jehovah's.
The promise of recovery covered six hundred men. Four hundred worn-out men saw it through. That is why no one could credit the victory to human strength.
The men who stopped were not just failures. They had a post: guarding the supplies. One writer draws a warning from that quieter job:
At the torrent Besor two hundred men too weary to follow the troop stop and are left behind to guard the baggage. They lacked strength; nonetheless their function was useful to David and their brothers and should not be despised. The role of active fighters is very visible, and it exposes us to spiritual pride far more than a humbler position does. David's companions prove this later in the account: they credit their own strength for the victory that God had prepared for them and then granted by Himself alone (v. 22).
David neither waited for the exhausted men nor gave up the chase. One writer reads this as a pattern for any work of recovery:
When they reach the brook Besor, two hundred are simply too weak, and they have to give up the chase. David and the four hundred press onward. We need not be surprised if, in a recovery, there are some whose weak faith does not carry them forward. But this cannot hold others back. God is with His saints who have set their face to follow out His purposes, and He will fight for them.
Besor means "good tidings" (J. B. Jackson). Just past the brook that had stopped a third of the army, David's men found a dying Egyptian slave. He became the key to the whole campaign:
Now an Egyptian is thrown in their path, worn out with hunger and thirst. They bring him back to life, and comfort him with the promise that he will not be sent back into slavery under the Amalekite, his master. Here is a natural man brought back to life at the brook of "good news" (Besor), and set free from the lusts of the flesh which he had served. He is the very one to guide the hand of judgment that now falls on the Amalekites.
Another writer weighs what hung on that meeting: "Without this poor man dying of hunger the expedition would have failed miserably" (H. L. Rossier).
The spoil came back, and the men at the brook had fought for none of it. One writer traces David's decision through to Christ's promise:
And what about the two hundred who were stopped by the flood of the brook Besor? Ah, they got the same reward as those who went to the battle! David was faithful and considerate to those whose weakness had held them back. "For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike" (v. 24). The rewards for faithful service are still to be handed out. David did not forget the men who stayed with the supplies, and so Christ our Lord says, "Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done" (Rev. 22:12).
One writer puts all of us among the two hundred, not the four hundred:
If we had been there to watch it, what could we, poor helpless things, have done more than His disciples did? We could not even have crossed the brook Besor! But it was in the face of our helplessness that our great David came forth. He had conquered all the enemies, and He came with this wonderful decree: those who stay by the baggage and those who go down to the battle share alike.
- Faint. Two hundred of David's six hundred collapse at the brook. The rescue goes on with a force already marked by weakness.
- Stationed. The men who stop are not dismissed. They guard the baggage — a useful post, with less danger of pride than the fighting.
- Onward. Some being unable to continue is no reason for the rest to stop; God goes with those who press on with His purpose.
- Good news. Just past the brook whose name means "good tidings," David's men revive a dying slave, and he guides the judgment that falls on the Amalekites.
- Alike. David gives the man who stayed with the baggage the same share as the man who fought. Our great David conquered every enemy while we were helpless, and He decrees that we share alike.
And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he ate; and they gave him water to drink,
David and four hundred exhausted men are chasing the raiders who burned Ziklag and carried off their families. Nobody knows which way the enemy went. Then they find a half-dead stranger lying in an open field, and everything turns on what they do with him.
The rescue looks like a lucky accident. One writer ties it back to verse 6, where David strengthened himself in the Lord.
An Egyptian slave left behind to die puts David on the enemy's track. One sees God's hand in this situation. Without this poor man dying of hunger the expedition would have failed miserably. When we strengthen ourselves in the Lord our God, what mighty help He gives us, and how unexpected!
Where they found him matters.
This young Egyptian represents the sinner. They find him in the field, just where Jesus finds poor sinners. "The field is the world." By nature we belong to Satan's world. Christ must seek and find us, as the shepherd sought and found the poor lost sheep.
Another writer reads his nationality and his owner the same way.
He is an Egyptian, and Egypt pictures the world. They found him in the field ("the field is the world" Matt. 13). He was the slave of an Amalekite. Amalek, as we have seen in the notes on Exodus (chapter 17) and Judges, is a picture of the flesh. Behind it stands Satan. So the unsaved person, the one who is not born again, belongs to the world and is a slave of Amalek, serving the flesh under Satan's rule.
He was lying there because his own master had walked away when he fell sick.
The world serves the lusts of the flesh, and how often the servant has found it a bitter slavery! When the young man falls sick and can no longer serve his master, he is discarded with heartless cruelty and left to die. Many a poor outcast knows what this means. As long as they had strength and money to serve the lusts of the flesh, they found plenty of company and worldly friends. But when health failed and the money was gone, those friends cast them off and left them to die by the roadside.
The men do two things here, and both come up again in the New Testament.
Notice how David's servants dealt with the Egyptian: they "brought him to David." Andrew did the same later, bringing his brother Simon to Jesus (John 1). David's servants also "gave him bread, and he ate, and they gave him water to drink." And Jesus said to the crowds who followed Him from Tiberias to Capernaum, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst" (John 6:35).
Notice the order. The food comes in verse 11; "To whom do you belong?" only comes in verse 13.
The man was welcomed and fed before they questioned him. This is a refreshing picture of the grace of God. The fact of one's need is enough to entitle him to a free salvation. Abundance of grace is waiting for those who know themselves to be in real need... The figs and raisins show that the grace of God goes beyond our actual need.
The extras — the cake of figs, the clusters of raisins — point past bare survival.
This poor Egyptian did not need crushing or breaking down. He needed picking up, and that is what he got. The gospel meets the need, the downright deep need of the sinner's soul. It pardons his sins and brings him to God. And it also lavishes on him what delights and charms the soul. It not only shows a guilty sinner his pardon, it fills the heart with joy.
Food was not the end of it. David then wanted something from the man he had saved.
David puts in his claim on the service and devotion of one who owed him everything under God. But the young man, though fully restored, could not act with David until he had full assurance of life and liberty... He could not serve David until he knew he was free from the power of his old master.
The same writer applies this to a believer who is sure of forgiveness yet still afraid of himself.
We may be very clear about the theory of justification by faith. We may understand what it is to rest in the finished work of Christ for sins that are past. Yet the sin still living in us can trouble us so much that it hinders our service to Christ and His Church.
- Found — David's men picked him up in an open field, the picture of where the Lord seeks and finds people who are not looking for Him.
- Forsaken — his Amalekite master threw him away the moment sickness made him useless. That is what the old service pays.
- Fed — bread and water came before a single question; need alone was his title to help.
- Filled — figs and raisins were more than survival, showing grace that goes past bare need into joy.
- Freed to follow — he put David on the enemy's track, but only once he was sure of freedom from his old master. Assurance comes first, service follows.
and gave him a piece of fig-cake and two raisin-cakes, and he ate, and his spirit came again to him; for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, for three days and three nights.
David's four hundred men were chasing the raiders who had burned Ziklag and carried off their families. On the way they found a starving stranger, fed him before questioning him, and this dying slave became the key to the whole rescue.
What looked like a chance find was the turning point of the whole chase.
An Egyptian slave left behind to die puts David on the enemy's track. One sees God's hand in this circumstance. Without this poor man dying of hunger the expedition would have failed miserably. When we strengthen ourselves in the Lord our God, what mighty help He gives us, and how unexpected!
The order matters. They fed him first, and only asked who he was after his spirit had come back.
The man was welcomed and fed before they questioned him. This is a refreshing picture of the grace of God. The fact of one's need is enough to entitle him to a free salvation. Abundance of grace is waiting for those who know themselves to be in real need.
Bread and water would have kept him alive. The cake of figs and the two clusters of raisins were something else again.
This poor Egyptian wanted neither crushing up nor breaking down. He wanted picking up, and that is what he got. What he needed David ministered to him. And they gave him not only "bread and water," but what illustrates, in a certain sense, the excess of grace... The gospel meets the need, the downright deep need of the sinner's soul. It pardons his sins and brings him to God. But it does more: it lavishes what rejoices and charms the soul. It not only reveals to the soul his pardon as a guilty sinner, but it fills the heart with joy.
The next verse explains why he was lying there: his owner dropped him the moment he fell sick. That is how the world treats its servants.
The world serves the lusts of the flesh, and how often has the servant proved it a galling bondage! The young man falls sick and can no longer serve his master. So his master throws him out without pity and leaves him to die. Many a poor outcast knows what this means. While they still had strength and money to spend on the lusts of the flesh, they had plenty of company and worldly friends. Then health failed and the money ran out. Their friends threw them aside and left them to die by the roadside.
