1 Samuel 30:20

20 and he took all the flocks and great beasts, and drove them before his face. And they said, This is the prey of David (And the men said, This should all be David's prey).

1 Samuel 30:20 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 30:20

And David took all the flocks, and the herds
Which they had taken from the land of the Philistines, or which belonged to the Amalekites properly:

[which] they drave before those [other] cattle;
which had been carried from Ziklag; first went the spoil taken from other places, and then those taken from David and his men, or what was found at Ziklag. Abarbinel supposes the meaning to be this, that the herds were driven before the flocks, that the oxen were led out first, and then the sheep followed, as being the weaker sort, and more easily to be driven, and carried off; but the former sense seems best:

and said, this [is] David's spoil;
either the whole of it, it being owing to him that it was got or brought back; or this may respect some peculiar part of it made a present of to him; or it may design what the Amalekites had taken from others, which was at the disposal of David, as distinguished from what was taken from Ziklag, and was restored, or to be restored to the proper owners: it may be taken in the first and more general sense, as being the song, or the burden of the song, sung by David's men as they returned with the spoil, giving him all the honour of it, of whom, but a little before, they talked of stoning.

1 Samuel 30:20 In-Context

18 Forsooth David delivered all things which the men of Amalek took, and he delivered his two wives; (And so David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and he rescued his two wives;)

19 neither any of them failed, from little till to great, as well of sons as of daughters, and of spoils; and whatever things they had ravished, David led again all things; (no one was lost, from the least unto the greatest, sons as well as daughters; and all the spoils, yea, whatever they had taken, David brought home again.)

20 and he took all the flocks and great beasts, and drove them before his face. And they said, This is the prey of David (And the men said, This should all be David's prey).

21 Forsooth David came to the two hundred men, that were weary, and abided behind, and might not follow David; and he [had] commanded them to sit at the strand of Besor; which went out against David, and the people that was with him. Forsooth David nighed to the people, and he greeted it peaceably. (And David came back to the two hundred men who were weary, and had stayed behind, and did not follow David; and he had commanded them to remain there at the Besor Stream; and they went out to meet David, and the people who were with him. And David came to these men, and he greeted them warmly.)

22 And one man, the worst man and wicked of the men that were with David, answered, and said, For they came not with us, we shall not give to them anything of the prey, that we have ravished, but suffice it to each man his wife and his children; and when they have taken them, go they away. (But some men, the worst and the most wicked of those who went with David, said, For they did not come with us, we shall not give them any of the prey, that we have recovered, but let each man take only his wife and his children; and when they have taken them, go they away.)