Lesson 13 - 1 Sam. 30:3-8, 18-25 - VICTORY
INTRODUCTION: Last week, in 1 Sam. 26:7-12, 21-15, we came into the story of David while he was still on the run from Saul's efforts to hunt him down and kill him. While he and his men discovered Saul's encampment in the dark of night, they were able to sneak all the way into the middle of the camp undetected, where they found Saul and his captain, Abner, sound asleep. Davis was, for the second time (see, 1 Sam. 24:4-7), presented with the opportunity to kill Saul and solve the succession problem. Saul's spear, his symbol of power, was stuck to the ground next to his head, and Abishai, David's nephew, offered to take the spear and pin Saul to the ground. This presented David with a moral and spiritual dilemma: What was the right thing to do? After considering it, David stayed Abishai's hand and told him "no," he would not kill the "LORD's anointed." David affirmed he would let the LORD deal with Saul according to His plans and timing, whether he died from some unspecified cause or was killed in battle. In either case, David was totally confident That God had it all under control. The principle we learned from David example was that leaving your life up to God is a good general rule to live by. Like David in that instance, we should leave it up to God and Trust Him. Trust Him with our salvation, our families, our work, our futures-basically everything. God can handle it.
This week, in 1 Sam. 30:3-8, 18-25, we return to the story of David when he and his band of followers are operating, in effect, as mercenaries employed by the Philistine war lords. We will skip most of Chapters 27-30, which scholars refer to as the "outlaw" phase of David's life when, because of his distrust of Saul, he felt it was unsafe for him and his family to live in Israel. Instead he sought refuge in Philistia, where he was hired to fight against the many war-like peoples who inhabited Canaan, but never against the Israelites. The outlaw phase marks a low point in David's relationship with God-we would call it backslidden-where he's operating entirely on his own rather than seeking God's guidance. Yet, even though David was operating apart from God, God was still in the process of molding David's leadership skills as a future king. As come into today's lesson, we find David and his men returning from a raid on the city of Aphek to the city of Ziklag (see map), a place that the Philistine ruler Achish had given them as their home base.
Read 1 Sam. 30:3-6 - A BURNED AND EMPTY CITY
3 When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive. 4 Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep. 5 Now David's two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite. 6 Also, David was in great distress because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But David felt strengthened in the LORD his God.
v. 3: "When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive." - While David was occupied at Aphek, the Amalekites (Israel's old arch-enemy) took advantage of the situation to attack Ziklag, where they ransacked all the property (possession and animals), took all the wives and children, including David's two wives, as their captives, and then set the rest of the city on fire. Rather than being greeted by their own families, David and his men were confronted with a scene of complete devastation.
v. 4: "Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep." - David and his men weren't emotionally prepared to face this. They had expected a jubilant welcome and homecoming. All they could do now was weep and scream. David weeps not only because his own wives and belongings were lost, but because he knew that he was responsible for it. In his backslidden state, he's now sunk about as emotionally and spiritually low as a man can get. David is like the prodigal son who sits in the pigpen surrounded by hogs.
v. 5: "Now David's two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite." - Ahinoam (Heb. 'pleasant') was a woman David married after he was forced to flee Saul's court and leave Michal behind. Jezreel is in the northern region of Israel. We remember Abigail as Nabal's wise wife and later, widow, whom David afterward married. Since the Amalekite raiders left no dead bodies in the city, David and his followers could safely assume that their wives, children, and other family members had been taken as captives rather than being killed. The captives taken by the Amalekites were thereafter forced to become their slaves.
v. 6a: "Also, David was in great distress because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters." - David wasn't in "great distress" for fear of his own life, but because he felt that he had utterly failed the men who had depended on him for leadership and direction in their lives. They are angry, hurt, and confused-ready to turn on him-"spoke of stoning him"-as the most convenient object of their rage.
v. 6b: "But David felt strengthened in the LORD his God." - This is a key verse that truly defines David as 'a man after God's own heart.' The "But" in this phrase signifies a divine intersection, where David returns to the place he needed to be after all his time of out of fellowship with God: Life had reduced David's option to One. Sooner or later, life does this to everyone, and the solution for any human being is the same: to seek fellowship with and worship the LORD-the one True God. What we see happening here is a disciplined act of David's will to re-connect with God, and when he did it, he "felt strengthened in the LORD his God." David strengthened himself by remembering: (1) God's love; (2) God's promise and calling; and (3) that he was God's anointed. As believing Christians, we are all anointed by the Holy Spirit, but just like David, we can be backslidden and out of fellowship.
