Summary: The Amalekites raided Ziklag and took all of the women and children and supplies (v.1). The men were weeping over this (v.4). Both of David’s wives were taken (v.5), and his own men were thinking of stoning him (v.6). David received insight from the ephod to overtake the raiding party (v.8). David found one of the servants of the raiding party, which led him to the raiders. David fought the raiders and took everything back (vv.17-18). David gave the plunder to the men who were too weak to fight (v.24).
(30:1-3) David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it, 2 and had taken captive the women and everyone else in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way. 3 When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.
David and his men walked 55 miles from Aphek to Ziklag (~20 miles a day).[] After that long march, and they get home, but no one comes out to greet them. Instead, they see smoke rising over the horizon. They must’ve burst into a run as it dawned on them what had happened.
They arrive to find that their homes are burned to the ground. The Amalekites plundered their possessions, their wives, and their children. This is a living nightmare!
Why did the Amalekites attack David? Bergen writes, “This attack on David’s base of operations was no doubt in retaliation for assaults David and his men had carried out against the Amalekites during the past sixteen months (cf. 27:8) and was timed to coincide with David’s expected northern tour of duty.”[]
(30:4) So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep.
These men were some of “the toughest men on the planet.”[] Yet, even these battle-hardened men cried like babies. David wept alongside his men. He had no problem shedding tears publicly. This makes sense of his writing in the psalms, where we often find him crying.
(30:5) David’s two wives had been captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel.
David’s wives were both taken. So, he wasn’t exempt from the suffering.
(30:6) David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him. Each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God.
“The men were talking of stoning him.” When you’re in pain, you want someone to be responsible. Someone is to blame. Grief can do strange things to people, and we don’t think straight. In this case, these men want to take out their anger on David. Leaders sometimes pay a high price—even from their own people.
“David found strength in the Lord his God.” David had wept until “there was no strength” (v.4). Now, he “found strength in the Lord his God” (v.6). Every support system that David could turn to was gone. He hit rock bottom. He can only turn to God as his strength and his refuge.
(30:7-8) Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelek, “Bring me the ephod.” Abiathar brought it to him, 8 and David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?”
“Pursue them,” he answered. “You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue.”
Saul had “inquired” the Lord, but he received no answer (1 Sam. 28:6). David, however, receives a clear and immediate answer. Bergen writes, “During a time of great distress both men sought supernatural guidance for battle. Chronologically, they probably were seeking guidance on the very same day. However, one defied the Torah; the other utilized its gracious provision. Saul sought help from a medium and received the promise of death; David sought help through an Aaronic priest using the ephod and received the promise—later fulfilled—of life and blessing.”[]
(30:9) David and the six hundred men with him came to the Besor Valley, where some stayed behind.
Besor is 16 miles south, and it is likely the modern Wadi Ghazzeh—though this is uncertain.[]
(30:10) Two hundred of them were too exhausted to cross the valley, but David and the other four hundred continued the pursuit.
“Too exhausted to cross the valley.” David’s men were emotionally exhausted (v.4) and physically exhausted after a 55 mile walk from Aphek to Ziklag. Then, this was a fast-paced 16-mile race to catch the Amalekites. The raiders had a big head start on them. So, David’s men were marching double-time to catch up. It’s no wonder that these men were “too exhausted to cross the valley.”
(30:11-13) They found an Egyptian in a field and brought him to David. They gave him water to drink and food to eat— 12 part of a cake of pressed figs and two cakes of raisins. He ate and was revived, for he had not eaten any food or drunk any water for three days and three nights. 13 David asked him, “Who do you belong to? Where do you come from?” He said, “I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me when I became ill three days ago.”
David finds a rogue Amalekite slave—an Egyptian—who was wandering without food or water for three days (v.12). In addition, the slave had been sick before he was thrown away to die in the wilderness (v.13). David gives the young slave food and water, and he revives him. It was mandated to aid foreigners like this (Ex. 22:21; 23:9; Lev 19:34; Deut. 23:7). However, David also probably wanted to get information from this man to fight the Amalekites.