Commentators read each detail of his background as a picture.
The Egyptian is a picture of the unsaved. He is an Egyptian (Egypt stands for the world); he was found in the field ("the field is the world" Matt. 13). He was the slave of an Amalekite. Amalek... is a picture of the flesh. Behind it stands Satan. So the unsaved person, the one who is not born again, belongs to the world and is a slave of Amalek, serving the flesh under Satan's rule. This young Egyptian's physical condition also pictures the spiritual condition of the unsaved.
Strength returning is not the end of the story. David wants him to lead the way at once. The man names a condition first.
His ruin and misery were the very things that won David's sympathy. David refreshed him and revived his spirit. He found him faint and weak from his old master's service. Once his spirit was restored, David asked, "Can you take me down to this band?" With that question David claims the service and devotion of a man who owed him everything under God. But the young man, restored though he was, could not act with David until he had full assurance of life and freedom...
David's oath set the young man's mind at rest. It made him free to fight the Amalekites at David's side. In the same way, the word of Christ drives fear and hesitation out of the believer's heart. It enables him, through the Spirit, to act against his former master — the flesh.
- Found. Everybody else had written this man off. God used him. Without him the chase would have failed.
- Fed. No questions came first. Need alone was his qualification — "the fact of one's need is enough to entitle him to a free salvation."
- Filled. Figs and raisins were not survival rations. Grace does not stop at meeting need; it goes on to gladden.
- Freed. Strength alone was not enough. He would not move until David swore that his old master could never take him back.
- Following. Only then does the abandoned slave become a guide, leading his rescuer to victory.
And David said to him, To whom belongest thou? and whence art thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant of an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days ago I fell sick.
David's men find a collapsed stranger in a field, and food and water revive him. His answer to David's two questions is brief: an Egyptian, slave of an Amalekite, dumped by his master the moment sickness made him useless.
David's questions are not small talk. One writer turns the same two questions on the reader:
Notice that this young man answers David's two questions in a completely honest way. I wish every young man could hear the despised and rejected Saviour say to him from heaven, "To whom do you belong? And where are you from?" That is a serious question. To whom do I belong? There are only two masters. Christ said no man can serve two masters.
He names his homeland without excuses. In Scripture, Egypt stands for far more than a country:
He openly admits his citizenship; Egypt was his native land. Now Egypt is a striking and instructive picture of the world. I do not mean this physical world or the earth we live on, but this moral scene where people live and look for satisfaction... There Pharaoh, a picture of Satan, ruled and tyrannised. There too God's chosen nation were groaning in slavery under the cruel whip of their taskmasters. It was a place where the true God was unknown, and the people worshipped and served the creature instead of the Creator.
He also names his owner: an Amalekite. That name carries its own weight in Scripture:
Amalek has a large place in Scripture. It is the flesh, used by the devil to keep a man away from God. He does not care how he keeps you, or how he holds you. He is not fussy about the means he uses to keep his grip on you. "Various passions and pleasures" are his tackle. With one man it is money, with another the wine cup, with another gambling, with another the racecourse... With others it may be something more refined, like music, painting or sculpture. But Satan uses the flesh to be your keeper.
He was left behind for one reason: he fell sick. That treatment sets a pattern:
His heartless master left him in the field to die when he could no longer use him. And that is the way the devil treats his servants. He uses them as his tools as long as he can. Then, when he cannot use them any more, he leaves them to their fate. That is how he treated Judas, and many others before and since.
He tells the truth even when it counts against him. In the next breath he admits his part in the raid, and in burning the town:
He frankly confesses his part in the invasion the Amalekites had made... and in the burning of Ziklag. He confessed who he was and to whom he belonged, and he confessed what he had done. That shows the right attitude of someone who comes to the Lord Jesus for salvation. He hides nothing, but simply tells the truth, even though it may hurt him to do so.
The ruin that made him worthless to one master is what brought him to the other:
His very ruin and misery threw him on the sympathy of David, who refreshed him and revived his spirit. He found him faint and weak from the effects of his former service. Having restored his spirit, he asked, "Can you take me down to this band?" Here he makes his claim on the service and devotion of one who owed him everything under God.
But the revived man will not move until David swears never to hand him back. That condition is the point:
The believer needs to know he is completely free from the rule of his old master, the flesh. Only then can he serve Christ with confidence... Until we know and believe that sin has no dominion over us, we cannot help being taken up with ourselves. We will keep discovering the working of indwelling corruption. So we will live in fear of being handed back to our former oppressor.
The man the enemy threw away became the key to the whole rescue:
An Egyptian slave left behind to die puts David on the enemy's track. You can see God's hand in this. Without this poor man dying of hunger the expedition would have failed miserably. When we strengthen ourselves in the Lord our God, what mighty help He gives us, and how unexpected!
- Found. A dying slave in a field is where the story starts. His ruin is what brings him within reach of David's kindness.
- Asked. Two questions expose him: where he is from (Egypt, the world) and who owns him (an Amalekite, the flesh).
- Owned. He hides nothing — not his homeland, not his master, not his share in burning Ziklag. That honesty is the model for anyone coming to Christ.
- Freed. Revived, he still will not serve until David swears never to hand him back. Assurance comes before service.
- Used. The man his master threw away becomes the guide who leads David to victory. God gives unexpected help to those who strengthen themselves in Him.
We made a raid against the south of the Cherethites, and against what [belongs] to Judah, and against the south of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.
David's men have just given the young Egyptian food and water. Now he answers David's questions, and his answer is a confession: he names the raid he joined and the city he helped burn.
The speaker was a slave, left behind by the man he served. Commentators note that what made him useless to his master is what opened David's heart to him.
Now this young man was an Egyptian, servant to an Amalekite, and his master left him because he had fallen sick. This is how his Amalekite master treated him. He abandoned him when he needed help most, because he could no longer be useful to him. But his ruin and misery were the very things that won David's sympathy. David refreshed him and revived his spirit.
His own words place him twice over. He names Egypt and Amalek, and writers read both names as a picture of the person who has not yet come to God.
"I am a young man of Egypt," he says. I am a man of the world. In Scripture Egypt stands for the world — where Satan reigns. Egypt pictures the world as a place of sin, lust, and folly, and it holds every man until he is converted and brought to God. This man says, "I am a young man of Egypt," but he goes further — "servant to an Amalekite." Amalek has a large place in Scripture. It is the flesh, used by the devil to keep a man away from God.
Amalek's standing was different from Egypt's. Mackintosh notes that Egypt and Amalek did not stand in the same place before Israel. Egypt has blessing promised in a day to come. Amalek faces the Lord's war from generation to generation (C. H. Mackintosh).
He answers David with a full admission, naming three areas raided and one city burned.
In verse 14 the man openly confesses his part in the raid the Amalekites had made — on the land of the Cherethites, on Judah's land and on Caleb's. He confesses the burning of Ziklag too. He confesses who he was and whom he belonged to, and he confesses what he had done. This shows the right attitude of anyone who comes to the Lord Jesus for salvation. He hides nothing. He tells the truth, even though it may hurt him to do so.
What makes the admission striking is the person he is making it to. He is telling the owner of the burnt city that he helped set it alight.
The young Egyptian, encouraged by David's grace, makes a clean breast of his sins… He says in effect — I know who you are. You are the one I have sinned against. But I know there is enough grace in your heart to forgive it all, even though I helped set fire to your city. The man who owns his sin always gets blessing from God.
David held Ziklag as payment for siding with Israel's enemies. Writers tie the burning of the city to how he came by it.
David had received Ziklag as his wages for going over to the uncircumcised. Was it not "the wages of unrighteousness?" But the Lord can cut holes in the bags where we put such money as this. And so He does here. While David was in the camp of the Philistines, the people of the south came to Ziklag. They burned it, and they carried off everyone in it — wives, children, cattle and all. These were the people David had beaten and slaughtered earlier.
The people David had beaten earlier were the ones who now burned his city. Yet the loss was not total. The raiders carried the people off alive instead of killing them, and God spared their lives with a good end in view (An Outline of Sound Words).
His answer also told David where to find the raiders. Without it, the chase had no direction.
An Egyptian slave left behind to die puts David on the enemy's track. One sees God's hand in this circumstance. Without this poor man dying of hunger the expedition would have failed miserably. When we strengthen ourselves in the Lord our God, what mighty help He gives us, and how unexpected it is!
- Abandoned. His master threw him away the moment he stopped being useful. That ruin is what brought him within reach of David's kindness.
