David’s Wives Are Captured

As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.

Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.

1 Samuel 30:16-20

1 Samuel 30:16 And when he had taken him down, behold, they were spread abroad over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.
1 Samuel 30:17 And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day, and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled.
1 Samuel 30:18 David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives.
1 Samuel 30:19 Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken. David brought back all.
1 Samuel 30:20 David also captured all the flocks and herds, and the people drove the livestock before him, and said, “This is David’s spoil.”

In our last post on David, we found him taking the time to show mercy to a rejected Egyptian. Turns out this Egyptian, this stranger was a slave of the very army that had ravaged Ziklag and taken all of David’s men’s wives, children and livestock. David also lost his two wives!

David showed mercy to this unknown person, exemplifying the character of God residing in him, and of his return to the God of Israel.

In this passage, this Egyptian slave turned out to be the real deal, the one who led David and his men right to the camp of the Amalekites. How coincidental!

Now as a quick reminder, the Amalekites were a real thorn in the side of Israel, for they were the nation group that God had instructed Saul to completely annihilate, and yet Saul hadn’t. Saul eventually succumbed to great suffering due to his treatment of the Amalekites, for he did not obey God in the destruction of this nation when he was commanded to.

Now, David was on the edge of the Amalekite camp, knowing God’s desire for this nation, and of his own motivation to rescue his people. The passage speaks of David striking those in the camp down.

He literally slaughtered them!

David knew what he was doing, for he had practice in the wholesale slaughter of a people in an area. Prior to David’s return to the Lord, he had a practice of decimating small populations. Under King Achish, David would enter a land area, and kill all he encountered to get the spoil of the area and to keep his actions secret!

1 Samuel 27:9 ESV – And David would strike the land and would leave neither man nor woman alive, but would take away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the garments, and come back to Achish.

Imagine the fervor David had in striking the Amalekites, for they were sworn enemies of Israel, and had kidnapped his loved ones. What he learned in the south of Philistia, he practiced with passion in this instance! He took them on for a full day, fighting through the night, and the following day, after having marched from Philistia to Ziklag and then chasing the Amalekites. Where did this endurance come from?

Four hundred Amalekites fled, but the mission was successful, for the wives and children were rescued with all the livestock. An amazing feat for a man who just a chapter previous was on the edge of mutiny by his men!

It is truly an amazing story and a great tale to reflect on. David took a skill set he developed as he was away from God, the ability to effectively slaughter a people group, and when he returned to God, was able to use this skill set under the hand of God.

For years, David had been trained under the harsh mercy of God, even in his rebellion, and became an tried and true leader, one who was able to do the bidding of the Master. He was now on the precipice of leading the nation of Israel into world domination under the Headship of God!

As we follow God, we may consider some of the skill sets we have acquired to be of no use to the God we serve. Let this thought be banished from our thinking, for our God is not One who only has His servants in sanctuaries, but also in service throughout the nations, as doctors, wives, accountants, bakers and factory workers. He is able to take what we may consider worldly skills and use those skills for those both inside and outside the church.

He is so much bigger than we let on!

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