And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD 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.
Trouble of his own making
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.
C. H. MackintoshIn 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 one thing that broke him
The raid alone did not turn him. It was the threat from the men who loved him.
William KellyThe 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.
Everyone wept, one man was strengthened
The chapter records grief shared by the whole company. It records encouragement in only one man.
The Bible TreasuryPoor 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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Why the words "his God" matter
David did not turn to a God he had just met. He turned to the God who had already helped him.
H. L. RossierBut 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.
Nothing in David's history matched this
He had faced a lion, a bear and a giant. This was different, and the difference is the point.
C. H. MackintoshHe 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.
The answer God gave
David had failed Him. What he heard back from God shows how God treats a servant who has failed.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe 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.
Summary
- 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."