Read 1 Samuel 30 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
30:1-6 {s} Amalekites burn Ziklag, and take wives and children captive/ David strengthened himself in YHVH
30:7-12 {s} YHVH assures David that he will prevail/ they find an Egyptian in the pursuit
30:13-21 {s} The Egyptian led them to the Amalekite camp/ David recovered all
30:22 {s} The wicked among David’s men did not want to share the spoil with the men left at the brook
30:23-24 {s} David: All shall share alike
30:25 {p} He made it an ordinance in Israel
30:26-31 {p} David sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, who had been raided by the Amalekites
The Strong theme:
29:4-30:25 {sx8+p} Because the Philistine lords reject David from fighting with them, David learns of the captivity of the wives and children, and mounts their rescue
1 Samuel 30:1-31 Chiastic Structure:
When David and his men went to their town, they found every home burnt to the ground, every man’s family taken captive, and every possession they owned taken away. The men were ready to stone David for the loss of their wives and children, but “David strengthened himself in YHVH his God.”
He had remained walking in righteousness from the first day to the last, but he had just spent years living as an outlaw in the wilderness, with Saul seeking his life, and the only king who appreciated him was a king of the Philistines, Israel’s great enemy. But even as an outlaw, he had his family. He had his men.
Now at this moment, he had been rejected by Saul, he had been rejected by the Philistines, he had been rejected by his own men. His wives and children were gone, his home was gone, everything he had ever had was gone. It was the lowest point of his life, and the biggest defeat David had yet experienced.
I am sure the enemy was beating him up good in his mind with lies, and rejoicing over the triumph he had gotten over David. But what David did is what we must learn to do: David strengthened himself in YHVH. In other words, he refused to give in to lies and fear. He refused to believe the message of rejection that the enemy was giving him, and instead remembered that he had a covenant with the Creator and Ruler of the universe.
The Psalms are full of the pattern David used to strengthen himself in YHVH:
“Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I will yet praise Him!” Psa 42:5
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