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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - 1 Samuel 30:1 - 30:1
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During David's absence the Amalekites had invaded the south country, smitten Ziklag and burnt it down, and carried off the women and children whom they found there; whereat not only were David and his men plunged into great grief on their return upon the third day but David especially was involved in very great trouble, inasmuch as the people wanted to stone him. But he strengthened himself in the Lord his God (1Sa 30:1-6).
1Sa 30:1-5
1Sa 30:1-4 form one period, which is expanded by the introduction of several circumstantial clauses. The apodosis to “It came to pass, when,” etc. (1Sa 30:1), does not follow till 1Sa 30:4, “Then David and the people,” etc. But this is formally attached to 1Sa 30:3, “so David and his men came,” with which the protasis commenced in 1Sa 30:1 is resumed in an altered form. “It came to pass, when David and his men came to Ziklag ... the Amalekites had invaded ... and had carried off the wives ... and had gone their way, and David and his men came into the town (for 'when David and his men came,' etc.), and behold it was burned ... . Then David and the people with him lifted up their voice.” “On the third day:” after David's dismission by Achish, not after David's departure from Ziklag. David had at any rate gone with Achish beyond Gath, and had not been sent back till the whole of the princes of the Philistines had united their armies (1Sa 29:2.), so that he must have been absent from Ziklag more than two days, or two days and a half. This is placed beyond all doubt by 1Sa 30:11., since the Amalekites are there described as having gone off with their booty three days before David followed them, and therefore they had taken Ziklag and burned it three days before David's return. These foes had therefore taken advantage of the absence of David and his warriors, to avenge themselves for David's invasions and plunderings (1Sa 27:8). Of those who were carried off, “the women” alone expressly mentioned in 1Sa 30:2, although the female population and all the children had been removed, as we may see from the expression “small and great” (1Sa 30:3, 1Sa 30:6). The lxx were therefore correct, so far as the sense is concerned, in introducing the words καὶ πάντα before בָּהּ עֲשֶׁר. “They had killed no one, but (only) carried away.” נָהַג, to carry away captive, as in Isa 20:4. Among those who had been carried off were David's two wives, Ahinoam and Abigail (vid., 1Sa 25:42-43; 1Sa 27:3).
1Sa 30:6-10
David was greatly distressed in consequence; “for the people thought ('said,' sc., in their hearts) to stone him,” because they sought the occasion of their calamity in his connection with Achish, with which many of his adherents may very probably have been dissatisfied. “For the soul of the whole people was embittered (i.e., all the people were embittered in their souls) because of their sons and daughters,” who had been carried away into slavery. “But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God,” i.e., sought consolation and strength in prayer and believing confidence in the Lord (1Sa 30:7.). This strength he manifested in the resolution to follow the foes and rescue their booty from them. To this end he had the ephod brought by the high priest Abiathar (cf. 1Sa 23:9), and inquired by means of the Urim of the Lord, “Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake it?” These questions were answered in the affirmative; and the promise was added, “and thou wilt rescue.” So David pursued the enemy with his six hundred men as far as the brook Besor, where the rest, i.e., two hundred, remained standing (stayed behind). The words עָמְדוּ וְהַנֹּותָרִים, which are appended in the form of a circumstantial clause, are to be connected, so far as the facts are concerned, with what follows: whilst the others remained behind, David pursued the enemy still farther with four hundred men. By the word הַנֹּותָרִים the historian has somewhat anticipated the matter, and therefore regards it as necessary to define the expression still further in 1Sa 30:10. We are precluded from changing the text, as Thenius suggests, by the circumstance that all the early translators read it in this manner, and have endeavoured to make the expression intelligible by paraphrasing it. These two hundred men were too tired to cross the brook and go any farther. (פָּגַר, which only occurs here and in 1Sa 30:21, signifies, in Syriac, to be weary or exhausted.) As Ziklag was burnt down, of course they found no provisions there, and were consequently obliged to set out in pursuit of the foe without being able to provide themselves with the necessary supplies. The brook Besor is supposed to be the Wady Sheriah, which enters the sea below Ashkelon (see v. Raumer, Pal. p. 52).