1 Samuel 30:20
And he recovered all the flocks and herds, which his men drove ahead of the other livestock, calling out, "This is David's plunder!"
Sermons
David's SpoilC. H Spurgeon.1 Samuel 30:20
David in Three SituationsC. Bradley, M. A.1 Samuel 30:1-31
An Egyptian SlaveB. Dale 1 Samuel 30:11-20














1 Samuel 30:11-20. (SOUTH OF THE BROOK BESOR.)
I was reminded of the poor Egyptian whom David found half dead, and brought to life again by giving him 'a piece of cake of figs and two clusters of raisins' to eat, and water to drink, by an incident which occurred to me when crossing the plain of Askelon. Far from any village, a sick Egyptian was lying by the road side in the burning sun, and apparently almost dead with a terrible fever. He wanted nothing but 'water! water!' which we were fortunately able to give him from our traveling bottle; but we were obliged to pass on and leave him to his fate, whatever that might be (Thomson, 'The Land and the Book'). How the "young man of Egypt" became "slave to an Amalekite" is not stated, but it is probable that he fell into his hands in some marauding expedition, like the Hebrew women and children in the raid on Ziklag. His condition was an involuntary, hard, and degrading one. He was -

I. ABANDONED BY HIS MASTER with -

1. Indifference and contempt. His worth as a man created in the image of God was disregarded (as is generally the case in the odious institution of slavery). He was treated as the absolute property of his master, "an animated tool" (Aristotle), and when deemed no longer useful, thrown away.

2. Injustice. Every claim in return for his services was ignored. He was entirely at the mercy of his master, and unprotected by any law (such as existed among the Hebrews).

3. Inhumanity. "My master left me three days agone because I fell sick" (ver. 13). He might have been easily carried forward on one of the camels (ver. 17), but the Amalekites were hard and cruel, and he was left to perish with hunger or to be devoured by wild beasts. "He that is higher than the highest regardeth" (Ecclesiastes 5:8), and the meanest slave cannot be despised and neglected with impunity.

II. BEFRIENDED BY STRANGERS (vers. 11, 12).

1. Out of compassion and desire to save his life by every means in their power.

2. In fulfilment of the law of God, which required that kindness should be shown to the poor, the stranger, and the slave. "Love ye therefore the stranger, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt" (Deuteronomy 10:19; Deuteronomy 23:7, 15, 16).

3. With appreciation of the service he might render (ver. 15). The more helpless any one is, the more urgent his claim to assistance; yet no one is so helpless but that he may be capable of requiting the kindness shown to him. Slavery among the Hebrews differed widely from slavery among other ancient and modern peoples (1 Samuel 25:10; Ewald, Ginsburg, 'Ecclesiastes,' p. 283; 'Ecce Homo'). "By Christianising the master the gospel enfranchised the slave. It did not legislate about mere names and forms, but it went to the root of the evil, it spoke to the heart of man. When the heart of the master was filled with Divine grace and was warmed with the love of Christ the rest would soon follow. The lips would speak kind words, the hands would do liberal things" (Wordsworth, 'Com. on Philemon').

III. SERVICEABLE TO HIS BENEFACTORS.

1. From gratitude for the benefit received. No human heart is wholly insensible to the power of kindness.

2. Under a solemn assurance of protection. After his abandonment by his master he could have no scruple concerning his right to his continued service, if any such right ever existed; but experience had made him fearful and suspicious of men, and therefore he said, "Swear unto me by God," etc. (ver. 15). He had a sense of religion, and believed that Divine justice would avenge the violation of an oath, though it should be taken to a slave.

3. With efficient and faithful performance of his engagements. He not only gave David the information he sought, but guided him to the camp of the enemy, and contributed to a result which repaid him a hundredfold (ver. 18).

IV. PRESERVED AND EMPLOYED BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE, which -

1. Cares for the lowliest. "Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any" (Job 36:5). "Neither doth God respect any person" (2 Samuel 14:14).

2. Often makes use of the feeblest instrumentality for the chastisement of the "wicked in great power."

3. And for the promotion of the welfare of the people of God, and the establishment of his kingdom. What a rich harvest may spring from a single act of kindness toward even the most despised!

"He prayeth well who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.
He prayeth best who loveth best
All things both great and small:
For the dear God who loveth us
He made and loveth all"


(Coleridge) = -D.

This is David's spoil.
David may be regarded as a very special type of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I. WE BEGIN WITH THE FIRST OBSERVATION THAT, PRACTICALLY, ALL THE SPOIL OF THAT DAY WAS DAVID'S SPOIL, AND IN TRUTH, ALL THE GOOD THAT WE ENJOY COMES TO US THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS.

1. David's men defeated the Amalekites, and took their spoil, but it was for David's sake that God gave success go the band.

