As the Philistines started making plans to invade
Israel, their king said to David, “You’ll march with
me. I want you and your men to be my personal
bodyguards.”
David said, “Good, now you’ll be able to see
what my men and I can do.”
All the military units went to a place where
they could present themselves in review as they
prepared for war. The Philistine commanders
were shocked when they saw David and his men.
They said to the king, “You can’t bring those
Hebrews to fight with us!”
He said, “David defected from Israel, and has
been faithful to me ever since. I have no reason
to doubt his loyalty.”
The commanders got mad. “Send him away!
He’s the one they sing about. ‘Saul has killed
his thousands; David his tens of thousands.’
He might suddenly turn on us in the middle of
a battle. That would be a good way for him to
regain Saul’s favor.”
The king went to David. “You’re an honorable
man, and I personally want you by my side in
battle. But the commanders don’t trust you.
Therefore I have to send you back to Ziklag.”
David said, “What have I done to deserve
this? I’ve been faithful to you from the first day I
came here.”
The king said, “I know you have, but my
hands are tied. You must leave in the morning.”
So David and his men left. When they got
back to Ziklag, they found that foreign raiders
had come and burnt down the town. They hadn’t
killed anyone, but simply took all the people
with them. This included all the wives, sons, and
daughters of David and his men.
The men cried until they could cry no more.
Some of the men wanted to stone David, but God
stood by him. He prayed to the Lord, “Should I
chase after these raiders? Will I catch them?
The Lord said, “Go after them. You’ll catch
them and get everything back that was taken
from you.”
So David took his 600 men and went after the
invaders. At one point, they stopped because
200 of his men were too exhausted to go farther.
So the 400 left their supplies with the 200 and
continued on.
They came upon a slave who had belonged
to the raiders, but had been left behind because
he had gotten sick. He hadn’t eaten anything for
three days. David’s men gave him food and water
and helped revive him.
David said, “Will you lead us to the raiders?”
He said, “I’ll lead you to them if you swear
you won’t kill me, and you won’t give me back to
them.” David agreed.
The slave led David’s men directly to the
raiders. They were celebrating how much plunder
they had gotten from the Philistines and the
Israelites. Without warning, David’s men attacked
and quickly killed most of them. Only a few got
away. David’s men got everything back they had
lost, plus all the plunder the raiders had taken
from other cities.
When they got back to the 200 men, some of
the 400 said, “They didn’t go with us into battle.
So they only get their wives and children back.
They don’t get any of the extra plunder we took.”
David said, “No! That’s wrong. God gave us a
great victory today. We’ll share equally with those
who stayed back with our supplies.” So that
became the law of Israel from that day on.
David and his men went back to Ziklag. He
then sent some of the plunder back to various
cities in Israel.
© God Child