A Man Left For Dead Gives New Life To David’s Pursuit (30:11-15)
11 Now they found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David, and gave him bread and he ate, and they provided him water to drink. 12 And they gave him a piece of fig cake and two clusters of raisins, and he ate; then his spirit revived. For he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights. 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, a servant of an Amalekite; and my master left me behind when I fell sick three days ago. 14 “We made a raid on the Negev of the Cherethites, and on that which belongs to Judah, and on the Negev of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire.” 15 Then David said to him, “Will you bring me down to this band?” And he said, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this band.”
The trail is indeed cold. It seems that David and his men do not even know who the raiders are. (We are told in verse 1, but David and his men seem to learn this information in verses 13-14.) David and his men must being to wonder what direction their pursuit should take. At this critical moment, they just “happen” to come across a man who has been left half-dead in a field. The man is so weak he cannot talk. It may seem to some that this is a “waste of time” for David and his men to stop and render aid to this man. Whether this is out of pure compassion (making David a kind of good Samaritan), their efforts are well rewarded. It takes bread and water, then a piece of fig cake and raisins to bring this man back to life, since he has gone three days and nights without either food or water.
When the man finally has sufficient strength to speak, David begins to question him. The answers to his questions must lift the spirits of David and his men, for the man tells them he is an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite. His master left him behind three days before because he was sick and slowing everyone down. His master left him there to die, with no food or water. He then tells David he is with the Amalekite raiding party that plundered Ziklag.
David asks the young man if he would be willing to guide them to the Amalekite camp. Normally, I am sure he would not consider such a thing. But since his master and the others left him behind to die, he is willing to cooperate, in exchange for David’s assurance that he will not be killed or handed back over to his master. This half-dead servant gives new life to David’s search for the Amalekite raiders and their captives.
Rescued (30:16-20)
16 And when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing because of all the great spoil that they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. 17 And David slaughtered them from the twilight until the evening of the next day; and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled. 18 So David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and rescued his two wives. 19 But nothing of theirs was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that they had taken for themselves; David brought it all back. 20 So David had captured all the sheep and the cattle which the people drove ahead of the other livestock, and they said, “This is David's spoil.”
There was no longer any need to try to track this raiding party. Thanks to the Egyptian slave whom they revived, they would now be guided to the Amalekite camp. David and his men arrive at the raiders’ camp to find the Amalekites totally vulnerable. After all, the Philistines (along with David and his men, they suppose), and the Israelites are far away to the north at war. Who would come after them? They enjoy a successful mission, and now they are home where they can indulge themselves with the fruits of their victories. The Amalekites are “spread over all the land” (verse 16), implying that they are not tightly assembled, which would be the best defensive posture. (In the western movies, a wagon train always circled the wagons when under attack, placing the women and children inside the circle.) If the expression “divide and conquer” is true, these folks had already divided themselves by spreading out. On top of this, the Amalekites are eating and drinking and dancing. In short, they are too drunk to stand up straight, much less fight.
If this is the Amalekite base camp, then there be more people here than just the raiding party.4 David and his men are thus greatly outnumbered. But given the drunken state of the Amalekites, they are easy prey. David and his men attack, a slaughter that lasts for many hours.5 Not a single person escapes, except the 400 men who flee on camels.6 Everything and everyone the Amalekites had taken from Ziklag is recovered. David and his men suffer no losses at all (except for what had been burned at Ziklag). David’s two wives are among the hostages rescued. The author is very specific. Nothing is missing. David brings it all back. Just as God indicated, they have overtaken their enemy and prevailed. This could not have been a more successful mission.
Dividing Over the Spoils
or
A Victory Is Almost Spoiled
(30:21-31)
21 When David came to the two hundred men who were too exhausted to follow David, who had also been left at the brook Besor, and they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him, then David approached the people and greeted them. 22 Then all the wicked and worthless men among those who went with David answered and said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away and depart.” 23 Then David said, “You must not do so, my brothers, with what the LORD has given us, who has kept us and delivered into our hand the band that came against us. 24 “And 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 by the baggage; they shall share alike.” 25 And so it has been from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day. 26 Now when David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, “Behold, a gift for you from the spoil of the enemies of the LORD: 27 to those who were in Bethel, and to those who were in Ramoth of the Negev, 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 Racal, 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 Bor-ashan, 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 go.”
