Commentary - 1 Samuel 30:1-20

Bird's-eye view

In this chapter, we find David and his men hitting rock bottom, only to find that the bedrock is the faithfulness of God. Having been dismissed by the Philistines, they return home to Ziklag to find it a smoking ruin. Their families are gone, their possessions are plundered, and their world has been turned upside down by the Amalekites, the ancient and inveterate enemies of God's people. This is more than a personal tragedy; it is the fruit of David's compromised sojourn in Philistine territory. God is using this disaster to purify His chosen king, stripping him of all earthly support so that he might learn to lean on God alone.

The central pivot of the narrative is verse six: "But David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God." From this single act of faith, everything else flows. Despair gives way to inquiry, inquiry to a divine promise, and that promise to a relentless pursuit. The subsequent victory is not just a recovery of what was lost; it is a total and resounding triumph that demonstrates God's sovereign power to restore, and to do so abundantly. This chapter is a masterful depiction of godly leadership in the face of catastrophic failure, showing us the path from ashes to spoil, a path that runs straight through a robust and active trust in the living God.

Outline

Commentary

1 Sam 30:1-3 Then it happened when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had made a raid on the Negev and on Ziklag and had struck Ziklag and burned it with fire; and they took captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great they did not put anyone to death and carried them off and went their way. Then David and his men came to the city, and behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive.

David returns from his compromised expedition with the Philistines to a scene of total devastation. The timing is precise, "on the third day," a detail that should perk up the ears of any Christian reader. The Amalekites, those perennial thorns in Israel's side, have struck. They represent the seed of the serpent, the worldly system that hates the people of God and seeks to destroy them. Notice their tactic: they burn the city but take the people captive. This is not wanton slaughter; it is human trafficking on a grand scale. The enemy wants to enslave and assimilate our children, not just kill them. When David and his men arrive, the shock is absolute. The foundation of their lives, their homes and families, has been ripped out from under them. This is the bitter harvest of David's attempt to find security among God's enemies.

1 Sam 30:4-5 So David and the people who were with him lifted their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep. Now David’s two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite.

The response is visceral and completely human. These are hard men, warriors, but they weep until they are utterly spent. Grief is not unspiritual; it is the proper response to profound loss. But grief without a terminus in God becomes despair. The text makes it personal for David by naming his two wives, Ahinoam and Abigail. The leader is not insulated from the pain; he shares in it fully. This is the lowest point of David's life to date. He has lost his home, his possessions, his family, and as we are about to see, the loyalty of his men.

1 Sam 30:6 Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people said to stone him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God.

Here is the turning point, not just of the chapter, but of David's maturation as a king. The grief of his men curdles into bitterness, and that bitterness seeks a target: David. In moments of crisis, fallen men look for a scapegoat, and the leader is the easiest one to find. The threat of being stoned by his own band of brothers is real. He is utterly alone. And what does he do? He does not plead, he does not make excuses, he does not lash out. The text says, "But David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God." This is one of the most important statements in the entire book. All human supports have been kicked out. His men are against him, his family is gone, his city is ash. He has nothing left but God. And it turns out that God is enough. This is not pulling himself up by his bootstraps. This is an act of raw faith, where David recalled the character of God, the promises of God, and the past deliverances of God, and anchored his soul there.

1 Sam 30:7-8 Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Please bring the ephod near to me.” So Abiathar brought the ephod near to David. And David asked of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I pursue this band? Shall I overtake them?” And He said to him, “Pursue, for you will surely overtake them, and you will surely deliver all.”

Faith immediately moves to faithful action. Having strengthened himself in God, David now inquires of God. He calls for Abiathar and the ephod, the proper means of seeking divine counsel. He doesn't ask for a feeling or a sign; he asks for a direct word from the Lord. His questions are practical and to the point: "Shall I pursue? Shall I overtake?" He is asking for marching orders. And God's answer is glorious in its certainty. "Pursue." That is the command. And then the promise: "for you will surely overtake them, and you will surely deliver all." The Hebrew uses an emphatic construction here, the infinitive absolute. It's like saying, "Overtaking, you shall overtake, and delivering, you shall deliver." God is not giving him a maybe. He is giving him a rock-solid guarantee of total victory and total restoration.

