DAVID AT ZIKLAG.
1Sa 30:1-31.
AFTER David had received from King Achish the appointment of captain
of his body guard, he had with his troops accompanied the Philistine
army, passing along the maritime plain to the very end of their
journey - to the spot selected for battle, close to "the fountain
which is in Jezreel." It seems to have been only after the whole
Philistine host were ranged in battle array that the presence of
David and his men, who remained in the rear to protect the king,
arrested the attention of the lords of the Philistines, and on their
remonstrance they were sent away. It is probable that David's return
to Ziklag, and the expedition in which he had to engage to recover
his wives and his property, took place at or about the very time
when Saul made his journey to Endor, and when the fatal battle of
Gilboa was raging. We have seen that though David never, like Saul,
threw off the authority of God, he had been following ways of his
own, ways of deceit and unfaithfulness. He too had been exposing
himself to the displeasure of God, and on him, as on Saul, some
retribution behooved to fall. But in the two cases we see the
difference between judgment and chastisement. In the case of Saul it
was judgment that came down; his life and his career were terminated
avowedly as the punishment of his offence. In the case of David the
rod was lifted to correct, not to destroy; to bring him back, not to
drive him forever away; to fit him for service, not to cut him
asunder, or appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There is
every reason to believe that the awful disaster that befell David on
his return to Ziklag was the means of restoring him to a trustful
and truthful frame.
It appears from the chapter now before us that, in the absence of
David and his troop, severe reprisals had been taken by the
Amalekites for the defeat and utter destruction which they had
lately inflicted on a portion of their tribe. We must remember that
the Amalekites were a widely dispersed people, consisting of many
tribes, each living separately from the rest, but so related that in
any emergency they would readily come to one another's help. News of
the extermination of the tribes whom David had attacked, and whom he
had utterly destroyed lest any of them should bring word to Achish
of his real employment, had been brought to their neighbours; and
these neighbours determined to take revenge for the slaughter of
their kinsmen. The opportunity of David's absence was taken for
invading Ziklag, for which purpose a large and well-equipped
expedition had been got together; and as they met with no
opposition, they carried everything before them. Happily, however,
as they found no enemies they did not draw the sword; they counted
it better policy to carry off all that could be transported, so as
to make use of the goods, and sell the women and children into
slavery, and as they had a great multitude of beasts of burden with
them (1Sa 30:17) there could be no difficulty in carrying out this
plan. It seems very strange that David should have left Ziklag
apparently without the protection of a single soldier; but what
seems to us folly had all the effect of con- summate wisdom in the
end; the passions of the Amalekites were not excited by opposition
or by blood-shed; their destructive propensities were satisfied with
destroying the town of Ziklag, and every person and thing that could
be removed was carried away unhurt. But for days to come David could
not know that their expedition had been conducted in this unusually
peaceful way; his imagination and his fears would picture far darker
scenes.
It must have been an awful moment to David - hardly less so than to
Saul when he saw the host of the Philistines near Jezreel - to reach
what had been recently so peaceful a home and find it a mass of
smoking ruins. If he had been disposed to congratulate himself on
the success of the policy which had dictated his escape from the
land of Judah, and his settling at Ziklag under protection of King
Achish, how in one moment must the rottenness of the whole plan have
flashed upon him, and how awed must he have been at the proof now so
clearly afforded that the whole arrangement had been frowned on by
the God of heaven! What an agony of suspense and distress he must
have been in till more definite news could be obtained; and what a
burst of despair must have been heard through the camp when it
became known to his followers that the worst that could be conceived
had happened - that their houses were all destroyed, their property
seized, and their wives and children carried off, to be disgraced,
or sold, or butchered, as might suit the fancy of their masters! And
then, that remorse- less massacre that they had lately inflicted on
the kinsmen of their invaders, how likely it would be to exasperate
their passions against them! What mercy would they show whose
neighbours had received no mercy? What a dreadful fate would these
helpless women and children be now experiencing!
