1 Samuel 30:16-31--David Defeats the Amalekites

1 Samuel 30:16-31
English Standard Version

David Defeats the Amalekites
16 And when he had taken him down, behold, they were spread abroad over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. 17 And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day, and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled. 18 David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken. David brought back all. 20 David also captured all the flocks and herds, and the people drove the livestock before him, and said, “This is David's spoil.”

21 Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow David, and who had been left at the brook Besor. And they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. And when David came near to the people he greeted them. 22 Then all the wicked and worthless fellows among the men who had gone with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except that each man may lead away his wife and children, and depart.” 23 But David said, “You shall not do so, my brothers, with what the LORD has given us. He has preserved us and given into our hand the band that came against us. 24 Who would listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike.” 25 And he made it a statute and a rule for Israel from that day forward to this day.

​26 When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, “Here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the LORD.” 27 It was for those in Bethel, in Ramoth of the Negeb, in Jattir, 28 in Aroer, in Siphmoth, in Eshtemoa, 29 in Racal, in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, in the cities of the Kenites, 30 in Hormah, in Bor-ashan, in Athach, 31 in Hebron, for all the places where David and his men had roamed.

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Last time, David and his men came across an Egyptian who had been a slave of the Amalekites and knew of their attacks on the whole area of the Negeb and the location of the Amalekite camp where the Amalekites should be with all the women and children that David and his men were looking for.  The Egyptian servant agreed to lead David and his men to this camp as long as David neither killed him, nor turned him over to his Amalekite master.  David swore that they would let no harm come to the servant, and the servant agreed to help them find the Amalekites.

This is where we start today's passage.  David and his men have been led to the Amalekite camp where they see the men of the camp holding a huge party to celebrate their victories--there is music, and dancing, and clearly plenty of drinking going on.  David attacked them at twilight (when the sun was starting to go down), and continued to attack them all day the next day until it was again evening time--almost 24 hours of battle.  Only four hundred young Amalekite men escaped by camel, but the rest of their huge army was defeated that day and David took all their spoil--including the spoil they stole from the other Philistine cities and towns as well as from the people of Judah.  Now, all of it belonged to David and his men as spoils of war.

Last time we also saw that David left 200 of his men who were too tired and exhausted to continue the pursuit at a place of fresh water where they could rest and be refreshed so that only 400 of the 600 that originally set out were involved in fighting the actual battler.  There is now some dispute that arouse from some of the "wicked and worthless fellows" among the 400 men that were with David as to if the 200 that stayed behind and guarded the baggage would get any of the spoil--these wicked and worthless men said they did not deserve to share in the spoils because they were not part of the fighting, because they stopped to rest.  David then spoke up and said that all 600 of his men would have an equal share as even those who stayed behind to guard the baggage played an important role and he ended up making it one of his first edicts as king, "For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike."  This statute and rule has an editorial note attached to it that it was in place long after David established the rule (though we don't know exactly when that editorial note was added).

When David returned to Ziklag, he sent some of the spoil back to the elders in Judah that were his friends, for some of the attacks carried out by the Amalekites were against other Jewish people in Judah, and David did not want to steal from them.  He sent this portion along with the message, “Here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the LORD.”

"27 It was for those in Bethel, in Ramoth of the Negeb, in Jattir, 28 in Aroer, in Siphmoth, in Eshtemoa, 29 in Racal, in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, in the cities of the Kenites, 30 in Hormah, in Bor-ashan, in Athach, 31 in Hebron, for all the places where David and his men had roamed."

All the people who had helped David and his men stay safe from King Saul also got to share in the spoil as well.  It was dangerous to be one of the people of Judah who had allied themselves with David at this time, especially one of his immediate family members who Saul would have seen as an enemy, but now they are all getting to celebrate this victory together.