30 Now it happened, when David and his men came to Ziklag, on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire, ² and had taken captive the women and those who were there, from small to great; they did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way. ³ So David and his men came to the city, and there it was, burned with fire; and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive. ⁴ Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep. ⁵ And David’s two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, had been taken captive. ⁶ Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

⁷ Then David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” And Abiathar brought the ephod to David. ⁸ So David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?”

And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.”

⁹ So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the Brook Besor, where those stayed who were left behind. ¹⁰ But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind, who were so weary that they could not cross the Brook Besor.

¹¹ Then they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David; and they gave him bread and he ate, and they let him drink water. ¹² And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. So when he had eaten, his strength came back to him; for he had eaten no bread nor drunk water for three days and three nights. ¹³ Then David said to him, “To whom do you belong, and where are you from?”

And he said, “I am a young man from Egypt, servant of an Amalekite; and my master left me behind, because three days ago I fell sick. ¹⁴ We made an invasion of the southern area of the Cherethites, in the territory which belongs to Judah, and of the southern area of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.”

¹⁵ And David said to him, “Can you take me down to this troop?”

So he said, “Swear to me by God that you will neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will take you down to this troop.”

¹⁶ And when he had brought him down, there they were, spread out over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil which they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. ¹⁷ Then David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled. ¹⁸ So David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives. ¹⁹ And nothing of theirs was lacking, either small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything which they had taken from them; David recovered all. ²⁰ Then David took all the flocks and herds they had driven before those other livestock, and said, “This is David’s spoil.”

²¹ Now David came to the two hundred men who had been so weary that they could not follow David, whom they also had made to stay at the Brook Besor. So they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. And when David came near the people, he greeted them. ²² Then all the wicked and worthless men of those who went with David answered and said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except for every man’s wife and children, that they may lead them away and depart.”

²³ But David said, “My brethren, you shall not do so with what the Lord has given us, who has preserved us and delivered into our hand the troop that came against us. ²⁴ For who will heed you in this matter? But as his part is who goes down to the battle, so shall his part be who stays by the supplies; they shall share alike.” ²⁵ So it was, from that day forward; he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day.

²⁶ Now when David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, “Here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord”— ²⁷ to those who were in Bethel, those who were in Ramoth of the South, those who were in Jattir, ²⁸ those who were in Aroer, those who were in Siphmoth, those who were in Eshtemoa, ²⁹ those who were in Rachal, those who were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, those who were in the cities of the Kenites, ³⁰ those who were in Hormah, those who were in Chorashan, those who were in Athach, ³¹ those who were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were accustomed to rove.

1 Samuel 30

Dear God, there is so much in this chapter, I want to just run a list of what I notice as I read it:

• I guess the Amelekites perceived an opportunity with the Philistines getting ready to go to war. It’s a reminder to me to not leave a flank unattended in my own life while I am focusing somewhere else. I was watching a video this morning from a former lead singer of a Christian band. He talked about letting Satan into small areas of his life while he focused on other areas, and it was in those small areas that he got destroyed and destroyed others.
• David is fortunate the Amelekites just took the women and children and didn’t kill them like he and his men did to the Amelekites. How much of this was payback and revenge on the part of the Amelekites?
• The discontented men were ready to stone David. Things were not going well for him. But he found strength in you (verse 6).
• I don’t know how you spoke to David through the Ephod, but I would think everyone’s emotions would be tainting any words from you. But in this case, it appears they heard you correctly.
• Six hundred men started, but only 400 made the whole trip. I wonder what the story was there. We will see later that the 400 men who did the whole thing noticed.
• It was a long battle. Overnight and until evening the next day. I kind of picture it to be the kind of thing that would be over in 30 minutes one way or the other. I wonder what took so long.
• They got it all back, but the 400 were ready to exclude the 200. David used it as another precedent-setting moment (like don’t touch the Lord’s anointed) that we are all one body and we all share.
• David used it as an opportunity to ingratiate himself to the leaders of Judah–especially the places who had helped him and his men while they were running from Saul.

Father, there are definitely some lessons in here for me. Watch my unprotected flank and be diligent. Recognize the victories are really yours and share with all parts of the body, not just the parts that look more important. Show gratitude to those who help you. It is the right thing to do, but it is also the shrewd thing to do. Thank you for these lessons. Help me to carry them with me into my life today.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen