When David and his men had come to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid on the South, and on Ziklag, and had struck Ziklag, and burned it with fire, and had taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They didn’t kill any, but carried them off, and went their way. When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, their sons, and their daughters were taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep. David’s two wives were taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him, because the souls of all the people were grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters; but David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God. David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” Abiathar brought the ephod to David.
David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “If I pursue after this troop, will I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue; for you will surely overtake them, and will without fail recover all.”
So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed. But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind, who were so faint that they couldn’t go over the brook Besor. They found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he ate; and they gave him water to drink. They gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins. When he had eaten, his spirit came again to him; for he had eaten no bread, and drank no water for three days and three nights. David asked him, “To whom do you belong? Where are you from?” He said, “I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days ago I got sick.
We made a raid on the South of the Cherethites, and on that which belongs to Judah, and on the South of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.”
David said to him, “Will you bring me down to this troop?” He said, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me and not deliver me up into the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this troop.”
When he had brought him down, behold, they were spread around over all the ground, eating, drinking, and dancing, because of all the great plunder that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah. David struck them from the twilight even to the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped from there, except four hundred young men, who rode on camels and fled. David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives. There was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither plunder, nor anything that they had taken to them. David brought back all. David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drove before those other livestock, and said, “This is David’s plunder.”
David came to the two hundred men, who were so faint that they could not follow David, whom also they had made to stay at the brook Besor; and they went out to meet David, and to meet the people who were with him. When David came near to the people, he greeted them. Then all the wicked men and worthless fellows, of those who went with David, answered and said, “Because they didn’t go with us, we will not give them anything of the plunder that we have recovered, except to every man his wife and his children, that he may lead them away, and depart.”
Then David said, “Do not do so, my brothers, with that which Yahweh has given to us, who has preserved us, and delivered the troop that came against us into our hand. Who will listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down to the battle, so shall his share be who stays with the baggage. They shall share alike.” It was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day. When David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, “Behold, a present for you from the plunder of Yahweh’s enemies.” He sent it to those who were in Bethel, to those who were in Ramoth of the South, to those who were in Jattir, to those who were in Aroer, to those who were in Siphmoth, to those who were in Eshtemoa, to those who were in Racal, to those who were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, to those who were in the cities of the Kenites, to those who were in Hormah, to those who were in Borashan, to those who were in Athach, to those who were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men used to stay.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 6, 8, 11, 15, 16, 17, 20, 22, 25, 31 That is, destroyed the city.
That is, destroyed the city.
After that he departed from Achish.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–31 1Sa 30:1 And it came to pass, when David…
1Sa 30:1 And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire;
Ver. 1. Were come to Ziklag on the third day.] For so long they were in coming from the camp of the Philistines. See 2Sa 1:2.
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That the Amalekites had invaded the south.] Of Judea, David’s country, who had lately so slaughtered them, but not wholly destroyed them. It is said of Carthage, that Rome was more troubled with it when it was half destroyed, than when it stood whole: so here, for now these Amalekites were enraged, and sought revenge.
And smitten Ziklag, and burnt it with fire.] Taking the advantage of David’s absence. And this was all that he got by fleeing to the Philistines, and marching among them. They sent him away as a man not to be trusted; and Ziklag smarts and smokes for their attempt against God’s people. But God had a holy hand in all, both for the chastising of David’s diffidence and dissimulation, for the further punishment of the cursed Amalekites, and for the endearing of David to his own people by the fame of his victory, and the largess he sent them. {1Sa 30:26}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 31 On the third day, to wit, after David’s departure…
On the third day, to wit, after David’s departure from Achish; for Ziklag was at a great distance from the camp and place of fight, as appears from 2Sa 1:2; and David’s men being all footmen, could make but slow marches.
The Amalekites; the remainders of that people who lived near those parts where David had destroyed their brethren, 1Sa 27:8,9.
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The south, to wit, the southern part of Judah, and the adjacent parts. See below, 1Sa 30:14.
Smitten Ziklag, i.e. sacked and spoiled it.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 7, 21 Here we have, I. The descent which the Amalekites…
Here we have, I. The descent which the Amalekites made upon Ziklag in David's absence, and the desolations they made there. They surprised the city when it was left unguarded, plundered it, burnt it, and carried all the women and children captives, Sa1 30:1, Sa1 30:2. They intended, by this to revenge the like havoc that David had lately made of them and their country, Sa1 27:8. He that had made so many enemies ought not to have left his own concerns so naked and defenceless. Those that make bold with others must expect that others will make as bold with them and provide accordingly. Now observe in this, 1. The cruelty of Saul's pity (as it proved) in sparing the Amalekites; if he had utterly destroyed them, as he ought to have done, these would not have been in being to do this mischief. 2. How David was corrected for being so forward to go with the Philistines against Israel. God showed him that he had better have staid at home and looked after his own business. When we go abroad in the way of our duty we may comfortably hope that God will take care of our families in our absence, but not otherwise. 3. How wonderfully God inclined the hearts of these Amalekites to carry the women and children away captives, and not to kill them. When David invaded them he put all to the sword (Sa1 27:9), and no reason can be given why they did not retaliate upon this city, but that God restrained them; for he has all hearts in his hands, and says to the fury of the most cruel men, Hitherto thou shalt come, and no further. Whether they spared them to lead them in triumph, or to sell them, or to use them for slaves, God's hand must be acknowledged, who designed to make use of the Amalekites for the correction, not for the destruction, of the house of David.
II. The confusion and consternation that David and his men were in when they found their houses in ashes and their wives and children gone into captivity. Three days' march they had from the camp of the Philistines to Ziklag, and now that they came thither weary, but hoping to find rest in their houses and joy in their families, behold a black and dismal scene was presented to them (Sa1 30:3), which made them all weep (David himself not excepted), though they were men of war, till they had no more power to weep, Sa1 30:4. The mention of David's wives, Ahinoam and Abigail, and their being carried captive, intimates that this circumstance went nearer his heart than any thing else. Note, It is no disparagement to the boldest and bravest spirits to lament the calamities of relations and friends. Observe, 1. This trouble came upon them when they were absent. It was the ancient policy of Amalek to take Israel at an advantage. 2. It met them at their return, and, for aught that appears, their own eyes gave them the first intelligence of it. Note, When we go abroad we cannot foresee what evil tidings may meet us when we come home again. The going out may be very cheerful, and yet the coming in be very doleful. Boast not thyself therefore of tomorrow, nor of tonight either, for thou knowest not what a day, or a piece of a day, may bring forth, Pro 27:1. If, when we come off a journey, we find our tabernacles in peace, and not laid waste as David here found his, let the Lord be praised for it.
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III. The mutiny and murmuring of David's men against him (Sa1 30:6): David was greatly distressed, for, in the midst of all his losses, his own people spoke of stoning him, 1. Because they looked upon him as the occasion of their calamities, by the provocation he had given the Amalekites, and his indiscretion in leaving Ziklag without a garrison in it. Thus apt are we, when we are in trouble, to fly into a rage against those who are in any way the occasion of our trouble, while we overlook the divine providence, and have not that regard to the operations of God's hand in it which would silence our passions, and make us patient. 2. Because now they began to despair of that preferment which they had promised themselves in following David. They hoped ere this to have been all princes; and now to find themselves all beggars was such a disappointment to them as made them grow outrageous, and threaten the life of him on whom, under God, they had the greatest dependence. What absurdities will not ungoverned passions plunge men into? This was a sore trial to the man after God's own heart, and could not but go very near him. Saul had driven him from his country, the Philistines had driven him from their camp, the Amalekites had plundered his city, his wives were taken prisoners, and now, to complete his woe, his own familiar friends, in whom he trusted, whom he had sheltered, and who did eat of his bread, instead of sympathizing with him and offering him any relief, lifted up the heel against him and threatened to stone him. Great faith must expect such severe exercises. But it is observable that David was reduced to this extremity just before his accession to the throne. At this very time, perhaps, the stroke was struck which opened the door to his advancement. Things are sometimes at the worst with the church and people of God just before they begin to mend.
IV. David's pious dependence upon the divine providence and grace in this distress: But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. His men fretted at their loss. The soul of the people was bitter, so the word is. Their own discontent and impatience added wormwood and gall to the affliction and misery, and made their case doubly grievous. But 1. David bore it better, though he had more reason than any of them to lament it; they gave liberty to their passions, but he set his graces on work, and by encouraging himself in God, while they dispirited each other, he kept his spirit calm and sedate. Or, 2. There may be a reference to the threatening words his men gave out against him. They spoke of stoning him; but he, not offering to avenge the affront, nor terrified by their menaces, encouraged himself in the Lord his God, believed, and considered with application to his present case, the power and providence of God, his justice and goodness, the method he commonly takes of bringing low and then raising up, his care of his people that serve him and trust in him, and the particular promises he had made to him of bringing him safely to the throne; with these considerations he supported himself, not doubting but the present trouble would end well. Note, Those that have taken the Lord for their God may take encouragement from their relation to him in the worst of times. It is the duty and interest of all good people, whatever happens, to encourage themselves in God as their Lord and their God, assuring themselves that he can and will bring light out of darkness, peace out of trouble, and good out of evil, to all that love him and are the called according to his purpose, Rom 8:28. It was David's practice, and he had the comfort of it, What time I am afraid I will trust in thee. When he was at his wits' end he was not at his faith's end.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–31 And it came to pass, when David and his…
And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag, on the third day,.... Either from their departure from thence, when they went out with Achish, or rather from the time of their leaving Achish, and the camp of the Philistines; so long they were upon their march homewards, see Sa2 1:1; and no wonder, if it was the distance of eighty eight miles; see Gill on Sa1 29:11,
that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag; the southern parts of the land of the Philistines, and of Judah, as appears from Sa1 30:14; taking the opportunity of the Philistines being gone into the land of Israel, and particularly of David's absence from Ziklag, to whom they bore a grudge for his invasion, destruction, and spoil of them not long ago, see Sa1 27:8,
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and smitten Ziklag, and burnt it with fire; not that they smote the inhabitants of it, there were no men in it, and the women and children they carried captive; but they demolished the buildings in it, pulled down the houses after they had rifled them, and burnt them with fire, that David and his men might dwell there no more.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26 Ziklag plundered: David and his men distressed, ver. 1-6.…
Ziklag plundered: David and his men distressed, ver. 1-6. Encouraged of God, he pursues them, ver. 7-10. He gains intelligence from a straggler, ver. 11-15. Routs the enemy, and recovers all they had taken, ver. 16-20. Makes an order for dividing the spoil, ver. 21-25. Sends presents to his friends, ver. 26-31
The south - Namely, the southern part of Judah, and the adjacent parts.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 6, 7, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 While David is absent with the army of Achish,…
CHAPTER XXX
While David is absent with the army of Achish, the Amalekites
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invade Ziklag, and burn it with fire, and carry away captive
David's wives, and those of his men, 1, 2.
David and his men return; and, finding the desolate state of
their city, are greatly affected, 3-5.
The men mutiny, and threaten to stone David, who encourages
himself in the Lord, 6.
David inquires of the Lord, and is directed to pursue the
Amalekites, with the promise that he shall recover all, 7, 8.
He and his men begin the pursuit, but two hundred, through
fatigue are obliged to stay behind at the brook Besor, 9, 10.
They find a sick Egyptian, who directs them in their pursuit,
11-15.
David finds the Amalekites secure, feasting on the spoils they
had taken; he attacks and destroys the whole host, except four
hundred, who escape on camels, 16, 17.
The Israelites recover their wives, their families, and all
their goods, 18-20.
They come to the two hundred who were so faint as not to be
able to pursue the enemy, with whom they divide the spoil; and
this becomes a statute in Israel, 21-25.
David sends part of the spoil which he had taken to different
Jewish cities, which had suffered by the incursion of the
Amalekites; and where David and his anew had been accustomed
to resort, 26-31.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXX
Verse 1. On the third day] This was the third day after he had left the Philistine army at Aphek. Calmet supposes that Aphek was distant from Ziklag more than thirty leagues.
The Amalekites had invaded] These were, doubtless, a travelling predatory horde, who, availing themselves of the war between the Philistines and the Israelites, plundered several unprotected towns, and among them Ziklag. It is likely they had not heard of what David did to some of their tribes, else they would have avenged themselves by slaying all they found in Ziklag.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 15, 16, 20, 21, 23, 26 1Sa 30:1-2. The Amalekites had invaded the south —…
1Sa 30:1-2. The Amalekites had invaded the south — Namely, the southern part of Judah, and the adjacent country. This, probably, they had done to revenge themselves for David’s invading their country, mentioned 1Sa 27:8. And smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire — Which they might easily do when David and his men were absent, and but a small, if any, guard left in the place. And had taken the women captives — And among the rest David’s two wives. They slew not any, but carried them away — Toward their own country. Being a poor and very covetous people, they doubtless intended to sell them for slaves, and make money of them. How great must have been the surprise, and how inexpressible the grief of David and his men, when they came to the town, to find it utterly desolated, and burned down to the ground, and all the persons and property left therein taken away!
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 7, 9, 12, 14, 20, 27, 28, 30, 31 On the third day - This indicates that Aphek…
On the third day - This indicates that Aphek was three days’ march from Ziklag, say about 50 miles, which agrees very well with the probable situation of Aphek (1Sa 4:1 note). From Ziklag to Shunem would not be less than 80 or 90 miles.
The Amalekites, in retaliation of David’s raids 1Sa 27:8-9, invaded “the south” of Judah Jos 15:21; but owing to the absence of all the men with David there was no resistance, and consequently the women and children were carried off as prey, and uninjured.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 Day. It was distant from Aphec about 90 miles.…
Day. It was distant from Aphec about 90 miles. --- Smitten, yet without killing any. (Calmet) --- We may adore a merciful Providence, which prevented these barbarians from treating David’s men as he had treated theirs, chap. xxvii. 11. (Salien, the year before Christ 1074.) --- He would allow them to burn the city, &c., that David might be roused to execute the divine vengeance upon them. (Theodoret)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 III. David’s Victory over the Amalekites who destroyed Ziklag
III. David’s Victory over the Amalekites who destroyed Ziklag
1Sa_30:1-31
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1And it came to pass, when David and his men were come1 to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south2 and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag 2and burned it with fire; And had taken the women captives [captive the women] that were therein [ins. both small and great];3 they slew4 not any either great or small [om. either great or small], but carried them away [off] and went on their 3way.5 So [And] David and his men came to the city, and behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters were taken captives. 4Then [And] David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and 5wept, until they had no more power to weep. And David’s two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.6 6And David was greatly distressed [was in a great strait],7 for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved [bitter], every man for his sons and his daughters; but David encouraged [strengthened] himself in the Lord [Jehovah] his God.
7And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, I pray thee, bring me hither [om. hither] the ephod.8 And Abiathar brought thither [om. thither] the 8ephod to David. And David inquired at the Lord [of Jehovah], saying, Shall I pursue9 after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue! for thou shalt surely overtake them and without fail recover all [for thou shalt 9overtake and deliver]. So [And] David went, he and the six hundred men that were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those that were left behind 10stayed.10 But [And] David pursued, he and four hundred men; for [and] two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.11
11And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought12 him to David, and gave 12him bread, and he did eat, and they made him drink water. And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters [cakes] of raisins; and when he had eaten, his spirit13 came again to him; for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any 13water, three days and three nights. And David said unto him, To whom belongest thou? and whence art thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt,14 servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me because three days agone15 I fell sick. 14We made an invasion upon the south of the Cherethites, and upon the coast [on the region] which belongeth to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb, and we burned 15Ziklag with fire. And David said to him, Canst [Wilt] thou bring me down to this company [troop]?16 And he said, Swear unto me by God that thou wilt neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my master and I will bring thee down 16to this company [troop]. And when he had [And he] brought him down, [ins. and] behold, they were spread abroad upon all the earth [over the whole land], eating and drinking and dancing [revelling]17, because of all the great spoil which they had taken out of the land of the Philistines and out of the land of Judah. 17And David smote them from the twilight even [om. even] unto the evening of the next day,18 and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, 18which rode upon camels and fled. And David recovered [rescued] all that the 19Amalekites had carried away; and David rescued his two wives. And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither [nor] spoil, nor anything that they had taken to them; David recovered all. 20And David took all the flocks and herds, [;] which they drove before those other cattle [they drove before him this flock],19 and said, This is David’s spoil.
21And David came to the two hundred men, which were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they20 had made also [om. also] to abide at the brook Besor. And they went forth to meet David and to meet the people that were with 22him; and when David came near to the people, he saluted them. Then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial [all the wicked and worthless men], of those that went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them ought [aught] of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his 23wife and his children, that they may lead them away and depart. Then said David [And David said], Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the Lord [Jehovah] hath given us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the company 24[troop] that came against us into our hand. For [And] who will hearken unto you in this matter? but [for] as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall 25his part be that tarrieth by the stuff; they shall part alike. And it was so [it came to pass] from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance 26for21 Israel unto this day. And when [om. when] David came to Ziklag, he [and] sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to [om. even to] his friends, saying, 27Behold a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord [Jehovah]: To them which were in Bethel, and to them which were in south Ramoth [in Ramothnegeb], 28and to them which were in Jattir, And to them which were in Aroer, and 29to them which were in Siphmoth, and to them which were in Eshtemoa, And to them which were in Rachal, and to them which were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, 30and to them which were in the cities of the Kenites, And to them which were in Hormah, and to them which were in Chor22 -ashan, and to them which were 31in Athach, And to them which were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were wont to haunt [which David frequented, he and his men].
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1Sa_30:1-6. Description, of the calamity inflicted by the Amalekites, who plundered and burned Ziklag, the grief of David and his men at their loss, the danger to which he was exposed from the exasperated people who threw the blame on him, and his strengthening in the Lord.—The construction of the four first verses is as follows: the protasis extends through the three first verses, but with two parentheses, the first extending from “and the Amalekite,” in 1Sa_30:1 to the end of 1Sa_30:2, the second including all of 1Sa_30:3 after the word “behold;” the apodosis is 1Sa_30:4.—On the third day, namely, after his departure from Achish. The Amalekites had used David’s absence and the defenceless condition of Ziklag to revenge themselves for his invasion of their territory (1Sa_27:8). The south and Ziklag, the general term preceding the particular. The Negeb is the south-country, so called by the Israelites as being the southern part of Palestine or Judah, while it was north of the Amalekite territory. According to 1Sa_30:13 they had plundered Ziklag three days before David’s return. In verse 2 only the women are said to have been carried away; the children, mentioned in 1Sa_30:3; 1Sa_30:6, are omitted here for brevity’s sake. The Sept.’s addition to the text of the words “and all” is unnecessary (against Thenius).23 So the words “nor woman” after “man” are an explanatory insertion of the Sept. It is expressly remarked that the women were not slain, because they intended to make slaves of them and the children [in contrast with David’s conduct, 1Sa_27:11.—Tr.]. The two wives of David, Ahinoam and Abigail, are especially named, 1Sa_25:42 sq., 1Sa_27:3. The great sorrow that they all, David and his men, expressed with tears and cries, corresponds with the great peril that threatened David, the people charging their misfortune on him and thinking of stoning him.—The soul of all the people was bitter, they were deeply agitated. But he strengthened himself in the Lord his God, he had recourse to Him in order (1Sa_30:7 sq.) to inquire of him by the ephod, as he had done, 1Sa_23:9. His strengthening in the Lord consisted in the fact that, being assured through his inquiry of the Lord’s assistance, he straightway set out with his embittered men to recover the spoil from the Amalekites.
1Sa_30:7-10. David’s arrangements to secure his end: 1) the religious preparation, verses 7, 8; he first assured himself of the Lord’s will that he should pursue the enemy, and of His promise that he should be successful,—on the words “bring me the ephod,” which indicate that the ephod was exclusively the property of the high-priest,24 comp. Hengst, Beit. [Contributions, etc.] 3, 67 sq.,—2) his military disposition of his men, 1Sa_30:9-10. The six hundred men appear here as before. They are divided into two parts, four hundred pursue the enemy, two hundred remain behind, when they have reached the brook Besor. [But this arrangement was not at first intended by David; it was a necessity forced on him by the exhaustion of the two hundred.—Tr.]. The brook Besor is probably the present Wady el Sheria, which begins in the hill-country of Judah and flows in a south-westerly direction south of Gaza into the sea. See Raumer, Pal. p. 52. [Rob. thought it the Wady Ar arah, and Grove and Porter think it yet unidentified.—Tr.].—At this brook and in its valley—both must be considered here, because the staying behind of some of David’s men, afterwards referred to their exhaustion, supposes an insurmountable difficulty in the ground—“the rest” (הַנוֹתָרִים= 1Sa_30:9) remained in a position adapted to the protection of the baggage which was left here (see 1Sa_30:24). The narrator here anticipates what is told in 1Sa_30:10; it is a proleptical expression, arising from the vivacious description of David’s rapid march with four hundred men, and there is no need to change the text into the Vulg. lassi “wearied” (= הַפְּגוּרִים), as Then. proposes, especially as the ancient VSS. had it and explained it by periphrases (Keil).25 The verb (פָּגַר) = “to be weary” in Syr., occurs only here and in 1Sa_30:21. Weariness was the reason of their remaining behind. At the same time they served to guard the baggage (1Sa_30:24).
1Sa_30:11-16 a. David gets information of the Amalekites from an Egyptian straggler. 1Sa_30:11. And they found an Egyptian; from the proximity of Egypt the Amalekites had Egyptians as slaves (comp. 1Sa_30:13). And they took, that is, brought him to David, a pregnant expression in keeping with the rapidity of the action. The insertion of the Sept. “and they brought him,” is clearly an explanatory reading (against Then.). “Bread” (לֶחֶם) = food; they gave him to eat and to drink;” the general statement stands first.
1Sa_30:12. The sort of food which they gave him. On the “fig-cakes” see on 1Sa_25:18. His spirit returned to him, he revived; having been left behind sick, and having been three days and three nights without food, he had lain exhausted on the field.26
1Sa_30:13 sq. The Egyptian’s answer. To whom belongest thou? that is, as slave, for as such he was recognized by his exterior. “Whence art thou?” (אֵי מִזֶּה, the אֵי remains unchanged, the מִזֶּה changes according to the relations of the sentence. Ew. § 326 a).—“We invaded;” the verb here only stands with the Accus., usually with a Prep. (עַל ,אֵל ,בְּ, see 1Sa_30:16).—The first geographical statement [1Sa_30:14]: On the south of the Cherethites.27 a Philistine tribe dwelling in the south and on the sea (see 1Sa_30:16), which came originally, as the name indicates, from the island of Crete. See in Steph. Byzant. s.v. Gaza, the tradition that the Cretans under Minos made an expedition against the neighboring coast of Gaza. Reasons for the view that Caphtor, the home of the Philistines (who were not indigenous to Canaan, but immigrants, Deu_2:23; Amo_9:7), is identical with Crete, may be seen in Bertheau zur Gesch. d. Israel., p. 186–200. Comp. Ewald Gesch. [Hist, of Israel] I. 336. Against this view see Starke’s Gaza, p. 66 sq., 99 sq., Dunker’s Gesch. d. Alterthums I., 339 A. [See also Vaihinger’s Article “Philister,” and Müller’s Art. “Kanaan” in Herzog’s R.-E., and Müller’s more recent book “Die Semiten,” in which he wrongly makes the Philistines Japhethites. The whole question is obscure, but there is some ground for holding that the Philistines first passed from the neighborhood of the Persian Gulf into Lower Egypt (Gen_10:14, “whence came the Philistines”), thence through Crete to Canaan, to which country they have given the name Palestine. This would explain the Phœnician-Canaanitish type of their language.—Tr.].28—The second statement: On what pertained to Judah, the southern regions of Judah, forming the eastern portion of the Negeb or Southland, which stretched across from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea. The third statement: On the south of Caleb.—Caleb, one of the twelve spies, as reward for his faithfulness and believing courage, he alone with Joshua, daring, and advising the people, to enter the land (Num_13:6; Num_13:30; Num_14:6 sq.), was, with Joshua, alone considered worthy to tread the land of promise; the city of Hebron and its environs was given to him and his posterity as a lasting possession. When the city of Hebron was afterwards assigned to the priests, the race of Caleb yet retained all the adjacent fields and villages (Jos_21:11 sq.). Though it belonged to the tribe-territory of Judah, the district of Caleb is regarded as a distinct region; it formed the eastern part of the Negeb as far as the Dead Sea, comp. 1Sa_25:3. The three regions, which the Amalekites invaded, are named from West to East. We hence see that the plundering expedition of the Amalekites extended over the whole South-country, and was not intended for Ziklag alone.
1Sa_30:15. David’s question: Wilt thou bring me down to this troop? supposes the Amalekites had marched southward, and dwelt there south of Judah and Philistia. The Egyptian assures himself by an oath (by “Elohim,” not by “Jehovah”), from David that he will not kill him, “because informers and guides, after having been used, were often so disposed of” (Thenius), and that he would not deliver him up to his master, because the latter would have killed him for his service to David.
1Sa_30:16 a assumes that David gave him the oath. He brought him down.—It is unnecessary (with Sept. and Then.) to insert “thither.” Though the slave was left behind sick, he yet knew the direction which “this troop” had taken.
1Sa_30:16 b–20. David surprises the Amalekites and recovers the booty. 1Sa_30:16 b. After “behold” we ought perhaps to suppose “they” (הֵמָה) fallen out (so Then. after Sept.). The narrative gives a lively description of the Amalekite troop, scattered over the ground (so David found them), revelling after their successful foray, and “celebrating a feast because of all the great spoil.”
1Sa_30:17. Thus abandoned to jollity David surprises them. The statement: from the twilight to the evening is understood by some to mean from the morning-twilight, by others to mean from the evening-twilight, the Heb. word (נֶשֶׁף) being used in both senses, for example, in the former in Job_7:4. In favor of the morning-twilight Isaiah 1) that David could only have surprised the revelling Amalekites by a night-march; and 2) the counter-limit: “to the evening.” Luther: “from morning to evening.” The succeeding word (לְֽמָחֳרָתָם) means not “on the following day,” but (because of the Prep.) “towards the next day” (Luth.) According to the former rendering the fight would have lasted two whole days, which is improbable. According to the latter it lasted (as agrees with the circumstances) only one day, from morning to evening, when according to Heb. reckoning the following day began. The suffix (ָם-), which the ancient VSS., except Syr. and Arab.,29 do not express, is perhaps an adverbial ending30 (Maurer, Ges., Then., Keil). That David had to fight the Amalekites a whole day shows that after the first surprise in the twilight they made obstinate resistance. [Instead of “the next day,” Bib.-Com. proposes to read “to wipe them out” (למחותם), and similarly Wellhausen. The present text is difficult. The addition “towards the morrow” (Erdmann) is unnecessary, and the phrase itself is strange, though sustained by the ancient versions. No explanation yet proposed is satisfactory.—Tr.].
1Sa_30:18 sq. Statement of David’s complete success; he recovered all the goods and persons that the Amalekites had carried away.
1Sa_30:20. All the sheep and oxen David took away, namely, from the Amalekites, not merely what they had taken from him, but other rich booty in cattle. “That flock” (הַמִּקְנֶה הַהוּא) [Eng. A. V. wrongly “those other cattle”] is not the flock that belonged to David, and was now recovered by him from the Amalekites. So some expositors take it, explaining it that David caused the flocks captured from the Amalekites to be driven before the rest which belonged to him, with the cry: “this is the spoil of David;” but there is no previous special mention of stolen cattle which would justify such a retrospective designation: “before that (David’s) flock.” “That flock,” in such a demonstrative or retrospective sense, can only be the previously-mentioned cattle captured from the enemy [1Sa_30:19]. Nor can we render with De Wette “they marched,” properly “they led,” that is, led the train of women and children; for the verb (נָהַג), as Thenius properly remarks in opposition, “never (even Gen_31:18; Exo_3:1; Isa_11:16; Psa_80:2 (1) Son_8:2) means lead except in so far as the leader is at the same time the driver (so 1Sa_30:2; 1Sa_30:22; 2Sa_6:3), and never means draw forward, lead on.” Taking the verb in the sense of “driving,” there is, however, no object to the verb in the Heb. text (לִפְנֵי); the “women and children” cannot be the object, since only cattle has been spoken of. We must therefore (with Then. after Vulg.) make a slight change in the text (read לְפָנָיו) and render: “they (the drivers) drove (or, one drove) before him,” that is, before David (who stood of course at the head of the troop) this flock, namely, that which had been captured from the Amalekites, to which the outcry “this is David’s spoil” answers very well.31
1Sa_30:21-25. David’s return with the recovered property and the booty to the two hundred men who were left behind, and the adjustment of a strife which was made by some wicked men of his band in regard to the division of the booty with them.
1Sa_30:21. Follow David, more precise statement of what is said in 1Sa_30:10, that they could not go over the brook Besor for weariness. The Sing. “he made to abide” (found in all ancient VSS. except Chald., and in 5 MSS. of De Rossi) instead of the Plu. is preferable (Then.), not only because it pertained to David to permit them to stay behind, but also because he is mentioned immediately before and after. David, who had left the tired two hundred to guard the baggage, now gives them friendly greeting as they come joyfully to meet him. On the phrase “he saluted them,” lit., “asked after their peace,” see 1Sa_25:5; Jdg_18:15.
1Sa_30:22. But in this joyful meeting a discordant note was introduced by certain “wicked and worthless persons” of the band, who had marched with David against the enemy and fought them. The translation of the Sept. “the men of war” is obviously an explanation, and does not require (Then.) a corresponding change in the Heb. text (אַנְשֵׁי הַמִּלְחָמָה). The Sing. “with me” refers to the individual man who speaks in the name of the rest [Eng. A. V., ad sensum “with us.”—Tr.]. Because they went not, because they did not share the danger, they shall not share the spoil, but each one must content himself with his wife and children. The “every one” (אִישׁ) is not dependent on “we will give” [as Eng. A. V. has it], so as to read, “we will give them nothing, except to every man his wife, etc.”, but the proper translation is (Thenius): “but every one his wife and children, these let them lead away, etc.”, because the “every one” (אִישׁ) is too far from the “to them” (לָהֶם) to be governed by the preposition “to.”
1Sa_30:23. In a gentle and friendly way David repels their demand. By the address “my brethren” he speaks to their hearts, and at the same time alludes to the fraternal association in which they all stand with one another, so that they that remained behind must receive their share by fraternal division. Do not so, my brethren, by that which the Lord has given us.—אֵת is not Prep. = “with that which” (De Wette), but the sign of the Acc. [= “in respect to that which” freely rendered “with” as in Eng. A. V.—Tr.]. Ewald, taking it as Acc., renders the phrase as an ejaculatory oath “by that which…!” (Gr., § 329 a), and so as an exclamation: “think on that which.” In favor of this translation, instead of the usual, “in respect to that which” is partly the interpunction (a strong pause at the word “my brethren,” אֶחָי֑), as even Then. admits, partly the excited feeling with which David speaks notwithstanding his friendly and gentle tone, so that this rendering cannot be rejected (Then.) as “less natural.”32 Translate “for he has guarded us, etc.” (the ו in וַיִשְׁמֹר as causal).
