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1 Samuel 30
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 (30:1) "The Amalekites had invaded the south."
The Amalekites are a tough tribe. Twice they
were "utterly destroyed" first by Saul (1
Sam.15:7-8) and then by David (1 Sam.27:9-11). Yet
here they are, just a few years later, fighting the Philistines.
(30:1-2) "The Amalekites ... slew not any,
either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way."
Believers like to say that the Amalekites were so evil that God had to kill them all, even their women and children. Yet here
the Amalekites behave far better than the Israelites by not killing their captives. (Compare these verses with God's command
to Saul in 1 Sam.15:3.)
Amalekites Show Some Mercy
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| 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;
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| 30:2
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.
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| 30:3
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.
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| 30:4
Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and
wept, until they had no more power to weep.
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| 30:5
And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal
the Carmelite.
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| 30:6
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. |
(30:6)
"David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him."
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| 30:7
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. |
 (30:7)
"Abiathar ... Ahimelech's son" -- or was he his father?
(30:8) "And David enquired 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."
 David Shows
No Mercy
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| 30:8
And David enquired 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.
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| 30:9
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.
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| 30:10
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.
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| 30:11
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; |
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| 30:12
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. |
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| 30:13
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. |
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| 30:14
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. |
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| 30:15
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. |
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| 30:16
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. |
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| 30:17
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. |
(30:17) "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."
David spends the day killing more of those pesky Amalekites. He kills all of them except for 400 that escaped on camels. (See 1
Sam.15:7-8, 20 and 27:8-9 for the last two times
that they were exterminated.)
Did Saul and Samuel kill all the Amalekites?
God's 72nd Killing
 (30:18) "David rescued his two wives."
Oh, goodie! David got his wives back!
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| 30:18
And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David
rescued his two wives.
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| 30:19
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.
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| 30:20
And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drave before those
other cattle, and said, This is David's spoil.
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| 30:21
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. |
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| 30:22
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. |
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| 30:23
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. |
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| 30:24
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. |
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| 30:25
And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an
ordinance for Israel unto this day. |
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| 30:26
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; |
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| 30:27
To them which were in Bethel, and to them which were in south Ramoth, and
to them which were in Jattir, |
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| 30:28
And to them which were in Aroer, and to them which were in Siphmoth, and
to them which were in Eshtemoa, |
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| 30:29
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, |
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| 30:30
And to them which were in Hormah, and to them which were in Chorashan, and
to them which were in Athach, |
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| 30:31
And to them which were in Hebron, and to all the places where David
himself and his men were wont to haunt. |
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