The Philistines get ready for battle, Saul panics and consults Samuel through sorcery, David initially goes with the Philistines but is turned back (thankfully!). So David returns to his home in Ziklag to wait out the battle. Uh, no…

Three days later, David and his men arrived back in Ziklag. Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They tore Ziklag to pieces and then burned it down. They captured all the women, young and old. They didn’t kill anyone, but drove them like a herd of cattle. By the time David and his men entered the village, it had been burned to the ground, and their wives, sons, and daughters all taken prisoner. (1 Samuel 30.1 – 3, MSG)

Recall that among the people David raided as recorded in chapter 27 were the Amalekites. Maybe David’s operations weren’t as secret as he thought. Anyway, David and his men wept until the men wanted to take their frustrations out on David:

And suddenly David was in even worse trouble. There was talk among the men, bitter over the loss of their families, of stoning him. (1 Samuel 30.6, MSG)

Recall the kind of men David had on his team: losers and vagrants and misfits of all sorts. But David’s trust was not in his men – we have the rest of verse 6:

David strengthened himself with trust in his GOD. (1 Samuel 30.6, MSG)

So David seeks God’s guidance and promise:

Then David prayed to GOD, “Shall I go after these raiders? Can I catch them?” The answer came, “Go after them! Yes, you’ll catch them! Yes, you’ll make the rescue!” (1 Samuell 30.8, MSG)

Off they go…

David went, he and the six hundred men with him. They arrived at the Brook Besor, where some of them dropped out. David and four hundred men kept up the pursuit, but two hundred of them were too fatigued to cross the Brook Besor, and stayed there. (1 Samuel 30.9 – 10, MSG)

Remember the 200 left behind: we’ll get some insight into the kind of leader David was.

David and his men find the Amalekite camp, rescue their families and their property and return:

David pounced. He fought them from before sunrise until evening of the next day…David rescued everything the Amalekites had taken. And he rescued his two wives! Nothing and no one was missing…David recovered the whole lot. He herded the sheep and cattle before them, and they all shouted, “David’s plunder!” Then David came to the two hundred who…had dropped out at the Brook Besor. They came out to welcome David and his band. As he came near he called out, “Success!” But all the mean-spirited men who had marched with David, the rabble element, objected: “They didn’t help in the rescue, they don’t get any of the plunder we recovered. Each man can have his wife and children, but that’s it. Take them and go!” (1 Samuell 30.17 – 22, MSG)

The mean-spirited men: “they didn’t help, they don’t get any of the plunder.” David won’t have it:

Families don’t do this sort of thing! Oh no, my brothers! You can’t act this way with what GOD gave us! God kept us safe. He handed over the raiders who attacked us. Who would ever listen to this kind of talk? The share of the one who stays with the gear is the share of the one who fights—equal shares. Share and share alike! From that day on, David made that the rule in Israel. (1 Samuel 30.23 – 25, MSG)

Then David uses the plunder to buy some goodwill among the “elders of Judah:”

On returning to Ziklag, David sent portions of the plunder to the elders of Judah, his neighbors, with a note saying, “A gift from the plunder of GOD’s enemies!” He sent them to the elders in Bethel… and Hebron, along with a number of other places David and his men went to from time to time. (1 Samuel 30.26 – 31, MSG)

A chapter with a bad start has a good finish. David’s faith in God is strengthened, he creates a rule that support people share equally with frontline fighters, and he buys some goodwill.

Those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. (1 Corinthians 12.22 – 27, NKJV)