1Sa_30:24. And who will hearken to you in this word; we must here beyond doubt render “word” (דָּבָר) and not “thing” [as in Eng. A. V.] because of the reference to the “word” so emphatically spoken by the men. “For” [כִּי Eng. A. V. “but”] refers to the negation involved in the question, the reason for which is given in the following words; according to the sense, therefore, it = “but” or “rather.” The Sept. inserts by way of explanation the words: “they are not inferior to us, wherefore,” but there is no ground for inserting this into the Heb. text (against Then.). As is the part… so be the part… These words are explained by the brief declaration: together shall they share, which ordains the procedure corresponding to that rule.33—David repels the opposition with two arguments, 1) a divine, drawn from the so manifestly experienced goodness of the Lord, pointing a) to the gift bestowed on them in this booty; b) to the protection vouchsafed them; c) to the victory granted them; 2) a purely human, in which a) he affirms that no one will support them in their demand, since they were “wicked and worthless people,” b) in proof of this he points out the equality of soldiers in position and merit, in whether they take part in battle, or act as guards of baggage in reserve, and thence c) declares the demand of human justice “every one his own,” every one shall share in that which has fallen to so all together. An admirable speech, which set forth most fitly everything essential, and completely settled the dispute. [See in Patrick’s Comm. in loco. a citation from Polybius on the ancient rule of partition in war, and the procedure of Publius Scipio, like David’s, given in Polyb. X., XVI. 5 (Bib. Comm.).—Tr.].
1Sa_30:25. So it was from that day forward.—David’s decision ruled from thenceforth. “He made it,” the Subj. is David, not indefinite “one made it” (Sept., Vulg., Chald.). [A similar law in Num_31:27, only there the division is between the soldiery and those that stayed at home, the former having the advantage. David’s rule was perhaps a special application of the general principle; it was in force in the time of the Maccabees (2Ma_8:28; 2Ma_8:30). See Bp. Patrick’s further illustrations.—The translation “upwards,” referring back to Abraham, Gen_14:23-24 (Rashi cited by Gill), is plainly wrong.—Tr.]
1Sa_30:26-31. The dividing out of the booty
1Sa_30:26. David retained enough of the booty in the division among his own men, to send considerable presents to the elders of Judah, his friends.—The territory of the tribe of Judah had been the scene of his wanderings during his persecution by Saul; see the express reference to this in 1Sa_30:31. Here only his kingdom could and was to come to historical realization through the adhesion to him of the elders of Judah and through them of the whole people. Because they were his “friends,” therefore he sent them presents from the spoil taken from Judah’s old hereditary enemies; he did not send them gifts to make them his friends. [Probably for both reasons.—Tr.]. It is besides probable that many localities in Judah had been plundered by the Amalekites in this foray. F. W. Krummacher: “This was already a royal act in vivid anticipation of his impending accession to the throne. Already the crown of Israel was unmistakably though dimly visible above his head.” David’s point of view in sending these gifts is declared expressly to be the religious-theocratic in his accompanying words: Behold a gift of blessing for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord.—“Blessing” (בְּרָכָה) = “gift” which comes from God (see 1Sa_25:27). The enemies, from whom the booty was taken, he calls enemies of Jehovah, because they were enemies of God’s people and so of God’s cause and kingdom in Israel, yea, of God Himself, who as covenant-God identified Himself with His people. Israel’s conflict against its enemies was a “conflict of the Lord,” see on 1Sa_17:47. The booty taken in battle from the Amalekites by the Lord’s help was therefore a gift of God and thus a “blessing,” in which all Judah, where was the factual foundation for David’s kingdom, was to share through its elders and in all its separate localities. It must, therefore, have been a very rich booty, as we might also infer from the long duration of the battle.—The term Judah embraces all the territory of that tribe, together with certain after-mentioned cities of Simeon scattered on the south border of Judah, as in Jos_15:21 sq. some cities of Simeon are mentioned among the cities of Judah.
1Sa_30:27. Bethel cannot (according to 1Sa_30:31) be the city in Benjamin (now Beitin); the Sept. Vat. Baithsour, which Then. would adopt into the text as Beth-zur, the name of a city in the hill-country of Judah between Jerusalem and Hebron (Jos_15:58; 2Ch_11:7), which, however, is undesirable from the great difference between the syllables el and zur. It is probably the same place which is called Kesil in Jos_15:30, identical with the Simeonite town called in Jos_19:4 Bethul and mentioned in 1Ch_4:30 between Tolad and Hormah under the name Bethuel; according to Knobel = Elusa or el Khalasa, now a large ruin about twelve miles south of Beersheba, comp. Rob. I. 333 sq. [Am. Ed. I. 201, 202], Fay [in Lange’s Biblework] and Keil on Jos_15:30, V. Raumer, 180.—Ramoth-Negeb, so called, in distinction from other cities of the same name, as lying in the “south-country” belonging to Simeon, Jos_19:8. [“Shimei the Ramathite (1Ch_27:27), who was over David’s vineyards, was evidently a native of this Ramah” (Bib. Comm.).—Tr.].—Jattir, probably the present Attir, Rob. II. 422 [Am. Ed. I. 494, II. 204], a priestly city, Jos_15:48; Jos_21:14; 1Ch_6:42, in the southern part of the hill-country of Judah, in Eusebius’ time (Onom. s. v. Jether) a large place inhabited by Christians, twenty Roman miles from Eleutheropolis, called in Seetzen, R. III., S. VI Ater.
1Sa_30:28. Aroer, 1Ch_11:44, in Judah, now a city with colossal ruins of foundation-walls in Wady Ar’ara, about six miles south-east of Beersheba and eight miles south of Hebron, Rob. III. 180 [Am. Ed. II. 199].—Siphmoth, not identified, not = Shepham on the north-border of Canaan, Num_34:10-11, the places here mentioned being all in the south (see 1Sa_30:31), according to Keil, “perhaps found in Zebdi the Siphmite in 1Ch_27:27.” [Bib. Comm. in loco. remarks on the number of cases in which David’s officials are the companions of his youth.—Tr.].—Eshtemoa, now the large village Semua, according to Schubert 2225 feet above the level of the sea, on the south-western part of the hill-country of Judah, Rob. II. 422, III. 191 [Am. Ed. I. 494, I. 204, 205], with numerous remains of walls, once a priestly city (Jos_15:50; Jos_21:14).
1Sa_30:29. Rachal, unknown. Instead of this the Sept. has five different names: Ged, Kimath, Saphek, Themath, Karmel, which Thenius would insert in the text, supposing that they might easily have fallen out through the repetition of the phrase “to them which” (וְלַאֲשֶׂר). But only two of these names (Gad and Karmel) are found elsewhere, and Then. is obliged therefore to suppose changes in the original Greek forms34 in order to get known names. But besides the complicated character of these changes, the conjecture is opposed by the fact that Gath, as a Philistine city, cannot according to 1Sa_30:26 come into consideration here. And so the conjecture that Rachal is a corruption of Karmel is untenable.—The cities of the Jerahmeelites and the Kenites were in the south of Judah (1Sa_27:10).
1Sa_30:30. Hormah, in Judah, also in the Negeb or south-country (Jos_15:30), assigned to the Simeonites according to Jos_19:4, called by the Canaanites Zephath (Jdg_1:17), situated on the southern declivity of the mountains of the Amalekites or the Amorites, now called Sepata [the pass es-Sufa, Rob. ii. 181,—Tr.], a ruin on the western declivity of the elevated plateau Rakhma, five miles south of Khalasa (Elusa), see Ritter 14, 1085 [Smith’s Bib. Dict., Art. Hormah; see Jos_12:14.—Tr.]. Comp. Num_14:45; Num_21:3, the latter as to the meaning of the name: banning, banplace.—Chor-ashan probably = Ashan35 (Jos_15:42), according to Jos_19:7 a city of Simeon (1Ch_4:32).—Athach, only here, otherwise unknown; Then. conjectures the reading to be Ether (עֶתֶר), a Simeonite city (Jos_19:7; Jos_15:43), which is possible from the similarity of the third letters [ר ,ך]. In 1Sa_30:30 the Sept. has Jarmuth for Hormah, and inserts two additional names, Beer-sheba (Jos_15:28; Jos_19:2) and Nombe, for which Then. refers to the Nuba visited by Tobler.
1Sa_30:31. Hebron, fourteen miles south of Jerusalem, a primeval city (Gen_23:17; Num_13:22), in a deep and narrow valley in the hill-country of Judah, now el Khalil, that is, Friend of God, so called with reference to Abraham’s residence there.—And to all places, etc.—David showed himself grateful to all who befriended and adhered to him as a fugitive, and bound them still closer to him.
HISTORICAL AND THEOLOGICAL
1. It is a wonderful providence of God in the development of the parallel-running fates of Saul and David that, just before the catastrophe which overwhelmed Saul and his house and kingdom, the ways of both men seem to sink into the depths of misfortune, and lose themselves without a trace, Saul’s way in battle with the Philistines, David’s in hostilities with the Amalekites. And so the nation Israel, already divided in fact between Saul and David, seems to be carried along to destruction with its two heads, and given up beyond salvation to its two mightiest hereditary foes. And on both sides God’s punitive justice is seen controlling human sin, for not only Saul, on whose head God’s final judgment of wrath descends, is guilty, David’s strait also is the result of his sin. This consisted 1) in his sinful weakness of faith and despair, which led him to have recourse to Israel’s enemy, instead of remaining trustfully in Judah according to the Lord’s direction (1Sa_22:5); 2) in his untruthfulness and prevarication, which led him to join the enemy against his own people, the Amalekites meantime, while he was marching north, plundering his possessions in the south, and 3) in his extremely cruel and bloody foray against the Amalekites (27), for which he had received no commission from the Lord, by which their vengeance was kindled against him. All this teaches us, as we look at David and at Saul, that sin is destruction. And yet, notwithstanding this similarity in suffering, which appears, on the one hand, as a divine punishment, and, on the other hand, in sin as cause of destruction, there is here completed to the eye that can recognize God’s ways, in a summary and epoch-making manner that most important contrast, whose history runs through the whole development of the kingdom of God in the Old Covenant and in the New. Saul’s way vanishes in the darkness of an unfortunate battle with the old enemy of the nation, into whose hand God gives him and the people, and his life ends in despair; the sentence of rejection is executed. David’s way emerges from the gloom, he returns as victor over the foe, dispenses presents with princely munificence, his kingdom flourishes in the south over the whole territory of the mighty tribe of Judah, whose power southward against the tribes of which Amalek was the most dangerous in its enmity, and westward against the powerful Philistines, was the protection and guard of all Israel. While’s Saul’s star sinks in the north, the star of David rises in the south, and there begins the long line of fulfillments of the prophecy concerning the Star that should come out of Jacob (Num_24:17). While in the north Israel, involved in Saul’s destruction and the divine judgment passed against him, lies prostrate before the Philistines, David’s victory frees the south from the enemy, and in Judah the foundation of the new kingdom of the future is laid by the heroic achievement of David and his men, and by his noble and winning behaviour. This great contrast in the fates of Saul and David is, however, founded in the contrast in their posture of heart to the Lord: Saul has lost sight of God, hardened himself against Him in pride, self-will and hate to David, lost ethical ability to repent, and in his time of need applied to anti-godly powers and deceitful human counsel. David, on the contrary, shows us his heart, as it bows in sorrow before Him (1Sa_30:4) under the painful, but not undeserved strokes of God’s hand (1Sa_30:5-6), but in the bitterest experiences, when his own men turn against him, does not yield to despair, but looks to the Lord for strength. And so he receives the consolatory revelation of God’s will and promise of divine help, and experiences the Lord’s saving and blessing power. From these gloomy paths David comes forth as a man after God’s own heart, to whom has come the experience that God gives grace to the humble and causes the upright to succeed.
2. The strengthening of the inner life in the Lord in time of need (as David here found) consists in the undoubtful experience and knowledge of what is well-pleasing to God through enlightenment from above, in fulfilling it with pious confidence and hope in His help through the consolations of His word, and in the permeation of one’s own will by the sanctifying might of the divine will, which lifts up the sunken courage, and makes the crushed or depressed will to mount to bold resolution and energetic action. Such a strengthening attests itself particularly in the casting of all care on Him, and in brave struggle against all the powers of flesh and blood, which oppress and take captive the inner life. The condition of such an inspiriting and strengthening of the inner life of the member of God’s kingdom is his open-heartedness and receptivity for the divine vital powers, which are at the disposal of every one who will appropriate them, and constant intercourse with the Lord in unchangeable association of life with him founded on thorough humble devotion to him, without which neither can man be God’s property, nor God man’s; all this being involved in the words: “David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.”
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1Sa_30:1. Schlier: What else were the Amalekites than the Lord’s rods of chastening, to chasten David for all his improprieties in the land of the Philistines? For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and with His children He is always strictest.—Berl. Bib.: God does not leave His people long in sin, but soon raps them over the knuckles when they go off on their own ways, in order that they may come into the track again.—S. Schmid: When we go out of the house we should heartily pray, for we know not in what manner we shall return.
1Sa_30:2. Starke: That is God’s custom in dealing with His people; before He exalts them, He humbles them first. Pro_15:33; 1Sa_2:7.—Cramer: God still cares for His own, and lays on them no more trouble than they can bear (1Co_10:13), and also restrains their enemies from making their cross heavier by a hair.
1Sa_30:3-5. Berl. Bib.: David was guided in a way so universal, that one cannot experience nor even know anything which was not to be found in him. And those who shall read attentively what is said of David, will therein certainly meet with their own condition; and this the more exactly, in proportion as they have gone further and become more conformed to Jesus Christ.—[1Sa_30:4. Henry: It is no disparagement to the boldest and bravest spirits to lament the calamities of relations and friends.—Tr.]
1Sa_30:6 sqq. Schlier: David was strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, for in prayer he had won over again the Lord his God and gained His gracious promise.—[Taylor: As sometimes the partially intoxicated man will be sobered in a moment by the occurrence of some terrible calamity, so David, who had been living all these months under the narcotic influence of sin, was by the violence of the Amalekites and the threatened mutiny of his own men roused to his nobler self, and he “strengthened himself in the Lord his God.”—Tr.]—Berlenb. Bible: He strengthens himself in God through an increased composure and through the union of his will with the will of God, as himself doing or permitting all this.—Roos: David saw no means before him of recovering his wives, children and property and those of his followers. But he strengthened himself in faith in the omniscience, wisdom and almightiness of God, and obtained through the Light and Right [Urim and Thummim] good instruction from God. Now as David did, so should the believing seed of Abraham in every need. We should not give way to gloomy unbelief, but strengthen ourselves in our God. We should and may do this all the more because the heart of God is in Christ Jesus or revealed to us yet more clearly than to David.
1Sa_30:8. Berl. Bible: If it was a duty under the Old Testament, in an enterprise pertaining to war, thus to turn first to God before resolving on anything, that yet the spirit of the Old Testament carried along with it, and did not absolutely forbid, how much more among Christians under the New Testament should nothing of the sort be done without the divine consent, without first duly consulting thereupon with Christ and His Spirit. [Taylor: Very suggestive is this contrast. “David said, I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul; there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines.” “David strengthened himself in the Lord his God, and said unto Abiathar, Bring hither the ephod.” On the one hand despair, leading to prayerlessness and self-will; on the other, faith, leading to prayer and eager willinghood to submit to the guidance of Jehovah.—Tr.].