1 Sam 30:9-10 So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where those left behind remained. But David pursued, he and four hundred men, for two hundred who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor remained behind.

David obeys immediately. But a new problem arises. A third of his fighting force is completely spent, physically and emotionally unable to go on. A pragmatic leader might have driven them onward, or a resentful one might have shamed them. David, acting in wisdom, allows them to remain behind. He understands human limitation. The victory will not depend on the strength of all 600 men, but on the promise of God. This is a quiet moment of grace. The weary are allowed to rest by the stuff, and as we will see later, they will still share in the spoil. God's economy is not a meritocracy.

1 Sam 30:11-15 Then they found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David... and he ate; then his spirit revived... and my master forsook me when I fell sick three days ago... “Swear to me by God that you will not put me to death or surrender me into the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this band.”

And here we see the beautiful providence of God at work. What are the chances of finding a single, abandoned man in the wilderness who just happens to have been with the raiding party? With God, there are no chances. This Egyptian slave was left to die by his Amalekite master, a perfect illustration of the world's cruelty. The world uses you up and discards you. David, a type of Christ, does the opposite. He shows mercy. He gives the man food and water, restoring his life. This act of covenantal kindness is the very key to his victory. In showing mercy to this one outcast, David gains the intelligence he needs to find the entire enemy force. The man's request is telling: he wants an oath that David will not be like his old master. He wants to come under the protection of a new, more gracious lord.

1 Sam 30:16-17 So he brought him down, and behold, they were spread over all the land, eating and drinking and celebrating because of all the great spoil that they had taken... Then David struck them down 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.

The scene at the Amalekite camp is one of arrogant carelessness. They are feasting, drunk on their success, completely oblivious to the judgment about to fall on them. This is how the world lives, blind to its own impending doom. David's attack is sudden and devastating. The battle rages for a full day, a testament to the ferocity of the fight. The victory is nearly absolute. The only ones who escape are those swift enough to flee on camels, but the spoil, and more importantly the captives, are secured.

1 Sam 30:18-20 So David delivered all that the Amalekites had taken and delivered his two wives. Indeed 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. And David took all the sheep and the cattle which the people drove ahead of the other livestock, and they said, “This is David’s spoil.”

The conclusion is a perfect fulfillment of God's promise. "David delivered all." The phrase "nothing of theirs was missing" is a beautiful summary of God's restorative work. He does not do things by halves. When Christ comes to save His people, He loses none of them. Every last one is brought safely home. The chapter ends with a stunning reversal. The men who wanted to stone David are now proclaiming, "This is David's spoil." His name is vindicated. His leadership is reestablished, not on his own strength, but on the manifest deliverance of God. He went from the ashes of Ziklag to an abundance of spoil, all because when he had nothing left, he strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

Application

The central lesson of this chapter is found in verse six. When calamity strikes, when you lose everything, when your friends turn on you and you are left with nothing but the smoking ruins of your life, the only faithful response is to strengthen yourself in the Lord your God. This is not a matter of positive thinking, but of positive faith in a sovereign God whose promises are sure.

Our trials are often the direct result of our own compromises, as David's was here. But repentance does not mean wallowing in guilt; it means turning to God for direction, just as David turned to the ephod. We must learn to inquire of the Lord in our distress, seeking His will in His Word, and trusting His promises, even when our resources seem laughably small.

Finally, we see that God's restoration is total. He promised David he would "surely deliver all," and He did. We serve the same God. He has promised to keep all who belong to His Son, and that nothing can snatch us from His hand. He will lose nothing of what the Father has given Him. The spoil we win in our battles, through His strength, is not for our own glory, but for the glory of our great King, the true David, Jesus Christ.