1 Samuel 30:4
So David and the troops with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no strength left to weep.
Sermons
Confidence in GodB. Dale 1 Samuel 30:1-10
David in Three SituationsC. Bradley, M. A.1 Samuel 30:1-31














1 Samuel 30:1-10. (ZIKLAG.)
But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God (ver. 6). Delivered from their embarrassing position in the Philistine army, David and his men set out early in the morning, and by forced marches (evident from the exhaustion of one third of them, ver. 10) arrived at Ziklag on the third day. Instead of being welcomed by their wives and children, they found the city a smoking and desolate ruin. "When we go abroad we cannot foresee what evil tidings may meet us when we come home again. The going out may be very cheerful, and yet the coming in very doleful" (M. Henry). The Amalekites (whom Saul had failed to exterminate, and David often attacked) had been there, and, in revenge for what they had suffered, had carried off the undefended people and property, and given the place to the flames. Deeming their recovery hopeless, the strong men wept like children "until they had no more power to weep." Then their grief turned to exasperation, and seeking a victim on which to expend their wrath, they fixed on David, and "spake of stoning him" as the cause of all their misery. He was reduced to the utmost extremity, and could not fail to see in his trouble a just chastisement for his unbelief, prevarication, and cruelty. Possibly the reinforcements that "fell to him as he went to Ziklag" (1 Chronicles 12:20) rendered him valuable service. But his hope was not in man; and instead of resigning himself to despair (like Saul), he was impelled by his distress and deprivation of human help to seek help in God alone. "The long misery of the first stage of his public career seems to have reached its culminating point. When things are at the worst, as the common proverb says, they must mend. And from that moment when he believingly cast all his dependence upon the Lord his God only, whom he had found faithful in all his promises, and whose providence had never failed him in his deepest dangers, from that moment he was safe, from that moment he was prosperous" (Kitto). Concerning the confidence in God which he exhibited (therein setting an eminent example to others), observe that -

I. IT SPRINGS OUT OF CONSCIOUS HELPLESSNESS. Few men have an adequate conviction of their own helplessness; and one aim of the Divine discipline is to produce it. "When I am weak," said Paul, "then am I strong" - when I feel my utter weakness under the pressure of trial, then I am constrained to depend on the Lord, and become imbued with his strength (2 Corinthians 12:10). In the exercise of "the same spirit of faith" others "out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens" (Hebrews 11:34). True faith and spiritual power have their foundation amidst the "dust and ashes" of self-abasement and self-distrust. Confidence in God began to revive in David when Ziklag was reduced to ashes. The same thing is often occasioned in others by means of -

1. Sudden and severe bereavement; wife and children, it may be, taken away with a stroke.

2. The failure of cherished plans and purposes; the loss of property through robbery by men or accidents by fire or flood, the breakdown of health, the disappointment of long expectation.

3. The falling away of friends; their unreasonable anger and bitter reproaches. It must have been peculiarly painful to David to bear the mutiny of his own men, to witness the selfishness of many of them (ver. 22), and to learn what little confidence could be put in man (Psalm 146:3). He was left almost alone.

4. The upbraiding of conscience for past sin. Trouble is a powerful means of bringing sin to remembrance (1 Kings 17:18).

5. The threatening of danger; the presence of "the king of terrors" (Job 18:14).

6. The lack of wisdom and power to deliver from distress. When we become fully aware of our utter helplessness, two courses lie open before us - either to sink into despair or to cast ourselves wholly upon God. That the latter may be taken trial is sent; it is taken by him whose heart is in the main right with God, and it is never taken in vain.

