1 Samuel 30:15-25

15 "Will you lead me to those raiders?" David asked him. He answered, "I will if you promise me in God's name that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master."

16 And he led David to them. The raiders were scattered all over the place, eating, drinking, and celebrating because of the enormous amount of loot they had captured from Philistia and Judah.

17 At dawn the next day David attacked them and fought until evening. Except for four hundred young men who mounted camels and got away, none of them escaped.

18 David rescued everyone and everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives;

19 nothing at all was missing. David got back all his men's sons and daughters, and all the loot the Amalekites had taken.

20 He also recovered all the flocks and herds; his men drove all the livestock in front of them and said, "This belongs to David!"

21 Then David went back to the two hundred men who had been too weak to go with him and had stayed behind at Besor Brook. They came forward to meet David and his men, and David went up to them and greeted them warmly.

22 But some mean and worthless men who had gone with David said, "They didn't go with us, and so we won't give them any of the loot. They can take their wives and children and go away."

23 But David answered, "My brothers, you can't do this with what the Lord has given us! He kept us safe and gave us victory over the raiders.

24 No one can agree with what you say! All must share alike: whoever stays behind with the supplies gets the same share as the one who goes into battle."

25 David made this a rule, and it has been followed in Israel ever since.

1 Samuel 30:15-25 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 30

This chapter relates the condition Ziklag was in when David and his men came to it, the city burnt, and their families carried captive by the Amalekites, which occasioned not only a general lamentation, but mutiny and murmuring in David's men, 1Sa 30:1-6; the inquiry David made of the Lord what he should do, who is bid to pursue the enemy; and being directed by a lad where they were, fell upon them, and routed them, and brought back the captives with a great spoil, 1Sa 30:7-20; the distribution of the spoil, both to those that went with him, and to those who through faintness were left behind, 1Sa 30:21-25; and the presents of it he sent to several places in the tribe of Judah, who had been kind to him when he dwelt among them, 1Sa 30:26-31.

Footnotes

• [a]. [Probable text] his men . . . front of them; [Hebrew unclear.]