1 Samuel 30:24

24 Qui vous écouterait dans cette affaire? Car la part de celui qui descend au combat et la part de celui qui demeure au bagage, doivent être égales; ils partageront ensemble.

1 Samuel 30:24 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 30:24

For who will hearken unto you in fit is matter?
No wise and just man will take on your side of the question, and join with you in excluding your brethren from a share in the spoil:

but as his part [is] that goeth down to the battle, so [shall] his part
[be] that tarrieth by the stuff;
as these two hundred men did; they were placed to abide by and watch the carriages, the bag and baggage the rest had left there, that they might be the lighter, and make their pursuit more swiftly: besides, they guarded the pass here, and were also exposed to danger; for if the four hundred had been cut off, and the enemy had returned, they must all have perished; and therefore as they had their post assigned them, and were liable to danger, it was but just and reasonable they should have the share in the spoil; especially since it was not want of will in them they did not go with them, but weakness of body:

they shall part alike;
this was David's determination and decision, and it was an equitable one: something similar to this was directed by the Lord in the war of Midian, ( Numbers 31:25 ) and was practised in the times of Abraham, ( Genesis 14:24 ) ; and is agreeable to the light of nature, and what has been practised by the Heathens, particularly the Romans, as Polybius ^F21 relates; who tells us, that every man brought booty into the camp, when the tribunes divided it equally to them all; not only to those which remained in battle, but to those that guarded the tents and the baggage, to the sick, and to those that were appointed to any service, see ( Psalms 68:12 ) ; and so the Turkish historian says ^F23, that the Pisidians, who lived on spoil, gave a part not contemptible to those that abode at home with their wives.

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FOOTNOTES:

F21 Hist. l. 10. p. 365.
F23 Chalcocondyl. de reb. Turc. l. 5. p. 161.

1 Samuel 30:24 In-Context

22 Mais tous les hommes méchants et mauvais, d'entre ceux qui étaient allés avec David, prirent la parole et dirent: Puisqu'ils ne sont point venus avec nous, nous ne leur donnerons rien du butin que nous avons recouvré, sinon à chacun sa femme et ses enfants; qu'ils les emmènent, et s'en aillent.

23 Mais David dit: Ce n'est pas ainsi, mes frères, que vous disposerez de ce que l'Éternel nous a donné, puisqu'il nous a gardés, et a livré entre nos mains la troupe qui était venue contre nous.

24 Qui vous écouterait dans cette affaire? Car la part de celui qui descend au combat et la part de celui qui demeure au bagage, doivent être égales; ils partageront ensemble.

25 Or cela s'est pratiqué depuis ce jour-là, et on en a fait une règle et un usage en Israël, jusqu'à ce jour.

26 David revint donc à Tsiklag, et envoya du butin aux anciens de Juda, à ses amis, en disant: Voici un présent, pour vous, du butin des ennemis de l'Éternel.