It was probably one of the bitterest of the many bitter hours that
David ever spent. First there was the natural feeling of
disappointment, after a long and weary march, when the comforts of
home had been so eagerly looked forward to, and each man seemed
already in the embrace of his family, to find home utterly
obliterated, and its place marked by blackened ruins. Then there was
the far more intense pang to every affectionate heart, caused by the
carrying off of the members of their families; this, it appears, was
the predominant feeling of the camp: "the soul of the people was
grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters." And somehow
David was the person blamed, partly perhaps through that hasty but
unjust feeling that blames the leader of an expedition for all the
mishaps attending it, and partly also, it may be, because Ziklag had
been left utterly undefended. "What business had he to march us all
at the heels of these uncircumcised Philistines, as if we ought to
make common cause with them only to march us back again just as we
came, to gain nothing there and to lose everything here!" To all
this was added a further element of excitement: it was not merely
calamities known and seen that worked in the minds of the people;
the gloom of dreaded but uncertain horrors helped to excite them
still more. Imagination would quickly supply the place of evidence
in picturing the situation of their wives and children. The feelings
of the troops were so fearfully excited against David that they
spoke of stoning him. The very men that had lately approached him
with the beautiful salutation, "Peace, peace be to thee, and peace
be to thine helpers, for thy God helpeth thee," now spoke of stoning
him. How like the spirit and the conduct of their descendants a
thousand years later, shouting at one time, "Hosanna to the Son of
David," and but a few days after, ''Crucify Him, crucify Him." The
state of David's feelings must have been all the more terrible for
the uneasy conscience he had in the matter, for he had too much
cause to feel that the dissembling policy which he had been pursuing
had caused another massacre, more frightful than that of the priests
after his visit to Nob.
It is probable that at this awful moment the mind of David was
visited by a blessed influence from above. The wail of woe that
spread through his camp, and the dismal ruins that covered the site
of his recent home, seem to have spoken to him in that tone of
rebuke which the words of the prophet afterwards conveyed, "Thou art
the man!" Under great excitement the mind works with great rapidity,
and passes almost with the speed of lightning from one mood to
another. It is quite possible that under the same electric shock, as
we may call it, that brought David to a sense of his sin he was
guided back to his former confidence in the mercy and grace of his
covenant God. In one instant, we may believe, the miserable
hollowness of all those carnal devices in which he had been trusting
would flash upon his mind, and God - his own loving Father and
covenant God - would appear waiting to be gracious and longing for
his return. And now the prodigal son is in his Father's arms,
weeping, sobbing, confessing, but at the same time feeling the
luxury of forgiveness, rejoicing, trusting and delighting in His
protection and blessing.
It may indeed be objected that we are proceeding too much on mere
imagination in supposing that David's return to a condition of holy
trust in God was effected in this rapid way. The view may be wrong,
and we do not insist on it. What we found on is the very short
interval between his last act of dissimulation in professing to
desire to accompany Achish to battle, and his manifest restoration
to the spirit of trust, evinced in the words, applied to him when
the people spoke of stoning him, "But David strengthened himself in
the Lord his God" (1Sa 30:6). These words show that he has got back
to the true track at last, and from that moment prosperity returns.
What a blessed thing it was for him that in that hour of utmost need
he was able to derive strength from the thought of God, - able to
think of the Most High as watching him with interest, and still
ready to deliver him I
It was a somewhat similar incident, though not preceded by any such
previous backsliding - a similar manifestation of the magical power
of trust - that took place in the life of a more modern David, one
who in serving God and doing good to man had to encounter a life of
wandering, privation, and danger seldom surpassed - the African
missionary and explorer, David Livingstone. In the course of his
great journey from St. Paul de Loanda on the west coast of Africa to
Quilimane on the east, he had to encounter many an angry and greedy
tribe, whom he was too poor to be able to pacify by the ordinary
method of valuable presents. On one occasion, in the fork at the
confluence of the river Loangwa and the river Zambesi, he found one
of those hostile tribes. It was necessary for him to have canoes to
cross - they would lend him only one. In other respects they showed
an attitude of hostility, and the appearances all pointed to a
furious attack the following day. Livingstone was troubled at the
prospect, - not that he was afraid to die, but because it seemed as
if all his discoveries in Africa would be lost, and his sanguine
hopes for planting commerce and Christianity among its benighted and
teeming tribes knocked on the head. But he remembered the words of
the Lord Jesus Christ, "Go ye therefore into all the world, and
preach the gospel unto every creature, and lo, I am with you alway,
even unto the end of the world." On this promise he rested, and
steadied his fluttering heart. "It is the word of a gentleman," he
said, "the word of one of the most perfect honour. I will not try,
as I once thought, to escape by night, but I will wait till
to-morrow, and leave before them all. Should such a man as I be
afraid? I will take my observations for longitude tonight, though it
should be my last. My mind is now quite at rest, thank God." He
waited as he had said, and next morning, though the arrangements of
the natives still betokened battle, he and his men were allowed to
cross the river in successive detachments, without molestation, he
himself waiting to the last, and not a hair of their heads being
hurt. It was a fine instance of a believing Christian strengthening
himself in his God. When faith is genuine, and the habit of
exercising it is active, it can remove mountains.
