7 Then they came back to En-mishpat (which is Kadesh), making waste all the country of the Amalekites and of the Amorites living in Hazazon-tamar.
Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made an attack on the South and on Ziklag, and had overcome Ziklag and put it on fire; And had made the women and all who were there, small and great, prisoners: they had not put any of them to death, but had taken them all away. And when David and his men came to the town, they saw that it had been burned down, and their wives and their sons and daughters had been made prisoners. Then David and the people who were with him gave themselves up to weeping till they were able to go on weeping no longer. And David's two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the wife of Nabal of Carmel, had been made prisoners. And David was greatly troubled; for the people were talking of stoning him, because their hearts were bitter, every man sorrowing for his sons and his daughters: but David made himself strong in the Lord his God. And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, Come here to me with the ephod. And Abiathar took the ephod to David. Then David, questioning the Lord, said, Am I to go after this band? will I be able to overtake them? And in answer he said, Go after them, for you will certainly overtake them, and get back everything. So David went, and his six hundred men went with him, and they came to the stream Besor. And David, with four hundred men, went on: but two hundred of them were overcome with weariness, and not able to go across the stream. And in the fields they saw an Egyptian whom they took to David, and they gave him bread, and he had a meal, and they gave him water for drink; And they gave him part of a cake of figs and some dry grapes; and after the food, his spirit came back to him, for he had had no food or drink for three days and nights. And David said to him, Whose man are you and where do you come from? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master went on without me because three days back I became ill. We made an attack on the south part of the country of the Cherethites, and on the land which is Judah's, and on the south of Caleb; and we put Ziklag on fire. And David said to him, Will you take me down to this band? And he said, If you give me your oath that you will not put me to death or give me up to my master, I will take you to them. And when he had taken him down, they saw them all, seated about on all sides, feasting and drinking among all the mass of goods which they had taken from the land of the Philistines and the land of Judah. And David went on fighting them from evening till the evening of the day after; and not one of them got away but only four hundred young men who went in flight on camels. And David got back everything the Amalekites had taken; and he got back his two wives. There was no loss of anything, small or great, sons or daughters or goods or anything which they had taken away: David got it all back. And they took all the flocks and herds, and driving them in front of him, said, These are David's. And David came to the two hundred men, who because of weariness had not gone with him, but were waiting at the stream Besor: and they went out, meeting David and the people who were with him; and when they came near them, they said, How are you? Then the bad and good-for-nothing men among those who went with David said, Because they did not go with us, we will give them nothing of the goods which we have got back, but only to every man his wife and children, so that he may take them and go. Then David said, You are not to do this, my brothers, after what the Lord has given us, who has kept us safe and given up the band which came against us into our hands. Who is going to give any attention to you in this question? for an equal part will be given to him who went to the fight and to him who was waiting by the goods: they are all to have the same. And so he made it a rule and an order for Israel from that day till now. And when David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the goods to the responsible men of Judah, and to his friends, saying, Here is an offering for you from the goods of those who were fighting against the Lord; He sent to those who were in Beth-el, and in Ramah of the South, and in Jattir; And to those in Arara and Eshtemoa and Carmel and in the towns of the Jerahmeelites, and in the towns of the Kenites; And to those who were in Hormah and in Bor-ashan and in Athach; And in Hebron, and to all the places where David and his men had been living.
And David said to himself, Some day death will come to me by the hand of Saul: the only thing for me to do is to get away into the land of the Philistines; then Saul will give up hope of taking me in any part of the land of Israel: and so I may be able to get away from him. So David and the six hundred men who were with him went over to Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath. And David and his men were living with Achish at Gath; every man had his family with him, and David had his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, who had been the wife of Nabal. And Saul, hearing that David had gone to Gath, went after him no longer. Then David said to Achish, If now I have grace in your eyes, let me have a place in one of the smaller towns of your land, to be my living-place; for it is not right for your servant to be living with you in the king's town. So Achish straight away gave him Ziklag: and for that reason Ziklag has been the property of the kings of Judah to this day. And David was living in the land of the Philistines for the space of a year and four months. And David and his men went up and made attacks on the Geshurites and the Girzites and the Amalekites; for these were the people who were living in the land from Telam on the way to Shur, as far as Egypt. And David again and again made attacks on the land till not a man or a woman was still living; and he took away the sheep and the oxen and the asses and the camels and the clothing; and he came back to Achish. And every time Achish said, Where have you been fighting today? David said, Against the South of Judah and the South of the Jerahmeelites and the South of the Kenites. Not one living man or woman did David ever take back with him to Gath, fearing that they might give an account of what had taken place, and say, This is what David did, and so has he been doing all the time while he has been living in the land of the Philistines. And Achish had belief in what David said, saying, He has made himself hated by all his people Israel, and so he will be my servant for ever.
