Equal Parts
Book of 1 Samuel Chapter 30
As we begin to see the story of David in the Bible, we see him as a young man, a man after God's own heart, fleeing for his life from a king who wanted him dead.
Chapter 27 describes to us how David left the promised land and moved into a territory of the Philistines.
If God teaches us one important thing after we are saved, it is that we are not to associate with the enemies of God.
Yes, we live amongst them, but we are still to come out from them and be separate from the ways of the world.
David himself began to doubt the promises of God.
David began living a life of deception and lies.
Lying to and deceiving any person is one of the worst evils that can be committed by us!
These things will always damage any relationship!
If lies and deception are not exposed, they will cause all sorts of problems for the liar and the deceiver, and we see this in America every day not only from people but also from our own government.
Chapter 28 tells us that Saul got so desperate for a spirit different from his own, that he sought one from the world of the occult.
We see that people can get tired of their way of life but they usually still reject God's way.
Saul had not understood the truth of the Holy Spirit because he had rebelled against the Lord.
When we go to the world of the occult instead of to our Holy God, we are treading on dangerous ground that is also unholy ground!
Saul had reached that point where the Lord would not answer him, and he was desperate for the truth of God, but he refused to read the Word of God, which he had a copy given to him by Samuel.
What does God say?
Gen 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man,
Saul had reached that point in his life where God had left him to do his own thing and he found that it was not working out so well, but it was too late for Saul.
When we face desperate situations, seeking the Lord for the answer, but we continue living with sin and iniquity without repentance, the Lord will not hear us.
Psa 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
It is a serious offense against the Lord to go the occult, who are the children of the Devil.
There is no such thing as a white witch or a dark witch.
They all try to take the place of God.
For no one knows more than God nor can they.
Just the fact that we think we could get some good advice from someone other than God is a terrible sin!
The fate of a disobedient person is that of utter despair and hopelessness!
The truth is, God has the power to hold each of us in His hand and work out all things for each believer!
Chapter 29
In this chapter we find that "all" evil associations will create problems for us!
Being closely tied to worldliness will lead us down the path of destruction and death!
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
What was the solution to David's predicament? His solution was Jehovah God!
The Lord has the answer to every question that we have!
God has the power to deliver all His people!
God moves events daily to be make His will prevail!
We seem to have the ability to get ourselves into predicaments that we cannot handle, but God has the power to deliver us through these things.
Now Chapter 30
*****1Sa 30:1 And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire;
1Sa 30:2 And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way.
The first thing we should notice is that it was the Amalekites that had escaped from King Saul that had done these things to David and his men.
None of the Israelites had obeyed God in destroying the Amalekites and they were a truly wicked people.
They would cause trouble for Israel as long as they existed!
We see that they used the same tactics. They went after the young and the innocent who could not protect themselves.
There is a word we have for that and it is "predator".
They did not always kill everyone, but they made slaves out of all of them even the children.
They were traffickers in human beings!
It is no wonder that God had chosen to destroy them.
Enslavement, being held in bondage is one of the most terrible evils on the face of this earth.
But child trafficking is allowed to continue by most all governments which should be enough proof that the elite and those with government connections of each nation are involved in these things or they would have been stopped long ago.
We should demand more action than we are getting from our government!
David and his men had returned from the battlefield and found that their women and children and all their possessions had been taken by the Amalekites and their homes burned.
We should remember that David had forsaken the Promised Land and was living amongst the Philistines at this time and was about to go to war against his own people, but God had intervened and the Philistines had sent David back to Ziklag afraid that he would turn against them in the midst of the battle.
It had taken David and his men about three days to return home to Ziklag.
While the Israelites and the Philistines were about to go to war, the Amalekites had chosen this time to attack many vulnerable locations that had been left undefended including Ziklag.
Was God involved in this?
We know for sure that the providence of God is involved in everything that goes on in this world, to lead this world to the day of the return of Jesus Christ but God does not cause evil.
Another thing we know for sure is that this instant brought David back to Jehovah God from which he had strayed.
David had nowhere else to turn except to return to Jehovah.
The Lord should be the first place we turn to and not the last place we turn to.
David had lost his wives and his family and all his friends and his army was turning against him.
We would have expected David to ask for the council of God before he joined the Philistines but he did not.
We would have expected David to ask for the council of God when he joined with King Achish to war with Israel but he did not.
David now asks for the council of God, to know if should pursue after the Amalekites.
*****1Sa 30:3 So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives.
1Sa 30:4 Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.
