1 Samuel 29 – 31 part 13
Tonight we will finish up the book of first Samuel as we cover chapters 29 thru 31. Now before we begin we must back track just a little bit. If you will remember in one our past lesson David was tired of running from Saul so he finally joined himself with the Philistines under King Achish. This King gives David and his men the place called Zigalag. We talked about how David was quite the actor and liar to make things go his way. David had went around killing the enemies of the children of Israel and he left no one alive so that King Achish would not find out his little secret and when Achish would ask David who he was fighting he gave the king the impression that he was fighting against the children of Israel and because of this, Achish thought David would be his servant forever because who would ever take back a man who turned on his own people and killed the continually. So this sets the stage for what is said in the first 2 verses of chapter 28 which leads right into chapter 29.
1 Samuel 28:1 Now it
happened in those days that the Philistines gathered their armies together for
war, to fight with
You see David had been
completely successful in pulling the wool over the Achish’s eyes because now he
trust David enough for him to go battle with him against his own people and we
can see that he was going to make David his chief guardian forever. Here is
where we can see that living a lie can get you into a situation that you don’t
want to be in. Now because of his lie David and his men were going to have to
go battle against the children of
Psalm 15:1 A Psalm
of David. LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy
hill? 2 He who walks
uprightly, And works righteousness, And speaks the truth in his heart;
So how is David going to
get out of this one? Well lets see as we read in,
1 Samuel 29:1 Then
the Philistines gathered together all their armies at Aphek, and the Israelites
encamped by a fountain which is in Jezreel. 2 And the lords of the Philistines
passed in review by hundreds and by thousands, but David and his men passed in
review at the rear with Achish. 3
Then the princes of the Philistines said, "What are these Hebrews doing
here?" And Achish said to the princes of the Philistines, "Is this
not David, the servant of Saul king of
Here we learn how all
these men were coming together to fight King Saul and his men including David
and his men who were bringing up the rear. However there was a problem these
other Philistine men didn’t want the Hebrews especial David being part of this
battle. They were still very bitter about David and how he kill so many of
their people and defeated their champion Goliath. They were afraid that David
and is men would help King Saul defeat them so that he could become reconciled
with the King.
Again we see just how
much confidence David had instilled in Achish as he defended David and his men
and tried to convince the other Philistine’s that he should be allowed to fight
in battle with them. Just a side note you can read more about how David added
more men to his army during this time in 1 Chron. 12 and a few more details
about what goes on here in chapter 29.
1 Samuel 29:6 Then
Achish called David and said to him, "Surely, as the LORD lives,
you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the
army is good in my sight. For to this day I have not found evil in you
since the day of your coming to me. Nevertheless the lords do not favor
you. 7 "Therefore return
now, and go in peace, that you may not displease the lords of the
Philistines."
Achish almost comes
before David in a very cautious and in apologetic way as he explains why he and
his men cannot take part in this battle. Once again we see that David has been
provided away out of his difficult situation. But notice how he plays his part
well in,
1 Samuel 29:8 So
David said to Achish, "But what have I done? And to this day what have you
found in your servant as long as I have been with you, that I may not go and
fight against the enemies of my lord the king?" 9 Then Achish answered and said to
David, "I know that you are as good in my sight as an angel of God;
nevertheless the princes of the Philistines have said, 'He shall not go up with
us to the battle.' 10
"Now therefore, rise early in the morning with your master's servants who
have come with you. And as soon as you are up early in the morning and have
light, depart." 11 So
David and his men rose early to depart in the morning, to return to the land of
the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.
Here we see David hams it
up and pretends like he disappointed that he can’t be in the battle and so
after adding the finishing touches to reaction he and his army depart to go
back to the land of the Philistines. As I looked at this section of scripture I
couldn’t help but wonder what David would have done if he Achish had been
successful in convincing the other men to allow David to stay. Would he have
found against Saul or would he have fought against the Philistines? Of course we will never know the answers to
these what if questions but doesn’t stop me from wondering what he would have
done. Now when David returns he finds out a nasty little surprise.