2. Moreover, David's men gained the victory over Amalek because of David's leadership. If he had not been there to lead them to the fight, in the moment of their despair they would have lost all heart, and would have remained amidst the burning walls of Ziklag a discomfited company. The Lord Jesus Christ has been here among us and has fought our battle for us, and recovered all that we had lost by Adam's fall and by our own sin. They said of Waterloo that it was a soldier's battle, and the victory was due to the men; but ours is our Commander's battle, and every victory won by us is due to the great Captain of our salvation. And our Lord Jesus has recovered for us the lucre as well as the past. Our outlook was grim and dark indeed till Jesus came; but oh, how bright it is now that he has completed his glorious work! Death is no more the dreaded grave of all our hopes. Hell exists no longer for believers. Heaven, whose gates were dosed, is now set wide open to every soul that believeth. We have recovered life and immortal bliss.

II. THOSE GOOD THINGS WHICH WE NOW POSSESS, OVER AND ABOVE WHAT WE LOST BY SIN, COME TO US BY THE LORD JESUS. And first, think: In Christ Jesus human nature is lifted up where it never ought have been before. Man was made in his innocence to occupy a very lofty place. "Thou madest him to have dominion over all the works of Thy hands; Thee hast put all things under his feet." The nearest being to God is a man. The noblest existence — how shall I word it? — the noblest of all beings is God, and the God-man Christ Jesse, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, is with Him upon the throne. It is a wondrous honour this, that manhood should be taken into intimate connection, yea, absolute union with God!

2. Another blessing which was not ears before the fall, and therefore never was lost, but comes to as a surplusage, is the fact that we are redeemed.

3. We shall be creatures who have known sin and have been recovered from its pollution. We shall forever remember the price at which we were redeemed; and we shall have ties upon us that will bind us to an undeviating loyalty to him who exalted us to so glorious a condition.

4. We receive blessings unknown to beings who have never fallen.

5. Again, to my mind it is a very blessed fact that you and I will partake of a privilege which would have been certainly unnecessary to Adam, and could not by Adam have been known, and that is, the privilege of resurrection. Our singular relation to God, and yet to materialism, is another rare gift of Jesus. God intended, by the salvation of man, and the lifting up of man into union with himself, to link together in one the lowest and the highest — his creation and himself. Materialism is somewhat exalted in being connected with spirit at all. When spirit becomes connected with God, and refined materialism becomes connected with a purified spirit, by the resurrection from the dead, then shall be brought to pass the uplifting of clay and its junction with the celestial.

7. Our manifestation of the full glory of God is another of the choice gifts which the pierced hands of Jesus alone bestow. Principalities and powers shall see in the mystical body of Christ more of God than in all the universe besides. They will study in the saints the eternal purposes of God, and see therein His love, His wisdom, His power, His justice, His mercy blended in an amazing way.

III. THAT WHICH WE WILLINGLY GIVE TO JESUS MAY BE CALLED HIS SPOIL. There is a spoil for Christ which every true-hearted followed of His votes to Him enthusiastically.

1. First, our hearts are His alone forever. Of every believing heart it may be said, "This is David's spoil."

2. Now there is another property I should like King Jesus to have, and that in our special gifts. I know one who, before his conversion, was wont to sing, and be often charmed the ears of men with the sweet music which he poured forth; but when he was converted he said, "Henceforth my tongue shall sing nothing but blue praises of God." He devoted himself to proclaiming the gospel by his song, for he said, "This is David's spoil." Have you not some gift or other, dear friend, of which you could say, "Henceforth this shall be sacred to my bleeding Lord"?

3. Moreover, while our whole selves must be yielded to the Lord Jesus, there is one thing that must always be Christ's, and that, is our religious homage as a church.

4. Lastly, have you not something of your own proper substance that shall be David's spoil just now? There was a man who, in the providence of God, had been enabled to lay by many thousands. He was a very rich and respected man. I have heard it said that he owned at least half a million; and at one collection, when he felt specially grateful and generous, he found a well-worn sixpence for the place, for that was David's spoil! That was David's spoil. Out of all that he possessed, that sixpence was David's spoil! This was the measure of his gratitude! Judge by this how much he owed, or at least how much he desired to pay. Are there not many persons who, on that despicable scale, reward the Saviour for the travail of His soul?

(C. H Spurgeon.)

