1 Samuel 30: While David was away

Synopsis:

While David was away with the king of Gath, his town was raided and burnt down by the Amalekites who had stolen everything, including the women. When he returned everyone was mad at him. She he asked his priest for the ephod and asked God what to do. God said to pursue the Amalekes and get back everything. David takes 400 men, as 200 were faint with hunger and sick, and they find a sick man in a field. They feed him good food  and nurse him back to health. He agrees to help them find the Amalekites if they don’t kill him and don’t turn him over to his former masters. They find the Amalekites and smote them all and get all their goods back. The 400 men who went with David don’t want to share their spoils with those who didn’t come on the campaign. David says no. Everyone gets their stuff back. They even sent some of the spoils to the elders of all the major towns in Israel as a gift – spoils of the enemies of the Lord.

In other words:

While David was gone, his town was attacked and he has to go and get everything back.

Favorite bit:

How they treated the sick Egyptian slave of an Amalekite. They gave him bread and water and when he started to revive, they gave him cake with figs and raisins. (1 Samuel 30:12)

Least favorite bit:

That this entire chapter reminds me of the women stolen by Boco Haram in Africa. This sort of thing is still happening. I don’t even have much sympathy for David here – because he did the same thing earlier.

Savviest bit:

David knows Saul is about to get slaughtered by the Philistines. So he sends gifts to the elders of all the major Jewish towns. You know, to remind them that he is still around.

Moral Lesson learned:

Violence begets violence (1 Samuel 30)