Read 1 Sam. 30:7-8 - YOU WILL RESCUE EVERYONE
7 Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, "Please bring me the ephod." So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. 8 And David inquired of the LORD, saying, "Shall I pursue this band of raiders? Will I overtake them?" And He said to him, "Pursue, for you will certainly overtake them, and you will certainly rescue everyone."
v. 7: "Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, "Please bring me the ephod." So Abiathar brought the ephod to David." - Having been "strengthened in the LORD," David now calls for the intercession of the priest, "Abiathar," and instructs him to bring his "ephod." The ephod was an apron worn by a priest over his robe containing pockets that held paraphernalia used in various rituals (see, Lev. 8:7). Scholars generally agree that David was seeking an answer to prayer using Urim and Thummim (Heb. = light and perfection), one light stone and one dark stone that gave either a yes or no answer from God to a specific prayer. Although the practice of Urim and Thummim are not available to us today, we can still seek yes or no answers to our prayers from God's Word.
v. 8a: "And David inquired of the LORD, saying, "Shall I pursue this band of raiders? Will I overtake them?" - This wasn't typical of David. In earlier times, he would have simply taken action without asking questions. However, this was the first time he had sought God's counsel and affirmation since he had hired himself out to the Philistines as a mercenary. Even though he feels "strengthened in the LORD," he's also humbled and intends to be super careful this time-making sure he acts within God's will. And notice that David's prayer is very specific: "Shall I pursue?...Will I overtake?"
v. 8b: "And He said to him, "Pursue, for you will certainly overtake them, and you will certainly rescue everyone." - Notice that "He" (God Himself) answers David's prayer directly. We need to see a parallel here: God no longer responded to Saul's prayers, but here, He gives David specific answers to the specific questions asked: "Yes, pursue, you will certainly overtake them...certainly rescue everyone." David receives God's Word in two forms: an answer and a promise. The principle here is that when God gives us something to do, He also gives us a promise that empowers us in the doing.
Read 1 Sam. 30-16-20 - DAVID BROUGHT IT ALL BACK
16 Now when he had brought him down, behold, they were dispersed over all the land, eating and drinking and celebrating because of all the great plunder 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 And nothing of theirs was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, plunder, 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 plunder."
v. 16: "Now when he had brought him down, behold, they were dispersed over all the land, eating and drinking and celebrating because of all the great plunder that they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah." - As David and his men neared the Amalekite camp, they found their enemy in the midst of a huge drunken feast to celebrate all the loot they had plundered from the Philistines and the Judahites (David's people). The "great plunder" referred to the loot they had stolen, not just from Ziklag, but from numerous raids conducted throughout Philistia and Judah. They chose this interval to stop and throw a big party. They obviously weren't expecting trouble.
v. 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." - David's timing was perfect: He waited for them to drink themselves senseless and pass out, then attacked at first light the next morning when they were all suffering from hangovers. Scholars estimate that David's small army (about 200 men) was only a fraction of the size of the Amalekite force, yet they killed every single one, except for the boys who escaped on the faster camels.
v. 18-19: "So David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and rescued his two wives. 19 And nothing of theirs was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, plunder, or anything that they had taken for themselves; David brought it all back." - Notice that everything the enemy had taken from his people, David took back, including not only Ahinoam and Abigail, but every other person taken captive. So, God gave David a complete victory because he had "strengthened himself in the LORD." We need to see the sequence of events: (1) David trusted God, then attacked the enemy; (2) God fulfilled His promise but used David's actions to accomplish it. In this process, David recovered far more than property and people; he recovered his relationship with his God.
v. 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 plunder." - This is the "plunder" over and above that which had been taken from Ziklag. Thus, God gave David even more than that promised. Extending this to the NT, when we give our life to Jesus Christ, He gives us back so much more. AMEN?