1Sa_30:9-10, Hedinger: He hopes in vain for consolation from God, who will not make use of God’s counsel.—S. Schmid: As man acts towards God so God acts towards man (Lev_26:27-28).—Schlier: As David humbled himself before God, God also acknowledged him again and took him up.—We men cannot, enough humble ourselves before the Lord, but neither can we have enough confidence in the Lord.
1Sa_30:11. Hedinger [from Hall]: Worldly wisdom teacheth us to sow small courtesies where we may reap large harvests of recompense.
Verses 13, 14 [from Hall]: Wonderful is the providence of God, even over those that are not in the nearest bonds His own.
1Sa_30:16 [from Hall]: Destruction is never nearer than when security has chased away fear. The world passes away with its lust; well for him who is on his guard and seeks in time what promotes his peace.
1Sa_30:17. Cramer: God blesses the possessions of the pious and causes all to go well with them (Psa_1:3-4).
1Sa_30:18-19. God gives more than we could have desired and hoped for from Him.—Schlier: Only for children of God who in trying times seek the Lord does it hold good, that when the need is highest God’s help is also nighest. We will never forget that a few days after David’s own people were about to stone him on the ruins of Ziklag, the royal crown was laid at his feet.—[1Sa_30:24. This principle will apply to soldiers and non-combatants, ministers and their wives, missionaries and those at home who sustain them.
1Sa_30:26. How delightful when the prompting of gratitude for the past coincides with the dictate of policy for the future.—Tr.]
1Sa_30:3-8. Right behaviour before God in need and anguish: 1) These men do not pretend to stoical indifference, but let their grief have free course, as the Lord has brought it on them (1Sa_30:4); 2) They bow low in humility under the hand of God, renouncing all self-help, and seeing human support vanish before their eyes (1Sa_30:6 a); 3) They lift themselves cheerfully up again in power and strength, procured from the Lord (1Sa_30:6 b–8).
1Sa_30:6-20. The Lord is His people’s mighty rock of defence against the opposers of his kingdom: 1) He gives them his counsel upon their inquiry when in straits; 2) He fills them with his power for the conflict enjoined upon them; 3) He leads them according to his promises to glorious victory; 4) He causes them to come forth from the conflict with a rich blessing.
The Lord’s help in great need: 1) To whom is it given? a) To him who betakes himself to the Lord with prayerful inquiry (1Sa_30:7); b) To him who humbly gives himself up to the Lord’s guidance; a) in obedience to His commandment; β) in trust upon His promises (1Sa_30:8). 2) How does the Lord render His help? a) Through His word—answering the inquiries addressed to Him in need—putting an end to uncertainty by its decision—banishing all anxiety and despondency from the heart of consoling promises (1Sa_30:8); b) Through His deed—in often quite unexpectedly pointing out the right ways and means that lead to the end (1Sa_30:11-16)—in often wonderfully rendering his assistance amid threatening perils (1Sa_30:17 sq.)—and in causing a rich gain to be obtained from the most trying times of need.
The subjects of God’s kingdom in conflict with the world: 1) They enter into the conflict, strengthened in the strength of the Lord; 2) They conquer in the conflict, under the guidance and support of the Lord; 3) They come out of the conflict, crowned with the rich blessing of the Lord.
[1Sa_30:11. The forsaken slave: 1) Even the meanest may not be neglected with impunity. 2) Even the poorest may richly reward his benefactors. 3) Even the weakest may be the means of accomplishing great results (David’s recovering possessions and family, regaining the devotion of his followers, and reviving the friendship of his tribesmen, thus smoothing his way to the throne). 4) Even the lowliest is cared for by Providence, and his fortunes linked with the highest, in the providential network of society.
[1Sa_30:1-26. Returning Home—Two Pictures. I. The sorrowful return. 1) He had left home without seeking the Lord’s guidance—apparently to fight against the Lord’s people—uncertain and unhappy. 2) He had returned, because distrusted, and sent away in dishonor. 3) He found his home in ashes, and his family carried captive. 4) His personal wretchedness was enhanced by the natural wrath of his followers. II. The subsequent joyful return. 1) He leaves with explicit Divine direction and promise—to fight national as well as private enemies—hopeful and happy. 2) He returns victorious and honored. 3) He has regained greater wealth than he had lost. 4) His personal joy is increased by the privilege of sending gifts to his friends. And now what unites the two pictures; His sorrowful return led him to deep penitence, revived faith (1Sa_30:6) and humble prayer (1Sa_30:8); and from these resulted the joyful return. Sore afflictions, when rightly borne, often open the way to life’s sweetest joy.—Tr.]
Footnotes:
[1][1Sa_30:1. Some MSS. have כְּבֹא, and in the better codices the Inf. is written fully בּוֹא—Tr.]
[2][1Sa_30:1. Vulg. and Arab. read: “the south of Ziklag,” but negeb is probably here a proper name, the “South-country;” this may account for the absence of the Art.—Tr.]
[3][1Sa_30:2. The order of words in Eng. A. V. here is opposed to the accents and to the syntax. The reading of the Heb. text, however, is harsh; we do not expect the descriptive phrase: “both small and great” to be applied to “women,” and therefore the reading of the Sept.: “the women and all that was in it” (comp. 1Sa_30:19) commends itself as better. Dr. Erdmann. however, rejects it.—Tr.]
[4][1Sa_30:2. “And slew no one,” as in Chald., Vulg. and some MSS., is much easier. Syr. and Arab. strangely omit the negative, and read: “they slew the men.”—Tr.]
[5][1Sa_30:2. Erdmann writes the passage from “and the Amalekites” in 1Sa_30:1 to the end of 1Sa_30:2 as a parenthesis, which is allowable, but not necessary.—Tr.]
[6][1Sa_30:5. Some MSS. of Kennicott and De Rossi have “the Carmelitess,” referring to Abigail. See note on 1Sa_27:3.—Tr.]
[7][1Sa_30:6. That is, “was in difficulty and danger,” an idea not now so well expressed by the word “distress.” For “grieved” or “bitter” the Bib. Com. suggests “exasperated,” which conveys the sense with precision.—Tr.]
[8][1Sa_30:7. This word is commonly and properly transferred, not translated (so Sept., Vulg., Syr., Chald.); Sym., however, renders it by ἐπωμίς, Aq. by ἐπένδυμα, and Arab. by a descriptive phrase: “the breast-plate by which thou inquirest.”—Tr.]
[9][1Sa_30:8. As this is a principal, not a subordinate question, Wellh. would insert the Interrog. הֲ before this verb.—Tr.]
[10][1Sa_30:9. It seems impossible to do anything with this phrase. That something stood here in an early form of the text is shown by the Sept. and other VSS.; but these words give no sense: they cannot be proleptical, as Erdmann explains them, for the word נוֹתָרִים supposes a division already made. The Syr. abandons the text, and explains: “and David left two hundred men.” The Vulg. reading: “and certain tired ones stayed” (preferred by Then., and rejected by Erdmann), is easy; but the statement is here unnecessary and out of place. It is more satisfactory to suppose that the phrase was early introduced into the text by clerical repetition from the following verse.—Tr.]
[11][1Sa_30:10. Wellh. suggests that the two halves of this verse have changed places; but this is unnecessary, for, though the second half would fit on to 1Sa_30:9, the present order is quite in accordance with Heb. form of narration. in which the explanation is often made to follow the principal statement.—Tr.]
[12][1Sa_30:11. Some MSS., and Sept. and Ar. read: “took him and brought him.”—Tr.]
[13][1Sa_30:12. רוּחַ, not the nephesh, the “breath of life,” but the breath considered as vigorous and truly alive, somewhat as in Eng. the word “spirit” has come to mean “courageous vigor and alertness.”—Tr.]
[14][1Sa_30:13. Sept. has against connection and accents: “the young man of Egypt said, I am servant,” etc.—Tr.]
[15][1Sa_30:13. Literally: “to-day three,” that is, as Chald. gives it, “to-day these three days,” and some MSS. have “three days.” Vulg. nudiusertius.—Tr.]
[16][1Sa_30:15. Sept. transfers Γεδδούρ; in other Greek VSS. we find σύστρεμμα and λόχος, and also εὔζωνος (perhaps, as Schleusner suggests, from the Chald. אדר).—Tr.]
[17][1Sa_30:16. Properly “keeping festival.”—Tr.]
[18][1Sa_30:17. Erdmann renders: “towards the next day” (after Luther), which is doubtful. Eng. A. V. is supported by Vulg., Chald., Sept. Chald., however, instead of using the same word as the Heb., has “the day which was after it,” and the Syr. has a similar form “in their rear,” as if they read אחר, which does not suggest any good emendation. As the Heb. word stands, the -ָם may be regarded as pronom. suffix, “to their morrow” (redundant), or as adverbial ending. Wellhausen emends the text and reads לְהַחֲרִמָם, which would suit the letters of the present word, but does not particularly commend itself.—Tr.]
[19][1Sa_30:20. So Erdmann renders, reading (with Vulg. and Then.) לְפָנָיו instead of לְפְנֵי. The sense will be still better if we further read in the beginning of the verse: “And they took,” instead of “And David took.” The taking and driving seem to be the work of the same person (as Wellh. remarks), and it would be appropriate for David’s men rather than for himself to set aside his spoil. This change would require very little alteration of the lettering. As for the words: “this flock,” they seem unnecessary (Wellh. would reject them as clerical explanation), yet do not interfere materially with the sense.—Tr.]
[20][1Sa_30:21. The Sing. “he” is found in some MSS., and in Sept., Syr., Arab., Vulg., Chald., and is better.—At the end of the verse instead of אֶת־הָעָם, the VSS. and some MSS. have אֶל.—Tr.]
[21][1Sa_30:25. There is a good deal of authority (about forty MSS., several printed Edd., and the Vulg.) for reading “in Israel,” which is better.—Tr.]
[22][1Sa_30:30. “Bor” is found in Sept., Syr., Vulg. and a number of Edd. and MSS., and is preferred by De Rossi and Wellhausen.—Tr.]
[23]On this reading see “Textual and Grammatical.”—Tr.]
[24][The inquiry was probably conducted by the high-priest., in a way unknown to us, but more probably the answer came through the priest’s mouth.—Tr.]
[25][See “Text, and Gram.—Tr.]
[26][Wordsworth (Comm. in loco.), sees in this a type of Christ’s mercy to the outcast. The two procedures are both examples of kindness, but there is no typical relation between them.—Tr.]
[27] כְּרֵתִים = הַכְּרֶתִי, Eze_25:16; Zep_2:6, used as synonymous with the Philistines.
[28][David’s bodyguard (2Sa_8:18) was probably composed of Philistines.—Tr.]
[29]They, however, read מֵאַחֲרֵיהֶם.
[30]As in חִנָּם ,יוֹמָם.
[31][On this reading see “Text. and Gram.”—Tr.]
[32][This rendering will hardly commend itself. An oath would naturally be by what God “has done for us.” or by His “mercy towards us,” not by what He “has given us.” Sept. has “after (אַחֲרֵי אֲשֶׁר) the Lord has given us,” and Cahen “after what the Eternal has given us.” The ordinary rendering seems most satisfactory.—Tr.]
[33]On כְּ־וּכְ see Ew. § 860, 2 a; the second כְּ־ is here also more sharply connected by the Waw. Cons., Jos_14:11; Dan_11:29.—Instead of K. הוֹרֵד we must of course read הַיּרֵד. [The Keth. may be the old form הַוֹּרֵד—Tr.]
[34]He says: We must very probably read קִינָה (Jos_15:22) for אֲפֵק קִימָה (Jos_15:53) for םכק, and perhaps תִּמְנָה (Jos_15:57) for תימת. So Buns. and Ew., expect that instead of תימַת the latter reads דּוּמה Jos_15:52).
[35][A priestly city, 1Ch_6:44 (Eng. A. V. 1Sa 6:59).—Tr.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 15, 16, 21, 26 they slew not any, either great or small, but…
they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away--Their conduct seems to stand in favorable contrast to that of David (Sa1 27:11). But their apparent clemency did not arise from humane considerations. It is traceable to the ancient war usages of the East, where the men of war, on the capture of a city, were unsparingly put to death, but there were no warriors in Ziklag at the time. The women and boys were reserved for slaves, and the old people were spared out of respect to age.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 6, 9, 12, 14, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 DAVID’S RETURN TO ZIKLAG, AND REVENGE UPON THE AMALEKITES,…
DAVID’S RETURN TO ZIKLAG, AND REVENGE UPON THE AMALEKITES, 1Sa_30:1-31.
1. On the third day — The third day after his removal from the Philistine army. So David must have this time been absent from Ziklag at least five or six days.
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The Amalekites — Another predatory horde of the same nation as those whom David had but recently smitten. 1Sa_27:8.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 Ch. 1Sa_30:1-6. Sack of Ziklag in David’s absence
Ch. 1Sa_30:1-6. Sack of Ziklag in David’s absence
1. on the third day] After leaving the Philistine army. Evidently he had not accompanied them far beyond the frontier. See note on 1Sa_29:2.
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the Amalekites] Possibly they had got information of David’s absence, and took the opportunity to make reprisals for his raids on them (1Sa_27:8).
the south, and Ziklag] The Negeb or “south country” is the technical name for the district between the hills of Judah and the actual desert. It is a series of rolling hills, clad with scanty herbage here and there. In places there is fine upland pasture, but not a tree nor a shrub to relieve its bareness. See Tristram, Land of Israel, pp. 360–373. In this district Ziklag was situated.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 (1) On the third day—That is, on the third…
(1) On the third day—That is, on the third day after King Achish, in consequence of the remonstrances of the Philistine chieftains, had dismissed David and his contingent from the ranks of the Philistine army. This dismissal could hardly have taken place at Shunem, in the Esdraelon (Jezreel) Vale, for Shunem is some ninety miles distant from Ziklag. The division of Achish had marched from Gath with David; and somewhere in Philistia, after the whole force had been gathered into one, the scene which resulted in David’s services being dispensed with took place.
The Amalekites had invaded the south.—This was partly in retaliation for the late raids of David in the Amalekite country, partly because Amalek had heard that, owing to the Philistine and Israelite armies having left the southern districts for the central part of Canaan, all the south country was left unguarded. “The south,” that is, “the Negeb,” or the dry land-all the southern part of Judea; it included also a part of the Arabian Desert.
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And smitten Ziklag.—This was an act of vengeance, Ziklag being the city of that famous Israelite chieftain David, who had done so much damage to Amalek, and who had treated the captives with such cruelty. While other parts of the south were simply plundered, Ziklag was marked for utter destruction was sacked and burned.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 DAVID UPON HIS RETURN FINDS ZIKLAG BURNT BY THE…
DAVID UPON HIS RETURN FINDS ZIKLAG BURNT BY THE AMALEKITES (vers. 1-6).