- Owned. Fed first, questioned after, he tells the whole truth: where he is from, whom he served, and what he burned.
- Faced. He confesses to the very man he wronged, counting on grace enough to cover even the flames he helped light.
- Traced. Ziklag was David's wages for going over to the Philistines. The raiders were the people David himself had attacked earlier.
- Used. God turned a discarded enemy's confession into the help David needed. Without it the pursuit would have failed.
And David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this troop? And he said, Swear to me by God, that thou wilt neither put me to death nor deliver me up into the hand of my master, and I will bring thee down to this troop.
David and his men find the raiders' trail only through a dying man in a field — an Egyptian slave thrown away by the Amalekite who owned him. Before he will guide them to the enemy camp, he wants an oath: David must not kill him, and must not hand him back to the master who left him to die.
The man has already told David how he came to be lying in that field. One writer reads his abandonment as a picture of how the devil treats those who serve him:
Then, the young man of Egypt was abandoned. He says, "My master left me, because three days ago I fell sick." His heartless master left him in the field to die when he could not use him any longer. And that is the way the devil treats his servants. He uses them as his tools as long as he can. Then, when he cannot use them any more, he leaves them to their fate.
His request has two halves: death at David's hand, and a return to the Amalekite. One writer notes that neither danger was real:
Grace, kindness, and power were all on the side of the new master, and he would gladly give himself to that service at once. As he did so, his greatest fear, next to death itself, was that someone would hand him back into the power and service of the old master. Both of his fears were groundless.
David asks for guidance; the man asks for safety before he moves. That order is the point:
Now note the order. Assurance of salvation first, and service afterwards. It is not service first, and then security. The young man will not make a move in David's service until he has the assurance of his own safety. He was wise in this. Are you as wise, my friend? Have you the assurance of your own salvation? If not, you have no business doing so-called "Christian work." Service does not win security, though many people think it does.
Even a freed man can still fear his old master. One writer applies this to a believer who is clear about forgiveness but still fears the power of sin inside:
The believer needs to know he is completely free from the rule of his old master, the flesh, before he can give himself with confidence to the service of Christ... Until we know and believe that sin has no rule over us, we must keep thinking about ourselves. We will keep discovering the sin at work inside us, and so we will keep fearing that we may be handed back to our old oppressor. We may be very clear about the theory of justification by faith... and yet be so troubled about the sin inside us that it completely blocks our service to Christ and His Church.
The man asks for a word he can rest on. Once given, that word turns a runaway into a fighter against his old side:
David's oath set the young man's mind at rest and enabled him to act with David against the Amalekites. In the same way, the word of Christ drives fear and hesitation out of the believer's heart, and enables him, through the Spirit, to act against his former master — the flesh.
The verse begins with David's question. One writer hears the Lord's own call in it, and takes David's reply as given:
David then asks the man if he will bring him down to this band of the Amalekites. This is similar to the Lord asking a newly converted person if he will bring Christ to his former friends. The man agreed only on one condition: David must swear to him by God that he would not kill him and would not give him back into the hands of his master. We do not need to be told that David gave him this assurance. God gives similar assurance to all who trust the Lord Jesus as Savior. The words of the Lord Jesus are, "they will never perish" (John 10:28).
Nothing about this encounter looks strategic. Yet the rescue of the entire company hung on it:
An Egyptian slave left behind to die puts David on the enemy's track. One sees God's hand in this circumstance. Without this poor man dying of hunger the expedition would have failed miserably. When we strengthen ourselves in the Lord our God, what mighty help He gives us, and how unexpected!
- Discarded. The old master used the man while he was useful and abandoned him the moment he fell sick — the way the devil treats his servants.
- Asked. David's request for guidance is like the Lord asking a new believer to bring Christ to his former friends.
- Assured. He would not move until a sworn word covered both his fears: David would not kill him, and David would not send him back.
- Freed for service. Assurance came first and service second. A heart still afraid of its old master stays busy with itself and cannot serve.
- Used. The one man everybody else wrote off became the key to the whole recovery — unexpected help for those who strengthen themselves in the Lord.
And he brought him down, and behold, they were spread over the whole land, 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.
The Egyptian slave keeps his word and leads David to the raiders' camp. David finds no army braced for attack — only a crowd spread across the countryside, celebrating over the spoil they have taken.
David only reaches this camp because of a half-dead man his soldiers picked up in a field.
An Egyptian slave left behind to die puts David on the enemy's track. You can see God's hand in this. Without this poor man dying of hunger the expedition would have failed miserably. When we strengthen ourselves in the Lord our God, what mighty help He gives us, and how unexpected it is!
The same man had been a slave of one of these Amalekites. His change of master shapes the scene:
His strength comes back and he is well again. Once a slave of Amalek, he now becomes a servant of David. He leads David down to the enemy, who are resting in careless security, drunk and celebrating their victory.
Some of the goods they were celebrating over were David's own. Ziklag was his town, and he had left it to travel with Achish. One writer draws a warning from that:
David had not been caring for his own city, but was on an ill-advised trip with Achish. This is an important spiritual lesson for us. When we are not on guard and in communion with the Lord, the lusts of the flesh — which Amalek pictures — will almost certainly take advantage of us. This will not completely destroy a believer. But it will rob him of much that God has entrusted to him.
One writer sets this meal beside other feasts in Scripture.
In 1 Samuel 30:16 we get another feast. It pictures the short-lived joy the world has… But the devil never raises a banner of love over his followers. Their passing joy in things that perish really is short-lived. Destruction comes on them suddenly, before the morning light. "While people are saying, 'There is peace and security,' then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape" (1 Thess. 5:3).
The same writer turns this on the reader's own appetite:
Of course, if you are going to nibble at the fleshly things the world spreads out for its followers, it will spoil your appetite for spiritual things. You cannot be feasting at His banquet table and share in what the world feeds on as well.
David was already on his way while they were celebrating.
They were having a "merry time," as people say, when the vengeance of David was threatening to destroy them. Those Amalekites are like this God-hating, Christ-rejecting, Spirit-resisting, grace-abusing world. The awful judgment of God is threatening them, but they eat and drink and dance and sing as if it were not so.
David attacks, and the party ends.
While the enemy is eating, drinking, and dancing, "sudden destruction comes upon them." David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken. Nothing was missing — small or great, sons or daughters, or any of the spoil. David brought it all back (vv. 18-19), along with an abundance of spoil besides (v. 20).
One writer also reads the whole rescue forward. David suddenly appears, overthrows the Amalekites and frees every captive. In this he is a picture of Christ, who will appear "with all His armies from heaven for the deliverance of Israel, His earthly people, and the judgment of the nations who are at enmity against God."
- Guided. A dying slave nobody valued led David to the enemy. Strengthen yourself in the Lord, and help comes from where you never expected.
- Robbed. David lost Ziklag while he was away. When we are off guard, the lusts of the flesh take what God has entrusted to us.
- Feasting. The eating, drinking and dancing picture the world's short-lived joy. The devil raises no banner of love over his followers.
- Secure. They were merry because they felt safe. That is the mistake of everyone who says "peace and security" while destruction is already on the way.
- Recovered. David broke up the feast and brought everything back. Nothing was missing, small or great — and there was spoil besides.
And David smote them from the twilight even to the evening of the next day; and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, who rode upon camels, and fled.
At the ruins of Ziklag, David turned back to the Lord, and God promised he would get everything back. This verse is where that promise lands: a fight from twilight to the next evening, and only four hundred raiders escape.
The attack does not start with a man running on nerve. It starts with David strengthening himself in God.
After encouraging himself in God, he acts with bravery and earnestness. The Lord puts help and opportunities in his way. He makes circumstances favour him. In the end He crowns him with success, giving him back all he had lost and enriching him with the spoils of the enemy.
How the men talked about the battle afterwards shows who they thought had won it:
David's companions prove this later in the account. They credit their own strength for a victory that God alone prepared and then granted.
The raiders were eating, drinking and dancing when the sword reached them. Commentators read that scene as a picture of the world's mood today.
They were having a "merry time," as people say, when the vengeance of David was threatening to destroy them. Those Amalekites are like this God-hating, Christ-rejecting, Spirit-resisting, grace-abusing world. The awful judgment of God is threatening them, but they eat and drink and dance and sing as if it were not so.
The young men on camels are the one loose end in the verse. One writer turns their escape into a warning to the reader.
Some of them — four hundred young men — got away, but, in the day when the Lord comes in judgment, there will be no camels for you to flee on. There will be no way of escape then; you may be perfectly sure of that. "While people are saying, 'There is peace and security,' then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape." You had better get to Jesus now.