The victory is now won, and everything that was lost has been recovered. In fact, not only have David and his men recovered everything they lost, they gained a whole lot more. They gained the spoils the Amalekites obtained through their raids on the Philistine and Israelite towns. These spoils now present David with a major problem. Some of the 400 men who have defeated the Amalekites are refusing to share any of these spoils with the 200 men who stayed behind.
Only a segment of the 400 men who fought with the Amalekites are “wicked and worthless men.”7 Not all of the 400 are this way, just some of them. But these wicked, worthless men seem to be taking charge. Their reasoning goes like this: only 400 men did the actual fighting; the other 200 had no part in the battle or the victory that was won. The 200 should be given back what they lost. But they should not be given a portion of the extra spoils of war, the spoils the Amalekites took from the Israelites and Philistines. These extra spoils should be divided only among the 400 warriors.8 The refusal of these men to share any of their spoils with the 200 seems to be based upon these faulty assumptions:
(1) They assume the spoil is theirs to divide as they please, and they make it clear they are refusing to share any of “their” spoils with the 200.
(2) They assume that the 200 men have had no part in this battle or this victory, just because they were not with the 400 when they fought and won the battle with the Amalekites.9
(3) They assume that the victory was indeed their victory, something for which they could take credit, a victory for which they should expect a reward.
(4) These men are not asking for a bigger share of the spoils, they are demanding it. They are not asking for David’s leadership, either, they are usurping it, or at least attempting to do so.
David does not let these wicked men prevail. He takes the initiative in dealing with their demands and handles them very well.10 He refuses to allow these men to have their way, while showing them why they are wrong in what they demand. Consider David’s reasoning.
(1) They have not earned these spoils, as they suppose. The victory and the spoils are a gracious (and thus unmerited) gift from God. God gave these spoils, as He gave the victory. How then can these men claim the spoils, as though they earned them?
(2) The victory is a team victory, and the team is greater than 400 in number. When David employs the word us, it seems clear he includes all 600. “God gave the victory to us,” David argues, “to the whole 600 men, and not just to the 400.”
(3) David’s 600 men are all brothers (verse 23). This is not just a collection of individuals; it is a brotherhood. These 600 men are a family. When the Amalekite raiders return to their camp, everyone in the camp celebrates in the victory; everyone shares in the spoils. Should David’s men do any less?
(4) The battle is a team effort, with each member playing a different role. Just because 200 stayed behind does not mean they had no part in the victory. They stayed with the baggage (as I understand it, the baggage of the 600 men), and thus they contribute to the victory as well. Their victory is a collective victory, and so every man should have an equal share of the spoils.
David refuses to let these “wicked and worthless men” spoil the victory God has given. He sees to it that the spoils of war are evenly distributed among all 600 men. But the 600 do not get all the spoils of that victory. In verses 26-31, we see that David makes very good use of some of the spoils by sharing them with some of the Israelite towns he and his men frequented.
These towns may have been attacked by the Amalekites and suffered loss. If this is the case, some of the spoils may be their own property.
(1) These towns are towns David and his men frequented.
(2) These are some of the very towns David led Achish to believe he raided and plundered himself.
(3) Some of the men in these towns are elders; they are men of considerable influence.
(4) Some of the men in these towns are David’s friends.
(5) These towns are Israelite towns; indeed they are in the territory of Judah. Thus, they are David’s kinsmen.
(6) Very soon, these recipients of David’s generosity will be among the first to embrace him as their king.
David’s decision is far reaching, more so than he realizes at the moment. Many decisions are far reaching. He never imagined, for example, what the outcome would be for deciding to flee to the Philistines for safety. He never imagined the consequences of standing up to Goliath and killing him. In the heat of the moment, David had a decision to make. Should he give in to a few wicked and worthless men, letting them divide the spoils only among the 400? Or should he stand up for what is right? David chooses to stand for what is right, and in the process, he establishes a principle which outlives him. The good, or the evil, which we choose to do, sets a precedent for the future.
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