On the third day. David evidently could not have gone with the Philistines As far as to Shunem; for, as noticed in the previous chapter, it would have been impossible to march back to Ziklag in so short a time. But as he had gone first to Gath, where no doubt Achish collected his vassals, and then marched northwards with the army for two days, he must altogether have been absent from Ziklag for some little time. The Amalelkites. Doubtless they were glad to retaliate upon David for his cruel treatment of them; but, besides, they lived by rapine, and when the fighting men of Philistia and of Judaea were marching away to war, it was just the opportunity which they wished of spoiling the defenceless country. The south. Ie. the Negeb, for which see 1Sa_27:10. It was the name especially given to the southern district of Judah, whence these freebooters turned westward towards Ziklag. They would probably not dare to penetrate far into either territory. The word for invaded is the same as in 1Sa_27:8, and implies that they spread themselves over the country to drive off cattle and booty, but with no intention of fighting battles.
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Vers. 1-10.
The spiritual uses of calamity.
The facts are
1. David, on returning to Ziklag with his men, discovers that the Amalekites had smitten it and carried off the families as captives.
2. In their deep distress David and his men weep bitterly.
3. On a mutiny arising among his men, threatening his life, David betakeshimself to God for comfort and guidance.
4. Inquiring of God through the high priest, he receives assurance ofsuccess in pursuing the Amalekites, and therefore, leaving the faint at Besor, he presses on with the rest of his force. The sojourn of David in the country of the Philistines had thus far been conducive to his safety, and events had seemed to justify the step taken when, from fear of being slain by Saul, he without positive Divine direction left his native land. It is true the ambiguous position into which he had brought himself exposed him for a while to a danger of being treacherous to his protector or hostile to his countrymen, but this peril had at last been providentially obviated by the opening of a door of escape. It must, therefore, have been intensely mortifying, and, as the event proved, impressively instructive, to learn, just when the joy of escape was at its height, that his self-chosen course had issued in a terrible disaster. A great calamity had come, but religiously it proved a blessing, which fact may be generalised by saying that calamities brought on by the mistakes of good men have important religious uses.
I THE AVOIDANCE OF ONE CALAMITY by the adoption of our own policy of distrust of God"s care IS NO GUARANTEE FOR FREEDOM FROM ANOTHER. David, without good reason distrusting the care of God, thought he should one day perish by the hand of Saul, (1Sa_27:1) and therefore, taking his own course, sought safety under the protection of Achish. We know how groundless was his fear; but, apart from that, events proved that though the dreaded evil was escaped, another most terrible one came. Nor is there much defence for the self-chosen policy in saying that his own life was secure, for escape from Saul gave no immunity from death by the hands of other men, and there are calamities even worse than death. We are too often influenced by present dangers, forgetful that though we avoid them we have no security in that avoidance from others equally fearful. The Israelites feared the giants reported to occupy the promised land, and escaped being, as they groundlessly thought, slain by them; but they saw not the physical miseries and the exclusion from the promised land consequent on choosing thus to escape. David ought to have profited by their example, as also should we from his. The application of this to common life is obvious.
II OUR SELF-CHOSEN POLICY MAY BE LONG BEFORE IT REVEALS ITS CHARACTER IN ANY POSITIVE DISASTER. The ambiguous position of David rendered the months during which he was with Achish a season for verifying the wisdom of his policy. Although slight inconveniences arose which necessitated minor expedientsi as when he sought a separate city and made raids apparently on the south of Judah (1Sa_27:5, 1Sa_27:10) yet no event transpired to awaken manifest regret for the course pursued. It was only toward the end of the sojourn in the land of the Philistines that his policy bore the bitter fruit referred to in this section. Trouble came at last in addition to the mental embarrassments which had been a secret in his own breast. So long as moral laws have force will every false policy tend to disaster, the form and degree of it being determined by the nature of the case. Men may go on hoping for exemption from trouble, concealing the occasional fears and embarrassments of their own heart, successful escape may be well nigh assured, there may be even joy at the thought of providential deliverance from impending perils; but just then, from unexpected quarters, a blow may fall which confirms the truth that it is better to trust in the Lord than to listen to the fears of a wayward heart. Lot"s ungenerous policy toward Abraham, successful at first, issued in loss of all in Sodom. Jonah"s timid policy avoided the scorn and stones of the Ninevites, and bid fair to secure life and peace; but the storm arose, and a trouble quite unforeseen sprang forth. In commerce, in Church action, and domestic arrangements, distrust of God and self-seeking cannot but issue in evil, though the evil seem to tarry and be beyond calculation.
III THE FORM OF CALAMITY MAY PROVE TO BE A NEAR APPROACH TO THAT WHICH SELF-CHOSEN POLICY WAS DESIGNED TO AVOID. David lost his family and his property, the next best things to his own life, and also was put in as much danger of being slain by his own men as ever he had been by Saul. He virtually found himself as he was when the distrust of God"s care suggested a flight from Judah. The same was true of the Israelites, who, avoiding the "giants" of the promised land, encountered the physical giants, famine and plague, and at last left their carcases in the wilderness. A merchant, by irreligious policy, may for a season avoid ruin, and yet by the means devised ultimately bring on an event equally disastrous.
IV THE FIRST EFFECT ON A GOOD MAN OF THE PRESSURE OF CALAMITY IS TO REVEAL TO HIM THE FOLLY AND EVIL OF HIS SELF-CHOSEN POLICY. It often requires a heavy blow to awaken us from our complacent belief in our own wisdom. Such a blow fell on David in the desolation of his city, the loss of his wives, the injury to his adherents, and the mutiny of his own friends and admirers. The well woven veil of expediency which imagination and reason had fabricated during the past sixteen mouths was thus rudely rent, and he saw at once how much better it would have been for him and his people to have continued trusting to the care of God in Judah, till, at least, specific directions were given to depart. The reference to David encouraging himself in God (ver. 6) implies the prostration of his spirit in the new light which had broken in upon him. He had not sought the Lord on leaving Judah, and now he sees the mistake. Here notice the diverse effect of calamity on men of real piety and men of no vital religion. David is humbled before God, sees his error, is bitterly penitent; whereas Saul in all his calamities persists in his self-will, and hardens his heart against God. The truly religious spirit may err, may become wretched in its wanderings from God, may for a long season cleave to its self-produced miseries, but when brought face to face with great calamity that bespeaks the judgment of God, at once bows in sorrow and shame, recognising what an evil and bitter thing it is to depart from the living God. How many a backslider and erring man has had occasion to bless the disaster that rent the delusion of their life and revealed their sin!
V THE SUBSEQUENT EFFECT OF SUCH CALAMITY IS TO THROW A GOOD MAN MORE ENTIRELY UPON GOD FOR HELP AND GUIDANCE. David, humiliated, self-condemned, looking on to the future not knowing what best to do, took heart by casting his burden on the Lord, and seeking through the appointed channel specific directions as to the future. Affliction worked the fruit of righteousness. This is the proper religious use of all calamity, whether in the nation, the Church, our business, our domestic affairs, or the unrecorded events of private life. Jacob"s trouble consequent on his falsehood brought him nearer to God at Bethel. The sorrows that came on Israel in the days of Nehemiah developed a trust in God and earnest looking for his guidance not known in former days. There is good reason for all who are smitten with sorrow brought on by folly and sin to encourage themselves in God; for, as to David so to all his children, he is a covenant keeping God, having prepared for us a kingdom that cannot be moved. He it is who allows the trial to fall not for our injury, but for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness; the abandonment to ourselves and to the suffering of trouble is all in mercy, and specially intended to remind us of the security and rest to be found in him; and be is willing to hear our cry, and to cover all the sins of the past, as well as to vouchsafe the aid necessary to escape from the present anguish, and even to make it issue in some permanent spiritual advantage. We may therefore "hope in God" when all help fails. (cf. Psa_42:5 Psa_56:13; Isa_54:8; Jer_3:12; Heb_12:5-12)
HOMILIES BY B. DALE. Vers. 1-10. (ZIKLAG.)
Confidence in God.
David encouraged himself in the Lord his God" (ver. 6). Delivered from their embarrassing position in the Philistine army, David and his men set out early in the morning, and by forced marches (evident from the exhaustion of one third of them, ver. 10) arrived at Ziklag on the third day. Instead of being welcomed by their wives and children, they found the city a smoking and desolate ruin. "When we go abroad we cannot foresee what evil tidings may meet us when we come home again. The going out may be very cheerful, and yet the coming in very doleful" (M. Henry). The Amalekites (whom Saul had failed to exterminate, and David often attacked) had been there, and, in revenge for what they had suffered, had carried off the undefended people and property, and given the place to the flames. Deeming their recovery hopeless, the strong men wept like children "until they had no more power to weep." Then their grief turned to exasperation, and seeking a victim on which to expend their wrath, they fixed on David, and "spake of stoning him" as the cause of all their misery. He was reduced to the utmost extremity, and could not fail to see in his trouble a just chastisement for his unbelief, prevarication, and cruelty. Possibly the reinforcements that "fell to him as he went to Ziklag" (1Ch_12:20) rendered him valuable service. But his hope was not in man; and instead of resigning himself to despair (like Saul), he was impelled by his distress and deprivation of human help to seek help in God alone. "The long misery of the first stage of his public career seems to have reached its culminating point. When things are at the worst, as the common proverb says, they must mend. And from that moment when he believingly cast all his dependence upon the Lord his God only, whom he had found faithful in all his promises, and whose providence had never failed him in his deepest dangers, from that moment he was safe, from that moment he was prosperous" (Kitto). Concerning the confidence in God which he exhibited (therein setting an eminent example to others), observe that
I IT SPRINGS OUT OF CONSCIOUS HELPLESSNESS. Few men have an adequate conviction of their own helplessness; and one aim of the Divine discipline is to produce it. "When I am weak," said Paul, "then am I strong when I feel my utter weakness under the pressure of trial, then I am constrained to depend on the Lord, and become imbued with his strength. (2Co_12:10) In the exercise of "the same spirit of faith" others "out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens". (Heb_11:34) True faith and spiritual power have their foundation amidst the "dust and ashes" of self-abasement and self-distrust. Confidence in God began to revive in David when Ziklag was reduced to ashes. The same thing is often occasioned in others by means of
1. Sudden and severe bereavement; wife and children, it may be, takenaway with a stroke.
2. The failure of cherished plans and purposes; the loss of property throughrobbery by men or accidents by fire or flood, the breakdown of health, the disappointment of long expectation.
3. The falling away of friends; their unreasonable anger and bitterreproaches. It must have been peculiarly painful to David to bear the mutiny of his own men, to witness the selfishness of many of them (ver. 22), and to learn what little confidence could be put in man. (Psa_146:3) He was left almost alone.
4. The upbraiding of conscience for past sin. Trouble is a powerful meansof bringing sin to remembrance. (1Ki_17:18)
5. The threatening of danger; the presence of "the king of terrors". (Job_18:14)
6. The lack of wisdom and power to deliver from distress. When webecome fully aware of our utter helplessness, two courses lie open before us either to sink into despair or to cast ourselves wholly upon God. That the latter may be taken trial is sent; it is taken by him whose heart is in the main right with God, and it is never taken in vain.
II IT LAYS HOLD OF ALL-SUFFICIENT HELP. "When David could not comfort him self in his wives, nor his children, nor his goods, nor in anything under the sun, he could in something above the sun. And the reason is at hand: God is the God of all consolation, the spring of comfort; if any water, it is in the sea; if any light, it is in the sun; if any comfort, it is in God there it rests, there it is when nowhere else. God is all-sufficient; there the heart finds every want supplied, every good thing lodged. As God is all-sufficient to furnish us with all necessaries, so infinite in power, wisdom, goodness to help us against all evils feared or felt" (R. Harris). Faith strengthens the soul by uniting it to God and making it partaker of his strength. It has respect to
1. His great name. (see 1Sa_1:3) "Hope thou in God". (Psa_42:5 Psa_9:10 Psa_124:8)
Hope, said I, Is of the joy to come a sure expectance, The effect of grace Divine and merit preceding. This light from many a star visits my heart; But flow"d to me, the first, from him who sang The songs of the Supreme; himself supreme Among his tuneful brethren. "Let all hope In thee," so spake his anthem, "who have known Thy name (Dante, "Par." 25. )
1. His intimate relationship to his people. "Jehovah his God.
2. His past doings on their behalf. When David formerly fell into despondency (ch. 27.) he seems to have forgotten all these, and failed to receive the encouragement which they were adapted to impart. But now he remembered them and "took courage.
3. His faithful promises. "The free expressions of his goodness and beneficence," the unchangeable assurances of his almighty help in time of need. "The mistake we make is to look for a source of consolation in ourselves; self-contemplation instead of gazing upon God. He is not affected by our mutability, our changes do not alter him. When we are restless he remains serene and calm; when we are low, selfish, mean, or dispirited he is still the unalterable I AM. What God is in himself, not what we may chance to feel him in this or that moment to be, that is our hope" (Robertson).
III IT MAKES USE OF APPROPRIATE MEANS. "He encouraged (strengthened) himself," etc. by
1. Repressing fear and unbelief. "Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
1. Directing the thoughts toward God, the ever-present, invisible, eternal Protector of his servants, and stirring up the heart to renewed trust in him.
2. "The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?". (Psa_118:6 Psa_121:1)
3. Inquiring of the Lord. "And David said to Abiathar," etc. (vers. 7, 8). He sought him as he had not done on the previous occasion; sought him in a right spirit, and therefore (unlike Saul) received an answer: for thou shalt surely overtake and deliver." He was thereby further strengthened. His confidence, moreover, was expressed and perfected in
4. Obeying the will of the Lord (vers. 9, 10), and cooperating toward the fulfilment of his promise. Despondency led him to flee from difficulty and danger, but faith and hope incited him to go into their midst, and made him "as bold as a lion." "I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.
IV IT IS CROWNED WITH COMPLETE SUCCESS. By the help obtained of God fear is removed, strength renewed, and confidence inspired (ver. 9). After a brief delay and some untoward events by which faith is still further tested (ver. 10)
1. The object which is sought is providentially discovered (ver. 11).
2. The enemy is completely defeated (ver. 17).
3. That which has been lost is recovered (ver. 19).
4. Much more than has been expected is gained (ver. 20).
few days after David"s own people were about to stone him on the ruins of Ziklag the royal crown was laid at his feet.
Observations:
1. When good men transgress they must expect to be "chastened of theLord," and wicked men are sometimes used as a rod for the purpose.
2. The wickedness of the wicked is mercifully restrained (ver. 2), oftenturns to the benefit of those whom they seek to injure, and returns upon their own heads.
3. The chief purpose of chastisement is to bring men to God in humility,penitence, submission, and trust, and prepare them for future service and exaltation.
4. The difference in the effects of calamity upon men (as upon Saul andDavid) manifests the difference of their character.
5. The more heavily trouble presses upon men, the more closely shouldthey cling to God, that it may be rightly borne and accomplish its intended moral end.
6. God never disappoints the confidence of his children, but fulfils his promises to them more richly than they dare to hope. D.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 6, 11, 20, 21 When David and his men were come to Ziklag.
1Sa_30:1-31
When David and his men were come to Ziklag.
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David in three situations
at Ziklag in his distress, on his way to the Amalekites, and among the Amalekites.
I. David in his distress. See in it the frequent benefit, of affliction to the people of God. In this instance it did immediately two things for David.
