Sarah
Samuel 30
On the third day, David and his men finally made it back to Ziklag.
But the second they got into town, everybody was completely stunned.
The Amalekites had attacked while they were gone. They had raided the Negev, taken Ziklag, and burned the whole place down. The city was a complete mess. The houses were burned to the ground, and everyone—men, women, and children—had been taken away.
Thankfully, the Amalekites hadn’t killed anyone. They had taken everybody with them alive.
David and his six hundred men walked into the city and just stood there, stunned.
Their homes were gone. Their wives were gone. Their children were gone.
These were tough guys who normally didn’t scare easy, but this time they completely broke down. They sat there crying their hearts out until they didn’t have any strength left.
David’s two wives—Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail from Carmel—had also been taken captive.
And things got even worse. The men who followed David were getting angrier and angrier the more they thought about what had happened.
Some of them even said:
“This is all David’s fault! Look where following him has gotten us. Now our wives and children are gone. We might as well stone him to death!”
David was under tremendous pressure. His heart was breaking too.
But when it really mattered, David didn’t completely fall apart.
The Bible says:
“But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.”
While everybody else was falling apart and complaining, David turned his heart back to God.
He called for Abiathar the priest and said:
“Bring me the ephod.”
After the ephod was brought to him, David seriously sought the LORD:
“God, should I go after them? Can I catch them and get our people back?”
The LORD answered him:
“Go after them. You will definitely catch them, and you will get everything back.”
The moment David heard that, he got his strength back.
“Come on, guys! Let’s go!”
So the six hundred men set out after the Amalekites.
When they reached the Besor Valley, two hundred of the men were simply too exhausted to go any farther.
They had been rushing and fighting their way along, and their feet were worn out.
They said:
“You guys go ahead. We really can’t keep going.”
So the two hundred men stayed behind to guard the supplies, while David and the other four hundred continued the chase.
As they went along, they found a young Egyptian man lying out in the countryside.
The poor guy was so hungry he could barely keep his eyes open.
David’s men didn’t take advantage of him. Instead, they gave him some bread and water, along with a piece of fig cake and two cakes of raisins.
The young man hadn’t eaten or drunk anything for three days and three nights. After he ate, he finally started to feel better.
David asked him:
“Who are you? Where are you from?”
The young man answered:
“I’m an Egyptian. I used to be a servant of an Amalekite. Three days ago I got sick, and my master decided I was no longer useful, so he just abandoned me here.”
Then he said:
“We’re the ones who attacked the Negev a few days ago and burned Ziklag.”
David’s eyes lit up.
“Then can you take us to them?”
The young man said:
“I can, but you have to promise me you won’t kill me or hand me back over to my former master.”
David agreed.
So the young man led them straight to the Amalekites.
When they found them, the Amalekites were sitting around eating, drinking, and having a good time.
They had just stolen a huge amount of stuff, and they were celebrating like crazy. They were eating, drinking, and dancing because they thought they had it made.
They had no idea that a whole group of angry men was coming after them.
David and his four hundred men suddenly attacked.
The battle started at dawn and went all the way until the evening of the next day.
It was a brutal fight.
The Amalekites were completely scattered. In the end, only four hundred young men managed to escape on camels.
The rest were defeated by David and his men.
But more importantly—
Everyone who had been taken from Ziklag was found!
David’s two wives were rescued!
The children came home!
The families were reunited!
All the possessions were recovered!
The Bible says that everything the Amalekites had taken—men, women, children, and possessions—nothing was missing.
David got everything back.
And he also took a whole lot of livestock.
Some of David’s men started getting a little too proud of themselves.
“This is all the stuff David took from the Amalekites. It’s our spoil!”
When David returned to the Besor Valley, the two hundred men who had stayed behind to guard the supplies came out to welcome them.
But a few selfish men started complaining:
“They didn’t fight with us, so why should they get any of the spoil?”
“Give them their wives and children back, sure. But don’t give them any of the other stuff!”
David heard that and immediately shut it down.
He said:
“Brothers, we are not going to do that!”
“This isn’t something we won because we’re so great. The LORD gave it to us. He protected us and handed our enemies over to us.”
“Besides, the men who went into battle aren’t the only ones who mattered. The men who stayed behind to guard our supplies were doing an important job too. Just because they didn’t fight on the front line doesn’t mean they get nothing.”
So David made a rule:
Those who went into battle and those who stayed behind to guard the supplies would receive equal shares of the spoil.
From that day on, this became a rule in Israel.
When David returned to Ziklag, he did something else that was pretty meaningful.
He took some of the things they had recovered and sent them to the elders of Judah and to the people in the towns that had helped him before.
David said:
“This is a gift from the spoil we took from the LORD’s enemies. Take some for yourselves.”
You see, David had just been through one of the biggest ups and downs of his life.
At first, his home was gone, his family was gone, and even his own men wanted to stone him.
But David didn’t stay down. He turned back to God, asked God first, and then acted.
In the end, he got his whole family back, and not one thing that had been taken was lost.