II. IT LAYS HOLD OF ALL-SUFFICIENT HELP. "When David could not comfort him self in his wives, nor his children, nor his goods, nor in anything under the sun, he could in something above the sun. And the reason is at hand: God is the God of all consolation, the spring of comfort; if any water, it is in the sea; if any light, it is in the sun; if any comfort, it is in God - there it rests, there it is when nowhere else. God is all-sufficient; there the heart finds every want supplied, every good thing lodged. As God is all-sufficient to furnish us with all necessaries, so infinite in power, wisdom, goodness to help us against all evils feared or felt" (R. Harris). Faith strengthens the soul by uniting it to God and making it partaker of his strength. It has respect to -

1. His great name (see 1 Samuel 1:3). "Hope thou in God" (Psalm 42:5; Psalm 9:10; Psalm 124:8).

"Hope, said I,
Is of the joy to come a sure expectance,
The effect of grace Divine and merit preceding.
This light from many a star visits my heart;
But flow'd to me, the first, from him who sang
The songs of the Supreme; himself supreme
Among his tuneful brethren. 'Let all hope
In thee,' so spake his anthem, 'who have known
Thy name'"


(Dante, 'Par.' 25.)

2. His intimate relationship to his people. "Jehovah his God."

3. His past doings on their behalf. When David formerly fell into despondency (ch. 27.) he seems to have forgotten all these, and failed to receive the encouragement which they were adapted to impart. But now he remembered them and "took courage."

4. His faithful promises. "The free expressions of his goodness and beneficence," the unchangeable assurances of his almighty help in time of need. "The mistake we make is to look for a source of consolation in ourselves; self-contemplation instead of gazing upon God. He is not affected by our mutability, our changes do not alter him. When we are restless he remains serene and calm; when we are low, selfish, mean, or dispirited he is still the unalterable I AM. What God is in himself, not what we may chance to feel him in this or that moment to be, that is our hope" (Robertson).

III. IT MAKES USE OF APPROPRIATE MEANS. "He encouraged (strengthened) himself," etc. by -

1. Repressing fear and unbelief. "Why art thou cast down, O my soul?"

2. Directing the thoughts toward God, the ever-present, invisible, eternal Protector of his servants, and stirring up the heart to renewed trust in him. "The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?" (Psalm 118:6; Psalm 121:1).

3. Inquiring of the Lord. "And David said to Abiathar," etc. (vers. 7, 8). He sought him as he had not done on the previous occasion; sought him in a right spirit, and therefore (unlike Saul) received an answer: - "Pursue, for thou shalt surely overtake and deliver." He was thereby further strengthened. His confidence, moreover, was expressed and perfected in -

4. Obeying the will of the Lord (vers. 9, 10), and cooperating toward the fulfilment of his promise. Despondency led him to flee from difficulty and danger, but faith and hope incited him to go into their midst, and made him "as bold as a lion." "I will fear no evil, for thou art with me."

IV. IT IS CROWNED WITH COMPLETE SUCCESS. By the help obtained of God fear is removed, strength renewed, and confidence inspired (ver. 9). After a brief delay and some untoward events by which faith is still further tested (ver. 10) -

1. The object which is sought is providentially discovered (ver. 11).

2. The enemy is completely defeated (ver. 17).

3. That which has been lost is recovered (ver. 19).

4. Much more than has been expected is gained (ver. 20). A few days after David's own people were about to stone him on the ruins of Ziklag the royal crown was laid at his feet. Observations: -

1. When good men transgress they must expect to be "chastened of the Lord," and wicked men are sometimes used as a rod for the purpose.

2. The wickedness of the wicked is mercifully restrained (ver. 2), often turns to the benefit of those whom they seek to injure, and returns upon their own heads.

3. The chief purpose of chastisement is to bring men to God in humility, penitence, submission, and trust, and prepare them for future service and exaltation.

4. The difference in the effects of calamity upon men (as upon Saul and David) manifests the difference of their character.

5. The more heavily trouble presses upon men, the more closely should they cling to God, that it may be rightly borne and accomplish its intended moral end.

6. God never disappoints the confidence of his children, but fulfils his promises to them more richly than they dare to hope. - D.

And David came to the two hundred men which were so faint that they could not follow.
I. I shall begin by saying, first, that FAINT ONES OCCUR EVEN IN THE ARMY OF OUR KING. We have among us soldiers whose faith is real, and whose love is burning; and yet, for all that, just now their strength is weakened in the way, and they am so depressed in spirit, that they are obliged to stop behind with the baggage.