1. It restored him to his spiritual courage and strength. Look ones more to chap. 27. We find there his heart failing him; and, like a frightened deer, he runs away from Judah into the land of the Philistines. Now when did this happen? You will say, Doubtless when Saul was close behind him ready to take his life; but no; it was at, a time when it seemed least likely to happen--when David had humbled Saul to the dust by his magnanimity. David says in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul, and there goes the once bold champion of Israel, timid and crouching, to seek the protection of a heathen king. See here what man is; see what even a servant of God is, when left to himself. He can fall down without a blow. Now, come again to the chapter before us. Here is this same David, the frightened runaway, calm and fearless, and where? In a situation of the utmost distress and danger; with his home burnt, his family in the hands of his enemies, and with six hundred half frantic men around him threatening to take his life. O, how God sometimes glorifies his grace in our world! What time I am afraid, not, in a quiet hour, no, in a fearful hour--what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
2. Davids affliction restored him also to a holy caution and self-distrust. It led him, though he feared nothing else, to fear himself. He seeks now counsel of the Lord. We should have expected him to have done this before in his fear when he fled into the land of the Philistines, or when he followed the army of Achish against Israel, but he did not do it. David enquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue this troop? shall I overtake them? This is what the Scripture means by acknowledging God in our ways. And thus the affliction of David was a benefit to him--it restored him to his spiritual courage and strength, it led him to seek counsel of the Lord and submit his ways to Him. In His peoples case, the Lord turns even these bitter things to a blessed account. So does He love His people, that He cannot even smite them without blessing them. His very judgments become mercies. Thus we find David, in Psalm, of coupling together mercy and judgment, and saying He will rejoice in both and sing of both.
II. Let us now look at David in another situation--on his way to the Amalekites. We shall see that he met in it with discouragement and also encouragement, a mixture of both.
1. The discouragement he encountered at the outset. We know not the number of these Amalekites, but it is clear that it was great, for these that escaped, verse 17 says, were four hundred, and they are spoken of as a remnant, a small part of the whole. These soldiers, these fugitives and exiles, can not only weep as though their hearts would break for their wives and children, but the moment there is a prospect of recovering them, they are so eager in the pursuit, that one-third of their number speedily sink down in exhaustion. They came, we read, to the brook Besor, and there they were so faint that they could not go over. But how will this operate on David? Will not his old fears now return? Shall we not see him halting and hesitating and perhaps turning back? No; a man never hesitates or turns back in the path of duty, who is making the Lord his strength.
2. Davids encouragement. And let me say that in your journey go heaven, or in setting about any good work on that journey, you must calculate on meeting with both these things, with both discouragements and encouragements. Your path will not be a uniform one. Davids discouragement was the loss of two hundred men, apparently a formidable loss; it turned out nothing. His encouragement was what? It came from one man one sick man, a man scarcely alive; and he did all that David wanted. The case was this. One of the Amalekites in going from Ziklag, had a slave ill, an Egyptian. He abandons him, leaves him in a field to die. Three days afterwards Davids men come up and find him: they kindly give him food and restore him. Can you tell us, asks David, where we may find the Amalekites? I can, the man says, and in a little time he brings him within sight of their camp. Here, you observe, was help for David from one who could not help himself; and, as it turned out, effectual help; and help, observe, too, from the very host of his enemies. Anything will serve the Lord when the Lord has to overthrow his enemies or help His people, He needs not move heaven or earth, he needs not create powerful instruments to do it; anything in his mighty hand will do it--a castaway thing, a despised, abandoned thing.
III. But look now at David in a third situation--at the camp of the Amalekites. When he came upon them, he found them in a state of riot and disorder. Peace and safely are fearful words in a pleasure taking, prosperous mans mouth; then often sudden destruction cometh, and he shall not escape. Belshazzar revelled joyously and fearlessly in the banquet he had made; but in that night, the very night of his festivity, was Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, slain. And mark--it was the great spoil these Amalekites had taken which so rejoiced them. They were exulting in their spoil at, the very moment when they were about to lose their spoil and their lives together. Is there a man here whose chief joy is in the spoil he has taken? the acquisitions he has made? his honours or his wealth? Let such a man see that he and they may be separated in an hour. Tomorrow they may be in other hands, and he in another world. David, we read, smote these Amalekites, smote them from the twilight, of one day even unto the evening of the next. Their destruction was complete or nearly so. You remember who these men were. They were a nation condemned by God to be exterminated in consequence of their determined hatred to Him and His people. David know this. He was not therefore indulging his own revenge, but obeying the Lords command, in smiting them. But observe--though these men were Gods enemies, He had just before employed them in His work. There is a servant of His to be chastened; they shall be the rod in His hand to chasten him. We will go and plunder Ziklag, they say; He lets them go, and while they are accomplishing their ends, He makes them accomplish His; He overrules their plundering incursion to bring back the wandering David to Himself. It is a solemn thought, but it is a glorious one, that wicked men and wicked spirits, that hell with its legions as well as heaven with its glorious hosts, are doing every hour Jehovahs work. This must not reconcile us to sin, but it goes far to quiet the mind when sickened and distressed with the sin, the wrong and outrage, with which the world is filled. Another incident in this history we must notice--this victory over these Amalekites was attended with a recovery of all that David had lost. Twice this is mentioned and particularly mentioned. It is not only we who are safe in Gods hands if we are his, all that belongs to us is safe there. It is safe no where else. When we give it up to him, He remembers that we have done so, and takes it as His charge. There is an hour coming when God will let us see that He has taken good care of all that is ours as well as of us, such care as we had scarcely thought of. The health we have lost in His service, the property we may have expended in His cause, the earthly gain or earthly love or honour we have sacrificed for His cake--we shall hear of them again in heaven. O what a recompence for them awaits us there! (C. Bradley, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1
CHAPTER X X X V.
DAVID AT ZIKLAG.
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1Sa_30:1-31.
AFTER David had received from King Achish the appointment of captain of his body guard, he had with his troops accompanied the Philistine army, passing along the maritime plain to the very end of their journey - to the spot selected for battle, close to "the fountain which is in Jezreel." It seems to have been only after the whole Philistine host were ranged in battle array that the presence of David and his men, who remained in the rear to protect the king, arrested the attention of the lords of the Philistines, and on their remonstrance they were sent away. It is probable that David's return to Ziklag, and the expedition in which he had to engage to recover his wives and his property, took place at or about the very time when Saul made his journey to Endor, and when the fatal battle of Gilboa was raging. We have seen that though David never, like Saul, threw off the authority of God, he had been following ways of his own, ways of deceit and unfaithfulness. He too had been exposing himself to the displeasure of God, and on him, as on Saul, some retribution behooved to fall. But in the two cases we see the difference between judgment and chastisement. In the case of Saul it was judgment that came down; his life and his career were terminated avowedly as the punishment of his offence. In the case of David the rod was lifted to correct, not to destroy; to bring him back, not to drive him forever away; to fit him for service, not to cut him asunder, or appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There is every reason to believe that the awful disaster that befell David on his return to Ziklag was the means of restoring him to a trustful and truthful frame.
It appears from the chapter now before us that, in the absence of David and his troop, severe reprisals had been taken by the Amalekites for the defeat and utter destruction which they had lately inflicted on a portion of their tribe. We must remember that the Amalekites were a widely dispersed people, consisting of many tribes, each living separately from the rest, but so related that in any emergency they would readily come to one another's help. News of the extermination of the tribes whom David had attacked, and whom he had utterly destroyed lest any of them should bring word to Achish of his real employment, had been brought to their neighbours; and these neighbours determined to take revenge for the slaughter of their kinsmen. The opportunity of David's absence was taken for invading Ziklag, for which purpose a large and well-equipped expedition had been got together; and as they met with no opposition, they carried everything before them. Happily, however, as they found no enemies they did not draw the sword; they counted it better policy to carry off all that could be transported, so as to make use of the goods, and sell the women and children into slavery, and as they had a great multitude of beasts of burden with them (1Sa_30:17) there could be no difficulty in carrying out this plan. It seems very strange that David should have left Ziklag apparently without the protection of a single soldier; but what seems to us folly had all the effect of con- summate wisdom in the end; the passions of the Amalekites were not excited by opposition or by blood-shed; their destructive propensities were satisfied with destroying the town of Ziklag, and every person and thing that could be removed was carried away unhurt. But for days to come David could not know that their expedition had been conducted in this unusually peaceful way; his imagination and his fears would picture far darker scenes.
It must have been an awful moment to David - hardly less so than to Saul when he saw the host of the Philistines near Jezreel - to reach what had been recently so peaceful a home and find it a mass of smoking ruins. If he had been disposed to congratulate himself on the success of the policy which had dictated his escape from the land of Judah, and his settling at Ziklag under protection of King Achish, how in one moment must the rottenness of the whole plan have flashed upon him, and how awed must he have been at the proof now so clearly afforded that the whole arrangement had been frowned on by the God of heaven! What an agony of suspense and distress he must have been in till more definite news could be obtained; and what a burst of despair must have been heard through the camp when it became known to his followers that the worst that could be conceived had happened - that their houses were all destroyed, their property seized, and their wives and children carried off, to be disgraced, or sold, or butchered, as might suit the fancy of their masters! And then, that remorse- less massacre that they had lately inflicted on the kinsmen of their invaders, how likely it would be to exasperate their passions against them! What mercy would they show whose neighbours had received no mercy? What a dreadful fate would these helpless women and children be now experiencing!
It was probably one of the bitterest of the many bitter hours that David ever spent. First there was the natural feeling of disappointment, after a long and weary march, when the comforts of home had been so eagerly looked forward to, and each man seemed already in the embrace of his family, to find home utterly obliterated, and its place marked by blackened ruins. Then there was the far more intense pang to every affectionate heart, caused by the carrying off of the members of their families; this, it appears, was the predominant feeling of the camp: "the soul of the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters." And somehow David was the person blamed, partly perhaps through that hasty but unjust feeling that blames the leader of an expedition for all the mishaps attending it, and partly also, it may be, because Ziklag had been left utterly undefended. "What business had he to march us all at the heels of these uncircumcised Philistines, as if we ought to make common cause with them only to march us back again just as we came, to gain nothing there and to lose everything here!" To all this was added a further element of excitement: it was not merely calamities known and seen that worked in the minds of the people; the gloom of dreaded but uncertain horrors helped to excite them still more. Imagination would quickly supply the place of evidence in picturing the situation of their wives and children. The feelings of the troops were so fearfully excited against David that they spoke of stoning him. The very men that had lately approached him with the beautiful salutation, "Peace, peace be to thee, and peace be to thine helpers, for thy God helpeth thee," now spoke of stoning him. How like the spirit and the conduct of their descendants a thousand years later, shouting at one time, "Hosanna to the Son of David," and but a few days after, ''Crucify Him, crucify Him." The state of David's feelings must have been all the more terrible for the uneasy conscience he had in the matter, for he had too much cause to feel that the dissembling policy which he had been pursuing had caused another massacre, more frightful than that of the priests after his visit to Nob.
It is probable that at this awful moment the mind of David was visited by a blessed influence from above. The wail of woe that spread through his camp, and the dismal ruins that covered the site of his recent home, seem to have spoken to him in that tone of rebuke which the words of the prophet afterwards conveyed, "Thou art the man!" Under great excitement the mind works with great rapidity, and passes almost with the speed of lightning from one mood to another. It is quite possible that under the same electric shock, as we may call it, that brought David to a sense of his sin he was guided back to his former confidence in the mercy and grace of his covenant God. In one instant, we may believe, the miserable hollowness of all those carnal devices in which he had been trusting would flash upon his mind, and God - his own loving Father and covenant God - would appear waiting to be gracious and longing for his return. And now the prodigal son is in his Father's arms, weeping, sobbing, confessing, but at the same time feeling the luxury of forgiveness, rejoicing, trusting and delighting in His protection and blessing.
It may indeed be objected that we are proceeding too much on mere imagination in supposing that David's return to a condition of holy trust in God was effected in this rapid way. The view may be wrong, and we do not insist on it. What we found on is the very short interval between his last act of dissimulation in professing to desire to accompany Achish to battle, and his manifest restoration to the spirit of trust, evinced in the words, applied to him when the people spoke of stoning him, "But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God" (1Sa_30:6). These words show that he has got back to the true track at last, and from that moment prosperity returns. What a blessed thing it was for him that in that hour of utmost need he was able to derive strength from the thought of God, - able to think of the Most High as watching him with interest, and still ready to deliver him I
It was a somewhat similar incident, though not preceded by any such previous backsliding - a similar manifestation of the magical power of trust - that took place in the life of a more modern David, one who in serving God and doing good to man had to encounter a life of wandering, privation, and danger seldom surpassed - the African missionary and explorer, David Livingstone. In the course of his great journey from St. Paul de Loanda on the west coast of Africa to Quilimane on the east, he had to encounter many an angry and greedy tribe, whom he was too poor to be able to pacify by the ordinary method of valuable presents. On one occasion, in the fork at the confluence of the river Loangwa and the river Zambesi, he found one of those hostile tribes. It was necessary for him to have canoes to cross - they would lend him only one. In other respects they showed an attitude of hostility, and the appearances all pointed to a furious attack the following day. Livingstone was troubled at the prospect, - not that he was afraid to die, but because it seemed as if all his discoveries in Africa would be lost, and his sanguine hopes for planting commerce and Christianity among its benighted and teeming tribes knocked on the head. But he remembered the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, "Go ye therefore into all the world, and preach the gospel unto every creature, and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." On this promise he rested, and steadied his fluttering heart. "It is the word of a gentleman," he said, "the word of one of the most perfect honour. I will not try, as I once thought, to escape by night, but I will wait till to-morrow, and leave before them all. Should such a man as I be afraid? I will take my observations for longitude tonight, though it should be my last. My mind is now quite at rest, thank God." He waited as he had said, and next morning, though the arrangements of the natives still betokened battle, he and his men were allowed to cross the river in successive detachments, without molestation, he himself waiting to the last, and not a hair of their heads being hurt. It was a fine instance of a believing Christian strengthening himself in his God. When faith is genuine, and the habit of exercising it is active, it can remove mountains.
The first result of the restored feeling of trust in David was his giving honour to God's appointed ordinance by asking counsel of Him, through Abiathar the priest, as to the course he should follow. It is the first time we read of him doing so since he left his own country. At first one wonders how he could have discontinued so precious a means of ascertaining the will of God and the path of duty. But the truth is, when a man is left to himself he cares for no advice or direction but his own inclination. He is not desirous to be led; he wishes only to go comfortably. Indifference to God's guidance explains much neglect of prayer.
David has now made his application, and he has got a clear and decided answer. He can feel now that he is treading on solid ground. How much happier he must have been than when driving hither and thither, scheming and dissembling, and floundering from one device of carnal wisdom to another! As for his people, he can think of them now with far more tranquility; have they not been all along in God's keeping, and is it not true that He that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps?
We need not dwell at great length on the incidents that immediately followed. No events could have fallen out more favourably. One-third of his troops was indeed so exhausted that they had to be left at the brook Besor. With the other four hundred he set out in search of the foe. The special providence of God, so clearly and frequently displayed on this occasion, provided a guide for David in the person of an Egyptian slave, who, having fallen sick, had been abandoned by his master, and had been three days and nights without meat or drink. Careful treatment having resuscitated this young man, and a solemn assurance having been given him that he would neither be killed nor given back to his master (the latter alternative seems to have been as terrible as the other), he conducts them without loss of time to the camp of the Amalekites. Each day's journey brought them nearer and nearer to the great wilderness where, some five or six hundred years before, their fathers had encountered Amalek at Rephidim, and had gained a great victory over them, after not a few fluctuations, through the uplifted arms of Moses, the token of reliance on the strength of God. Through the same good hand on David, the Amalekites, surprised in the midst of a time of careless and uproarious festivity, were completely routed, and all but destroyed. Every article they had stolen, and every woman and child they had carried off, were recovered unhurt. Such a deliverance was beyond expectation. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Ziklag, they were like men that dream.