Amalek was not just any raiding party. They had a long history with Israel, and a sentence already spoken over them.
Amalek was the determined foe of Israel, and represents the power of Satan over the flesh. Amalek met Israel when they came out of Egypt, and struck down the stragglers at the back — all who were feeble, when they were faint and weary. And "you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget."
Those escaping riders matter to the wider story. The rest of Amalek turns up again much later, long after David's day.
When David slaughtered the Amalekites after their raid on Ziklag, only four hundred young men escaped. It seemed that only a small remnant of them survived. In the days of king Hezekiah, this remnant of Amalek appears to have settled at mount Seir, the home of the Edomites. In 1 Chronicles 4:43 we read that five hundred of the sons of Simeon went to mount Seir and struck down the rest of the Amalekites who had escaped. It was getting late in the history of Judah… but the Lord used this remnant of Simeon to carry out His will about Amalek. It is never too late for God's people to seek His mind and to do His will — no matter how difficult the days, and how great the weakness.
One writer draws out the lesson for us:
However decisively we may judge the lusts of the flesh, they always have a way of springing up again, like poisonous weeds.
For David, the outcome was total, and it reversed a disaster he had brought on himself.
Everything is recovered — wives, children and property — along with other spoil taken from the enemy. How completely God reverses the results of our unbelief! And how good it is to turn to Him with full confidence, confessing our own sin and failure.
- Strength first. David strengthened himself in God before he struck. The courage for the fight came from the Lord.
- Credit second. God prepared the victory and handed it over. David's men called it their own strength, and they were wrong.
- Caught mid-feast. The enemy was celebrating when the blow fell, a picture of people at ease while judgment is already on its way.
- No camels next time. Four hundred escaped on camels here. When the Lord comes in judgment, there is no escape route at all.
- Nothing left lost. God reversed the whole loss that David's unbelief had caused. He left the last of Amalek for later hands to finish, because it is never too late to do His will.
And David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken and David recovered his two wives.
David and his men come back from the Amalekite camp with everything the raiders had stolen, his two wives included. Commentators read it on two levels: God keeping His exact promise, and a picture of how He restores a believer who has wandered.
Earlier, David had asked God whether to chase the raiders. God told him to go, and promised he would recover everything. This verse is that promise coming true, person by person and item by item.
"And David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them?" And if David encourages himself in the Lord, the Lord surely encourages David. "Pursue," He says, "for you shall surely overtake them, and without fail recover all." He does this with the help of an Egyptian servant who had been left behind sick. They found the Amalekites, and David and his men fell on them. They recovered every one of those they loved, safe and sound, and everything they owned, with a great deal more.
The turning point came before the battle. David first found his strength in God, and the writer traces the whole success back to that.
After encouraging himself in God, he acts with bravery and earnestness. The Lord puts help and opportunities in his way, and makes circumstances favour him, and at the end crowns him with success, giving him not only to regain all that he had lost, but to enrich himself with the spoils of the enemy.
David had wandered far, and the raid on Ziklag cost him everything he loved. Commentators see God's hand behind that loss: it was aimed at bringing him back, not at crushing him.
Truly David's return to Ziklag was a dark hour — one of his darkest; yet God appeared, and his dawning began. God appeared for his relief and restoration; He graciously removed the weight from his spirit; He burst the chains, and let the prisoner go free. Such is the manner of God. He lets His children taste the bitter fruit of their own ways. He does this so they will return to Him, and see that they can only be truly happy in His gracious and holy presence.
The verse says David recovered all. The next verses add that he also took the enemy's own herds. Writers see in that surplus something typical of how God works.
All is recovered out of their hand, just as God had promised. With it they inherit an immense amount of plunder besides. In the goodness of God a mere recovery seems impossible. He brings us back to Himself with more than we had lost — fruitful experiences and knowledge of God's ways in government and in grace. All this is God's law of restitution. It is the trespass-offering, which Christ makes good to us.
The completeness is the point. The raiders had taken wives, children and goods; not one of them stayed lost.
Everything is recovered — wives, children and property, together with other plunder taken from the hand of the enemy. How completely God reverses the results of our unbelief, and how good it is to turn to Him with fullest confidence and confession of our own sin and failure.
David struck while the Amalekites were feasting over their plunder, and freed every captive. Some writers read the scene forward, to Christ.
In this account in 1 Samuel 30:8-19 David, who suddenly appears and overthrows the Amalekites while their feast and dancing is going on, and delivers all their captives, is a type of Christ when He shall appear with all His armies from heaven for the deliverance of Israel, His earthly people, and the judgment of the nations who are hostile to God.
- Cause — David first found his strength in God. Then he acted. The Lord opened the way and crowned it with success.
- Promise — God had promised he would recover everything without fail. Every person and possession came back safe and sound.
- Discipline — The loss was God dealing with a wandering child. He let David taste the bitter fruit of his own way, so he would come back.
- Surplus — With God a bare recovery seems impossible. He brings us back with more than we lost, including a deeper knowledge of His ways.
- Reversal — Wives, children, property, plunder: God reverses the results of our unbelief. We turn to Him and confess; He gives it all back.
And there was nothing missed by them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil nor anything that they had taken David brought all back.
Raiders had carried off David's wives, his children and everything he owned. This verse is the count after the rescue: nothing was missing. Why did the loss come at all? And what does it mean that David got every last thing back?
One writer reads the raid not as bad luck but as God's discipline on a servant who had drifted. The blow fell on what David loved most.
In our chapter we see how God restores David, using the discipline that his lack of holiness had made necessary. But there in the middle of this discipline God — and this is infinitely precious — could be with him. God who was absent in the day of Achish's favour is now present in the middle of disaster. David is struck in what is dearest to him and this is a cause of great sorrow, but it produces the peaceable fruit of righteousness.
The reason nothing was missing goes back to the raid itself. One writer points to a mercy hidden inside the disaster.
While David was away, the Amalekites seized Ziklag, his city. They burned it and carried off the whole population with the spoil — but they put no one to death. What grace of God! In this cruel attack of a pitiless enemy all the captives had been spared. So God was judging His servant by measure, with a judgment that aimed at his restoration.
David asked God whether to chase the raiders. God's answer held the very words this verse fulfils: recover all.
If David encourages himself in the Lord, the Lord surely encourages David. "Pursue," He says, "for you shall surely overtake them, and without fail recover all." David does this with the help of an Egyptian servant who had been left behind sick. He and his men found the Amalekites and pounced on them. They brought back every one of those they loved, and all they had, safe and sound, with a great deal more.
People and property both came back, and more besides. One writer draws a lesson from that.
Everything comes back — wives, children and property, together with other spoil taken from the hand of the enemy. How fully God reverses the results of our unbelief! And how good it is to turn to Him with full confidence, confessing our own sin and failure.
One writer sets David's recovery beside Saul's ruin.
David, on the contrary, encouraged himself in the Lord his God. He recovers the spoil from the Amalekites and rescues his two wives. Nothing was lacking to them, small or great, sons or daughters. David recovered all. Such is the difference God puts between "the man who fears Him and the man who does not fear Him." Saul forfeits all by disobedience and at last perishes. David prospers in the school of adversity. At the close of this book of Samuel he holds the place and shares the real power of God, and by that power he recovers everything from the enemy's hand.
David fell on the Amalekites while they were celebrating. One writer reads that rescue as a type — a picture pointing to something still to come.
In 1 Sam. 30:8-19 David appears without warning, overthrows the Amalekites in the middle of their feast and dancing, and delivers all their captives. He is a type of Christ, who will appear with all His armies from heaven to deliver Israel, His earthly people, and to judge the nations who are at enmity against God.
- Recovered by discipline. The loss of Ziklag was God's hand on a servant who had wandered, and restoration was its aim, not ruin.
- Recovered by mercy. The raiders killed no one. God measured the judgment so that David could get everything back.
- Recovered by asking. God promised "recover all" when David asked Him. The battle only proved the promise true.
- Recovered completely. Small and great, sons and daughters, spoil and all. God reverses what unbelief costs, and adds more besides.
- Recovered by the king. Saul lost everything. David took everything back from the enemy — a picture of Christ coming to deliver His people.
And David took all the flocks and the herds, [which] they drove before the other cattle, and said, This is David's spoil.
David comes back from the Amalekite camp with the enemy's own flocks and herds driven ahead of him. He had left a burnt town behind, so how does a man under God's discipline end up richer than before — and what does he do with the extra?