(30:14-15) “We raided the Negev of the Kerethites, some territory belonging to Judah and the Negev of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag.” 15 David asked him, “Can you lead me down to this raiding party?” He answered, “Swear to me before God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master, and I will take you down to them.”
“We burned Ziklag.” This Egyptian slave was culpable for attacking the Israelite town. It would’ve been easy for David and his men to take out their vengeance on him. However, David spares the man’s life in exchange for directions to the real culprits.
“Swear to me before God that you will not kill me.” The Egyptian slave tells David where the Amalekites have gone, but he first makes David swear that he will protect his life. David turned this enemy into a friend.
(30:16) He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating, drinking and reveling because of the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah.
When they find the Amalekites, they are in a drunken stupor. This was early in the morning. So, the Amalekites were probably vulnerable from working off a wicked hangover.
(30:17) David fought them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled.
David accomplished what Saul failed to do. He killed these brutal ancient Near Eastern plunderers. Indeed, if Saul had killed the Amalekites in the first place (1 Sam. 15), these innocent women and children never would’ve been put in harm’s way.
(30:18-20) David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back. 20 He took all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, “This is David’s plunder.”
400 Amalekites escaped. However, David beat the Amalekites so fiercely that they don’t reappear in the biblical narrative until the reign of Hezekiah (1 Chron. 4:43).
(30:21-22) Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him and who were left behind at the Besor Valley. They came out to meet David and the men with him. As David and his men approached, he asked them how they were. 22 But all the evil men and troublemakers among David’s followers said, “Because they did not go out with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered. However, each man may take his wife and children and go.”
The fighting men had turned bitter. Their reasoning is somewhat sound. After all, why would these men share in the spoils of war if they didn’t join the war?
(30:23) David replied, “No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the Lord has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiding party that came against us.”
While the men called this “David’s plunder” (v.20), David knew this victory belonged to God.
(30:24-25) “Who will listen to what you say? The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike.” 25 David made this a statute and ordinance for Israel from that day to this.”
Why would David make a policy to divide the plunder with non-combatants? There are several plausible reasons for this.[] First, when the Israelites defeated an enemy, this was because God had empowered them. To take the credit for the victory would be egotistical and wrong. Second, the plunder was far less important than keeping their lives. If the combatants were alive, they should be grateful that God protected them (v.23). Third, the plunder belonged to the men beforehand. It would be quite odd for others to own your possessions. This could lead to in-fighting later. Fourth, the non-combatants weren’t cowards. Rather, they were too physically exhausted to fight.
(30:26-31) When David reached Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah, who were his friends, saying, “Here is a gift for you from the plunder of the Lord’s enemies.” 27 David sent it to those who were in Bethel, Ramoth Negev and Jattir; 28 to those in Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa 29 and Rakal; to those in the towns of the Jerahmeelites and the Kenites; 30 to those in Hormah, Bor Ashan, Athak 31 and Hebron; and to those in all the other places where he and his men had roamed.
David shares the plunder with the men of Judah. He was gaining allies with all of the cities around Judah before he took the throne.
(2) David took strength from God—even when his own people had turned against him (v.6). He didn’t take his value from people, but from God (Gal. 1:10).
(3) David was a giver—not a taker. He gave them plunder because they were too weak to make it into battle—not because they were too cowardly.
(4) David’s mighty men were ready to kill him. But God delivers David through prayer. This might have been the first time in a long time that David prayed.
(5) All of David’s worries were useless. Truly, the situation was dire. But they were only a couple days from seeing this tragedy turned completely around. Nothing was lost, and everything was returned.
Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 275.
Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 275.
Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 275.
Emphasis mine. Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 276.
Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 276.
I am indebted to Bergen for a few of these points. Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 279.
James is an elder at Dwell Community Church, where he teaches classes in theology, apologetics, and weekly Bible studies.
