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;
2.
And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way.
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.
4.
Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.
5.
And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.
6.
And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.
7.
And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David.
8.
And David inquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.
1 Samuel 30:8.— We may just note here, what we have frequently observed, how much the insertion of particles in our version flattens the sense. Every reader of taste will discern it in the last clause of this verse.
9.
So David went, he and the six hundred men that were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those that were left behind stayed.
1 Samuel 30:9. Where those that were left behind, stayed— The sense is clearer than the expression. Of the six hundred men who accompanied David, two hundred, worn out with fatigue, (the same as had care of the baggage, 1 Samuel 30:24.) continued by the brook Besor, while the other four hundred crossed the brook, and went in pursuit of the enemy.
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.
11.
And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat; and they made him drink water;
1 Samuel 30:11. And they found an Egyptian, &c.— Surely the leaving such a slave, sick with fatigue in his master's service in an enemy's country, utterly destitute of all the necessaries of life in the midst of unpurchased plenty, is one of the strongest instances of inhumanity that was ever heard of! This is a true specimen of Amalekite mercy. But this inhumanity cost them dear; for by this means they lost their own lives.
12.
And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins: and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him: for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights.
1 Samuel 30:12. And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, &c.— The eastern people are well known to carry with them in their journies several accommodations, and provisions in particular of various kinds, for, properly speaking, they have no inns. They did so anciently. Those who travel on foot with expedition, content themselves with a very slight viaticum. The writer of the history of the piratical states of Barbary, speaking of the great expedition of the natives of the country about Ceuta in carrying messages, (some of them running one hundred and fifty miles in less than twenty-four hours,) says, "Their temperance is not less admirable; for some meal, with a few figs and raisins, which they carry in a goat's skin, serves them a seven or eight days' journey, and their richest liquor is only honey and water." Not very different from this is the account here given by the sacred writer, of the provisions carried by David and his men, for their support in their hurrying pursuit after the Amalekites, as appears by what they gave the poor famished Egyptian, bread, (water) figs and raisins. The bread of the Israelites answers to the meal of Barbary; the figs and the raisins were the very things which the Moors now carry with them. We do not find any mention of honey in this account of David's expedition; but it is represented in other passages of Scripture as something refreshing to those who were almost spent with fatigue; chap. 1 Samuel 14:27; 1Sa 14:29 which is enough to make us think that they sometimes carried it with them in their journies or military expeditions. See Observations, p. 206.
13.
And David said unto him, To whom belongest thou? and whence art thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days agone I fell sick.
14.
We made an invasion upon the south of the Cherethites, and upon the coast which belongeth to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.
1 Samuel 30:14. Upon the south of the Cherethites— It is plain, from this relation, that the Cherethites were Philistines, see 1Sa 30:16 and that the Amalekites were enemies to the Philistines; and therefore, however David might have asked beside the intentions of his benefactor, yet he certainly did not act against his interest in destroying them. Calmet, in his dissertation upon the origin of the Philistines, says, that the name Cherethites, or Cherethians, is the same as Cretans; and he maintains that this people were Aborigines of Crete.
15.
And David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this company? 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 to this company.
1 Samuel 30:15. I will bring thee down to this company— Houbigant adds after these words, and David sware to him; following the Syriac and Arabic. The words might certainly be understood, if they are not expressed.
16.
And when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad upon all the earth, eating and drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah.
17.
And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled.
1 Samuel 30:17. And David smote them, &c.— The number of Amalekites that fled, was equal to that of all David's forces; and out of self-preservation, he was obliged to put as many of them to the sword as he could, to prevent being surrounded and destroyed by so superior a number. A partial victory, instead of being of any service to him, would have rather turned out to his disadvantage; because the straggling parties might have united, and watched an opportunity of retrieving their defeat by a second attack; and it was not unknown to David, nor can it be unknown to any impartial reader, that the Amalekites were such inveterate enemies to the Israelites, and so restless at the same time, that they would have lost no opportunity of wiping off their disgrace, or endangering the very being of the Israelitish nation. I affirm, lastly, that David not only acted prudently, but well, in pursuing his victory, and extirpating them, as they were proscribed by God himself, and condemned to be utterly cut off.
18.
And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives.
19.
And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all.
20.
And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drave before those other cattle, and said, This is David's spoil.
1 Samuel 30:20. And David took all the stocks and the herds, &c.— To crown his success, David and his men not only recovered every man his wife and children, and every thing they had lost; but all the plunder which the enemy had taken elsewhere; vast flocks and herds of cattle, which they now separated from their own, and, in honour of their leader, distinguished by the name of David's spoil; of which spoil, when David returned to Ziklag, he sent presents to all his friends who had protected and entertained him in his exile, whether in Judea or out of it; 1 Samuel 30:26-31. And from the account of this matter in the verses referred to, it appears, that David had in this exile sojourned in many places, whither the sacred historian did not think fit to trace him. Those places were principally in the tribe of Judah. This conduct of David's is certainly a high proof of the honest and overflowing gratitude of his heart for favours received.
21.
And David came to the two hundred men, which were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they had made also to abide at the brook Besor: and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him: and when David came near to the people, he saluted them.
22.
Then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial, of those that went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them ought of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away, and depart.
23.
Then said David, Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the LORD hath given us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us into our hand.
24.
For who will hearken unto you in this matter? but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike.
25.
And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day.
26.
And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the LORD;
27.
To them which were in Bethel, and to them which were in south Ramoth, and to them which were in Jattir,
28.
And to them which were in Aroer, and to them which were in Siphmoth, and to them which were in Eshtemoa,
29.
And to them which were in Rachal, and to them which were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to them which were in the cities of the Kenites,
30.
And to them which were in Hormah, and to them which were in Chor-ashan, and to them which were in Athach,
31.
And to them which were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were wont to haunt.