FRAMEWORKS:
1 Samuel 30: David
Destroys the Amalekites
v.1-6
David finds Ziklag pillaged by the Amalakites
v.7-10
David gets guidance to pursue them but not all are up to it
v.11-16
They find an Egyptian slave who guides them
v.17-19
David's men overcome the Amalekites and recover everyone
v.20-25
A new law of sharing plunder is established
v.26-31
David shares plunder around Judah
v.1-6
David finds Ziklag pillaged by the Amalakites
v.1
David
and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites
had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and
burned it,
v.2
and
had taken captive the women and everyone else in it, both young
and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they
went on their way.
v.3
When
David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire
and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.
v.4
So
David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to
weep.
v.5
David's
two wives had been captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the
widow of Nabal of Carmel.
v.6
David
was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning
him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters.
But David found strength in the Lord
his God.
[Notes:
When
David gets back to their home base, now at Ziklag, he finds that
the nomadic Amalekites have been there and plundered the city
and taken all the families off as slaves and the city left destroyed
by fire. He and his men are devastated by this.]
v.7-10
David gets guidance to pursue them but not all are up to it
v.7
Then
David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelek, “Bring
me the ephod.” Abiathar brought it to him,
v.8
and
David inquired of the Lord,
“Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?”
“Pursue
them,” he answered. “You will certainly overtake them and succeed
in the rescue.”
v.9
David
and the six hundred men with him came to the Besor Valley, where
some stayed behind.
v.10
Two
hundred of them were too exhausted to cross the valley, but David
and the other four hundred continued the pursuit.
[Notes:
David
sends for the priest (and prophet?) and enquires of the Lord and
is told he will succeed in a rescue. However they have already
come some distance since leaving Achish, and a third of the army
are too exhausted to continue very far and so stop part way.]
v.11-16
They find an Egyptian slave who guides them
v.11
They
found an Egyptian in a field and brought him to David. They gave
him water to drink and food to eat—
v.12 part
of a cake of pressed figs and two cakes of raisins. He ate and
was revived, for he had not eaten any food or drunk any water
for three days and three nights.
v.13
David
asked him, “Who do you belong to? Where do you come from?”
He
said, “I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite. My master
abandoned me when I became ill three days ago.
v.14
We
raided the Negev of the Kerethites, some territory belonging to
Judah and the Negev of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag.”
v.15
David
asked him, “Can you lead me down to this raiding party?”
He
answered, “Swear to me before God that you will not kill me or
hand me over to my master, and I will take you down to them.”
v.16 He
led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside,
eating, drinking and reveling because of the great amount of plunder
they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah.
[Notes:
David
with the remaining two thirds of the army continues the pursuit
south and comes across a wandering and worn out Egyptian who turns
out to have been a slave to the Amalekites. They feed him and
persuade him to act as a guide to follow the Amalekites.]
v.17-19
David's men overcome the Amalekites and recover everyone
v.17
David
fought them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none
of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on
camels and fled.
v.18
David
recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two
wives.
v.19
Nothing
was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else
they had taken. David brought everything back.
[Notes:
David
and his men fall on the feasting Amalekites and destroy many of
them and recover their families and everything that had been taken
from Ziklag as well as flocks and herds belonging to the Amalekites.]
v.20-25
A new law of sharing plunder is established
v.20
He
took all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of
the other livestock, saying, “This is David's plunder.”
v.21
Then
David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to
follow him and who were left behind at the Besor Valley. They
came out to meet David and the men with him. As David and his
men approached, he asked them how they were.
v.22
But
all the evil men and troublemakers among David's followers said,
“Because they did not go out with us, we will not share with them
the plunder we recovered. However, each man may take his wife
and children and go.”
v.23 David
replied, “No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the
Lord
has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our hands
the raiding party that came against us.
v.24
Who
will listen to what you say? The share of the man who stayed with
the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to
the battle. All will share alike.”
v.25 David
made this a statute and ordinance for Israel from that day to
this.
[Notes:
They
make their way back north on the way home and encounter their
recovering third of the army still resting. Some of his men don't
want to share the captured plunder with them but David establishes
a rule that even those who stay back should share in the plunder.]
v.26-31
David shares plunder around Judah
v.26
When
David reached Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to the elders
of Judah, who were his friends, saying, “Here is a gift for you
from the plunder of the Lord
's enemies.”
v.27
David
sent it to those who were in Bethel, Ramoth Negev and Jattir;
v.28
to
those in Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa
v.29
and
Rakal; to those in the towns of the Jerahmeelites and the Kenites;
v.30
to
those in Hormah, Bor Ashan, Athak
v.31 and
Hebron; and to those in all the other places where he and his
men had roamed.
[Notes:
However
when they get home, David doesn't only share the plunder around
his men, he also shares it around the areas where they have been
moving recently.]
CONTINUE
TO CHAPTER 31