1 Samuel 30:9

9 So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the Wadi Besor, but the rest remained.

1 Samuel 30:9 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 30:9

So David went, he and the six hundred men that [were] with him,
&c.] Encouraged by the oracle of the Lord:

and came to the brook Besor;
which Adrichomius ^F17 places in the tribe of Simeon; it is thought to be near Gaza. Aristaeus ^F18 speaks of brooks that flowed by Gaza and Ashdod, places that belonged to the Philistines; some take it to be the river of the wilderness in Amos, (See Gill on Amos 6:14):

where those that were left behind stayed:
or a part of them were left, as the Targum; all the six hundred came to this brook, but two hundred of them were left here, ( 1 Samuel 30:10 ) shows, and stayed here till the rest returned; for this is not to be understood of any that were left behind at Ziklag, for all came from thence to this brook.

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 133.
F18 Hist. 72. Interpret. p. 41.

1 Samuel 30:9 In-Context

7 Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, "Please bring the ephod here for me." So Abiathar brought the ephod to David.

8 And David inquired of Yahweh, saying, "Should I pursue after this band [of raiders]? Will I overtake them?" He said to him, "Pursue [them], for you will certainly overtake them, and you will certainly rescue them."

9 So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the Wadi Besor, but the rest remained.

10 David pursued, he and four hundred men; but two hundred men stayed because they were too exhausted to pass over the Wadi Besor.

11 Then they found an Egyptian man in the open country and brought him to David, and they gave him food and he ate; they also gave him water.

Footnotes

• [a]. A valley that is usually dry but contains a stream during the rainy season