1 Samuel 30:1-15--David's Wives Are Captured

1 Samuel 30:1-15
English Standard Version

David's Wives Are Captured
30 Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid against the Negeb and against Ziklag. They had overcome Ziklag and burned it with fire 2 and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off and went their way. 3 And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4 Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep. 5 David's two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 6 And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.

7 And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. 8 And David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue.” 9 So David set out, and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed. 10 But David pursued, he and four hundred men. Two hundred stayed behind, who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor.

​11 They found an Egyptian in the open country and brought him to David. And they gave him bread and he ate. They gave him water to drink, 12 and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten, 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?” He said, “I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite, and my master left me behind because I fell sick three days ago. 14 We had made a raid against the Negeb of the Cherethites and against that which belongs to Judah and against the Negeb of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire.” 15 And David said to him, “Will you take 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 take you down to this band.”

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The Amalekites, the descendants of Amalek who was a descendant of Esau, have been enemies of Israel ever since they tried to enter the Promised Land.  If you recall the battle where Joshua led the Israelites in battle and Moses stood on top of the hill and held his staff above his head and when he had his staff up, the Israelites prevailed, but when Moses' arms got tired and he lowered the staff to rest, the enemy forces prevailed.  So, Hur and Aaron sat Moses down on a stone and each one of them held up one of his arms so that his arms could stay raised, and that day the LORD was called The LORD is My Banner.  You can read about this in Exodus 17:8-16 if you'd like to read that account that I just gave a summary of.  It was the armies of Amalek that the Israelites were fighting against that day--the very ones that the spies were afraid of because there were giants known as Rephidim among the Amalekites.  Now this same people group has decided to try to take advantage of Philistia's war with Israel and raid the city of Ziklag where David and his men had been encamped while they were out at war with the Philistines, and the  Amalekites kidnapped all the women and children, and they burned the city with fire so that the men had nowhere and no one to come home to.

David's men cried so loud and hard that they no longer had voice or tears to mourn anymore, and among those taken were David's two wives (we know about Abigail from Carmel from one of our earlier passages, but the other is Ahinoam of Jezreel.  We don't really know anything about her.  The men are so upset and looking for someone to take their anger out on that they are at the point of stoning David to death just so they can feel like someone got punished and there was some "justice" done for this terrible thing that happened.  I'm guessing you've been in that kind of sitaution before--you're less concerned about who is guilty and that the guilty gets punished than an attitude of "someone is going to pay for this."  Let's take a moment to stop and realize that's the kind of situation that Jesus stepped into to satisfy the wrath of God and He willingly said, "I'll pay, with my own life."  This was especially hard for David because he was also mourning the loss of his wives and sons and daughters and there was no one to comfort him but the LORD since all his men had turned on him.

David went to Abiathar the priest (the one it seems like the LORD has established as high priest at this time though Saul has appointed another whom the LORD will not speak to), and David inquires of the LORD if they should pursue this band of raiders (they probably didn't know at that time that it was the Amalekites) and the LORD tells them they should pursue and that they will overtake them, defeat them, and rescue all those who were taken.  So, David and his six-hundred men do end up going to war, but not against the Israelites, but against the Amalekites, and there are no Philistines around to see this happen (God's provision).  They left 200 men at the brook of Besor because they were too exhausted to continue the pursuit, and 400 men continued the pursuit with David.

They found an Egyptian in the open country and when he had been brought to David, they gave the Egyptian food and water and fig cakes and clusters of raisins so that the Egyptians strength and spirit were strengthened.  Then they questioned him as to who he belonged to, and where he came from, and he told them that he was a servant of an Amalekite master who had left him in the open country to die after the Egyptian had become sick three days earlier and he had not had anything to eat or drink (or maybe was too sick to eat or drink anything) during that time. 

He then describes the raid they conducted against the Ziklag (the city that belonged to David and his men).  The Egyptian is probably unaware that he's speaking to the very people that they conducted the raid against.  David asks if the Egyptian would be able to lead them to this raiding party, and the Egyptian servant agrees as long as they promise to neither kill him nor deliver him into the hand of his Amalekite master (meaning they would have to either set him free or take him on as a servant for themselves after he led them to the Amalekites).  It seems they agree to these terms because we'll pick up there next time with the servant leading them to the camp of the Amalekites.