1Sa 30:5 And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.
1Sa 30:6 And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.
There is one thing that it seems we are never prepared for.
We are never prepared for the unexpected events of sorrow.
We do not know what will happen to us or our family from one moment to the next, and we do not know how to prepare for it.
There is only one preparation that we can make and it is to have a close personal relationship with the Lord.
David had allowed his relationship with Jehovah to suffer because of the actions of King Saul, but we are never to blame the things that happen to us on the Lord.
Yes, the providence of God is at work in this world, but God is not the blame for these things that happen to us, especially if we have forsaken Him.
Terrible things happen to all people, the good and the wicked.
We must know where to go when these things happen to us, and that place to go is to the Lord.
If we go to hang out with the enemies of God, and to be a part of their wickedness, then we may expect to be met with evil tidings when we return home again.
We have been called according to the purpose of God and it is that purpose where we should show our strength.
When we walk outside of the umbrella of God's protection, we should know we will get burned.
We must encourage ourselves through the Lord and He will overrule our thoughts, and He will bring the Light of Jesus out of darkness, and He will bring peace out of trouble.
It is never too late to call upon the Lord!
*****1Sa 30:7 And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David.
1Sa 30:8 And David enquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.
1Sa 30:9 So David went, he and the six hundred men that were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those that were left behind stayed.
There was no one else to go to but to the Lord!
What a promise was made to David by Jehovah!
God said to David yes, to pursue after these marauders.
God said you will surely catch up with them.
God said you will surely overtake them and get all your possessions back and all your family.
How could David not go after these people who God had doomed to destruction.
In typology the Amalekites represent the flesh.
What had God said about the flesh?
Mat 18:8 Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.
Mat 18:9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
Rom 8:12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
Rom 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
David with six hundred men chased after the Amalekites until they reached the brook Besor.
*****1Sa 30:10 But David pursued, he and four hundred men: for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.
David and his men had spent the last three days traveling to get back home.
They had left home in hot pursuit of those who had taken their families and their possessions and they faced the brook Besor with extremely high banks and torrential waters.
Today this place is called the Besor Ravine.
Some of David's men just were too worn out to go any further.
They were in a state of total exhaustion!
It was at this time they found a half-dead Egyptian lying in a field.
*****1Sa 30:11 And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat; and they made him drink water;
1Sa 30:12 And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins: and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him: for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights.
1Sa 30:13 And David said unto him, To whom belongest thou? and whence art thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days agone I fell sick
This Egyptian had not eaten in three days and had been too tired to make it to the Brook for water.
Once this man revived, David began to interrogate him and David began to find out some things about these Amalekites.
This man had been a slave to one of the Amalekites, but he had become too sick to travel and he was left behind to die.
He told David how these Amalekites had raided three separate places, one of them being Ziklag.
*****1Sa 30:14 We made an invasion upon the south of the Cherethites, and upon the coast which belongeth to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.
The Amalekites had raided the Cherethites and killed men and took their possessions.
These Cherethites were connected to Philistines who for some reason did not go to war with the other Philistines.
It was these Cherethites that had come from Crete not the Philistines who probably came from Egypt.
We see later that these same Cherethites become the bodyguards to King David and after David for his son Solomon.
These Amalekites had raided a portion of Judah and had done the same thing.
These Amalekites had raided the Negev of Caleb, which was near Hebron, another portion of Judah given to Caleb by Joshua.
They had raided Ziklag and burnt it to the ground and took all the wives and children as slaves and took all of the possessions of David and his men.
We can see the hatred they had for Israel.
Since this man knew so much, David took him with him because he knew the plans of the Amalekites.
This Egyptian agreed to go under two conditions.
1) That David would not kill him.
2) That David would not return him to his master.
*****1Sa 30:15 And David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this company? And he said, Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this company.
1Sa 30:16 And when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad upon all the earth, eating and drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah.
The lesson we are to learn here is that we are to have compassion for those in need even if they are our enemies.
By showing this man compassion David learned the whereabouts of those who had his family.
We should take notice that these Amalekites had raided places in Israel where the soldiers had left to join the war with the Philistines.
We should also notice that these Amalekites had raided places of the Philistines where the soldiers had left to join the war with the Israelites.
They had raided Ziklag because they knew that David and his men had left to join the war with the Israelites but God had stopped David from the slaughter of his own people.
David could never have been King of Israel had he done so!
Another day and these Amalekites would have returned to their homeland and divided the spoils and it would have been much harder for David and his men to regain their possessions and their families. so we can see the hand of God in the background.
