When Everything is Ashes
Introduction: The Ziklag Predicament
Every man, at some point in his life, comes home to Ziklag. You come home from a long journey, tired and expecting rest, only to find that the world you left has been turned to ash. The promotion you were counting on goes up in smoke. The business you built is gutted by a bad economy. The family you thought was secure is ravaged by rebellion or sickness. You stand there, smelling the smoke, and the silence is deafening. This is the Ziklag predicament. It is the moment of catastrophic loss where the foundation of your world seems to have been utterly destroyed.
Our modern therapeutic culture has a host of answers for such a moment, all of them amounting to little more than spiritual sedatives. You are told to look within, to find your inner strength, to practice mindfulness, or perhaps to simply rage at the injustice of it all. But these are all dead ends. They are attempts to fight a spiritual fire with a water pistol full of gasoline. The story before us in 1 Samuel 30 is not a therapeutic session. It is a combat manual. It is the inspired account of how a man of God, a king in waiting, responds when he hits absolute rock bottom. David is not just a historical figure; he is a paradigm. And his response to the ashes of Ziklag is the only response that leads to true recovery and ultimate victory.
We must see this for what it is. This is not just a bad day. This is a crucible, designed by God to forge a king. David has been living in a compromised situation among the Philistines, and God, in His severe mercy, burns that refuge to the ground. God often uses the malice of our enemies to accomplish His good purposes for us. The Amalekites thought they were just plundering. God was using them as a tool to discipline, test, and ultimately elevate His anointed. How we respond when Ziklag burns reveals everything about who we truly worship.
The Text
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. 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. 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. 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.” 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. Then they found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David and gave him bread, and he ate, and they provided him water to drink. And they gave him a piece of fig cake and two clusters of raisins, and he ate; then his spirit revived. For he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights. And David said to him, “To whom do you belong? And where are you from?” And he said, “I am a young man of Egypt, a slave of an Amalekite; and my master forsook me 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 bring me down to this band?” And he said, “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.” 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 from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. 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. 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.”
(1 Samuel 30:1-20 LSB)
The Bottom of the Barrel (vv. 1-6a)
We begin with the utter devastation. David and his six hundred battle-hardened men return, not to a welcome, but to a wasteland.
"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." (1 Samuel 30:3)
The loss is total. It is not just property; it is their people. Their past is ashes and their future has been stolen. Their response is entirely appropriate. "They lifted their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep." This is not weakness. This is masculine grief. These are warriors, men who have faced lions and giants and armies, and they are completely undone. Grief is the proper response to loss, and suppressing it is not strength, but foolishness.
But grief, if left to itself, curdles into bitterness. And bitterness looks for someone to blame. The men, in their anguish, turn on their leader. "Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people said to stone him, for all the people were embittered." This is the lowest point for David. He has lost his wives, his home, and now he is about to lose his life at the hands of his own men. His own band of brothers, who had followed him through thick and thin, now see him as the cause of their misery. This is a profound spiritual isolation. He is utterly alone, surrounded by the smoking ruins of his life and the murderous grief of his followers.
The Covenantal Turn (v. 6b)
What follows is the single most important phrase in the entire narrative. It is the pivot upon which the entire outcome of this story, and David's future kingship, turns.
"But David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God." (1 Samuel 30:6b LSB)
Notice what he does not do. He does not give a rousing speech. He does not try to reason with the mob. He does not fall into despair. And he certainly does not look for some "inner strength." The Hebrew says he "made himself strong" in the Lord. This was a deliberate act of will. But it was not an act of self-reliance. It was an act of God-reliance. How did he do this? He did it by remembering. He remembered the covenant God had made with him. He remembered the anointing oil of Samuel. He remembered God's deliverance from the lion, the bear, and from Goliath. He remembered the promises of God, which do not depend on circumstances. He turned his eyes from the ashes around him to the unshakeable throne of God above him. This is the essence of faith. It is not a feeling; it is a calculated, determined reliance on the character and promises of God, especially when all circumstantial evidence screams the contrary.
This is the great contrast with Saul. When Saul was in a tight spot, he panicked. He offered a sacrifice he was not authorized to offer. He consulted a witch at Endor. Saul looked for human solutions and demonic shortcuts. David, at his absolute lowest, looked to God. This is why David was a man after God's own heart, and why Saul was rejected.
Seeking Orders (vv. 7-8)
David's faith immediately translates into faithful action. He does not simply sit and meditate. He seeks direction through the means God had ordained.