1. Possibly some of these weary ones had grown faint because they had been a good deal perplexed. David had so wrongfully entangled himself with the Philistine king, that he felt bound to go with Achish to fight against Israel. They were perplexed with their leader's movements. I do not know whether you agree with me, but I find that half-an-hour's perplexity takes more out of a man than a month's labour.

2. Perhaps, also, the pace was killing to these men. They made forced marches for three days from the city of Achish to Ziklag. To us there may come multiplied labours, and we faint because our strength is small.

3. Worst of all, their grief came in just then. Their wives were gone. Although, as it turned out, they were neither killed nor otherwise harmed; yet they could not tell this, and they feared the worse.

4. Perhaps, also, the force of the torrent was too much for them. In all probability the brook Besor was only a hollow place, which in ordinary times was almost dry; but in a season of great rain it filled suddenly with a rushing muddy stream, against which only strong men could stand. These men might have kept on upon dry land, but the current was too fierce for them, and they feared that it would carry them off their feet and drown them. Therefore, David gave them leave to stop there and guard the stuff.

5. Yet these fainting ones were, after all, in David's army. Their names were in their Captain's Register as much as the names of the strong.

II. THESE FAINTING ONES REJOICE TO SEE THEIR LEADER RETURN.

1. David saluted the stay-at-homes. Our King's salutations are wonderful for their heartiness. He uses no empty compliments nor vain words. Every syllable from His lips is a benediction. Every glance of His eye is an inspiration.

2. David's courtesy was as free as it was true. When Christ comes into a company his presence makes a heavenly difference. Have you never seen an assembly listening to an orator, all unmoved and stolid? Suddenly the Holy Ghost hast fallen on the speaker, and the king himself has been visibly set forth among them in the midst of the assembly, and all have felt as if they could leap to their feet and cry, "Hallelujah, hallelujah!" Then hearts beat fast, and souls leap high; for where Jesus is found his presence fills the place with delight.

III. FAINT ONES HAVE THEIR LEADER FOR THEIR ADVOCATE.

1. First, do you notice, he pleads their unity? The followers of the son of Jesse are one and inseparable. David said, "Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the Lord hath given us, who hath preserved us." "We are all one," says David. "God has given the spoil, not to you alone, but to us all. We are all one company of brothers." The unity of saints is the consolation of the feeble. One life is ours, one love is ours, one heaven shall be ours in our one Saviour.

2. David further pleaded free grace, for be said to them, "Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the Lord hath given us." The gift of God is eternal life. Deny not to anyone of your brethren any comfort of the covenant of grace.

3. Then he pleaded their needfulness. He said, "These men abided by the stuff." No army fights well when its camp is unguarded. The kind of service which seems most commonplace among men is often the most precious unto God. Therefore, as for those who cannot come into the front places of warfare, deny them not seats of honour, since, after all, they may be doing the greater good. Remember the statute, "They shall part alike."

4. Notice that David adds to his pleading a statute. He makes a statute for those who are forced to stay at home because they are faint. Blessed be the name of our Lord Jesus, He is always looking to the interests of those who have nobody else to care for them! Some of God's people are illiterate, and they have but tittle native talent. Some dear servants of God seem always to be defeated. They seem sent to a people whose hearts are made gross and their ears dull of hearing. Some saints are constitutionally depressed and sad; they are like certain lovely ferns, which grow best under a constant drip. Well, well, the Lord will gather these beautiful ferns of the shade as well as the roses of the sun; they shall share His notice as much as the blazing sunflowers and the saddest shall rejoice with the gladdest. If lawfully detained from the field of active labour this statute stands fast forever, for you as well as for others: "As his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike."

