1 Samuel 29–30: Sent Home, and the Sack of Ziklag

Now the Philistines brought all their forces together at Aphek, while Israel camped by the spring in Jezreel. As the Philistine leaders marched out their units of hundreds and thousands, David and his men marched behind them with Achish.

Then the commanders of the Philistines asked, “What about these Hebrews?”

Achish replied, “Is this not David, the servant of King Saul of Israel? He has been with me all these days, even years, and from the day he defected until today I have found no fault in him.”

But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with Achish and told him, “Send that man back and let him return to the place you assigned him. He must not go down with us into battle only to become our adversary during the war. What better way for him to regain the favor of his master than with the heads of our men? Is this not the David about whom they sing in their dances:

So Achish summoned David and told him, “As surely as the LORD lives, you have been upright in my sight, and it seems right that you should march in and out with me in the army, because I have found no fault in you from the day you came to me until this day. But you have no favor in the sight of the leaders. Therefore turn back now and go in peace, so that you will not do anything to displease the leaders of the Philistines.”

“But what have I done?” David replied. “What have you found against your servant, from the day I came to you until today, to keep me from going along to fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”

Achish replied, “I know that you are as pleasing in my sight as an angel of God. But the commanders of the Philistines have said, ‘He must not go into battle with us.’ Now then, get up early in the morning, along with your master’s servants who came with you, and go as soon as it is light.”

So David and his men got up early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

On the third day David and his men arrived in Ziklag, and the Amalekites had raided the Negev, attacked Ziklag, and burned it down. They had taken captive the women and all who were there, both young and old. They had not killed anyone, but had carried them off as they went on their way.

When David and his men came to the city, they found it burned down and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. So David and the troops with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no strength left to weep.

David’s two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel, had been taken captive. And David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of every man grieved for his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.

Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.”

So Abiathar brought it to him, and David inquired of the LORD: “Should I pursue these raiders? Will I overtake them?”

“Pursue them,” the LORD replied, “for you will surely overtake them and rescue the captives.”

So David and his six hundred men went to the Brook of Besor, where some stayed behind because two hundred men were too exhausted to cross the brook. But David and four hundred men continued in pursuit.

Now his men found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David. They gave the man water to drink and food to eat— a piece of a fig cake and two clusters of raisins. So he ate and was revived, for he had not had any food or water for three days and three nights.

Then David asked him, “To whom do you belong, and where are you from?”

“I am an Egyptian,” he replied, “the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me three days ago when I fell ill. We raided the Negev of the Cherethites, the territory of Judah, and the Negev of Caleb, and we burned down Ziklag.”

“Will you lead me to these raiders?” David asked.

And the man replied, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into the hand of my master, and I will lead you to them.”

So he led David down, and there were the Amalekites spread out over all the land, eating, drinking, and celebrating the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and the land of Judah. And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man escaped, except four hundred young men who fled, riding off on camels.

So David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. Nothing was missing, young or old, son or daughter, or any of the plunder the Amalekites had taken. David brought everything back. And he recovered all the flocks and herds, which his men drove ahead of the other livestock, calling out, “This is David’s plunder!”

When David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him from the Brook of Besor, they came out to meet him and the troops with him. As David approached the men, he greeted them, but all the wicked and worthless men among those who had gone with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered, except for each man’s wife and children. They may take them and go.”

But David said, “My brothers, you must not do this with what the LORD has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiders who came against us. Who will listen to your proposal? The share of the one who went to battle will match the share of the one who stayed with the supplies. They will share alike.”

And so it has been from that day forward. David established this statute as an ordinance for Israel to this very day.

When David arrived in Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, “Here is a gift for you from the plunder of the LORD’s enemies.” He sent gifts to those in Bethel, Ramoth Negev, and Jattir; to those in Aroer, Siphmoth, and Eshtemoa; to those in Racal and in the cities of the Jerahmeelites and Kenites; to those in Hormah, Bor-ashan, and Athach; and to those in Hebron and in all the places where David and his men had roamed.