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."
after_note: DELETE
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.