1 Samuel 30:23

23 David answered, "No, my brothers. Don't do that after what the Lord has given us. He has protected us and given us the enemy who attacked us.

1 Samuel 30:23 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 30:23

Then said David, ye shall not do so, my brethren
Though he saw through their wickedness, and disapproved of the bad sentiments they had embraced, yet he deals gently with them, calling them brethren, being of the same nation and religion, and his fellow soldiers; yet at the same time keeps up and maintains his dignity and authority as a general, and declares it should not be as they willed, and gives his reasons for it, that it was not fit they should do as they pleased:

with that which the Lord hath given us;
what they had was given them, and therefore, as they had freely received, they should freely give; and what was given them, was not given to them only, but to the whole body, by the Lord:

who hath preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us
into our hand;
it was not by their own power and might that they got the victory over the enemy, and the spoil into their hands, but it was through the Lord only; and therefore, as they should not assume the honour of the victory to themselves, so neither should they claim the spoil as wholly belonging to them.

1 Samuel 30:23 In-Context

21 Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too tired to follow him, who had stayed at the Besor Ravine. They came out to meet David and the people with him. When he came near, David greeted the men at the ravine.

22 But the evil men and troublemakers among those who followed David said, "Since these two hundred men didn't go with us, we shouldn't give them any of the things we recovered. Just let each man take his wife and children and go."

23 David answered, "No, my brothers. Don't do that after what the Lord has given us. He has protected us and given us the enemy who attacked us.

24 Who will listen to what you say? The share will be the same for the one who stayed with the supplies as for the one who went into battle. All will share alike."

25 David made this an order and rule for Israel, which continues even today.