David had asked God whether to chase the raiders. The answer went further than the promise:
And if David encourages himself in the LORD, the LORD in turn encourages David. "Pursue," He says, "for you shall surely overtake them, and without fail recover all." David does this with the help of an Egyptian servant who had been left behind sick. He and his men found the Amalekites and pounced on them. They got back every one of the people they loved, and everything they had, safe and sound — with a great deal more.
David's losses were his own fault. He had gone over to the Philistines, and raiders sacked his town while he was away. The livestock he drove home shows how far God undid that ruin:
They recover everything — wives, children and property, along with other spoil taken from the enemy. How completely God reverses the results of our unbelief! How good it is to turn to Him with full confidence, confessing our own sin and failure.
Another scene runs alongside this one, and it ends the opposite way:
The spoils of Amalek go among David's friends, while Saul's armour hangs in the house of Ashtaroth and his head in the temple of Dagon. Men said over Amalek, "This is David's spoil." The Philistines, meanwhile, had to announce everywhere among their people that "Saul was dead."
The men call the herds David's. David hands the credit elsewhere, and sets out how God measures reward:
See the wisdom of David, now restored. He confronts the "worthless and wicked" men among those who had gone with him (v. 22). He reproves them by giving the Lord all the place, all the merit: "You shall not do so, my brothers, with what the LORD has given us. He has preserved us and given into our hand the band that came against us" (v. 23). God gives out the various services among His own, and He alone judges the activity they show. He does not measure the reward by the value of the gift, but by faithfulness in handling what He entrusts to us. A restored David proclaimed the principle of grace joined with righteousness. No wonder its consequences have lasted.
David kept none of it. His companions got back all they had lost, and the rest travelled further:
David first gave his companions back all they had lost. Then he sends some of the spoil he had gathered to his brothers in the land of Israel. The large number of cities he remembers this way shows how great his victory had been. He sends it to those who had seen his own poverty. They had proved they were for him, at least by refusing to join against him. Even now we are allowed a foretaste of such triumphs of our Lord, if in some small way we have shared in His reproach, and so enjoy the results of His victory. But the day for that full dividing of the spoil has not yet come.
One writer sees a picture of Christ, who fought alone and then gave away what He won:
But He was Conqueror for us, and therefore at once comes out with the spoils of that day, to lay them at our feet. He had been alone in the conflict, but would not be alone in the victory. … It was an ancient statute of David: the one who stayed with the baggage shared with the one who went down to the battle. And it was a decree worthy of the grace of "the beloved." But a better even than David, One not only of royal but of divine grace, is here.
- Sin costs. Raiders burned David's town and took his family while he was living among the Philistines. The loss was real discipline, not an accident.
- Faith recovers. He turned back to God and asked. God promised he would overtake the raiders and recover all — and he did.
- Grace overflows. The promise was "recover all." Everything came back "with a great deal more" — the enemy's own herds included.
- Credit returns. The men called the herds David's. David called them the LORD's gift, and refused to let anyone treat that gift as wages earned.
- Spoil spreads. It went to the men who stayed with the baggage, to the families, and on to distant cities. That is the pattern of One who fought alone and shares His victory.
And David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow David, and whom they had left behind at the torrent Besor; and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him; and David drew near to the people and saluted them.
David and his four hundred men come back from the pursuit, loaded with spoil. The first people they meet are the two hundred who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor. Their welcome, and the argument that follows, decide who has a right to a share.
The verse gives one reason the men stopped: they were too exhausted to go on. One writer says their weakness did not make them useless, and that their quieter post carried its own advantage.
At the torrent Besor, two hundred men are too weary to follow the troop. They stop, and stay behind to guard the baggage. They lacked strength. Even so, their work was useful to David and to their brothers, and no one should look down on it. The role of an active fighter is very visible. It opens us up to spiritual pride far more than a humbler place does.
The two hundred come out to meet the returning men with joy. Not everyone in the victorious party returns the welcome.
So David and his four hundred return to the brook Besor, where the men too exhausted to cross had stayed with the baggage. These men come out with joy to greet their victorious comrades. But among the comrades were some who, untouched by the mercy they had experienced, refused to recognize their right to share the spoil. The sense of grace is too strong to allow that.
David had needed restoring himself. How he treats the weakest of his men now shows how far that restoration had gone.
They return now to the brothers they had been forced to leave at the brook Besor. Here we see how fully David's calm of soul has come back. The work of restoration had been complete. Selfishness and pride of heart would lead some of his followers to hand back to their weak brothers only their families, while keeping the spoil for themselves. But David's heart is large, and it makes no such distinction.
The verse says David came to these men and greeted them. One writer turns that into a promise for Christians who are worn out in service.
The pursuit is a long one. In time they come to a certain torrent Besor. There two hundred were so faint that they could not cross over, and so they stayed. Well, if there are some Christians who are faint in their Master's service, the Lord will not forget them. David does not forget his men. He is a good master. Now Christ is my Master, and He does not forget any active service. A cup of cold water given in His name is held in everlasting remembrance.
One writer reads the scene forward to Christ, and puts us among the two hundred, not the four hundred.
He means to share His heritage with us, His redeemed. But before He entered it, a mighty conflict was going to take place with all the powers of earth and hell. No one could be with Him there. If we had watched it, what could we, poor helpless things, have done more than His disciples did? We could not so much as have crossed the brook Besor! But it was in the face of our helplessness that our great David came out, after defeating all the enemies, with the wonderful decree: "For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike."
The grudging spirit at Besor is not just an old story. One writer turns it into a question for us.
Let us not be quick to condemn these followers of David. First let us look at our own attitude toward God's people. They may not have shown the same energy of faith that we have shown in some measure — if we can even call it that. Do we realize that every victory over the flesh and its desires, every defeat of our spiritual foes, is a victory for the whole people of God? We are to share the results with them. Are we unwilling to pass on the precious things of Christ, which we have snatched from the hand of the enemy, to those who have not had the energy to recover what is really their own?
- Weakness — the two hundred stopped because their strength gave out. Guarding the baggage was still real service, and the quieter post carries less danger of pride.
- Welcome — David comes to the weak men and greets them. That greeting shows how fully his own soul had recovered.
- Grudging — some of the four hundred had just received mercy themselves, yet refused the weak men any share of the spoil.
- Decree — the man in the battle and the man at the baggage share alike. The decree came out after the enemy was already beaten.
- Ourselves — we could not have crossed Besor either. Christ hands us the spoil of a fight we never joined, and we are to pass it on, not hoard it.
And all the wicked men, and [men] of Belial, of those that had gone with David, answered and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them [aught] of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead [them] away and depart.
Raiders had burned Ziklag and carried off every family. David chased them down and won back every person and every possession, with much more besides. The quarrel in this verse breaks out at the moment of triumph, over two hundred men too worn out to cross the brook Besor. It forces one question: who won this victory, and so who owns the spoil?
The men shut out here had not deserted. They had simply run out of strength.
At the brook Besor two hundred men are too weary to follow the troop. They stay behind to guard the baggage. They lacked strength. Even so, their work was useful to David and to their brothers, and no one should look down on it. The work of the active fighters is very visible. It exposes us to spiritual pride far more than a humbler place does. David's companions prove this later in this account. They credit the victory to their own strength, when God alone had prepared it for them and then given it (v. 22).
The complaint comes right after a great rescue. One writer sees no accident in the timing.
The overflowing grace of God also brought out two things worth noting here. First, hateful selfishness broke out in those who had no appreciation of the Lord. Where there is no faith, the presence and working of grace always bring out the evil of the heart. Second, the single-minded devotion of a man who no longer sought his own interests shone again as brightly as ever. David was truly and fully restored. So grace had won not just a great victory for David, but a greater victory in him.
The offer is measured out: families handed back, and nothing more. David sets a different rule.
Selfishness and pride of heart would lead some of his followers to give their weak brothers only their own family, and to keep the spoil for themselves. But David's heart is large, and it makes no such distinction. He lays down a rule to be followed always: those who stay at home are to share alike with those who have gone to the battle.
The words "the spoil that we have recovered" hold the whole error. David settles who owns the spoil before he settles who gets it.
See how wisely David, now restored, confronts the "wicked and worthless fellows among the men who had gone with" him (v. 22). He corrects them by giving the Lord all the place and all the credit… God hands out the different services among His own. He alone judges the activity they show. He does not measure the reward by the size of the gift, but by faithfulness in handling what He entrusts to us. That is why the share of those who stay with the baggage is like the share of those who go down to the battle (v. 24)… A restored David announced the principle of grace joined to righteousness. Should we be surprised that its effects have lasted?
