Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - 1 Samuel 30:1 - 30:10
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
David's Return to Ziklag
v. 1. And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, after leaving the army of Achish in this Plain of Jezreel, that the Amalekites, evidently as a reprisal for David's raids upon them, 1Sa_27:8, had invaded the south, the south country of Judah, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, defenseless as the city was, and burned it with fire;
v. 2. and had taken the women captives that were therein, intending to make slaves of them and of their children; they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away and went on their way, back to their own country.
v. 3. So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters were taken captives.
v. 4. Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep. The blow was so sudden, so unexpected, that their sorrow was correspondingly great and their grief bitter.
v. 5. And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam, the Jezreelitess, and Abigail, the wife of Nabal, the Carmelite.
v. 6. And David was greatly distressed, deeply oppressed and anxious in spirit; for the people spake of stoning him, evidently putting all the blame upon him for joining Achish on his campaign against Israel, because the soul of all the people was grieved, full of bitterness, which has a tendency to be unreasonable, every man for his sons and for his daughters. But David encouraged himself in the Lord, his God, seeking strength and comfort in prayer and in firm confidence in the Lord, also by a direct inquiry of the Lord.
v. 7. And David said to Abiathar, the priest, Ahimelech's son, 1Sa_23:6-9, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod, which contained the Urim and Thummim. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David.
v. 8. And David inquired at the Lord, by means of the Urim, Shall I pursue after this troop, the raiders who had taken away the women and children? Shall I overtake them? And He answered him, Pursue; for thou shalt surely over take them and without fail recover all, most certainly deliver all the captives from the slavery which threatened them.
v. 9. So David went, he and the six hundred men that were with him, without taking time to rest, and came to the brook Besor, which flowed down from the hilly section of Judah and down through the country of the Philistines, "Where those that were left behind stayed, unable to proceed on account of exhaustion.
v. 10. But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor, the crossing of which seems to have been connected with great difficulties. These men were left behind with the baggage, while their more stalwart brethren followed the enemy. Like David, every Christian, though beset with anxiety and distress, may cheerfully and courageously take up the work assigned to him, after he has strengthened himself with prayer and the Word of God.