David’s Wives Are Captured. When David and his men came to the town, it was burned, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive. 1Sa 30:3
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MONARCHY
INTRODUCTION
The authorship of these books cannot be determined, but there is abundant evidence that they embody the report of eye-witnesses. Some of the more prominent characters in the scenes described are name as writers in 1Ch_29:29.
The First Book of Samuel records the rise of a new political and spiritual order represented by the kings and the prophets. The establishment of the monarchy, with Saul as the first king, is an epochal event in the development of Israel’s national life.
Of no less importance is the appearance of the “schools of the prophets” under the leadership of Samuel. In these institutions we see the beginning of the movement which made Israel spiritually supreme among the nations.
III. FROM THE ANOINTING OF DAVID TO THE DEATH OF SAUL,
7. David Withdraws from Philistia and Conquers the Amalekites, 1Sa_29:1-11; 1Sa_30:1-31
60. What great adversity led David back to God?
DAVID’S WIVES ARE CAPTURED
Now it happened when David and his men came [home] to Ziklag on the third day, [they found] that the Amalekites had made a raid on the Negev (the South country) and on Ziklag, and had overthrown Ziklag and burned it with fire;
and they had taken captive the women [and all] who were there, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off [to be used as slaves] and went on their way.
When David and his men came to the town, it was burned, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive.
Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they were too exhausted to weep [any longer].
Now David’s two wives had been captured, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite.
Further, David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all of them were embittered, each man for his sons and daughters. But David felt strengthened and encouraged in the LORD his God.
David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, “Please bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought him the ephod.
David inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I pursue this band [of raiders]? Will I overtake them?” And He answered him, “Pursue, for you will certainly overtake them, and you will certainly rescue [the captives].”
So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the brook Besor; there those [who could not continue] remained behind.
But David pursued [the Amalekites], he and four hundred men, for two hundred who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor stayed behind.
They found an Egyptian [who had collapsed] in the field and brought him to David, and gave him bread and he ate, and they gave him water to drink,
and they gave him a piece of a fig cake and two clusters of raisins; and when he had eaten, his energy returned, for he had not eaten bread or had any water to drink for three days and three nights.
David said to him, “To whom do you belong, and where are you from?” He said, “I am a young man from Egypt, a servant of an Amalekite; and my master abandoned me [as useless] when I fell sick three days ago.
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.”
Then David said to him, “Will you take me down to this band [of raiders]?” And he said, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or turn me over to the hand of my master, and I will bring you down to this band.”
DAVID’S WIVES ARE CAPTURED
A BLOW THAT LED BACK TO GOD
As David was leaving the battlefield, a number of men of Manasseh fell to him, 1Ch_12:20, so his following was greatly increased. It was as if God had anticipated his coming trial, and prepared him to encounter it. “The God of his mercy prevented (literally, went before) him.” But what a mercy it was that he had been sent back; that no garrison had been left to guard the women, which might have irritated the depredators; and that nobody had been killed, 1Sa_30:2!
In the first outburst of grief and horror, only divine and gracious interposition could have saved David’s life. But this was the hour of his return to God. With the charred embers at his feet and anxiety gnawing at his heart, the threat of violence in his ears, and bitter compunction of conscience, “he strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” From that hour he was his old, strong, glad, noble self. After months of neglect, he bade Abiathar bring him the ephod, and he inquired the will of God. Then with marvelous vigor he went in pursuit and recovered all. He had been brought out of an horrible pit, and again his feet were on the rock, Psa_40:2. His “goings” could now be established.
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