The same instinct is not confined to David's men.
Do we realize that every victory over the flesh and its desires, every defeat of our spiritual enemies, is a victory for the whole people of God? We are to share the results with them. Are we unwilling to pass on the precious things of Christ that we have snatched from the enemy's hand, to those who lacked the energy to win back what is really their own?… Some say such people would not use it well, or do not deserve a fuller share of the things of God. No such excuse may stop us from carrying out this rule of David.
One writer sees David's rule pointing past David.
He had been alone in the conflict, but He would not be alone in the victory… There was an old rule of David: the man who stayed with the baggage was to share with the man who went down to the battle. It was a decree worthy of the grace of "the beloved." But One better even than David is here, and His grace is not only royal but divine.
- Given. The men did not win the spoil by their own strength. God prepared the victory and gave it.
- Exposed. Where there is no faith, grace brings the evil of the heart into the open. The loudest claim came from men just shown mercy.
- Valued. The men at the baggage were weak, not useless. Visible service breeds pride far more easily than a humble post.
- Shared. God measures reward by faithfulness with what He entrusts, not by how visible the work looks. So both groups share alike.
- Fulfilled. One greater than David fought alone and will not keep the victory to Himself. Every victory we win belongs to the whole people of God, and we are to share it.
Then said David, Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which Jehovah has given us, who has preserved us, and given the troop that came against us into our hand.
David has just recovered everything the raiders took from his people. Now the men who fought want to keep the plunder, and David must decide who really won the victory.
David speaks here as a restored man. One writer notes that God's grace did two opposite things at once:
The exceeding grace of God gave occasion to two things worth noting here. First, hateful selfishness broke out in those who had no appreciation of the Lord. Where there is no faith, the presence and activity of grace always brings out the evil of the heart. Second, the single-eyed devotedness of one who no longer sought his own things shone once more, undimmed. David was truly and fully restored. Grace had achieved not merely a great victory for David, but a greater victory in him.
David does not argue about who fought harder. One writer shows what he does instead:
David, now restored, reproves the wicked men who had gone with him by giving the Lord all the place and all the merit. God distributes the various services among His own. He is the only judge of the activity they show. He does not measure the reward by the value of the gift. He measures it by faithfulness in handling what He entrusts to us. That is why the share of those who stay with the baggage is like the share of those who go down to the battle.
The same writer weighs the work of the men left behind against the danger facing the fighters:
They lacked strength; even so, their job was useful to David and to their brothers and should not be despised. The active fighter's role is visible to all. It exposes us to spiritual pride far more than a humbler position does. David's companions prove this in what follows. They credit their own strength for a victory that God alone prepared and granted.
David will not treat the weaker men as a lower class:
Selfishness and pride of heart would lead some of his followers to give their weak brothers back only their own families, while keeping the spoil for themselves. But David's heart is large, and it makes no such distinction. He lays down a policy to be followed always: those who stay behind share equally with those who have gone to the battle.
These men had just received mercy themselves. Another writer shows how hard they still were:
The men left with the baggage come out with joy to greet their victorious comrades. But some of the victors, untouched by the mercy they had experienced, refused to recognise their right to share the spoil. The sense of grace, however, is too strong to permit this.
One writer sets David's decision beside the older rule for dividing spoil:
The people who had not fought were to have their share as well as those who had. David was the one who decided that they must all share alike.
Commentators read David here as a picture of Christ. One writer places us in the scene:
Christ means to share His heritage with us. But before He entered on it, a mighty conflict had to take place with all the powers of earth and hell. No one could be with Him there. Had we been witnesses of it, what could we, poor helpless things, have done more than His disciples did? We could not so much as have crossed the brook Besor! But in the face of our helplessness, our great David conquered every enemy and came out with that wonderful decree of an equal share.
Another writer looks on to the day of reward:
David was faithful and considerate to those whose weakness had held them back. The rewards for faithful service are still to come. As David did not forget the men who stayed with the baggage, so Christ our Lord says, "Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done" (Revelation 22:12).
The same rule searches how we treat believers with less energy than ours:
Some of God's people have not had the energy to recover what is really their own. Are we reluctant to share with them the precious things of Christ, which we have snatched from the hand of the enemy? Do we hesitate to feed the whole flock of God? Do we limit our ministry to the few who are closest to us? We may plead that such people would not make right use of the things of God, or are not worthy of them. No such plea can stop us from carrying out this ordinance of David.
- Given — David names the Lord as the source of the spoil, so no one can treat it as private wages.
- Guarded — the same Lord preserved them. God prepared and granted the victory; no one earned it by strength.
- Grace in him — restoration was so complete that grace won a greater victory in David than for him.
- Shared — because the gift was God's, the weak share equally, and David makes it a standing policy.
- Coming — the greater David fought where no one could follow. He returns bringing His reward with Him.
And who will hearken to you in this matter? For as his share is that goes down to the battle, so shall his share be that abides by the baggage they shall share alike.
David has just won back everything the Amalekites took when they raided Ziklag. Now a quarrel breaks out over the spoil: some of the four hundred who fought want to keep it all from the two hundred left at the brook Besor.
The two hundred at the brook had no strength left to go on. One writer notes that their job still mattered, and that the more visible role carries its own danger.
At the brook Besor two hundred men were too weary to follow the troop. They stayed behind to guard the baggage. They lacked strength, but their work was still useful to David and their brothers, and no one should look down on it. The role of active fighters is very visible, and it exposes us to spiritual pride far more than a humbler place does.
David's reasoning starts one verse earlier: the spoil is what the Lord gave.
David, now restored, corrects the wicked and worthless men among those who had gone with him (v. 22). He does it by giving the Lord all the place and all the credit: "You shall not do so, my brothers, with what the LORD has given us. He has preserved us and given into our hand the band that came against us" (v. 23). God hands out the different services among His own. He alone judges the activity they show. He does not measure the reward by the value of the gift, but by faithfulness in handling what He entrusts to us. That is why the share of those who stay with the baggage is like the share of those who go down to the battle.
The men who objected had just received mercy themselves.
The men who had stayed with the baggage come out with joy to greet their victorious comrades. But others, untouched by the mercy they had experienced, refused to recognise their right to share the spoil. The sense of grace, though, is too strong to allow that.
David does not simply show kindness once. He makes a lasting rule, and he makes it at the very end of his years of rejection.
He overrules the selfishness of the natural mind. He proclaims that divine principle: "As his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike." And so it was from that day on: he made it a statute and a rule for Israel to this day. What a monument! What a memorial of the last hours of David's rejection! And what a herald of the character of the reign about to open!
Read as a picture, the rule points back to a battle no follower could join.
But before He entered on His inheritance, a mighty conflict had to take place with all the powers of earth and hell, and no one could be with Him there. Had we been there to watch, what could we, poor helpless things, have done more than His disciples did? We could not so much as have crossed the brook Besor! But it was in the face of our helplessness that our great David came forth. He had defeated all the enemies, and He gave the wonderful decree: "They shall share alike."
Writers apply the rule forward, to a share-out that has not yet happened.
David was faithful and considerate to those whose weakness had held them back… The rewards for faithful service are still to come. David did not forget the men who stayed with the baggage, and in the same way Christ our Lord says, "Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done" (Rev. 22:12).
That share is open to anyone, in very ordinary ways.
Epaphras worked hard in prayer, and so may we. What a cheer an encouraging letter is! Some help with the singing; some bring friends to the meetings. Love of the gospel, and love of the One who is its theme, will find ways to share in the work of the gospel.
One writer turns the rule on the reader: how do we treat believers with less spiritual energy than our own?
We have snatched precious things of Christ from the hand of the enemy. Are we unwilling to pass them on to those who have not had enough energy to recover what is really their own?… And no plea can stop us carrying out this ordinance of David. It is no use saying that such people would not make right use of the things of God, or are unworthy of a fuller possession of them.
- Given, not earned — the spoil is what the Lord gave, so no fighter can claim a bigger share by merit.
- Given by grace — the men who objected had just received mercy, and grace in David is too strong to let them withhold it.
- Given a share — the weak at Besor guarded the baggage, and the visible role is the one more open to pride.
- Given a rule — David makes it a lasting statute, a herald of the reign about to begin.
- Given a reward — the share-out is still ahead, so prayer, letters and quiet help count in the same battle.
And it was [so] from that day forward; and he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day.
David's ruling about dividing the plunder was not a one-off decision. It became permanent law in Israel. Behind it lies a question we all ask: if I do less than others, do I get less?