Read 1 Sam. 30:21-25 - THEY SHALL SHARE ALIKE
21 When David came to the two hundred men who were too exhausted to follow David and had been left behind 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 said, "Since they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoils that we have recovered, except to every man his wife and his children, so that they may lead them away and leave." 23 But David said, "You must not do so, my brothers, with what the LORD has given us, for He has protected us and handed over to us the band of raiders that came against us. 24 And who will listen to you in this matter? For as is the share of the one who goes down into the battle, so shall be the share of the one who stays by the baggage; they shall share alike." 25 So it has been from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day.
v. 21: "When David came to the two hundred men who were too exhausted to follow David and had been left behind 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." - The amount of space the writer devoted to this section indicates the stress he placed on it. These were men who, due to age or infirmity, were not able-bodied enough to participate in the attack itself and were left behind to guard the baggage. Every army has to have a supply train that follows it from place to place.
v. 22: "Then all the wicked and worthless men among those who went with David said, "Since they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoils that we have recovered, except to every man his wife and his children, so that they may lead them away and leave." - Some of David's combat troops don't want to share any of the "spoils" with the non-combatants who had to stay behind. The term "worthless" in this context means without grace-selfish and self-centered men.
v. 23: "But David said, "You must not do so, my brothers, with what the LORD has given us, for He has protected us and handed over to us the band of raiders that came against us." - As far as David was concerned, the victory didn't belong to him or to his men, but had been given to them by the LORD. The spoil, therefore, was not what the combat troops had won, but what the LORD had given to His people. And David, like any good general, saw that the supply train was just as vital and equally entitled to the spoil as the combat troops who fought on the front lines.
v. 24: "And who will listen to you in this matter? For as is the share of the one who goes down into the battle, so shall be the share of the one who stays by the baggage; they shall share alike." The principle of dividing the spoil between combatants and non-combatants was actually an ancient military rule. (see, Num. 31:27; Josh. 22:8.) And David now enforces a special application of it with respect to his own army.
v. 25: "So it has been from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day." - After being enacted by David and practiced during his life, it would be enforced by all of the future kings who followed him.
APPLICATION-My Way or God's Way?
1. If you want to do things God's way, you need to start with God. In today's example, we saw a backslidden David come back to the place he needed to be in order to re-connect with God and His will for his life. When David did this, he was "strengthened in the LORD his God" (v. 6b). That's always the first step-finding God's strength and bringing Him into the center of our lives.
2. If you want to do things God's way, you need to seek God's will in prayer. In today's example, David sought the intercession of a priest through the OT ritual of Urim and Thummim and received a positive answer (vv. 7-8), and God's answered him by His Word. Although Urim and Thummin aren't available today, NT Christians can still seek answers to their questions from God's Word.
3. If you want to do things God's way, you need to act on God's Word in faith. In today's example, when David, in faith, acted upon God's promise, God gave him a complete victory (vv. 16-19). The truth we learn from this is that when God gives us something to do, He will also give us a promise that empowers us in the doing. To do this, you must keep God at front and center at all times.
4. When God rewards us with victory for doing things His way, we should share His grace with others. In today's example, David commanded his soldiers to share the spoils of the victory God had given them with the non-combatants who followed with the supply train. We might analogize this principle to our own church: members who are able to apply their time, talents, and resources to support the various ministries of our church; and others, due to age, poor health, financial need, etc., who are not. The children, the youth, the poverty-stricken, and the elderly come immediately to mind. So, are we doing a good job, sharing the "spoils" with those who need our grace?
POSTSCRIPT: 1 Sam. 31:1-5 reports that when the Philistines attacked Saul's army, they killed all three of Saul's sons (including Jonathan), and mortally wounded Saul. Seeing the he was about to be captured, Saul impaled himself on his own sword and died. 2 Sam. 5:3 later reports, "When all the elders of Israel had come to King David at Hebron, the king made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD, and they anointed David king over Israel."
