In yesterday's text David's men were ready to stone him to death but now they are ready to follow him into battle. They are ready because the Lord provided a clear answer that they are to pursue the abductors and that they will be successful in overtaking them, in fighting them, and in getting their loved ones back.
"David and the six hundred men with him came to the Besor Valley, where some stayed behind. Two hundred of them were too exhausted to cross the valley, but David and the other four hundred continued the pursuit." (1 Samuel 30:9-10) All six hundred of them want to participate in the chase and in the fight and in the reunion with their loved ones. But all six hundred of them are not physically able to do so. Prior to finding their city burned and their families missing, these men completed a three-day march from daylight until dark each day. They arrived home exhausted and hungry but instead of being greeted by their families and by a hearty meal, they were greeted by silence and the smoking ruins of their city. The Bible told us they all wept until they had no strength left to weep. Two hundred of the men are completely done in by this experience. They aren't "chickening out" when they reach the Besor Valley; they are literally too tired to go on.
David and the four hundred keep pushing forward while (as we'll learn in tomorrow's passage) assigning the two hundred to guard the few belongings they have left---belongings they took with them when they left Ziklag for the army. Some of the men come across a man in very bad condition and they bring him to David. "They found an Egyptian in a field and brought him to David. They gave him water to drink and food to eat---part of a cake of pressed figs and two cakes of raisins. He ate and was revived, for he had not eaten any food or drunk any water for three days and three nights." (1 Samuel 30:11-12) It might have been tempting for these men to think, in their natural human instinct for self-preservation, "We need every drop of water and every morsel of food to sustain us for the journey and the fight ahead. If we faint along the way we'll never catch up with whoever took our people. We'll never see our families again. This man in the field is in sad condition but that's no concern of ours. He's clearly a foreigner and almost certainly is an escaped slave whose master may retaliate against anyone who finds him and helps him. He's so close to death already that we'll be wasting our provisions by trying to revive him. He's too far gone. It's a shame it has to be this way, and under other circumstances we might have been able to do something for him, but we must march on. This man is of no use to us."
Ah, but he is of use to them and I'm glad they didn't give in to any temptation to harbor the thoughts above that many a person might have thought in such a desperate situation. He's so weak that bringing him to David likely involved carrying him to David, or at least letting him lean on them as they led him to their commander. Once he has been sat down and made comfortable in David's presence, he is supplied with food and water and is able to make conversation---very valuable conversation! This is a divine appointment orchestrated by the Lord, for not only did David and his men save the Egyptian's life, but the Egyptian can lead them directly to the Amalekite camp.
David can see that this man is a foreigner and, judging by the first question he asks him, he has come to the conclusion that the man must be someone's slave. It's not common to find someone who appears to be an Egyptian so far from home, alone, and near death from lack of water and food. Also his clothing may have provided clues as to his sad station in life. "David asked him, 'Who do you belong to? Where do you come from?' He said, 'I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me when I became ill three days ago. We raided the Negev of the Kerethites, some territory belonging to Judah and the Negev of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag." (1 Samuel 30:13-14) The Egyptian adds almost as an afterthought that the Amalekites were responsible for the destruction of that city, kind of like: "Oh yeah, and we burned Ziklag too." I think at first he has no idea that David and his men are from Ziklag until he sees the look on David's face when the name of that city comes up.
When the Egyptian slave uses the word "we", I don't know whether that means he participated in any of the raiding of any of the regions mentioned, but if he did I don't think we can really hold him responsible for taking part. He wasn't a free man. He wasn't allowed to make any of his own decisions. Wherever his master went, he had to go. Whatever his master said to do, he had to do. His master was cruel enough to leave him alone in the wilderness without any food or water when he became ill. A man like that would not put up with any disobedience to his orders. If the slave had refused to go with him to raid the Negev or to attack and burn Ziklag, it would have meant a severe beating or even death.
David doesn't hold against him anything he might have done while under the control of the Amalekites. David just wants to know where the Amalekites might be now. By the providence of the Lord, he has been placed face to face with the only man capable of providing such information. In fact, he won't simply tell David where the Amalekites are; he will personally lead David and his men straight to them. "David asked him, 'Can you lead us down to this raiding party?' He answered, 'Swear to me before God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master, and I will take you down to them.'" (1 Samuel 30:15) He says, "I will show you exactly where they are if you promise not to take my life or give me back to my wicked master. I'm sorry I was with the Amalekites when they raided your city and took everyone and everything that belonged to you. I didn't want to be there or in this region of the world at all. I want to be back home in Egypt. You have been kind to me and I'll be happy to show you where the Amalekites are if you'll let me go on my way afterwards."
David gives his word and the man leads the group of Israelites down to the enemy camp. "He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating, drinking and reveling because of the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah." (1 Samuel 30:16) They are bragging on themselves for the looting and pillaging and burning they've done. They're eating as much rich food as they can hold and they're drinking themselves silly. They're trying on the robes and the jewelry they plundered. They're looking over the people they kidnapped, deciding which ones they'll sell as slaves and calculating how much money they'll get for them. They're looking over the young, attractive women trying to make up their minds which ones they'll keep for themselves as concubines and which ones they'll force into prostitution. They're congratulating themselves on what they consider a job well done, and that's what the enemy of our souls does when he thinks we're down and out. But they're making a big mistake, which is something the enemy of our souls often does, because they haven't taken the Lord into consideration. The Amalekites don't know that "David encouraged himself in the Lord", as we were told in yesterday's text. They don't know that the Lord told David and his men to pursue them. They don't know that the Lord promised victory to David and his men in taking back everything and everyone that was stolen from them. This is why the Israelites catch them unawares and at a disadvantage. The Amalekites' stomachs are too full of heavy food and their senses are too dulled by alcohol to put on an effective defense.
"David fought them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled. David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back." (1 Samuel 30:17-19) The enemy didn't get to keep what he took from David. While it's true that the enemy couldn't have stolen anyone or anything if David hadn't been someplace he shouldn't have been and if he hadn't been doing things he shouldn't have been doing, the Lord mercifully helped him and his people. If David hadn't encouraged himself in the Lord, neither he nor his men would have been in the right frame of mind to hunt down the enemy and take back what was theirs. You and I can't fight our enemy either without the help of the Lord. Sometimes we mess up and leave ourselves unguarded, giving the enemy a good opportunity to steal from us. But if we do as David did and turn to the Lord with everything in our hearts, He will help us back onto the right track and He will help us regain lost ground on our journey through this life.
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