One writer ties this rule to David's own restoration, and to the way he answered the wicked men in his troop:
See with what wisdom David, now restored, confronts the "wicked men, and men of Belial, of those that had gone with" him (v. 22). He reproves them by giving the Lord all the place, all the merit. God distributes the various services among His own. He is the only judge of the activity that they display. He does not measure the reward by the value of the gift. He measures it by faithfulness in handling what He entrusts to us. That is why the share of those who stay with the baggage is like the share of those who go down to the battle (v. 24). A restored David proclaimed the principle of grace joined to righteousness. Should we be surprised that its effects have lasted?
One commentator notes that David decided this himself, and that a fuller grace was still to come:
Besides, the people who had not fought were to have their share as well as those who had. It fell to David to decide that they must all share alike. This ordinance awaited another day. But here it was not according to the full grace of that day. It was a season of goodness, and nothing more.
Some of David's men never reached the fight. Their weakness was real, and so was their usefulness:
At the brook Besor two hundred men were too weary to follow the troop. They stopped and stayed behind to guard the baggage. They lacked strength. Still, their work was useful to David and their brothers, and no one should despise it. The work of active fighters is very visible. It exposes us to spiritual pride far more than a humbler place does. David's companions prove this in what follows. They credit their own strength for the victory that God alone prepared and then gave them (v. 22).
Commentators read David here as a picture of Christ, who won a fight no one could help Him with:
But He was Conqueror for us, and so He comes out at once with the spoils of that day, to lay them at our feet. He had been alone in the conflict, but would not be alone in the victory. It was an ancient statute of David, that the man who stayed by the baggage should share with the man who went down to the battle. And it was a decree worthy of the grace of "the beloved." But a better one than David is here — One not only of royal but of divine grace.
The same picture puts us among the men who could not cross the brook:
Had we been witnesses of it, what could we, poor helpless things, have done more than His disciples did? We could not so much as have crossed the brook Besor! But our great David came forth in the face of our helplessness. He had defeated all the enemies, and He gave this wonderful decree: "For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike" (v. 24).
The equal share also points forward to a day when the Lord rewards service:
David was faithful and considerate to those whose weakness had held them back. The rewards for faithful service are still to come. As David did not forget the men who stayed with the baggage, so Christ our Lord says, "Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done" (Rev. 22:12).
David's rule asks a question of us too:
Let us not be quick to condemn these followers of David. First look at our own attitude toward God's people. They may not have shown the same energy of faith that we have shown, in some measure. We have snatched the precious things of Christ from the enemy's hand. Are we unwilling to share them with those who have not had the energy to recover what is truly their own? Are we reluctant to feed the whole flock of God? Do we limit our service to the special few who are closest to us?
- Restored. A man just restored from his own failure set this rule. Grace received turns into grace given.
- Granted. The Lord gave the spoil. The strong did not earn it, so no one can claim a bigger share.
- Shared. Weakness at the brook did not cancel a man's portion; the humble post was still useful service.
- Foreshadowed. Christ fought alone, but He will not hold the victory alone. He gives a full share to those who could not even cross the brook.
- Ahead. The final reward is still to come. So the rule becomes a duty now: serve the whole flock, not the special few.
And David came to Ziklag, and he sent of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, Behold a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of Jehovah
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
to those in Bethel, and to those in south Ramoth, and to those in Jattir,
David has just crushed the Amalekite raiders who burned Ziklag and seized the families of his men. Now he shares out the recovered plunder across southern Judah, and the first three towns raise a question: why these places, and why give so much away?
The Bethel here is probably not the well-known Bethel. It looks like a separate town in the south that shares the name:
This name appears in Joshua 12:16 (not the one in Joshua 12:9) and in 1 Samuel 30:27. It is probably a different place from the Bethel described before it, because of the names linked with it, and it lay farther south. It is probably the same as Bethul, or Bethuel.
Jattir, the third town, had a particular standing in Israel:
City in the highlands of Judah, allotted to the priests. Joshua 15:48; Joshua 21:14; 1 Samuel 30:27; 1 Chronicles 6:57.
Older translations call the second town, Ramoth of the Negeb, "south Ramoth."
The towns were not chosen at random. They were the places that had known David when he had nothing:
David had already given his companions back everything they had lost. He also sends some of the spoil he had gathered to his brothers in the land of Israel. The large number of cities remembered in this way shows how great his victory had been. He sends it to those who had seen his poverty for themselves. They had at least refused to join in against him, and so proved that they were for him.
The obvious use of plunder is to make yourself rich. David does the opposite, and the gift carries a message about who is with him:
David, upright and generous, found an opportunity in the difficulty that arose from the selfishness of his people. He could set up something that agreed with the will of God. Instead of seeking to enrich himself through his share of the spoil, he uses it to keep kind relations with the elders of his people, and to prove to them that Jehovah is still with him.
David remembers many, and he leaves some out. One writer reads a warning in that:
In his prosperity (verses 26-31) David forgets none of those who had helped him in the time of his adversity. He showers gifts on them. As far as I can see, the only ones left out were the Ziphites, who had no part in his generosity: those informers who had wanted to hand over the king of Israel. David's generosity gives all the faithful solid proof that the Lord is with him. It proves that it is good to accept him as master and to put oneself under his law. Unfaithfulness toward Christ, on the other hand, will one day bring its inevitable consequences, perhaps long afterward. And in contrast, a glass of water given to David in the wilderness is recorded in the book of Him who values all our deeds. He weighs them by how much they serve Christ, whether more or less.
David had been away from the Lord. The sharing out of the spoil shows that he is a restored man:
A dispute threatened among David's men. It would have turned out very differently if he had still been away from the Lord. But now he acts in the sweetness of grace. The great spoil is distributed among the different cities of Judah. We may well think here of the victory of our coming King, in which His people will share through His infinite grace.
The full dividing of the spoil is still ahead, though something of it can be tasted now:
Even now, if we have shared in His reproach in some small way, we are allowed a foretaste of such triumphs of our Lord, and allowed to enjoy the results of His victory. But the day for that full dividing of the spoil has not yet come. What a time it will be when the least loyalty to Him — even a cup of cold water given to one of His disciples — receives a recognition beyond the greatest expectation!
- Recovery — This giving is the fruit of a restored heart. The man who had drifted from the Lord now "acts in the sweetness of grace."
- Gift — David keeps nothing back for himself. The spoil becomes a present, used to hold his people together and to prove the Lord is with him.
- Reach — The gift travels wide: a southern Bethel, Ramoth of the Negeb, the priests' town of Jattir, and many more. Every place that stood by him in his poverty has a share.
- Memory — David forgets no friend from the hard years, and no cup of water given to him goes unrecorded. Only the informers who had tried to betray him get nothing.
- Foretaste — The scene points forward to a greater King. His people will share in a victory they did not win, and He will honour the smallest act of loyalty to Him far beyond expectation.
and to those in Aroer, and to those in Siphmoth, and to those in Eshtemoa,
Verse 28 names three of the towns that shared in what David had just won back from the Amalekites who burned Ziklag. After a chapter of failure, chastening and recovery, why does the restored man start by giving his winnings away?
The length of the list says something about the size of the win. And the towns on it had a history with David:
The large number of cities he remembered in this way shows how great his victory had been. He sends the gifts to people who had seen his own poverty, and who had proved that they were for him — at least by refusing to take sides against him.
David had every claim on the goods he recovered. He did not use them to make himself rich:
David was upright and generous. The selfishness of his people created a difficulty, and in it he found an opportunity to set up something that agreed with the will of God. Instead of trying to make himself rich through his share of the spoil, he uses it to keep warm relations with the elders of his people, and to prove to them that Jehovah is still with him.
His giving flows from being right with the Lord again. Trouble had threatened among his men, and it could have gone another way:
The quarrel that threatened among David's men would have ended very differently if he had still been far from the Lord. But now he acts in the sweetness of grace. He shares the great spoil out among the different cities of Judah.
The gifts went out from a burnt town. Two things spoke at the same time:
The burnt ruins of Ziklag were witness to the chastening he had tasted so deeply and had needed. The presents he was sending out in every direction announced the repayment and the victory God had granted him. The contrast between the two witnesses is striking. One reported his own failure. The other spoke more widely and more plainly of the goodness and favour of the Lord.
The gifts went out to all the places David and his men had roamed. Then the news that changed everything reached him:
He had returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, and had sent presents of the spoil of the "enemies of the Lord" to all the places where he and his men used to roam. It was there, at Ziklag, that the great news reached him of the death of the man whose throne he was to fill.