1 Samuel 30:1 Now it
happened, when David and his men came to Ziklag, on the third day, that the
Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with
fire, 2 and had taken captive
the women and those who were there, from small to great; they did not
kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way. 3 So David and his men came to the
city, and there it was, burned with fire; and their wives, their sons, and
their daughters had been taken captive. 4
Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and
wept, until they had no more power to weep.
5 And David's two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and
Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, had been taken captive. 6 Now David was greatly
distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the
people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened
himself in the LORD his God.
This was as devastating
blow to David and his men. Their women, children and their possessions were all
gone and their was burned with fire. The only way that you and can come close
to understanding the fear and the anguish they were feeling is for us to
imagine to the best of our ability coming home and seeing our house burnt down
and our family not being anywhere in site. Its bad enough to lose all that you
own but it can replaced but your loved ones can never be replaced and not
knowing if your family is dead or alive will eat away at your sanity and we can
see this is what the men experiencing at this time. They had cried so hard and
stressed themselves out so much that they didn’t have any strength left in them
not even enough to weep.
Then we see that some of
them were talking about stoning David to death. You see many times when bad
things happen or things to go according to plan the leaders are the ones that
get blamed even if they had not control over the situation. This happens in
congregations sometimes. If attendances goes down or problems arise people want
someone to blame and many times the preacher or even the elders are sited as
the source of the problem even though they may not of had anything to do with
the problem. Well, instead of drowning is self pity David strengthened himself
in Lord. You see even though this was a bad circumstance because of David faith
in God he was able to recover from his grief. This is the same power that every
Christian has today because no matter what we may go through we can always rise
above it knowing that God loves us and that we can put our faith in him to make
everything work out for the best.
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for
good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Now notice what David
does.
1 Samuel 30:7 Then
David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, "Please bring the
ephod here to me." And Abiathar brought the ephod to David. 8 So David inquired of the LORD,
saying, "Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?" And He
answered him, "Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and
without fail recover all."
The
first thing that David does is to what God has to say on this matter. Again,
this is great example for us to follow. Before lash out at someone and do
something on our own I thinks it important that we go to God in prayer first
asking for wisdom on what we should do and at the same time we should search
God’s Word to find an answer on how to deal with our situation at hand. When
David ask his question he gets an answer that must have given him renewed
strength because now he knows that no one has been killed and that he will
recover all the people and their possessions. Now it surprising that none of
them had been killed but the Bible implies that these Amalekites were probably
going to use David’s people as slaves or even possible sell them to others as
slaves because you see in just a minute that they had a Egyptian slave.
1 Samuel 30:9 So
David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to
the Brook Besor, (bee-sawr) where those stayed who were left
behind. 10 But David pursued,
he and four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind, who were so
weary that they could not cross the Brook Besor. 11 Then they found an Egyptian in
the field, and brought him to David; and they gave him bread and he ate, and
they let him drink water. 12
And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. So when
he had eaten, his strength came back to him; for he had eaten no bread nor
drunk water for three days and three nights.
13 Then David said to him, "To whom do you belong, and
where are you from?" And he said, "I am a young man
from
Ok
we see that 200 men remained behind with the supplies and David and 400 pressed
on looking for the Amalekites and they just happen to find this Egyptian
servant who was left behind to die. You see to the Amalekites this servant was
no different than a horse or any other animal that became sick they would
simply just leave them to die. Now once this servant was feed and given water
he was willing to show David where the Amalekites were. Now to me personally
this has this providence of God written all over it.
1 Samuel 30:16 And when
he had brought him down, there they were, spread out over all the land, eating
and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil which they had taken
from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. 17 Then David attacked them from
twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped, except
four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled. 18 So David recovered all that the
Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives. 19 And nothing of theirs was
lacking, either small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything which they
had taken from them; David recovered all.
20 Then David took all the flocks and herds they had driven
before those other livestock, and said, "This is David's
spoil."