The first result of the restored feeling of trust in David was his
giving honour to God's appointed ordinance by asking counsel of Him,
through Abiathar the priest, as to the course he should follow. It
is the first time we read of him doing so since he left his own
country. At first one wonders how he could have discontinued so
precious a means of ascertaining the will of God and the path of
duty. But the truth is, when a man is left to himself he cares for
no advice or direction but his own inclination. He is not desirous
to be led; he wishes only to go comfortably. Indifference to God's
guidance explains much neglect of prayer.
David has now made his application, and he has got a clear and
decided answer. He can feel now that he is treading on solid ground.
How much happier he must have been than when driving hither and
thither, scheming and dissembling, and floundering from one device
of carnal wisdom to another! As for his people, he can think of them
now with far more tranquility; have they not been all along in God's
keeping, and is it not true that He that keepeth Israel neither
slumbers nor sleeps?
We need not dwell at great length on the incidents that immediately
followed. No events could have fallen out more favourably. One-third
of his troops was indeed so exhausted that they had to be left at
the brook Besor. With the other four hundred he set out in search of
the foe. The special providence of God, so clearly and frequently
displayed on this occasion, provided a guide for David in the person
of an Egyptian slave, who, having fallen sick, had been abandoned by
his master, and had been three days and nights without meat or
drink. Careful treatment having resuscitated this young man, and a
solemn assurance having been given him that he would neither be
killed nor given back to his master (the latter alternative seems to
have been as terrible as the other), he conducts them without loss
of time to the camp of the Amalekites. Each day's journey brought
them nearer and nearer to the great wilderness where, some five or
six hundred years before, their fathers had encountered Amalek at
Rephidim, and had gained a great victory over them, after not a few
fluctuations, through the uplifted arms of Moses, the token of
reliance on the strength of God. Through the same good hand on
David, the Amalekites, surprised in the midst of a time of careless
and uproarious festivity, were completely routed, and all but
destroyed. Every article they had stolen, and every woman and child
they had carried off, were recovered unhurt. Such a deliverance was
beyond expectation. When the Lord turned again the captivity of
Ziklag, they were like men that dream.
The happy change of circumstances was signalized by David by two
memorable acts, the one an act of justice, the other an act of
generosity. The act of justice was his interfering to repress the
selfishness of the part of his troops who were engaged in the fight
with Amalek, some of whom wished to exclude the disabled portion,
who had to remain at the brook Besor, from sharing the spoil. The
objectors are called ''the wicked men and the men of Belial." It is
a significant circumstance that David had been unable to inspire all
his followers with his own spirit - that even at the end of his
residence in Ziklag there were wicked men and men of Belial among
them. No doubt these were the very men that had been loudest in
their complaints against David, and had spoken of stoning him when
they came to know of the calamity at Ziklag. Complaining men are
generally selfish men. They objected to David's proposal to share
the spoil with the whole body of his followers. Their proposal was
especially displeasing to David at a time when God had given them
such tokens of undeserved goodness. It was of the same sort as the
act of the unforgiving servant in the parable, who, though forgiven
his ten thousand talents, came down with unmitigated ferocity on the
fellow-servant that owed him an hundred pence.
The act of generosity was his distribution over the cities in the
neighbourhood of the spoil which he had taken from the Amalekites.
If he had been of a selfish nature he might have kept it all for
himself and his people. But it was "the spoil of the enemies of the
Lord." It was David's desire to recognize God in connection with
this spoil, both to show that he had not made his onslaught on the
Amalekites for personal ends, and to acknowledge, in royal style,
the goodness which God had shown him. That it was an act of policy
as well as recognition of God may be readily acknowledged.
