I Samuel 29-30
Dear RTB’ers,
David has moved to the Philistines in order to get away from Saul’s constant pursuit. He has served one of the Philistine kings, Achish, and has been given his own city to live in, Ziklag. He has deceived Achish and pretended loyalty to him, although his heart is certainly with his brother Israelites. So David plays along when Achish wants him to go to battle with the Philistines against Israel. However, the other Philistine lords do not want David in the battle, fearing that he would be loyal to Israel and fight against them. So David and his men get sent back to Ziklag – essentially the Lord God delivering him from the battle, from having to fight his own people. [NOTE: Ziklag is in the far south of the Philistine lands, on about the same latitude as Beersheba in Judah. So when David goes on raids in 27:8-12, he is actually raiding people to his south, not raiding Israelites. And it is those people to the south, the Amalekites who have sacked Ziklag in chapter 30 and taken wives and children.]
Ziklag is destroyed by the Amalekites and David is in hot pursuit in order to rescue the women and children. He owes the victory in this quest to the Lord and rules against the “wicked and worthless fellows” among his followers who get greedy over the spoils, in so doing leaving us with an oft-quoted maxim: For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike. (v. 30:24b) He also uses the spoils to thank the many cities who have provided shelter and safety while he was fleeing Saul, generosity that will serve him well when the issue of his kingship arises.
Blessings!