1 Samuel 30:17

17 David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not one of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled.

1 Samuel 30:17 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 30:17

And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening
of the next day
As there are two twilights, the twilight of the morning, and the twilight of the evening; this is differently understood some take it for the twilight of the morning, and that it was night when David came to them, and let them alone till they were drunk and asleep, and then early in the morning fell upon them, and smote them until the evening; so Josephus F19 relates it; but others take it to be the twilight of the evening, and that he fell upon them that night, and continued the slaughter of them to the evening of the next day, with which agrees the Targum; nay, some take the next day, or the morrow, to be that which followed after the two evenings; so that this slaughter was carried on to the third day:

and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men that
rode upon camels, and fled;
that sort of camels called dromedaries, according to Josephus F20, and which were very swift, and much used by the Arabians, near whom these people dwelt, see ( Isaiah 60:6 ) ( Jeremiah 2:23 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F19 Antiqu. l. 6. c. 4. sect. 6.
F20 Ibid.

1 Samuel 30:17 In-Context

15 David said to him, "Will you take me down to this raiding party?" He said, "Swear to me by God that you will not kill me, or hand me over to my master, and I will take you down to them."
16 When he had taken him down, they were spread out all over the ground, eating and drinking and dancing, because of the great amount of spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.
17 David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not one of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled.
18 David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken; and David rescued his two wives.
19 Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken; David brought back everything.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.