David at Ziklag
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exercised to counteract the agencies of evil; He is ever at work among
men, not for their destruction, but for their correction and preservation.
With great rejoicing the victors took up their homeward march.
Upon reaching their companions who had remained behind, the more
selfish and unruly of the four hundred urged that those who had had
no part in the battle should not share the spoils; that it was enough for
them to recover each his wife and children. But David would permit
no such arrangement. “Ye shall not do so, my brethren,” he said, “with
that which the Lord hath given us.... As his part is that goeth down
to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff; they shall
part alike.” Thus the matter was settled, and it afterward became a
statute in Israel that all who were honorably connected with a military
campaign should share the spoils equally with those who engaged in
actual combat.
Besides recovering all the spoil that had been taken from Ziklag,
David and his band had captured extensive flocks and herds belong-
ing to the Amalekites. These were called “David’s spoil;” and upon
returning to Ziklag, he sent from this spoil presents to the elders of
his own tribe of Judah. In this distribution all those were remembered
who had befriended him and his followers in the mountain fastnesses,
when he had been forced to flee from place to place for his life. Their
kindness and sympathy, so precious to the hunted fugitive, were thus
gratefully acknowledged.
It was the third day since David and his warriors returned to Ziklag.
As they labored to restore their ruined homes, they watched with
anxious hearts for tidings of the battle which they knew must have
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been fought between Israel and the Philistines. Suddenly a messenger
entered the town, “with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head.” He
was at once brought to David, before whom he bowed with reverence,
expressing recognition of him as a powerful prince, whose favor he
desired. David eagerly inquired how the battle had gone. The fugitive
reported Saul’s defeat and death, and the death of Jonathan. But
he went beyond a simple statement of facts. Evidently supposing
that David must cherish enmity toward his relentless persecutor, the
stranger hoped to secure honor to himself as the slayer of the king.
With an air of boasting the man went on to relate that during the battle
he found the monarch of Israel wounded, and sore pressed by his foes,
and that at his own request the messenger had slain him. The crown