almost forced marches to traverse the fifty miles to Ziklag, their homes had been utterly laid waste. Why all

this? Did the Lord make him tarry, as Jesus did "beyond Jordan," till Lazarus had been three days dead?

Never more than on occasion of extreme and seemingly hopeless straits did David prove the reality of his

religion by rising to the loftiest heights of faith and prayer. The text gives a marked emphasis to the contrast:

"But David strengthened himself in Jehovah his God." His resolve was quickly taken. The first thing was to

inquire of the Lord whether he should pursue the Amalekites. The answer was even fuller than he had

asked, for it promised him also complete success. The next thing was hasty pursuit of the enemy. So rapid

was it, that when they reached the brook Besor, which flows into the sea to the south of Gaza, two hundred

of his men, who, considering the state in which they had found Ziklag, must have been but ill-provisioned,

had to be left behind.234

They soon came on the track of the Amalekites. They had found an Egyptian slave, whom his inhuman

master had, on the hasty retreat from Ziklag, left by the wayside to starve rather than hamper himself with

the care of a sick man. Food soon revived him; and, on promise of safety and freedom, he offered to be the

guide of the party to the place which, as he knew, the Amalekites had fixed upon as sufficiently far from

Ziklag to permit them to feast in safety on their booty. A short -lived security theirs. It was the twilight - the

beginning, no doubt, of a night of orgies - when David surprised them, "lying about on the ground," "eating

and drinking, and dancing." No watch had been set; no weapon was in any man's hands; no danger was

apprehended. We can picture to ourselves the scene: how David probably surrounded the camping-place;

and with what shouts of vengeance the infuriated Hebrews fell on those who could neither resist nor flee.

All night long, all the next day the carnage lasted. Only four hundred servant-lads, who had charge of the

camels, escaped. Everything that had been taken by the Amalekites was recovered, besides the flocks and

herds of the enemy, which were given to David as his share of the spoil. Best of all, the women and children

were safe and unhurt.

It was characteristic of the wicked and worthless among the followers of David, that when on their return

march they came again to those two hundred men who had been left behind "faint," they proposed not to

restore to them what of theirs had been recovered from the Amalekites, except their wives and children.

Rough, wild men were many among them, equally depressed in the day of adversity, and recklessly elated

and insolent in prosperity. Nor is it merely the discipline which David knew to maintain in such a band that

shows us "the skillfulness of his hands" in guiding them, but the gentleness with which be dealt with them,

and, above all, the earnest piety with which he knew to tame their wild passions prove the spiritual

"integrity," or "perfectness, of his heart" (Psalm 78:72). Many a wholesome custom, which ever afterwards

prevailed in Israel, as well as that of equally dividing the spoil among combatants and non-combatants in an

army (1 Samuel 30:24, 25), must have dated not only from the time of David, but even from the period of his

wanderings and persecutions. Thus did he prove his fitness for the government long ere he attained to it.

Yet another kindred trait was David's attachment to friends who had stood by him in seasons of distress. As

among his later servants and officials we find names connected with the history of his wanderings (1

Chronicles 27:27-31), so even now he sent presents from his spoil to "the elders" of the various cities of the

of need.

It may indeed have been that the south generally had suffered from the incursion of the Amalekites against

Ziklag (30:1). But such loss could scarcely have been made up by "presents" from David. His main object,

next to grateful acknowledgment of past aid, must have been to prepare t hem for publicly owning him, at the

proper time, as the chosen leader of God's people, who would make "spoil of the enemies of Jehovah." At

the proper time! But while these gifts were passing, all unknown to David, that time had already come.