I Samuel 30 (2026)

[music] Well, good morning everybody. Thank you for being with me [music] today. We are in chapter 30 of 1 Samuel.

And when you read chapters 29 and 30 together, it makes a makes a really compelling story. Uh because David moves from being in this predicament of having to fight for the pill philistines against his own Hebrew people or turn the last minute and fight against the Philistines to actually being gotten by the Lord uh out of that mess ends up fighting a totally different battle that enables him to end up blessing blessing the Hebrew people. So he and his army leave the battlefront where the Philistines are getting ready to do battle against the Hebrew people under King Saul.

And [clears throat] they return to the small town in in Felistia, town called Ziglag where they had been living with their families and stuff. And when they arrive, they discover that their village, their town has been attacked by the Amalachites and all of their children and wives taken captive. All of their livestock captured and taken away.

And they grieve. David prays. God says, "Go and God will give them victory." and they they catch up with the Amalachites, defeat the Amalachites, get all of their family members back alive.

None of one of them dead. All their wives, all their children, including David's two wives. They get their livestock back.

And then David is able to send some of the spoils of the war against the Amalachites to various villages of the Hebrew people to bless them. Interesting story. Now before I share my devotional thought, let me just answer a question.

We have the Amalachites mentioned here as the ones that attacked Ziglag and captured David and his soldiers families and so on. But you'll remember back in chapter 27 when David was living uh in in Felistia that he remember he lied to Akish and said that he had attacked some of the Judeian villages but in fact had attacked other villages villages of those who were enemies of Israel and and one of the ones he attacked were the Amalachites and it says he killed all of them. The men killed all of them.

So if he killed all of them back in chapter 27, what's going on here in chapter 30? Were the Malachites then still being alive and attacking Zigglac? That a contradiction?

No. Remember how this works? Israel, as an example, was a large land area country with many towns and cities and villages all over those that land.

And when the Philistines attacked, it doesn't mean they attacked every village, conquered every village, but they conquered sections of the country. When David attacked the Amalachites back in chapter 27, he didn't wipe out every Amalachite living in every Amalachite village, city, or town. He just wiped out the ones that he did.

Well, time passes and those who are in the other cities, the other villages, the other towns, those Amalachites all get together and they attack Zigglac where David and his family were living. May have been vengeance. I don't know.

But anyway, that's what's going on here. So, it's not a it's not a contradiction. Now my devotional thought is in chapter 30, we begin to see the old David.

The David before he moved to live with the Philistines when you know he was all tired and afraid and worn out and had weak faith and he goes and hides among the Philistines rather than trusting God. Before that he had trusted God and God had delivered him and he had had character and that on two different occasions he had not killed Saul when he had the opportunity. Now, in this chapter, we begin seeing that David again, which is encouraging because you and I may have a season or a moment in life where, you know, we've walked faithfully with the Lord.

We have that moment or season of weakness where we don't walk as close or we don't make as good of decisions, but then David got revived, we get revived, and we continue being faithful again. It's a beautiful thing that God never gives up on us. Um, and I I love the fact that we begin to see this old David, his relationship with God and his his character, they start shining through.

For instance, in chapter 30, verse 6. Moreover, David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him. This is when they get back to Ziglag and and the village is burned to the ground and all of their family's been taken away, captured and carried off and all everybody's crying and his men are angry with David and they just want to kill David.

Um they they they were talking about stoning David for all the people were embittered each each one because of his sons and his daughters. And notice what David did. But David strengthened himself in the Lord is God.

Now there's the old David finding his strength in God. Turning to God instead of his own ingenuity instead of bitterness. He turns to God and and he finds his strength in God.

That's the old David. That's the David that was a man after God's own heart. Now look at verses seven and 8.

Then David said to Abiar the priest, the son of Ahe himch, this is a himch the priest, not a himch the Hitittite, but Aim himch the priest that uh King Saul had doe uh execute. This is his son Abihar who becomes the priest in his pl dad's place. Bring me the ephod.

And so Abiar brought the ephod to David. And David in notice verse eight. David inquired of the Lord, saying, "Shall I pursue this band, these these these Amalachites?

Shall I overtake them?" And and he said to him, God said to him, "Pursue, for you will surely overtake them, and you will surely rescue all. You will rescue everyone." So here he's seeking guidance from God and getting clear direction from God. Now they go and [clears throat] chase the Amalachites.

They reach a certain place, a stream of water and remember they've been traveling and some of them are are tired and David leads about 200 of his men there and they watch their supplies while the other 400 go on to do battle against the Amalachites. They defeat the Amalachites. They get all the spoils of victory and they're coming back with their family and livestock and all the other possessions they took from the Amalachites.

They get back to camp and the ones who had stayed there, the 200 who had stayed at the river watching the supplies come out to meet them, cheering. Everybody is happy. And then I want you to notice that some of David's soldiers who were not godly men, they were worthless uh men.

Verse 21. Now when when David came to the 200 to the 200 men who were too exhausted to follow David who had also been uh to follow David who had also been left at the brook Beazor and they they went out to meet David and and to meet the people who were with him and then David approached the people and greeted them. And then all no here it is verse 22.

and all the wicked and worthless men among those who went with David said because these did not go with us. They didn't go into the battle. We will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered except to every man his wife and his children.

They may lead them away and depart. They can't stay. We're not going to give them any of the spoils.

They just have their wives and kids, but we're not going to give them any of the spoils of battle. And they can't stay with us. They they they got to leave.

Can't be one of us anymore. And notice David in verse 23. I love this.

David said, "You must not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us, who has kept us and delivered into our hands the hand that came against us." He said, "We didn't win this battle. God did. You didn't win this battle.

God did." Boy, this is the old David again. And in verse 24, who will listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down to the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage.

They shall share a light. David said, "No, we're going to treat everybody the same." The whole team, the bench and the starting five, the whole team gets the spoils of victory. We're going to treat everybody the same.

Verse 25. And so it has been from that day forward that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day. Because this was written after David did all this stuff.

David put that policy in place that stayed his policy throughout his time as king in the decades to come. the the men on the supply line, those who put the fuel in the planes and attach the bombs and ordinances to the planes, the mechanics, the medics, and the cooks. David [snorts] said, "We're going to it's one team.

One team, and we're going to treat everybody the same way, everybody with respect. One of the great things about David's leadership and his character. And then one last thing, verse 26.

Now when David came to Ziglag, he sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah and to his friends, saying, "Behold, a gift for you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord, not from my enemies, but the enemies of God." David blessed the Hebrew people with those spoils. And then verses 27 following tell about which villages he sent some of those spoils they got from the Amalachites too. Uh I love the old David.

But uh if I could summarize all of this, listen to God, trust God, and treat people well. It's that simple. Listen to God, trust God, obey God, and treat people well.

That simple formula is a formula for a good life. Or as the great commandments say, love God, love people. God bless you.

I'll see you tomorrow [music] as we wrap up First Samuel. God bless you.