The happy change of circumstances was signalized by David by two memorable acts, the one an act of justice, the other an act of generosity. The act of justice was his interfering to repress the selfishness of the part of his troops who were engaged in the fight with Amalek, some of whom wished to exclude the disabled portion, who had to remain at the brook Besor, from sharing the spoil. The objectors are called ''the wicked men and the men of Belial." It is a significant circumstance that David had been unable to inspire all his followers with his own spirit - that even at the end of his residence in Ziklag there were wicked men and men of Belial among them. No doubt these were the very men that had been loudest in their complaints against David, and had spoken of stoning him when they came to know of the calamity at Ziklag. Complaining men are generally selfish men. They objected to David's proposal to share the spoil with the whole body of his followers. Their proposal was especially displeasing to David at a time when God had given them such tokens of undeserved goodness. It was of the same sort as the act of the unforgiving servant in the parable, who, though forgiven his ten thousand talents, came down with unmitigated ferocity on the fellow-servant that owed him an hundred pence.
The act of generosity was his distribution over the cities in the neighbourhood of the spoil which he had taken from the Amalekites. If he had been of a selfish nature he might have kept it all for himself and his people. But it was "the spoil of the enemies of the Lord." It was David's desire to recognize God in connection with this spoil, both to show that he had not made his onslaught on the Amalekites for personal ends, and to acknowledge, in royal style, the goodness which God had shown him. That it was an act of policy as well as recognition of God may be readily acknowledged. Undoubtedly David was desirous to gain the favourable regard of his neighbours, as a help toward his recognition when the throne of Israel should become empty. But we may surely admit this, and yet recognize in his actions on this occasion the generosity as well as the godliness of his nature. He was one of those men to whom it is more blessed to give than to receive, and who are never so happy themselves as when they are making others happy. The Bethel mentioned in 1Sa_30:27 as first among the places benefited can hardly be the place ordinarily known by that name, which was far distant from Ziklag, but some other Bethel much nearer the southern border of the land. The most northerly of the places specified of whose situation we are assured was Hebron, itself well to the south of Judah, and soon to become the capital where David reigned. The large number of places that shared his bounty was a proof of the royal liberality with which it was spread abroad.
And in this bounty, this royal profusion of gifts, we may surely recognize a fit type of "great David's greater Son." How clearly it appeared from the very first that the spirit of Jesus Christ exemplified His own maxim which we have just quoted, ''It is more blessed to give than to receive." Once only, and that in His infancy, when the wise men laid at His feet their myrrh, frankincense, and gold, do we read of anything like a lavish contribution of the gifts of earth being given to Him. But follow Him through the whole course of His earthly life and ministry, and see how just was the image of Malachi that compared Him to the sun - "the Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings." What a gloriously diffusive nature He had, dropping gifts of fabulous price in every direction without money and without price! "Jesus went about in all Galilee" (it was now the turn of the north to enjoy the benefit), "teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of diseases and all manner of sickness among the people." Listen to the opening words of the Sermon on the Mount; what a dropping of honey as from the honeycomb we have in those beatitudes, which so wonderfully commend the precious virtues to which they are attached! Follow Jesus through any part of His earthly career, and you find the same spirit of royal liberality. Stand by Him even in the last hour of His mortal life, and count His deeds of kindness. See how He heals the ear of Malchus, though He healed no wounds of His own. Listen to Him deprecating the tears of the weeping women, and turning their attention to evils among themselves that had more need to be wept for. Hear the tender tones of His prayer, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Observe the gracious look He casts on the thief beside Him in answer to his prayer - ''Verily I say unto thee, this day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." Mark how affectionately He provides for His mother. See Him after His resurrection saying to the weeping Mary, Woman, why weepest thou? Count that multitude of fishes which He has brought to the nets of His disciples, in token of the riches of spiritual success with which they are to be blessed. And mark, on the day of Pentecost, how richly from His throne in glory He sheds down the Holy Spirit, and quickens thousands together with the breath of spiritual life. "Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive. Thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them."
It is a most blessed and salutary thing for you all to cherish the thought of the royal munificence of Christ. Think of the kindest and most lavish giver you ever knew, and think how Christ surpasses him in this very grace as far as the heavens are above the earth. What encouragement does this give you to trust in Him! What a sin it shows you to commit when you turn away from Him! But remember, too, that Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. Remember that He came to reveal the Father. Perhaps we are more disposed to doubt the royal munificence of the Father than that of the Son. But how unreasonable is this! Was not Jesus Christ Himself, with all the glorious fullness contained in him, the gift of God - His unspeakable gift? And in every act of generosity done by Christ have we not just an exhibition of the Father's heart? Sometimes we think hardly of God's generosity in connection with His decree of election. Leave that alone; it is one of the deep things of God; remember that every soul brought to Christ is the fruit of God's unmerited love and infinite grace; and remember too what a vast company the redeemed are, when in the Apocalyptic vision, an early section of them - those that came out of "the great tribulation" - formed a great multitude that no man could number. Sometimes we think that God is not generous when He takes away very precious comforts, and even the most cherished treasures of our hearts and our homes. But that is love in disguise; "What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." And sometimes we think that He is not generous when He is slow to answer our prayers. But He designs only to encourage us to perseverance, and to increase and finally all the more reward our faith. Yes, truly, whatever anomalies Providence may present, and they are many; whatever seeming contradictions we may encounter to the doctrine of the exceeding riches of the grace of God, let us ascribe all that to our imperfect vision and our imperfect understanding. Let us correct all such narrow impressions at the cross of Christ. Let us reason, like the Apostle: "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" And let us feel assured that when at last God's ways and dealings even with this wayward world are made plain, the one conclusion which they will go to establish for evermore is - that GOD IS LOVE.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 1Sa_30:1. “The south,” or the Negeb, the south country,…
CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES—
1Sa_30:1. “The south,” or the Negeb, the south country, so called by the Israelites as being the southern part of Palentine.
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1Sa_30:2. “They slew not any.” Not from motives of humanity, but because they reserved them for slaves.
1Sa_30:6. “The people spake,” etc. “Because they sought the occasion of their calamity in his connection with Achish, with which many of his adherents may very probably have been dissatisfied.” (Keil.)
1Sa_30:9. “The brook Besor.” “Supposed to be Wady Sheriah, the deep bed of a winter torrent, which is distinctly traceable from the adjoining heights, in its sinuous course up to its source, far away in the distant hills of Judah. It is about thirty yards in width, and is flanked by high precipitous banks, pouring in the rainy season a copious volume of muddy water into the sea, but dwindling to a few stagnant pools in the dry season. The verdant bank of a stream naturally offered a convenient rest to the soldiers who, through fatigue, were unable to continue the pursuit.” (Jamieson.)
1Sa_30:11. “An Egyptian.” Taken by the Amalekites from his own country and retained as a slave.
1Sa_30:11. “Bread,” rather food, the kind being afterwards specified.
1Sa_30:12. “Cake of Figs,” etc. See on 1Sa_25:18. “Three days,” etc. According to the Oriental mode of reckoning, three consecutive parts of days were reckoned three days” (Jon_1:7; Mat_12:40, etc.). (Jamieson.)
1Sa_30:14. “Cherithites.” Doubtless a Philistine tribe (see Eze_25:16; Zep_2:5). “Caleb.” That portion of the Negeb which belonged to Caleb’s family. “The three regions which the Amalekites invaded are named from West to East. We hence see that the plundering expedition extended over the whole south country.” (Erdmann.)
1Sa_30:15. “God.” Elohim, not as in the case of Achish, by Jehovah.
1Sa_30:17. “From the twilight,” etc. Keil understands this to mean from one evening until the following one; but it seems more reasonable to refer the twilight to the early dawn, and so to conclude that the pursuit only lasted one day, and that David surprised them by a night march; to the evening, etc., may be read toward the next day, which according to Hebrew reckoning began in the evening. (See Erdmann.)
1Sa_30:20. The second clause of this verse is not, in the original, connected with the first, neither is the word other in the original. The verse is obscure, but the context shows that David not only recovered his own cattle, but took some from the Amalekites. (See 1Sa_30:26-31.)
1Sa_30:23. “My brethren.” “By this address he speaks to their hearts, and at the same time alludes to the fraternal relation in which they all stand to one another.” (Erdmann.)
1Sa_30:25. “So it was,” etc. A similar law in Num_31:27, only there the division is between the soldiery and those who stayed at home, the former having the advantage. David’s rule was perhaps a special application of the general principle; it was in force in the time of the Maccabees. (Transl. of Lange’s Commentary.)
1Sa_30:27-31. The inhabitants of the cities and villages here enumerated had without doubt shown kindness to David during his wanderings in the wilderness of Judah; they were all, so far as they can be identified, situated in the territory of Judah and Simeon, and with the exception of Hebron (see on 2Sa_2:1), they are unimportant. Bethel is not the famous city of that name, but probably Bethuel (1Ch_4:30), or Bethul, in the tribe of Simeon (Jos_19:4).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH
DAVID AVENGES THE PLUNDER AND BURNING OF ZIKLAG
I. Return to the path of duty will not ensure deliverance from all the consequences of transgression. We may well take for granted that David had seen the folly and sin of taking his own counsel and ordering his own path, instead of seeking for Divine guidance and resting in the Divine promise; and that he left the camp of Achish, feeling that his “soul had escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler;” that “the snare was broken,” and that his “help was in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth” (Psa_124:7-8). But when he found what a calamity had befallen his family and his followers during his absence, and when he was upbraided as the cause of the misfortune, he learned a lesson which was repeated with a terrible emphasis in his later life, that the effects of sin often long outlive repentance and pardon.
II. But return to God in the way of duty will deliver from the worst consequences of transgression. Herein lies the all-important difference between Saul and David at this time. They had both been found in places entirely inconsistent with their calling, and unworthy of the honour which God had put upon them, and in both lack of faith in God was the cause of their fall. And chastisement had come to both in consequence—not only had Saul been brought into great straits, but David also had found himself in a position which to him must have been one of most painful perplexity. But here the analogy between them ceases, and the contrast begins. The retribution which came upon Saul drove him to yet more daring disobedience to God, even to an act of the most open defiance of His authority; but the retribution which fell upon David brought him back to the path of obedience, and when he was again in it the wall of separation which his sin had built up between God and his soul was broken down, and he could again look up to Jehovah for direction in his difficulties. Although he had not yet paid all the penalty of his wandering, the worst effect of it was done away with when he could in confidence inquire of the Lord in His appointed way. Henry says, “The only way to flee from God is to flee to Him,” and David, in common with all who have known both the bitterness of sin and the sweetness of pardon, proved this now and on many other occasions.
III. A sudden transition from adversity to prosperity is a revelation of character. The sunlight not only causes the flowers to spring out of the ground, but it also draws forth many creeping things which the frost held hidden beneath the surface. And prosperity has the same twofold effect upon human souls. While it enlarges the heart of the truly great man, and causes him to remember with gratitude the friends who have helped him in the time of need, it often narrows the ignoble soul, and makes a selfish man more selfish than he was before. For men are not covetous because they are poor, nor liberal because they have abundance; that which a man has does not make him what he is, or wealth and a bountiful disposition would always go together. The sudden good fortune which came at this time to David and his followers revealed the difference in their disposition; for while he desired that as many as possible should share in it, they would have withholden a portion from those of their own company who had been unable to go with them to the battle. But the root of this difference is to be found in this case, as in all similar cases, in the opposite view which men take of the wealth which they possess. In David’s estimation it was “that which the Lord hath given us” (1Sa_30:23); in the eyes of his men it was “the spoil which we have recovered” (1Sa_30:22). It is only when men receive all from God that they use it for God, and in so doing make their abundance a blessing and not a curse to themselves.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
1Sa_30:6. The holy man here liveth when his heart dieth. As the sap in winter retreateth to the root, and there is preserved, so the saint in crosses retireth to God, the fountain of his life; and so is comforted. When David’s table of earthly comforts, which for a long time at best had been but indifferently spread for him, was quite empty, he fetcheth sweetmeats out of his heavenly closet.… The saint in the sharpest winter sits at a good fire. When abused by strangers he can complain to and comfort himself in his Father.—Swinnock.
1Sa_30:8. If it was a duty under the Old Testament, in an enterprise pertaining to war, thus to turn first to God before resolving on anything, that yet the spirit of the Old Testament carried along with it, and did not absolutely forbid, how much more among Christians under the New Testament should nothing of the sort be done without the Divine consent.—Berlenberger Bible.
1Sa_30:13. Here is a warning to Christian nations, who have, what the Amalekites had not, a clear revelation of God’s will in the Gospel with regard to slavery. It may be expected that he will visit them with retribution in mysterious ways of His Providence, when they least anticipate it, for acts of cruelty to slaves.—Wordsworth.
1Sa_30:24. This decree, that they who for good reasons (see 1Sa_30:21) tarry with the stuff shall share alike with those who go down to the battle, is not without its meaning.
In the heavenly Church of God,
“—His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed,
And post o’er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.”
—Milton.
Moses, praying on the hill, contributed to the victory even more than Joshua fighting on the plain. And in the Christian Church provision ought to be made for prayer and meditation, and for patient study of God’s word, as well as for the more active exercise of pastoral duties (see 1Ti_4:13; 2Ti_4:13).—Wordsworth.
Those that represent God upon earth, should resemble him in their proceedings. It is the just mercy of our God to measure us by our wills, not by our abilities; to recompense us graciously, according to the truth of our desires and endeavours; and to account that performed by us, which He only letteth us from performing. It were wide with us, if sometimes purpose did not supply actions. While our heart faulteth not, we that, through spiritual sickness, are fain to bide by the stuff, shall share both in grace and glory with the victors.—Bishop Hall.
1Sa_30:1-26. Two Pictures. I. The sorrowful return.
1. He had left home without seeking the Lord’s guidance—apparently to fight against the Lord’s people—uncertain and unhappy.
2. He had returned, because distrusted, and sent away in dishonour.
3. He found his home in ashes and his family carried away captive.
4. His personal wretchedness was enhanced by the natural wrath of his friends. II. The subsequent joyful return. I. He leaves with explicit Divine direction and promise—to fight national as well as private enemies—hopeful and happy.
2. He returns victorious and honoured.
3. He has regained greater wealth than he had lost.
4. His personal joy is increased by the privilege of sending gifts to his friends. And what unites the two pictures? His sorrowful return led him to deep penitence, revived faith, and humble prayer, and from these resulted the joyful return. Sore afflictions, when rightly borne, often open the way to life’s sweetest joy.—Translator of Lange’s Commentary.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv6, 24 1 Samuel
1 Samuel
THE SECRET OF COURAGE
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1Sa 30:6.
David was at perhaps the very lowest ebb of his fortunes. He had long been a wandering outlaw, and had finally been driven, by Saul’s persistent hostility, to take refuge in the Philistines’ country. He had gathered around himself a band of desperate men, and was living very much like a freebooter. He had found refuge in a little city of the Philistines, far down in the South, from which he and his men had marched as a contingent in the Philistine army, which was preparing an attack upon Saul. But, naturally, the Philistine soldiers doubted their ally, and he was obliged to take himself and his troops back again to their temporary home.
When he came there it was a heap of smoking ruins. Everything was gone; property, cattle, wives, children-and all was desolation. His turbulent followers rose against him, a mutiny broke out-a dangerous thing amongst such a crew-and they were ready to stone him. And at that moment what did he do? Nothing. Was he cast down? No. Was he agitated? No. ‘But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.’