And Samuel said to Saul, The Lord sent me to put the holy oil on you and to make you king over his people, over Israel: so give ear now to the words of the Lord. The Lord of armies says, I will give punishment to Amalek for what he did to Israel, fighting against him on the way when Israel came out of Egypt. Go now and put Amalek to the sword, putting to the curse all they have, without mercy: put to death every man and woman, every child and baby at the breast, every ox and sheep, camel and ass. And Saul sent for the people and had them numbered in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen and ten thousand men of Judah. And Saul came to the town of Amalek, and took up his position in the valley secretly. And Saul said to the Kenites, Go away, take yourselves out from among the Amalekites, or destruction will overtake you with them: for you were kind to the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt. So the Kenites went away from among the Amalekites. And Saul made an attack on the Amalekites from Havilah on the road to Shur, which is before Egypt. He took Agag, king of the Amalekites, prisoner, and put all the people to the sword without mercy. But Saul and the people did not put Agag to death, and they kept the best of the sheep and the oxen and the fat beasts and the lambs, and whatever was good, not desiring to put them to the curse: but everything which was bad and of no use they put to the curse. Then the Lord said to Samuel, It is no longer my pleasure for Saul to be king; for he is turned back from going in my ways, and has not done my orders. And Samuel was very sad, crying to the Lord in prayer all night. And early in the morning he got up and went to Saul; and word was given to Samuel that Saul had come to Carmel and put up a pillar, and had gone from there down to Gilgal. And Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him, May the blessing of the Lord be with you: I have done what was ordered by the Lord. And Samuel said, What then is this sound of the crying of sheep and the noise of oxen which comes to my ears? And Saul said, They have taken them from the Amalekites: for the people have kept the best of the sheep and of the oxen as an offering to the Lord your God; all the rest we have given up to destruction. Then Samuel said to Saul, Say no more! Let me give you word of what the Lord has said to me this night. And he said to him, Say on. And Samuel said, Though you may seem little to yourself, are you not head of the tribes of Israel? for the Lord with the holy oil made you king over Israel, And the Lord sent you on a journey and said, Go and put to the curse those sinners, the Amalekites, fighting against them till every one is dead. Why then did you not do the orders of the Lord, but by violently taking their goods did evil in the eyes of the Lord? And Saul said, Truly, I have done the orders of the Lord and have gone the way the Lord sent me; I have taken Agag, the king of Amalek, and have given the Amalekites up to destruction. But the people took some of their goods, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which were put to the curse, to make an offering of them to the Lord your God in Gilgal. And Samuel said, Has the Lord as much delight in offerings and burned offerings as in the doing of his orders? Truly, to do his pleasure is better than to make offerings, and to give ear to him than the fat of sheep. For to go against his orders is like the sin of those who make use of secret arts, and pride is like giving worship to images. Because you have put away from you the word of the Lord, he has put you from your place as king. And Saul said to Samuel, Great is my sin: for I have gone against the orders of the Lord and against your words: because, fearing the people, I did what they said. So now, let my sin have forgiveness, and go back with me to give worship to the Lord. And Samuel said to Saul, I will not go back with you: for you have put away from you the word of the Lord, and the Lord has put you from your place as king over Israel. And when Samuel was turning round to go away, Saul took the skirt of his robe in his hand, and the cloth came away. And Samuel said to him, The Lord has taken away the kingdom of Israel from you this day by force, and has given it to a neighbour of yours who is better than you. And further, the Glory of Israel will not say what is false, and his purpose may not be changed: for he is not a man, whose purpose may be changed. Then he said, Great is my sin: but still, give me honour now before the heads of my people and before Israel, and come back with me so that I may give worship to the Lord your God. So Samuel went back after Saul, and Saul gave worship to the Lord. Then Samuel said, Make Agag, the king of the Amalekites, come here to me. And Agag came to him shaking with fear. And Agag said, Truly the pain of death is past. And Samuel said, As your sword has made women without children, so now your mother will be without children among women. And Agag was cut up by Samuel, bone from bone, before the Lord in Gilgal. Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah, in the land of Saul. And Samuel never saw Saul again till the day of his death; but Samuel was sorrowing for Saul: and it was no longer the Lord's pleasure for Saul to be king over Israel.
Then Amalek came and made war on Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said to Joshua, Get together a band of men for us and go out, make war on Amalek: tomorrow I will take my place on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and went to war with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Now while Moses' hand was lifted up, Israel was the stronger: but when he let his hand go down, Amalek became the stronger. But Moses' hands became tired; so they put a stone under him and he took his seat on it, Aaron and Hur supporting his hands, one on one side and one on the other; so his hands were kept up without falling till the sun went down. And Joshua overcame Amalek and his people with the sword. And the Lord said to Moses, Make a record of this in a book, so that it may be kept in memory, and say it again in the ears of Joshua: that all memory of Amalek is to be completely uprooted from the earth. Then Moses put up an altar and gave it the name of Yahweh-nissi: For he said, The Lord has taken his oath that there will be war with Amalek from generation to generation.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Genesis 14
Commentary on Genesis 14 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 14
We have four things in the story of this chapter.
Gen 14:1-12
We have here an account of the first war that ever we read of in scripture, which (though the wars of the nations make the greatest figure in history) we should not have had the history of if Abram and Lot had not been concerned in it. Now, concerning this war, we may observe,
Gen 14:13-16
We have here an account of the only military action we ever find Abram engaged in, and this he was prompted to, not by his avarice or ambition, but purely by a principle of charity; it was not to enrich himself, but to help his friend. Never was any military expedition undertaken, prosecuted, and finished, more honourably than this of Abram's. Here we have,
Gen 14:17-20
This paragraph begins with the mention of the respect which the king of Sodom paid to Abram at his return from the slaughter of the kings; but, before a particular account is given of this, the story of Melchizedek is briefly related, concerning whom observe,
Gen 14:21-24
We have here an account of what passed between Abram and the king of Sodom, who succeeded him that fell in the battle (v. 10), and thought himself obliged to do this honour to Abram, in return for the good services he had done him. Here is,