Chapter Thirty

The Amalekite raid on Ziklag. David’s return to Ziklag. The pursuit and defeat of the Amalekites.

1 Samuel 30:1. On the third day, when David and his men came to Ziklag, the Amalekites had made a raid on the south and taken Ziklag and burned it with fire. The Amalekites are a nomadic people of the Sinai Peninsula. No doubt they wished to take advantage of the fact that the military forces of both the Philistines and David were drawn away at that moment far to the north (see the note to 1 Sam 28:4).

1 Samuel 30:5. David’s two wives also were taken captive: Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail, the widow of Nabal the Carmelite. See 1 Sam 25:42-43.

1 Samuel 30:6. David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. “The people spoke of stoning him,” considering David’s departure to Aphek one of the immediate causes of the calamity that had befallen them.

1 Samuel 30:9. David set out, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the Wadi Besor; and those who were left behind stayed there. The Wadi Besor flows into the Mediterranean Sea, to the west of Beersheba.

1 Samuel 30:14. We made a raid on the south of the Cherethites and on the territory of Judah and on the south of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire. Cherethites is the name of the land of the Philistines. The part of Caleb is the region near Hebron.

1 Samuel 30:26. When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to the elders of Judah, his friends, saying, “Here is a gift for you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord,”— 1 Samuel 30:27. to those in Bethel, and to those in Ramoth of the South, and to those in Jattir, 1 Samuel 30:28. and to those in Aroer, and to those in Siphmoth, and to those in Eshtemoa, 1 Samuel 30:29. and to those in Racal, and to those in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to those in the cities of the Kenites, 1 Samuel 30:30. and to those in Hormah, and to those in Chorashan, and to those in Athach, 1 Samuel 30:31. and to those in Hebron, and to all the places where David and his men had gone about. David’s long sojourn beyond the borders of the Hebrew lands could have been interpreted by the Hebrews in a way unfavorable to David. The defeat of the ancient enemies of Israel—the Amalekites (Exod 17:8-16)—and the gift sent to the elders were meant to convince the Hebrew people that regarding his views and feelings toward his homeland, David remained the same as he had been before. Besides the Hebrew cities, David’s gifts were also sent to many foreign localities (near the southern and southeastern edge of the Hebrew state), “to all the places where David and his men had gone about,” as a token of gratitude for their former hospitality.