Now the first thing I notice is
I. The grand assurance which this man gripped fast at such a time.
It is not by accident, nor is it a mere piece of tautology, that we read ‘the Lord his God.’ For, if you will remember, the very keynote of the psalms which are ascribed to David is just that expression, ‘My God,’ ‘My God.’ So far as the very fragmentary records of Jewish literature go, it would appear as if David was the very first of all the ancient singers to grapple that thought that he stood in a personal, individual relation to God, and God to him. And so it was his God that he laid hold of at that dark hour.
Now I am not putting too much into a little word when I insist upon it that the very essence and nerve of what strengthened David, at that supreme moment of desolation, was the conviction that welled up in his heart that, in spite of it all, he had a grip of God’s hand as his very own, and God had hold of him. Just think of the difference between the attitude of mind and heart expressed in the names that were more familiar to the Israelitish people, and this name for Jehovah. ‘The God of Israel’-that is wide, general; and a man might use it and yet fail to feel that it implied that each individual of the community stood by himself in a personal relation to God. But David penetrated through the broad, general thought, and got into the heart of the matter. It was not enough for him, in his time of need, to stay himself upon a vague universal goodness, but he had to clasp to his burdened heart the individualising thought, ‘the God of Israel is my God.’
Think, too, of the contrast of the thoughts and emotions suggested by ‘My God,’ and by ‘the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob.’ Great as that name is, it carries the mind away back into the past, and speaks of a historical relation in former days, which may or may not continue in all its tenderness and sweetness and power into the prosaic present. But when a man feels, not only ‘the God of Jacob is our Refuge,’ but, ‘the God of Jacob is my God,’ then the whole thing flashes up into new power. ‘My sun’-will one man claim property in that great luminary that pours its light down on the whole world? Yes.
‘The sun whose beams most glorious are,
Disdaineth no beholder,’
as the old song has it. Each man’s eye receives the straight impact of its universal beams. It is my sun, though it be the light that lightens all men that come into the world. ‘My atmosphere’-will one man claim the free, unappropriated winds of heaven as his? Yes, for they will pour into his lungs; and yet his brother will be none the poorer.
I would not go the length of saying that the living realisation, in heart and mind, of this personal possession of God is the difference between a traditional and vague profession of religion and a vital possession of religion, but if it is not the difference, it goes a long way towards explaining the difference. The man who contents himself with the generality of a Gospel for the world, and who can say no more than that Jesus Christ died for all, has yet to learn the most intimate sweetness, and the most quickening and transforming power, of that Gospel, and he only learns it when he says, ‘Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.’
So do not let us be content with saying, ‘the God of Israel,’ and its many thousands, or ‘the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob,’ who filled the past with His lustre, but let us bring the general good into our own houses, as men might draw the waters of Niagara into their homes through pipes, and let us cry: ‘My Lord and my God!’ ‘David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.’
II. Now note, secondly, the sufficiency of this one conviction and assurance.
Here is one of the many eloquent ‘buts’ of the Bible. On the one hand is piled up a black heap of calamities, loss, treachery and peril; and opposed to them is only that one clause: ‘But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.’ There was only one possession in all the world, except his body and the clothes that he stood in, that he could call his own at that moment. Everything else was gone; his property was carried off by raiders, his home was smouldering embers. But the Amalekites had not stolen God from him. Though he could no longer say, ‘My house, my city, my possessions,’ he could say, ‘My God.’ Whatever else we lose, as long as we have Him we are rich; and whatever else we possess, we are poor as long as we have not Him. God is enough; whatever else may go. The Lord his God was the sufficient portion for this man when he stood a homeless pauper. He had lost everything that his heart clung to; wives, children; Abigail and Abinoam were captives in the arms of some Amalekites; his house was left to him desolate; his heart was bleeding. ‘But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God’ and the bleeding heart was stanched, and the yearning for some one to love and be loved by was satisfied, when he turned himself from the desolation of earth to the riches in the heavens. He was standing on the edge of possible death, for his followers were ready to stone him. He had come through many perils in the past, but he had never been nearer a fatal end than he was at that moment. But the thought of the undying Friend lifted him buoyantly above the dread of death, and he could look with an unwinking eye right into the fleshless eye-sockets of the skeleton, and say, ‘I fear no evil, for Thou art with me.’
So for poverty, loss, the blasting of earthly hopes, the crushing of earthly affections, the extremity of danger, and the utmost threatening of death, here is the sufficient remedy-that one mighty assurance: ‘The Lord is my God.’ For if He is ‘the strength of my heart,’ He will be my portion for ever.’ He is not poor who has God for his, nor does he wander with a hungry heart who can rest his heart on God’s; nor need he fear death who possesses God, and in Him eternal life.
So, brethren, in all our changing circumstances, there is more than enough for us in that sweet, simple, strong thought. The end of sorrow {that is to say, the purpose thereof} is to breed in us the conviction that God is ours, to drive us to Him by lack of all beside; and the end of sorrow {that is to say, the termination thereof} is the kindling in our hearts of the light of that blessed assurance, for with Him we shall fear no evil. You never know the good of the breakwater until the storm is rolling the waves against its outer side. Light a little candle in a room, and you will not see the lightning when it flashes outside, however stormy the sky, and seamed with the fiery darts. If we have God in our hearts, we have enough for courage and for strength.
I need not remind you, I suppose, how this darkest moment of David’s fortunes was the moment at which the darkness broke. Three days after this emeute of his turbulent followers, there came a fugitive into the camp with news that Saul was dead and David was king. So it was not in vain that he had ‘strengthened himself in the Lord his God.’ Our ‘light affliction which is but for a moment’ leads on to a manifestation of the true power of God our Friend, and to the breaking of the day.
III. And now the last thing to be noted is the effort by which this assurance is attained and sustained.
The words of the original convey even more forcibly than those of our translation the thought of David’s own action in securing him the hold of God as his. He ‘strengthened himself in the Lord his God.’ The Hebrew conveys the notion of effort, persistent and continuous; and it tells us this, that when things are as black as they were round David at that hour-it is not a matter of course, even for a good man, that there shall well up in his heart this tranquillising and victorious conviction; but he has to set himself to reach and to keep it. God will give it, but He will not give it unless the man strains after it. David ‘strengthened himself in the Lord,’ and if he had not doggedly set about resisting the pressure of circumstances, and flinging himself as it were, by an effort, into the arms of God, circumstances would have been too strong for him, and despair would have shrouded his soul. In the darkest moment it is possible for a man to surround himself with God’s light, but even in the brightest it is not possible to do so unless he makes a serious effort.
That effort must consist mainly in two things. One is that we shall honestly try to occupy our minds, as well as our hearts, with the truth which certifies to us that God is, in very deed, ours. If we never think, or think languidly and rarely, about what God has revealed to us, by the word and life and death and intercession of Jesus Christ, concerning Himself, His heart of love towards us, and His relations to us, then we shall not have, either in the time of disaster or of joy, the blessed sense that He is indeed ours. If a man will not think about Christian truth he will not have the blessedness of Christian possession of God. There is no mystery about the road to the sweetness and holiness and power that may belong to a Christian. The only way to win them is to be occupied, far more than most of us are, with the plain truths of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ. If you never think about them they cannot affect you, and they will not make you sure that God is yours.
But we cannot occupy ourselves with these truths unless we have a distinct and resolute purpose running through our lives, of averting our eyes from the things that might make us lose sight of them and of Him. David had his choice. He could either, as a great many of us do, stand there and look, and look, and look, and see nothing but his disasters, or he could look past them; and see beyond them God. Peter had his choice whether he would look at the water, or whether he would look at Jesus Christ. He chose to look at the water; ‘and when he saw the wind boisterous he began to sink’-of course, and when he looked at Christ and cried: ‘Lord, save me!’ he was held up-equally of course. Make the effort not to let the sorrowful things, or the difficult things, or the fearful things, or the joyous things, in your life, absorb you, but turn away, and, as the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews says, in another connection, ‘look off unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of faith.’ David had to put constraint upon himself, to admit any other thoughts into his mind than those that were pressed into it by the facts before his eyes; but he put on the constraint, and so he was encouraged because he encouraged himself.
There is another thing which we have to make an effort to do, if we would have the blessedness of this conviction filling and flooding our hearts. For the possession is reciprocal; we say, ‘My God,’ and He says, ‘My people.’ Unless we yield ourselves to Him and say, ‘I am Thine,’ we shall never be able to say, ‘Thou art mine.’ We must recognise His possession of us; we must yield ourselves; we must obey; we must elect Him as our chief good, we must feel that we are not our own, but bought with a price. And then when we look up into the heavens thus submissive, thus obedient, thus owning His authority and His rights, as well as claiming His love and His tenderness, and cry: ‘My Father,’ He will bend down and whisper into our hearts: ‘Thou art My beloved son.’ Then we shall be ‘strong, and of a good courage,’ however weak and timid, and we shall be rich, though, like David, we have lost all things.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Amalekites raid Ziklag, and are pursued by David
The Amalekites raid Ziklag, and are pursued by David
2. Slew not any] They would be valuable as slaves.
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6. Spake of stoning him] They probably thought he had been negligent in leaving Ziklag without a guard.
8. Enquired at the lord] by means of the Urim in the ephod: see on Exo_28:30.
13. My master left me] The life of a slave was of little more importance than that of a horse.
14. The Cherethites] Cherethite is used with Pelethite, perhaps another name for Philistine: see 1Sa_30:16 and Zep_2:5. It is very possibly connected with Crete, the country from which the Philistines were believed to have come (Amo_9:7). David had the capacity of turning foes into faithful friends and soldiers.
16. Dancing] RV 'feasting,' i.e. enjoying themselves merrily.
17. Twilight] This is probably the evening twilight.
20. The LXX has no word corresponding to 'David': 'and they took all the sheep and oxen (i.e. those belonging to the Amalekites) and drave them before the other cattle (i.e. those belonging to David's followers) and said, This is David's spoil.' In repentance for their former attitude (1Sa_30:6), they resolved only to keep what had been taken from them by the Amalekites, and to surrender the other spoil to David.
26. He sent of the spoil] In gratitude for their goodwill when he was a hunted outlaw. David's action was also due to policy. He wished them to be ready to accept his rule, when the time came.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 1. The Amalekites destroy Ziklag (1Sa 30:1-5)
CHAPTER 30
1. The Amalekites destroy Ziklag (1Sa 30:1-5)
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2. David’s distress and return unto the Lord (1Sa 30:6-8)
3. David pursues the Amalekites (1Sa 30:9-10)
4. The young Egyptian and the defeat of the enemy (1Sa 30:11-20)
5. The threatening dissension and David’s decision (1Sa 30:21-25)
6. The spoil sent to Judah (1Sa 30:26-31)
The chastening hand of the Lord now rests heavily upon wayward, backsliding David. The Amalekites had destroyed Ziklag. The entire city was burned to the ground and the women and children were taken away captive by the Amalekites. The people rose up against David and were ready to stone him. He reaps the fruit of his sowing. He had gone into an alliance with the enemies of God and His people, and now he finds that the Lord permitted the enemy to touch his possessions. The Lord through affliction, loss and sorrow spoke to the heart of David. How humiliating that his followers were ready to stone him! They understood that his behaviour had brought upon them the disaster, that he was another Achan (Joshua 7). It was then that he turned to the Lord. “David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.” Here we see the difference between him and Saul. Affliction and sorrow, the chastenings of the Lord, recall the true believer and bring him back to the Lord. He sought the presence of the Lord and once more through Abiathar, who had the ephod, enquired of the Lord. And here graciously the Lord met His servant who had failed Him! There is no word of rebuke on account of the 16 months David had wandered from the Lord, but instead the Lord assures His servant that he would recover all.
The incident of the young Egyptian is very interesting. David appears now once more as a type of our Lord. He did not foreshadow the Lord Jesus during the months he was with the Philistines. The Egyptian is a type of the unsaved. He is an Egyptian (the type of the world); he was found in the field (“the field is the world” Matt. 13). He was the slave of an Amalekite. Amalek as we have seen in the annotations of Exodus (chapter 17) and in Judges, is a type of the flesh. Behind it stands Satan. Thus the unsaved, the one who is not born again, is of the world and a slave of Amalek, serving the flesh under Satan’s dominion. The physical condition of this young Egyptian also typifies the spiritual condition of the unsaved. And David in showing him mercy is a type of Christ. The young man’s confession, the bread and water given to him, can easily be applied in the gospel. The story of the Egyptian reminds us of the parable of the good Samaritan in the Gospel of Luke. The young Egyptian is assured of his safety; the slave of the Amalekite becomes the servant of the king. The company to which he belonged is eating and drinking and dancing. They rest secure dreaming of no danger, when all at once the battle cry of the king is upon them. It is the picture of the world. Thus sudden destruction will come upon them. And David recovered all.
How differently the dissension, which threatened among David’s men, would have turned out had he still been away from the Lord. But now he acts in the sweetness of grace. The great spoil is distributed among the different cities of Judah. Well may we think here of the victory of our coming King in which His people will share through His infinite grace.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 11, 21 David’s Return to Ziklag
David’s Return to Ziklag
v. 1. And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, after leaving the army of Achish in this Plain of Jezreel, that the Amalekites, evidently as a reprisal for David’s raids upon them, 1Sa 27:8, had invaded the south, the south country of Judah, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, defenseless as the city was, and burned it with fire;
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v. 2. and had taken the women captives that were therein, intending to make slaves of them and of their children; they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away and went on their way, back to their own country.
v. 3. So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters were taken captives.
v. 4. Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep. The blow was so sudden, so unexpected, that their sorrow was correspondingly great and their grief bitter.
v. 5. And David’s two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam, the Jezreelitess, and Abigail, the wife of Nabal, the Carmelite.
v. 6. And David was greatly distressed, deeply oppressed and anxious in spirit; for the people spake of stoning him, evidently putting all the blame upon him for joining Achish on his campaign against Israel, because the soul of all the people was grieved, full of bitterness, which has a tendency to be unreasonable, every man for his sons and for his daughters. But David encouraged himself in the Lord, his God, seeking strength and comfort in prayer and in firm confidence in the Lord, also by a direct inquiry of the Lord.
v. 7. And David said to Abiathar, the priest, Ahimelech’s son, 1Sa 23:6-9, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod, which contained the Urim and Thummim. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David.
v. 8. And David inquired at the Lord, by means of the Urim, Shall I pursue after this troop, the raiders who had taken away the women and children? Shall I overtake them? And He answered him, Pursue; for thou shalt surely over take them and without fail recover all, most certainly deliver all the captives from the slavery which threatened them.
v. 9. So David went, he and the six hundred men that were with him, without taking time to rest, and came to the brook Besor, which flowed down from the hilly section of Judah and down through the country of the Philistines, "Where those that were left behind stayed, unable to proceed on account of exhaustion.
v. 10. But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor, the crossing of which seems to have been connected with great difficulties. These men were left behind with the baggage, while their more stalwart brethren followed the enemy. Like David, every Christian, though beset with anxiety and distress, may cheerfully and courageously take up the work assigned to him, after he has strengthened himself with prayer and the Word of God.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 16, 18, 21, 23, 26, 29 Ziklag is a city in the southern part of…
Ziklag
Ziklag is a city in the southern part of Judah. This was where David and his men kept their families.
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they
the Amalekites
both small and great
Possible meanings are 1) "both unimportant people and important people" or 2) "both physically small and physically large."
translationWords
David
Amalek
Negev
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 31 30:1 Ziklag: See study note on 27:6. • Perhaps…
30:1 Ziklag: See study note on 27:6. • Perhaps the Amalekites were retaliating for David’s raids against them (27:8).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.