1 Samuel 30:13

Listen to 1 Samuel 30:13
13 Then David said to him, "{To whom do you belong}, and from where [are] you? The young man said, "I am an Egyptian young man, a servant of an Amalekite man, but my master abandoned me because I became ill three days ago.

1 Samuel 30:13 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 30:13

And David said unto him, to whom [belongest] thou?
&c.] To what country or people? and to whom among them?

and whence [art] thou?
of what nation? where wast thou born? what countryman art thou? for his being called an Egyptian before seems to be by anticipation, unless it was guessed at by his habit; for until he had eaten and drank he could not speak, and so could not be known by his speech:

for he said, I [am] a young man of Egypt;
that was the country he belonged to, and came from; he was an Egyptian by birth:

servant to an Amalekite;
one of those that had invaded the country, and burnt Ziklag, as it follows:

and my master left me, because three days agone I fell sick;
which was very barbarous and cruel to leave him at all, when they had camels with them, ( 1 Samuel 30:17 ) ; and no doubt carriages for their arms, provision, and spoil, and men; and more so to leave him without anybody with him to take care of him, and without any food, when he capable of eating any; but so it was ordered by the providence of God, that should be left to be the instrument of the just ruin of his master, and of the whole troop.

Unlock Deeper Insights: Get Over 20 Commentaries with Plus! Subscribe Now

1 Samuel 30:13 In-Context

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.
12 They gave him a slice of fig cake and two raisin cakes; he ate and {this revived him}, because he had not eaten food or drunk water [for] three days and three nights.
13 Then David said to him, "{To whom do you belong}, and from where [are] you? The young man said, "I am an Egyptian young man, a servant of an Amalekite man, but my master abandoned me because I became ill three days ago.
14 We raided the Negev of the Kerethites and that [which belongs] to Judah and then the Negev of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire."
15 So David asked him, "Will you take me down to this band [of raiders]?" He said, "Swear to me by God that you will not kill me and that you will not deliver me into my master's hand! Then I will take you down to this band."

Footnotes 1

  • [a] Literally "To whom [are] you"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.