When David and his men had come to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid on the South and on Ziklag, and had struck Ziklag and burned it with fire, 1Sa 15:71Sa 29:11Jos 11:61Sa 27:8-101Sa 29:42Sa 1:2Gen 24:62 and had taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They didn’t kill any, but carried them off and went their way. 1Sa 27:111Sa 30:19Isa 27:8-9Job 38:11Psa 76:10 When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, their sons, and their daughters were taken captive. Psa 34:191Pe 1:6-7Heb 12:6Rev 3:9 Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep. 1Sa 11:41Sa 4:13Gen 37:33-35Jdg 2:4Jdg 21:2Num 14:1Num 14:39Ezr 10:1 David’s two wives were taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. 1Sa 25:42-432Sa 2:21Sa 1:21Sa 27:32Sa 3:2-3 David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the souls of all the people were grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters; but David strengthened himself in the LORD his God. Psa 56:3-4Psa 56:11Psa 62:5Psa 27:1-3Psa 18:6Psa 25:17Psa 40:1-22Co 1:8-10 David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” 1Ki 2:261Sa 22:20-211Sa 23:2-9Mrk 2:26
Abiathar brought the ephod to David. David inquired of the LORD, saying, “If I pursue after this troop, will I overtake them?” 1Sa 30:181Sa 23:2Pro 3:5-62Sa 5:192Sa 5:23Psa 91:151Sa 23:4Jdg 20:23
He answered him, “Pursue, for you will surely overtake them, and will without fail recover all.”
So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed. 1Sa 27:2 But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind, who were so faint that they couldn’t go over the brook Besor. 1Sa 30:211Sa 30:91Sa 14:201Sa 14:31Jdg 8:4-5 They found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he ate; and they gave him water to drink. Deu 23:7Rom 12:20-21Deu 15:7-11Luk 10:36-37Mat 25:35Pro 25:21 They gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. When he had eaten, his spirit came again to him; for he had eaten no bread, and drank no water for three days and three nights. Jdg 15:191Sa 14:271Sa 30:13Est 4:16Isa 40:29-31Jon 1:17Mat 27:63 David asked him, “To whom do you belong? Where are you from?” Jas 2:13Pro 12:10Job 31:13-15
He said, “I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days ago I got sick. We made a raid on the South of the Cherethites, and on that which belongs to Judah, and on the South of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.” 1Ki 1:381Ki 1:442Sa 8:18Ezk 25:16Zep 2:51Sa 30:11Sa 30:16Jos 14:13
David said to him, “Will you bring me down to this troop?” 1Sa 29:6Deu 23:15-16Ezk 17:13Ezk 17:16Ezk 17:19Jos 2:12Jos 9:15Jos 9:19-20
He said, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me and not deliver me up into the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this troop.”
When he had brought him down, behold, they were spread around over all the ground, eating, drinking, and dancing, because of all the great plunder that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah. Rev 11:10-131Sa 30:141Th 5:32Sa 13:28Dan 5:1-4Jdg 16:23-30Job 20:5Luk 12:19-20 David struck them from the twilight even to the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped from there, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled. 1Sa 11:11Psa 18:421Ki 20:29-301Sa 15:3Jdg 4:16 David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives. Gen 14:16 There was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither plunder, nor anything that they had taken. David brought them all back. 1Sa 30:8Psa 91:9-10Job 1:10Mat 6:33Psa 34:9-10Gen 14:14-16Num 31:49 David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drove before those other livestock, and said, “This is David’s plunder.” 1Sa 30:262Ch 20:25Isa 53:12Num 31:9-12Rom 8:37
David came to the two hundred men, who were so faint that they could not follow David, whom also they had made to stay at the brook Besor; and they went out to meet David, and to meet the people who were with him. When David came near to the people, he greeted them. 1Sa 30:10Heb 13:1Jdg 8:151Pe 3:8 Then all the wicked men and worthless fellows of those who went with David answered and said, “Because they didn’t go with us, we will not give them anything of the plunder that we have recovered, except to every man his wife and his children, that he may lead them away and depart.” Deu 13:13Mat 7:121Ki 21:101Ki 21:131Sa 22:21Sa 25:171Sa 25:25Jdg 19:22
Then David said, “Do not do so, my brothers, with that which the LORD has given to us, who has preserved us, and delivered the troop that came against us into our hand. Deu 8:18Psa 121:7-8Psa 44:2-71Sa 2:7Act 22:1Act 7:2Deu 8:10Gen 19:7 Who will listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down to the battle, so shall his share be who stays with the baggage. They shall share alike.” Jos 22:8Num 31:27Psa 68:121Sa 25:13 It was so from that day forward that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day. 1Sa 16:13
When David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, “Behold, a present for you from the plunder of the LORD’s enemies.” 1Sa 25:271Ch 12:1-152Co 9:52Ki 5:15Gen 33:11Isa 32:8Pro 18:16-24Psa 35:27 He sent it to those who were in Bethel, to those who were in Ramoth of the South, to those who were in Jattir, Jos 15:48Jos 19:8Gen 28:19Jdg 1:22-23Jos 21:141Ki 12:29Jos 16:2Jos 7:2 to those who were in Aroer, to those who were in Siphmoth, to those who were in Eshtemoa, Jos 13:16Jos 15:50Jos 21:14 to those who were in Racal, to those who were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, to those who were in the cities of the Kenites, 1Sa 27:10Jdg 1:161Sa 15:61Sa 23:19 to those who were in Hormah, to those who were in Borashan, to those who were in Athach, Jdg 1:17Jos 19:4Jos 15:42Num 14:45 to those who were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men used to stay. 2Sa 2:12Sa 15:102Sa 2:42Sa 4:1Jos 14:13-15