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37. David in Ziklag.
David crossed the
border with his six hundred men, for he was afraid he might fall into
the king's hands. He took service with Achish, king of the Philistines.
They had five kings. Achish gave him the city of Ziklag. There they
lived with their wives and children and had happy days until Ziklag was
plundered and burned by the Amalekites. The Philistines gathered for a
new war against Israel. Achish also brought David and his six hundred
men with him. But the other four kings did not trust him because he
himself was an Israelite. They were sent back to Ziklag. But when they
got there and went to greet their wives and children, and when David
went to greet Abigail, his wise housewife, their wives and children and
livestock and all their possessions had been stolen and carried off by
the Amalekites, and Ziklag had been burned. It was all over in three
days. The poor men wept aloud on the desolate site of the fire,
especially over the loss of their sons and daughters. Good parents
always think of their children first. The misfortune of their children
is more painful to them than their own. But David strengthened himself
in the Lord his God.
He pursued the robbers as far as the Besor stream. Two hundred of them
stayed behind there. They were too tired to go on with the others. On
the other side of the stream they saw a stranger lying there. David
asked him who he was. The stranger said he belonged to an Amalekite. ‘We
have been on a raid,’ he said; ’we have plundered Ziklag and set it on
fire.’ David did him no harm; he took him with him to lead him to the
others. They were scattered far and wide throughout the region, eating
and drinking and rejoicing in their great plunder. David attacked them
and struck them with a mighty fist - they were unaware of him - and
recovered everything the enemy had taken, the women, the children and
the possessions. Nothing was missing. He also took from them what else
they had stolen. The spoils were great. When he returned with his men to
the brook Besor to the two hundred, the victors only wanted to give them
back their wives and children, but they were to have no share in the
recovered possessions and spoils because they had not fought with them.
David said: ‘You shall not do this, my brothers, with what the Lord has
given us, who has protected us and given the enemy into our power.’ The
remembrance that all salvation comes from God softens hearts and makes
them righteous.
David gave back to everyone what was his and more besides, and sent much
of the rich spoil to the elders of Judah, his friends, as a greeting. So
the son of Jesse acted in a good and noble manner, as Abraham, his pious
ancestor, had once acted, and proved that he was worthy to ascend the
throne of Israel in the near future.
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