People
Abiathar, Abigail, Ahimelech, Ahinoam, Amalekites, Caleb, Cherethites, David, Eshtemoa, Jerahmeelites, Jezreel, Jezreelitess, Jizreelitess, Kenites, Kerethites, Nabal
Places
Besor, Bethel, Bor-ashan, Carmel, Egypt, Eshtemoa, Hebron, Hormah, Jattir, Negeb, Negev, Racal, Ramoth, Siphmoth, Ziklag
Topics
Ahead, Captured, Cattle, David, David's, Drave, Driving, Drove, Flock, Flocks, Front, Herd, Herds, Led, Livestock, Plunder, Saying, Sheep, Spoil, Taketh
Outline
1. The Amalekites raid Ziklag
4. David asking counsel, is encouraged by God to pursue them
11. By the means of a received Egyptian he is brought to the enemies,
18. and recovers all the spoil
22. David's law to divide the spoil equally
26. He sends presents to his friends

Dictionary of Bible Themes
1 Samuel 30:18

     1651   numbers, 1-2

Library
At the Front or the Base
'As his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff.'--1 Samuel xxx. 24. David's city of Ziklag had been captured by the Amalekites, while he and all his men who could carry arms were absent, serving in the army of Achish, the Philistine king of Gath. On their return they found ruin, their homes harried, their wives, children, and property carried off. Wearied already with their long march, they set off at once in pursuit of the spoilers, who had had a
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Secret of Courage
'But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.'--1 Samuel xxx. 6. David was at perhaps the very lowest ebb of his fortunes. He had long been a wandering outlaw, and had finally been driven, by Saul's persistent hostility, to take refuge in the Philistines' country. He had gathered around himself a band of desperate men, and was living very much like a freebooter. He had found refuge in a little city of the Philistines, far down in the South, from which he and his men had marched as a contingent
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Statute of David for the Sharing of the Spoil
THOSE WHO ASSOCIATE themselves with a leader must share his fortunes. Six hundred men had quitted their abodes in Judaea; unable to endure the tyranny of Saul they had linked themselves with David, and made him to be a captain over them. They were, some of them, the best of men, and some of them were the worst: in this, resembling our congregations. Some of them were choice spirits, whom David would have sought, but others were undesirable persons, from whom he might gladly have been free. However,
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891

Thirdly, for Thy Actions.
1. Do no evil, though thou mightest; for God will not suffer the least sin, without bitter repentance, to escape unpunished. Leave not undone any good that thou canst. But do nothing without a calling, nor anything in thy calling, till thou hast first taken counsel at God's word (1 Sam. xxx. 8) of its lawfulness, and pray for his blessings upon thy endeavour; and then do it in the name of God, with cheerfulness of heart, committing the success to him, in whose power it is to bless with his grace
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

The Bright Dawn of a Reign
'And it came to pass after this, that David enquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the Lord said unto him, Go up. And David said, Whither shall I go up? And He said, Unto Hebron. 2. So David went up thither, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail, Nabal's wife, the Carmelite. 3. And his men that were with him did David bring up, every man with his household: and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron. 4. And the men of Judah came, and there
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Canaan
Canaan was the inheritance which the Israelites won for themselves by the sword. Their ancestors had already settled in it in patriarchal days. Abraham "the Hebrew" from Babylonia had bought in it a burying-place near Hebron; Jacob had purchased a field near Shechem, where he could water his flocks from his own spring. It was the "Promised Land" to which the serfs of the Pharaoh in Goshen looked forward when they should again become free men and find a new home for themselves. Canaan had ever been
Archibald Sayce—Early Israel and the Surrounding Nations

Appendix 2 Extracts from the Babylon Talmud
Massecheth Berachoth, or Tractate on Benedictions [76] Mishnah--From what time is the "Shema" said in the evening? From the hour that the priests entered to eat of their therumah [77] until the end of the first night watch. [78] These are the words of Rabbi Eliezer. But the sages say: Till midnight. Rabban Gamaliel says: Until the column of the morning (the dawn) rises. It happened, that his sons came back from a banquet. They said to him: "We have not said the Shema.'" He said to them, "If the column
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

Samuel
Alike from the literary and the historical point of view, the book[1] of Samuel stands midway between the book of Judges and the book of Kings. As we have already seen, the Deuteronomic book of Judges in all probability ran into Samuel and ended in ch. xii.; while the story of David, begun in Samuel, embraces the first two chapters of the first book of Kings. The book of Samuel is not very happily named, as much of it is devoted to Saul and the greater part to David; yet it is not altogether inappropriate,
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

Links
1 Samuel 30:20 NIV
1 Samuel 30:20 NLT
1 Samuel 30:20 ESV
1 Samuel 30:20 NASB
1 Samuel 30:20 KJV

1 Samuel 30:20 Bible Apps
1 Samuel 30:20 Parallel
1 Samuel 30:20 Biblia Paralela
1 Samuel 30:20 Chinese Bible
1 Samuel 30:20 French Bible
1 Samuel 30:20 German Bible

1 Samuel 30:20 Commentaries

Bible Hub
1 Samuel 30:19
Top of Page
Top of Page