IV. NOW, FAINT ONES FIND JESUS TO BE THEIR GOOD LORD IN EVERY WAY.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

There is an impression abroad that the great rewards of the eternal world are to be given to the great heroes, the great philanthropists, the great statesmen — the great men, the great women. My text sets forth the idea that just as great rewards will come to those who stay at home and mind their own business, just as great rewards to those who are never seen in the high places of the field, just as great rewards to those who are never heard of — garrison duty as important as duty at the front. "As his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff." A great many people are discouraged when they read the story of David and Joshua, and Paul and John Knox and Martin Luther; they say, "Those men had special opportunities; perhaps if I had had the same opportunities I might have done just as well; but I shall never be called to command the sun and moon to stand still; I will never be called to preach on Mars' Hill; I will never be called, as John Knox was, to make a queen tremble for her crimes; I will never preside over a hospital; my life is all commonplace and humdrum." And many a woman says within herself, "Ah, you folks on the platform and in the pulpit are all the time talking about heroines, great women, and they were great, but they had a special opportunity; perhaps, if I had the same opportunity I might do just as well; my life is all humdrum, my life is to sew the button on, to prevent the children from being asphyxiated with the whooping cough, to keep down the family expenses, to see that the meals are ready at the right time; I get no chance, it is all humdrum, humdrum." Woman, your reward in the eternal world will be just as great as that of Florence Nightingale, who was called by the soldiers in the camp "The Lady of the Lamp"; because passing through the hospitals she kindled up the darkness with this lamp, and ministered to the suffering, and they all said, "Here comes the lady of the lamp." Your reward in eternity will be just as great if you do your work where you are put as well as she did her work where she was put. Your reward will be just as great as that of Mrs. Hertzog, who endowed the theological seminary for the education of the young ministry. Ah, how many who had ten talents get no reward in the eternal world, and how many who had only one talent will have dominions committed to them!

1. Oh, what consolation there is there for all people who do unappreciated work! Here is a great merchant philanthropist; he is as good and generous as he is affluent; you know his name — do you know the name of his confidential clerk? — the man on whose fidelity that fortune was built up, so that he could accumulate his vast wealth and then generously distribute it? Oh, no, you don't know the name of the confidential clerk. Is he to get no reward? I tell you that in the eternal world the merchant prince, who distributed his millions will get no more reward than the confidential clerk. "As his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff." You know the names, I suppose, of the great presidents of railroads. Do you know the names of the brakeman, of the engineer, on whose wrist last night 300 lives hung; of the switchman, who, moving the switch three or four inches that way, and the whole train goes through in peace and families reach their homes in safety? A good many years ago a Christian woman was seen every eventide going along by the edge of the woods. She had a large family, and her neighbours said, "How can this woman, with all her cares and anxieties, waste her time going along the edge of the wood at eventide?" They did not find out until after her death why she went. She went there to pray for her household, and one evening, while there, she wrote that beautiful hymn sung in all our churches in America, and, I have no doubt, sung in your churches: —

I love to steal awhile away

From every cumbering care,

And spend the hours of setting day

In humble grateful prayer.

No minister of religion standing in European or American pulpit today giving out that hymn, will have more reward than that woman received for writing it.

2. There is great consolation in the subject for all those who used to be at the front in great enterprises of benevolence and religion. Why, when a subscription paper came round their name was at the top for a good big sum. When a revival came they would pray all night with the anxious. They were strong, healthy, affluent. But not now. Their fortune has collapsed, their health has gone, they are clear discouraged; they do not see how they can help God's work any more. Nay; look at those 200 men by the brook Besor. Just shove back the sleeve and show how the muscles were twisted in the battle. Just pull aside the turban and see the scar where the battleaxe struck. Just pull aside the coat a little and see where the spear went in. They got just as much reward as those who went to the front, and you who were at the front in the old days had the health, the muscle, the high spirits for all that kind of work. God has not forgotten you.

3. What comfort this in for the aged! What have you got to do? Only to wait. Your reward will come. There is great consolation in this for all the aged ministers. I know some of them are preaching the Gospel. A man cannot preach the Gospel for fifty years without showing it in an illuminated countenance. Oh! there has got to be a readjustment of coronets; people who have no coronet in this world to be crowned; people who have great honours in this world to lose their coronet. Oh, there has got, to be a redistribution of coronets! Shall not the child have a crown? the father a crown? the mother a crown? And all ye who are doing unappreciated work the day of your reward is coming.

(T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.).

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
Able, Aloud, David, Lifted, Lifteth, Longer, Power, Raised, Strength, Themselves, Till, Voice, Voices, Weep, Weeping, Wept
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 30:4

     5198   weeping

1 Samuel 30:3-6

     5835   disappointment

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

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