Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(1 Samuel 30:1) And it came to pass, when David and his men had come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south and Ziklag and struck Ziklag and burned it with fire, (2) And had taken the women captives, those who were there; they did not kill any, either great or small, but carried them away and went on their way.
In the last chapter and post, David had left his home in Ziklag and had gone with Achish to fight against the Philistines' enemy which was Saul and the Israelites. The Philistine princes did not trust David to fight for them, so the king had sent him back to his home. It seems David had been gone only three days, or perhaps it was the third day of his trip back to Ziklag, when he came back to find that the Amalekites had invaded Ziklag and burned it, and they had taken all the women who were left there, young and old, as captives, but they did not kill them. While living in Ziklag, David had gone out and struck the Amalekites, killing every one of them (1 Samuel 27:8-9), so these Amalekites were probably a wandering band of raiders, the ones mentioned in 1 Chronicles 12:21. They had struck Ziklag and the south, which judging from this map borrowed from Braman's Wanderings, was probably Israelite territory:
(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 who 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.
When David and his men came to Ziklag and saw the destruction and that all their wives and children had been taken, they shrieked and cried until they had no more tears to cry. David's two wives, Ahinoam and Abigail were also taken.
(6) And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters, but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.
David was greatly distressed, not only because of what had happened, but also because the men spoke of stoning him, blaming him for what had happened to their families. He was the one who had provoked the Amalekites in the first place, and then he chose to go with Achish and bring his men with him, leaving their families defenseless. David turned to the Lord for encouragement.
(7) And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, "I pray you, bring me here the ephod." And Abiathar brought there the ephod to David. (8) And David enquired of the Lord, saying, "Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them?" And He answered him, "Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail, recover all."
Abiathar had undoubtedly been with David and his men as he would have otherwise been carried away with the women and children. David asked him to bring him the ephod in which were the Urim and Thummim, something akin to lots that were cast to determine the will of God. David asked the Lord if he should pursue the band of raiders, and if he would overtake them. Had David been consulting the Lord before this, he probably wouldn't have been in the trouble he was now, but the Lord was merciful to him and told him to pursue the Amalekites, that he would overtake them, and would recover everyone.
(9) 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. (10) But David pursued, he and four hundred men, for two hundred abode behind, who were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.
I would have thought that the number of his army would have grown by now as the men from Manasseh had joined him (1 Chronicles 12:19-20), but I suppose 600 was a rounded number. The Besor Brook was south of Ziklag as seen on the map above. 200 of his men were so faint after all they had been through that they stayed behind at the Besor Brook, and David and 400 men went on after the band of Amalekites.
(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, (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 water, three days and three nights.
Some of David's men found an Egyptian in the field, and they brought him to David. He was apparently very faint from hunger as he had not eaten for three days and nights. They gave him food and water, and he was revived.
(13) And David said to him, "To whom do you belong? And where are you from?" And he said, "I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite, and my master left me because three days ago I fell sick."
David asked the Egyptian where he came from and to whom he belonged. He told him he had been a servant to an Amalekite who just left him there to die because he fell sick three days prior.
(14) "We made an invasion on the south of the Cherethites, and on what belongs to Judah, and on the south of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire."
The Egyptian servant then went on to tell David what he and his master's party had done. They had made an invasion south of the Cherethites, which were probably a group within the Philistines, on what belonged to Judah, on the south of Caleb which included Hebron seen on the map above, and he admitted they had burned Ziklag.
(15) And David said to him, "Can you bring me down to this company?" And he said, "Swear to me by God that you will neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this company."
David asked the Egyptian if he would take him to the company he had been with when they did all he had described. The Egyptian said he would take him if he would swear not to kill him or take him back to his master. Apparently, David agreed:
(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.
The Egyptian brought David and his men to where the band of Amalekites were. They were at ease spread across the land, eating, drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil they had taken from Ziklag in the land of the Philistines and from Judah.
(17) And David struck them from the twilight even to the evening of the next day, and there escaped not a man of them except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled.
David and his men struck the Amalekites for apparently over 24 hours, and there must have been a very great number of them they destroyed, for the scriptures reads that none of them escaped except 400 who rode away on camels. 400 is no small number, considering that was the number of David's army that attacked them, and the way scripture is worded that not a man of them escaped except 400, certainly sounds like there must have been initially a very great number of them.
(18) And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives.
David and his men recovered all that the Amalekites had taken from them, and David also rescued his two wives.
(19) And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor anything that they had taken from them; David recovered all. (20) And David took all the flocks and the herds they drove before those other cattle, and said, "This is David's spoil."
David and his men had recovered everything that was taken from them. Nothing or no one was missing. I believe the sense of verse 20 is that in addition to their own flocks and herds that the Amalekites had taken from them, David also took the herds that the Amalekites had before they stole from Ziklag, considering them spoil from the battle.
(21) And David came to the two hundred men who were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they also had made to abide at the brook Besor, and they went forth to meet David and to meet the people who were with him, and when David came near to the people, he saluted them.
David and his men came back to the 200 men who had not gone with them to fight the Amalekites because they had been too faint to fight. They had evidently been told to stay there at the Besor Brook and probably look after any personal supplies they had taken with them when they had left Ziklag and had gone with Achish. They came forward to meet David upon his return from battling the Amalekites, and David saluted them.
(22) Then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial, of those who went with David, and said, "Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except for every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away and depart."
Then some of David's men who had gone with him to fight the Amalekites, with selfish and greedy hearts, men of Belial, which meant wicked and morally worthless, said they did not want to give the 200 men any of the spoil because they had not gone with them to fight the Amalekites. They wanted them to take what was originally theirs that was recovered and just leave.
(23) Then said David, "You shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the Lord has given us, who has preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us into our hand. (24) For who will hearken to you in this matter? But as his part who goes down to the battle, so his part who tarries by the stuff; they shall part alike."
David told the men they would not be allowed to do as they wished in that matter, for after all, it was the Lord who had delivered the Amalekites into their hands and therefore provided them with the spoil. It was not theirs to decide who would receive of it and who wouldn't. David resolved that as some men did their part in going to battle, it was just as important to have men doing their part to guard their supplies, and that all the men would share in the spoil.
(25) And it was from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day. (26) And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, "Behold a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord."
So it was from that time forward, that he who stayed at home and defended home and property had an equal right to share in the spoils of war as the one who went to battle. Then David went even further and sent some of the spoil to elders of Judah whom he considered friends, who had been kind to him when he had sojourned among them. He told them it was a present of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord, not his personal enemies, but enemies of the Lord and all His people.
(27) To those who were in Bethel, and to those who were in south Ramoth, and to those who were in Jattir, (28) And to those who were in Aroer, and to those who were in Siphmoth, and to those who were in Eshtemoa, (29) And to those who were in Rachal, and to those who were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to those who were in the cities of the Kenites, (30) And to those who were in Hormah, and to those who were in Chorashan, and to those who were in Athach, (31) And to those who were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were accustomed to rove.
There must have been a very large spoil as it was not only shared with all six hundred of his men, but also with those who were most likely elders, as with the elders of Judah, and friends, to all those who had sheltered and relieved him and his men in the times of their distress. Six hundred men in one place could have been quite an imposition on the inhabitants, and David showed his gratitude to them by sharing his spoil.
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