Just
as God had promised David was able to
recover all. Every time God make a promise he always keeps it and we can see
this over and over again throughout the Bible and this should give each of us
assurance that God will keep his promise to us that Jesus will return one day
and give all the faithful a home in heaven and a crown of righteousness.
1 Samuel 30:21 Now
David came to the two hundred men who had been so weary that they could not
follow David, whom they also had made to stay at the Brook Besor. So they went
out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. And when
David came near the people, he greeted them.
22 Then all the wicked and worthless men of those who went
with David answered and said, "Because they did not go with us, we will
not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except for every
man's wife and children, that they may lead them away and
depart." 23 But David
said, "My brethren, you shall not do so with what the LORD has given us,
who has preserved us and delivered into our hand the troop that came against
us. 24 "For who will
heed you in this matter? But as his part is who goes down to the battle,
so shall his part be who stays by the supplies; they shall share
alike." 25 So it was,
from that day forward; he made it a statute and an ordinance for
It continues on naming
some those who shared in these spoils. Now we learn from this text that some of
David’s men were greedy and did not want share with those who did not fight for
them but David convinced them that they would share their spoils with all. Now
David did not come up with this on his own instead he was just teaching what
had already been taught by the law of God and others. For instance look at,
Numbers 31:26
"Count up the plunder that was taken -- of man and beast -- you and
Eleazar the priest and the chief fathers of the congregation; 27 "and divide the plunder
into two parts, between those who took part in the war, who went out to battle,
and all the congregation.
Joshua 22:8 …"Return
with much riches to your tents, with very much livestock, with silver, with
gold, with bronze, with iron, and with very much clothing. Divide the spoil of
your enemies with your brethren."
This is very similar to the principle that that the
Christians used in the first century as they shared with one another so that now
one was without. Now in our finally chapter we learn about a very brutal scene.
1 Samuel 31:1 Now the
Philistines fought against
Here learn about the
death of Saul and his sons. We see that the Philistines were hot on his trail and
had already shot him with their arrows and out desperation of not being caught
and made a slave Saul tries to get his armor bearer to him but he is to afraid
to do so. Now we are not told who his armor bearer is but Jewish tradition says
that it was Doeg the man who spilled the beans about the priest giving David
and his men the holy bread to eat. Since Saul’s armor bearer wouldn’t kill him
we see that Saul literally takes matters into his owns hands and fall on his
sword committing suicide and when his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead he
also fell on his sword. What a way to go out. Now there is more to this story
on Saul’s death but I will save that information when I start in 2 Sam.
7 And when the men of Israel who were
on the other side of the valley, and those who were on the
other side of the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and
his sons were dead, they forsook the cities and fled; and the Philistines came
and dwelt in them. 8 So it
happened the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they
found Saul and his three sons fallen on
Once the King Saul was
dead there no more fight left in the children of
They put his armor in
their temples and they even stuck his head in
11 Now when the inhabitants of Jabesh
Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all the valiant men arose and
traveled all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from
the wall of Beth Shan; and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. 13 Then they took their bones and
buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
Now if you remember in 1
Sam 11 Saul had protected the people at Jabesh Gilead where Nahash the Ammonite
was going to force them to become his servant and he was going to put everyone
of their right eyes. So out of respect for Saul they take his body and the
bodies of his sons down from the wall and they burn them and they bury their
bones under a tamarisk tree. So ends the life of Saul.
One think we learn from
the life of Saul is that a person can start out as humble servant to the Lord
but by taking the wrong path they can end there life being full of themselves
and separated from God. We have seen this happen to many Christians. We have
seen faithful preachers and elders start out very strong in the faith and then
we find them falling away from God later on in their life. So as Christians we
must always be on guard and try to do our best to always try and love God
enough to hold fast to his word and to remain humble faithful servants to the
end of our days. If we become lax in Christianity or we start convincing
ourselves to start comprising God’s truth then we can certainly end up like
Saul separated from God.