David acted like a king before he knew Saul had fallen. A principle follows:
He was acting like a true king before he knew that he really was king, or that the man who had blocked his way to the throne had fallen on Mount Gilboa. It fits God's ways that we should have the spirit of our position by the time we are publicly given it. The condition shows the position.
One group is missing from the list, and the absence carries a warning:
In his prosperity (verses 26-31) David forgets none of those who had helped him in the time of his trouble. He showers them with gifts. Almost the only ones I see left out, with no share in his generosity, are the Ziphites: the informers who had wanted to hand over the king of Israel. David's generosity gives all the faithful solid proof that the Lord is with him, and that it is good to accept him as master and to put yourself under his authority. Being unfaithful to Christ will one day bring its certain consequences, even if long afterwards.
The sharing out of the spoil is a small picture of a larger one, still to come:
Even now we get a foretaste of such triumphs of our Lord. If we have shared in His reproach in any small way, we also enjoy the results of His victory. But the day for that full dividing of the spoil has not yet come. What a time it will be when the least loyalty to Him receives recognition beyond the greatest expectation — even when it was no more than a cup of cold water given to one of His disciples!
- Chastened. Ziklag's ruins recorded David's own failure. The gifts sent out from those ruins recorded the Lord's goodness.
- Restored. Because he is right with God again, he acts in the sweetness of grace. The quarrel that threatened among his men could have ended very differently.
- Given away. He keeps nothing back for himself. The spoil buys warm relations with the elders and proves the Lord is still with him.
- Reaching far. The long list of towns measures the size of the victory. Every town on it stood by him when he was poor. Only informers like the Ziphites are missing.
- Repaid. David repays in his prosperity what was given to him in the wilderness. One day even a cup of cold water given to one of Christ's own will win recognition beyond all expectation.
and to those in Rachal, and to those in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to those in the cities of the Kenites,
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
and to those in Hormah, and to those in Chor-ashan, and to those in Athach,
David has just recovered everything the Amalekites took from Ziklag, and he sends shares of the spoil to towns across southern Judah, among them Hormah, Bor-ashan and Athach. The list looks like dry geography, but each name has a history, and commentators read the gift as the mark of a man restored to God.
These are not random towns. One of them — Bor-ashan, which some translations spell Chor-ashan — appears in the old records as a place David knew from his years on the run.
A city in Judah where David used to take refuge, and to which he sent some of the spoil he had taken in war. 1 Sam. 30:30. It is mentioned along with cities south of Hebron.
Hormah carries a name earned in battle long before David was born.
The name means "utter destruction." Judah and Simeon gave it to Zephath, a town in the far south, when they conquered it.
David could have kept the recovered goods. What he does with them shows where his heart now sits.
David was upright and generous. The selfishness of his people caused trouble, and in that trouble he found a chance to set up what agreed with the will of God. He does not try to enrich himself with his share of the spoil. Instead, he uses it to keep warm relations with the elders of his people, and to prove to them that the Lord is still with him.
The bigger gain was not the goods David got back.
Grace had achieved not merely a great victory for David, but a greater victory in him.
The gift comes with a label. David does not call it his winnings; he names the source, and the contrast with Saul is stark.
Saul forfeits everything by disobedience and finally dies; David, on the other hand, prospers in the school of adversity and comes in, at the close of this book, holding both the position and the real power of God, by which he recovers everything from the enemy's hand. What is more, David sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, "Behold, a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the LORD."
The towns on this list had sheltered a fugitive. Now the fugitive is winning, and the memory works both ways.
In his prosperity (vv. 26-31) David forgets none of those who had helped him in the time of his adversity. He showers them with gifts. I can see hardly anyone excluded from his generosity except the Ziphites — the informers who had wanted to hand over the king of Israel. David's liberality gives all the faithful solid proof that the Lord is with him... And in contrast, a glass of water given to David in the wilderness goes down in the book of Him who values all our deeds. He weighs them by how useful they are to Christ, whether great or small.
One writer turns this sharing into questions for anyone who has come through a spiritual fight.
Do we realise that every victory over the flesh and its desires is a victory for the whole people of God? So is every defeat of our spiritual enemies, and we are to share the results with them. We have snatched precious things of Christ from the enemy's hand. Are we unwilling to pass them on to those who have not had enough energy to recover what is really their own?
The same writer adds a caution: generosity is not carelessness. Knowing what to give, and to whom, takes wisdom.
The scene points forward, and one writer names what it pictures.
David distributes the great spoil among the various cities of Judah. We may well think here of the victory of our coming King. His people will share in it through His boundless grace.
- Recovered. David gets back everything Amalek took. He names the spoil he sends to Hormah, Bor-ashan and Athach for what it is: plunder taken from the enemies of the LORD.
- Restored. He does not use the win to enrich himself. Commentators see the deeper victory as the one grace won inside David, not just for him.
- Remembered. Every place that sheltered him in his poverty is on the list. He leaves off only the informers who had tried to betray him.
- Shared. One man won the battle; towns that never marched get the spoil. That is the pattern: pass on to the whole people of God what we have won back from the enemy.
- Rewarded. God does not forget a glass of water given to a hunted man. He records it, and it points to a coming King whose people will share in His victory.
and to those in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men went about.
David's list of gifts ends where his kingship would begin. He sends the recovered spoil back along the whole trail of his exile. Hebron is the last name on the list.
The closing phrase sweeps up every place he and his men had passed through while in hiding. One writer notes who was left off the list:
In his prosperity (vv. 26-31) David forgets none of those who had helped him in the time of his adversity. He overwhelms them with gifts. I see almost no one left out. Only the Ziphites had no share in his generosity: those informers who had wanted to hand over the king of Israel. David's generosity gives all the faithful solid proof that the Lord is with him. It shows that it is good to accept him as master and to live under his law. Unfaithfulness toward Christ, on the other hand, will one day bring its inevitable consequences — perhaps long afterward.
David had a rightful share of the plunder. He spent it on others instead:
The selfishness of his people created a difficulty. David, upright and generous, found in it an opportunity to set up what agreed with the will of God. He did not seek to enrich himself through his share of the spoil. He uses it instead to keep kind relations with the elders of his people, and to prove to them that the Lord is still with him.
Earlier in this chapter David was at his lowest. The goods were not the main thing recovered:
But further, the exceeding grace of God gave occasion to two things worth noting here. First, hateful selfishness broke out in those who had no appreciation of the Lord. The presence and activity of grace always bring out the evil of the heart where there is no faith. Second, the single-eyed devotedness of one who no longer sought his own things shone once more with undimmed brightness. David was truly and fully restored. Grace had achieved not merely a great victory for David, but a greater victory in him.
The length of the list is part of the story, and so are the people who received the gifts:
David had restored to his companions all that they had lost. He also sends some of the spoil he had gathered to his brothers in the land of Israel. The large number of cities remembered in this way shows how great his victory had been. He sends it to those who had seen his own poverty. By refusing to join against him, they had at least proved that they were for him... What a time it will be! Suppose our loyalty to Him has been only a cup of cold water given to one of His disciples. Even that will receive a recognition beyond the greatest expectation!
Behind David's sharing of the spoil, one writer sees a greater Conqueror:
But He was Conqueror for us, and so He comes out at once with the spoils of that day to lay them at our feet. He had been alone in the conflict, but would not be alone in the victory... It was an ancient statute of David that the man who stayed by the baggage should share with the man who went down to the battle. And it was a decree worthy of the grace of "the beloved." But a better one than David is here, One not only of royal but of divine grace.
The last town on David's list is the one God names next. The gifts went out while he was still at Ziklag:
Now that Saul was dead, the way lay open for him to take the throne. Though he had not left Ziklag, he at once acted royally, sending presents to the elders of Judah, to his friends... With the simplicity of a child, and in few words, he asked Him — "Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the Lord said to him — Go up. And David said, Where shall I go up? And He said, To Hebron."
- Restored. This generosity comes from a man just brought back to God. Grace won a victory for David, and a greater victory in him.
- Given. He refused to enrich himself from the spoil. He used it to keep kind relations with the elders and to prove the Lord was still with him.
- Remembered. Every place of his exile received a share. The only ones missing are the men who had tried to hand him over.
- Shared. The Conqueror was alone in the battle, but He will not be alone in the victory. Even a cup of cold water given to one of His disciples will meet a recognition beyond expectation.
- Enthroned. Hebron closes the list, and Hebron is where God sends him next; the gifts of a rejected man come just before the crown.