He had told David that he would get his family back and all his possessions.
These Amalekites felt safe enough to celebrate their victories before they reached home and this is when David found them with the help of that Egyptian.
They saw no visible sign of danger and yet they were nearest to destruction.
This is what we see in the world today.
Those who are wicked and corrupt do not see the signs of danger, yet they are very near to their own destruction, because the Lord's vengeance is very near!
In typology these things teach us of the return of Jesus Christ.
1Th 5:1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
1Th 5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
1Th 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
We that trust in the Lord know, that the return of the Lord Jesus Christ is very near, but another way to look at this is the fact that the triumphing of wicked is about to end.
Job 20:5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
Job 20:6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;
Job 20:7 Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?
This was the perfect time for David to attack and he did.
*****1Sa 30:17 And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled.
1Sa 30:18 And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives.
The Amalekites were a people condemned to death and God used David as the hand of judgment in this case.
Just like the Lord Jesus Christ, David had come to set the captives free.
This is another picture in the Bible of a wonderful "deliverance" constructed by Jehovah God!
David recovered everything he had lost and his family.
There were still about four hundred of these Amalekite that escaped this day using camels to escape.
In addition David recovered all the spoils these raiders had taken from those various places.
*****1Sa 30:19 And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all.
1Sa 30:20 And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drave before those other cattle, and said, This is David's spoil.
All the possessions of David and his men were recovered along with wives and family unharmed.
While David’s men rounded up all their own property, they also rounded up all the animals and the possessions that were left behind by the fleeing Amalekites.
It is these things that were called David's spoils and it will be these things that will be divided among all the other of David's followers and friends.
In typology we can see a relationship with the Lord Jesus when He made us free.
1) We were captives of sin: We sin and we cannot help it, it is in our genes. No matter how much we try, we sin and come short of the Glory of God.
Alone we cannot break free from that sin, but by the power of our Lord Jesus we are made free from sin.
2) We were captured of death: Death had us in its grasp and refused to let us go! We die, every one of us and there is nothing we can do about it.
From dust we came and to dust we will return, but by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ death no more has a hold on us.
Death is now our ticket to the glory world.
3) We were held captive by Hell. Before we gave ourselves to the Lord Jesus, we were bound for Hell and there was nothing we could do about it.
The Lord Jesus has made us free from Death, Hell, and the Grave and are now acceptable to God through His Son.
Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Heb 2:15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Now let us look at the theme of our lesson today.
*****1Sa 30:21 And David came to the two hundred men, which were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they had made also to abide at the brook Besor: and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him: and when David came near to the people, he saluted them.
1Sa 30:22 Then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial, of those that went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them ought of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away, and depart.
1Sa 30:23 Then said David, Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the LORD hath given us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us into our hand.
1Sa 30:24 For who will hearken unto you in this matter? but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike.
1Sa 30:25 And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day.
The more we look at David, we can see why God chose him to be King of Israel, still recognizing that he was only human and not a perfect man.
Those two hundred who had been too tired to help pursue the enemy, rushed out to meet David and his other men.
David did not rebuke them nor show scorn at them, but allowed them to join in the celebration.
Some in David's army did not feel the same as did David.
Notice the Bible calls them wicked men and of Belial. Belial means worthless and lawless.
These men were opposed to sharing with these men the spoils of the Amalekites.
David declared two facts:
1) The victory was the Lord's, so those spoils were a gift from Him to be shared.
2) It is just as important to supply the needs of every soldier, as it is to supply the needs of the combat soldier, or the army will never be ready when called upon again for battle.
Justice demanded that they all shared and shared alike.
This principle of equal distribution remained a permanent law all the time of King David.
Of all the gifts the Lord allows us to receive, the gift of salvation is given equally to all those who accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.
We must never be greedy with the gifts God shares with us while we are alive.
A greedy heart will mistreat all others.
A greedy person seldom reaches out with a helping hand.
A greedy person will in many cases is aroused to cheat and steal, in order to satisfy that greed.
God's Word is truly clear:
We must always be just in our dealings with other people whether Christian or those of the world.
Covetousness is condemned by our All-knowing Savior!
Col 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Col 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Col 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Col 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Col 3:6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
Col 3:7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
God demands that we treat people justly, and fairly!
God says we are to be generous in dealing with people!
A Christian is not to be greedy or to covet another's possessions.
All good gifts come from above and God will never change His ways!
Jas_1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Amen!