"Then David said to Abiathar the priest... 'Please bring the ephod near to me.'... And David asked of Yahweh, saying, 'Shall I pursue this band? Shall I overtake them?'" (1 Samuel 30:7-8 LSB)
He calls for the priest and the ephod, which contained the Urim and Thummim, the means of discerning God's will. He understands that God's sovereignty does not negate our responsibility to seek His direction. He asks two direct, military questions. He is not asking for comfort; he is asking for marching orders. And God gives him a clear, emphatic, and glorious promise. "Pursue, for you will surely overtake them, and you will surely deliver all." The repetition in the Hebrew is for absolute certainty. It is not "you might," but "you will." This is the word of the sovereign Commander-in-Chief. With this word, the outcome is no longer in doubt. The battle is already won. All that remains is the faithful obedience of the pursuit.
Providence and a Fig Cake (vv. 9-15)
The pursuit begins, but it is not without its own set of trials. Two hundred of his men, a third of his force, are too exhausted to continue. David does not berate them; he allows them to stay behind. A wise commander knows the limits of his men. But God's plan is not thwarted by human weakness.
"Then they found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David..." (1 Samuel 30:11 LSB)
Here is the gears of divine providence turning. This is no accident. This is a divine appointment. The Amalekites, in their pagan cruelty, abandoned a sick slave to die. David, the man of God, shows him mercy. He gives him water, bread, a fig cake, and raisins. He restores the man's life. This simple act of kindness, this treating of a disposable person with dignity, is the very key that will unlock the enemy's location. The Amalekite master forsook his slave and lost everything. David showed mercy to the slave and recovered everything. God's economy is always at odds with the world's. The world says to use people and discard them. God says to show mercy, and He will use your mercy to grant you victory.
The restored slave, in return for a promise of protection, agrees to lead David to the enemy camp. God did not provide a pillar of fire or a sign from the heavens. He provided a sick Egyptian in a field. We must learn to see the hand of God's providence in the ordinary, and often messy, details of our lives.
Total Victory, Total Restoration (vv. 16-20)
"So David delivered all that the Amalekites had taken... Indeed nothing of theirs was missing... David brought it all back." (1 Samuel 30:18-19 LSB)
The enemy is exactly where the slave said they would be: "spread over all the land, eating and drinking and celebrating." This is the picture of the world, arrogant and oblivious on the eve of judgment. They believe their plunder has made them secure. They are fat and happy and about to be slaughtered.
David's attack is relentless and devastating. He fights for nearly twenty-four hours, and the victory is total. And just as God promised, the restoration is total. "Nothing of theirs was missing." Not one child, not one wife, not one sheep. God does not do partial restorations. When He acts to save, He saves completely. This is a glorious picture of His covenant faithfulness. What was lost is not just replaced; it is recovered. The very ones who were taken are brought back.
The chapter concludes with a declaration from the men. The same men who wanted to stone David now drive the captured livestock before them and shout, "This is David's spoil." His leadership has been vindicated by God. His trial has resulted in his exaltation. He went from being a mutineer's target to a victorious king, enriched by the plunder of his enemies. This is how God works. He brings His people through the fire in order to purify and elevate them.
The Greater David Has Come
This entire chapter is a magnificent portrait of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the greater David. He came and found His people, the true Ziklag, in ashes, held captive by a far more vicious Amalekite: Satan, sin, and death.
He too was distressed and rejected by His own. They cried out for His crucifixion. In the garden, He was isolated in His agony. On the cross, He was forsaken. But He strengthened Himself in His God, committing His spirit into His Father's hands.
He pursued the enemy into the grave itself. And by His resurrection, He has "surely overtaken" them and will "surely deliver all" of His people. On the last day, when the books are opened, we will find that "nothing of His was missing." Not one of those the Father has given Him will be lost. He brings it all back.
We are now His men, following Him in this great pursuit. Sometimes we are the four hundred, strong and able to fight. Other times we are the two hundred, exhausted and left behind at the brook Besor. But the victory does not depend on our strength, but on His. And He, our merciful king, will show kindness to the outcasts of this world, the sick Egyptians, and use them to advance His kingdom. The spoil of the nations is His inheritance, and the day is coming when all will declare, "This is Christ's spoil."
Therefore, when you come home to your Ziklag, when you stand in the ashes of your life, do not despair. Do not look for a scapegoat. Do as David did. By a deliberate act of faith, strengthen yourself in Yahweh your God. Look to His promises. Look to the greater David, who has already won the decisive victory. Then get your marching orders from His Word, and pursue.