Undoubtedly David was desirous to gain the favourable regard of his
neighbours, as a help toward his recognition when the throne of
Israel should become empty. But we may surely admit this, and yet
recognize in his actions on this occasion the generosity as well as
the godliness of his nature. He was one of those men to whom it is
more blessed to give than to receive, and who are never so happy
themselves as when they are making others happy. The Bethel
mentioned in 1Sa 30:27 as first among the places benefited can
hardly be the place ordinarily known by that name, which was far
distant from Ziklag, but some other Bethel much nearer the southern
border of the land. The most northerly of the places specified of
whose situation we are assured was Hebron, itself well to the south
of Judah, and soon to become the capital where David reigned. The
large number of places that shared his bounty was a proof of the
royal liberality with which it was spread abroad.
And in this bounty, this royal profusion of gifts, we may surely
recognize a fit type of "great David's greater Son." How clearly it
appeared from the very first that the spirit of Jesus Christ
exemplified His own maxim which we have just quoted, ''It is more
blessed to give than to receive." Once only, and that in His
infancy, when the wise men laid at His feet their myrrh,
frankincense, and gold, do we read of anything like a lavish
contribution of the gifts of earth being given to Him. But follow
Him through the whole course of His earthly life and ministry, and
see how just was the image of Malachi that compared Him to the sun -
"the Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings." What a
gloriously diffusive nature He had, dropping gifts of fabulous price
in every direction without money and without price! "Jesus went
about in all Galilee" (it was now the turn of the north to enjoy the
benefit), "teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of
the kingdom, and healing all manner of diseases and all manner of
sickness among the people." Listen to the opening words of the
Sermon on the Mount; what a dropping of honey as from the honeycomb
we have in those beatitudes, which so wonderfully commend the
precious virtues to which they are attached! Follow Jesus through
any part of His earthly career, and you find the same spirit of
royal liberality. Stand by Him even in the last hour of His mortal
life, and count His deeds of kindness. See how He heals the ear of
Malchus, though He healed no wounds of His own. Listen to Him
deprecating the tears of the weeping women, and turning their
attention to evils among themselves that had more need to be wept
for. Hear the tender tones of His prayer, "Father, forgive them, for
they know not what they do." Observe the gracious look He casts on
the thief beside Him in answer to his prayer - ''Verily I say unto
thee, this day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." Mark how
affectionately He provides for His mother. See Him after His
resurrection saying to the weeping Mary, Woman, why weepest thou?
Count that multitude of fishes which He has brought to the nets of
His disciples, in token of the riches of spiritual success with
which they are to be blessed. And mark, on the day of Pentecost, how
richly from His throne in glory He sheds down the Holy Spirit, and
quickens thousands together with the breath of spiritual life. "Thou
hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive. Thou hast
received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord
God might dwell among them."
It is a most blessed and salutary thing for you all to cherish the
thought of the royal munificence of Christ. Think of the kindest and
most lavish giver you ever knew, and think how Christ surpasses him
in this very grace as far as the heavens are above the earth. What
encouragement does this give you to trust in Him! What a sin it
shows you to commit when you turn away from Him! But remember, too,
that Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. Remember that
He came to reveal the Father. Perhaps we are more disposed to doubt
the royal munificence of the Father than that of the Son. But how
unreasonable is this! Was not Jesus Christ Himself, with all the
glorious fullness contained in him, the gift of God - His
unspeakable gift? And in every act of generosity done by Christ have
we not just an exhibition of the Father's heart? Sometimes we think
hardly of God's generosity in connection with His decree of
election. Leave that alone; it is one of the deep things of God;
remember that every soul brought to Christ is the fruit of God's
unmerited love and infinite grace; and remember too what a vast
company the redeemed are, when in the Apocalyptic vision, an early
section of them - those that came out of "the great tribulation" -
formed a great multitude that no man could number. Sometimes we
think that God is not generous when He takes away very precious
comforts, and even the most cherished treasures of our hearts and
our homes. But that is love in disguise; "What I do thou knowest not
now, but thou shalt know hereafter." And sometimes we think that He
is not generous when He is slow to answer our prayers. But He
designs only to encourage us to perseverance, and to increase and
finally all the more reward our faith. Yes, truly, whatever
anomalies Providence may present, and they are many; whatever
seeming contradictions we may encounter to the doctrine of the
exceeding riches of the grace of God, let us ascribe all that to our
imperfect vision and our imperfect understanding. Let us correct all
such narrow impressions at the cross of Christ. Let us reason, like
the Apostle: "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up
for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all
things?" And let us feel assured that when at last God's ways and
dealings even with this wayward world are made plain, the one
conclusion which they will go to establish for evermore is - that
GOD IS LOVE.
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