THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL

CHAPTER 30

DAVID AT ZIKLAG

           Now when David and his men arrived back in Ziklag, they discovered the Amalekites had invaded the south, including Ziklag. They attacked Ziklag, burned it, and taken the women who they held as captives. They didn’t kill any of them, but took every woman, young and old, and left. 

So David says to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, “Please, bring me the ephod.” (Remember that Daily Bread Crumb we had a few Chapters ago, that an ephod is a garment the priests wore to assist in asking for guidance from the Lord.) Abiathar brought David the ephod and David used it to ask the Lord if he should go after the troops that invaded Ziklag and overtake them?

The Lord responded, “Definitely go after them and overtake them because without fail, you will recover everyone that was taken captive.”

So David took 600 men and they started on their journey and approached the brook Besor, but some stayed behind.  David then continued with 400 men, and 200 men stayed behind because they were too weak to cross the brook. 

David's men then ran across an Egyptian man in the fields and brought him to David. They gave him bread and something to drink. They also gave him fig cakes and raisins which helped the man regain his strength and spirit since it had been 3 days since he had anything to eat or drink. 

David asked the man, “Who are you?  Where are you from?” 

Camels?? … One might think that camels are extremely SLOOOOWWW … But why do we think that? We don’t believe giraffes to be slow, and most have seen on those National Geographic specials that even herds of elephants are pretty swift when they’re stampeding, so maybe camels have their moments of light footedness too.  :) 

At either rate, David was able to recover all that was taken from his town and yes, safely recovered his two wives. Nothing was lost … David and his men recovered EVERYTHING that was taken. They rounded up all the flocks and herds and drove them on ahead and David’s men said, “These all belong to David now as his reward.” 

They approached the brook Besor on their way back, and the 200 men who stayed behind because they were too exhausted to go further. David went up and greeted them. But certain men of the group said to David, “Because they weren’t with us, let’s not give them anything we recovered. We’ll give them back their wives, and sons, and daughters, and then make them leave.” 

When David arrived back in Ziklag, he gave some of the belongings he recovered to the elders of Judah and to his friends, telling them, “Here is a gift for you taken from the Lord’s enemies.” The gifts were sent to the leaders of the following towns where David and his men had been: Bethel, South Ramoth, Jattir, Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa, Rachal, Jerahmeelites, Kenites, Hormah, Chor-ashan, Athach, and Hebron.

Did you notice that when the Lord blessed David, David blessed others. He paid it forward. He didn't keep all the wealth to himself … A good thing for us to practice as well.

You absolutely must come back very soon to see what happens next in the life of David, and I'm honored to share it with you together, right here at Daily Bread!