in Hormah, in Bor-ashan, 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.
Names on the map of David's exile
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.
Morrish Bible DictionaryA 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.
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe name means "utter destruction." Judah and Simeon gave it to Zephath, a town in the far south, when they conquered it.
A restored man's generosity
David could have kept the recovered goods. What he does with them shows where his heart now sits.
J. N. DarbyDavid 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.
William KellyGrace had achieved not merely a great victory for David, but a greater victory in him.
Spoil of the enemies of the LORD
The gift comes with a label. David does not call it his winnings; he names the source, and the contrast with Saul is stark.
The Bible TreasurySaul 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."
No helper forgotten
The towns on this list had sheltered a fugitive. Now the fugitive is winning, and the memory works both ways.
H. L. RossierIn 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.
What we do with what we have recovered
One writer turns this sharing into questions for anyone who has come through a spiritual fight.
Samuel RidoutDo 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.
A picture of the coming King
The scene points forward, and one writer names what it pictures.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinDavid 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.
Summary
- 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.