David learned something that day: Sometimes you can feel like you have no way out, but as long as you trust in the LORD, there is still a way forward.
第三天，大卫带着手底下那帮兄弟，回到了洗革拉。
可刚一进城，大伙儿全傻眼了。
原来，亚玛力人趁他们不在，早就杀进南地，把洗革拉给端了。城里烧得那叫一个惨，房子全烧没了。人呢也是？不管大人孩子，还是女人，统统给掳走了。
好在这帮亚玛力人没杀人只是把人带走了。
大卫和六百号兄弟一进城，看见眼前这场面，愣了半天。
自己的家没了，媳妇没了，孩子也没了。
这帮大老爷平时一个个挺硬气，这回全绷不住了，蹲那儿嗷嗷哭。哭得那叫一个伤心。
大卫的两个媳妇——耶斯列人亚希暖，还有迦密人亚比该，也都被掳走了。
更闹心的是，跟着大卫的那些兄弟，越想越窝火。
有人甚至说：
“这事儿都怨大卫！现在媳妇孩子全没了，干脆拿石头砸死他得了！”
大卫这时候也是压力山大，心里老难受了。
但是，关键时候，大卫没彻底垮掉。
圣经说：
“大卫却倚靠耶和华他的神，心里坚固。”
大伙儿都乱成一锅粥了，只会抱怨。大卫却依靠神。
他就找来祭司亚比亚他，说：
“把以弗得给我拿过来。”
等以弗得拿来以后，大卫就认真求问耶和华：
“神啊，我要不要追？追过去能不能把人抢回来？”
耶和华告诉他：
“你去追，肯定追得上，而且你啥都能抢回来。”
大卫一听，立刻说：
“兄弟们，走！追！”
于是六百人出发，追着亚玛力人就去了。
追到比梭溪的时候，有二百个人实在累得不行了。
这一路又急又累，脚底板都快磨冒烟了。
他们说：
“哥几个，你们先走吧，我们是真扛不住了。”
于是这二百人留下来看东西，大卫带着剩下四百人继续往前追。
走着走着，他们在野地里发现一个埃及小伙子。
这小伙子躺那儿，饿没劲儿了。
大卫他们也没欺负他，反而给他饼吃，给他水喝，还给了他无花果饼和葡萄饼。
这小伙子三天三夜没吃没喝了，吃完他就好多了。
然后大卫问：
“你是谁啊？从哪儿来的？”
小伙子说：
“我是埃及人，原来是亚玛力人的奴仆。三天前我病了，我主人嫌我没用了，直接把我扔这儿了。”
他接着说：
“我们就是前几天攻打南地、烧了洗革拉的那帮人。”
大卫一听，这正是我们要找的人。
“那你能不能带我们找到他们？”
小伙子说：
“能是能，不过你得答应我，别杀我，也别把我交回原来的主人手里。”
大卫答应了。
于是这小伙子就带着他们一路往前找。
等他们找到亚玛力人的时候，那帮人正搁那儿吃喝玩呢。
他们刚抢了老鼻子东西，一个个高兴得不行，吃得正欢，喝得正美，还跳舞庆祝。
他们哪能想到，后头已经来了一群要他们命的人。
大卫带着四百人突然杀过去。
从天刚蒙蒙亮，一直打到第二天晚上。
这一仗打得那叫一个狠。
亚玛力人被打得七零八落，最后只有四百个骑骆驼的小伙子跑掉了。
剩下的，全被大卫他们收拾了。
更重要的是——
洗革拉被掳走的人，全找回来了！
大卫的两个媳妇，也都救回来了！
孩子回来了！
家人回来了！
财物也全部抢回来了！
圣经说，亚玛力人掳走的，无论大人孩子、财物牲畜，一样都没少。
而且还抢回来不少牲口。
有些跟着大卫的人高兴得不知咋嘚瑟了：
“这些都是咱们大卫抢回来的，咱们的战利品！”
等大卫回到比梭溪，那二百个累得走不动、留下看东西的人也出来迎接。
但有几个人开始怀疑：
“他们又没跟咱们一起打仗，凭啥分东西啊？”
“给他们自己的媳妇孩子就算了，剩下的财物一件都别给！”
可大卫一听，当场就不同意。
他说：
“兄弟们，不能这么干！”
“这些东西不是咱们自己凭本事抢来的，是耶和华赐给咱们的。是祂保护咱们，把敌人交到咱们手里。”
“再说了，出去打仗的人累死累活，看守东西的人也一样重要。不能说没上战场就啥都没有。”
所以大卫定下一个规矩：
出去打仗的和留下看守东西的，战利品一律平分。
从那以后，以色列人就一直照这个规矩办。
大卫回到洗革拉以后，又干了一件挺有意思的事。
他从抢回来的东西里拿出一部分，送给犹大的长老，也送给那些曾经帮助过他的各城。
大卫说：
“这是从耶和华的仇敌那里夺回来的，给你们拿点儿。”
大卫这回算是彻底明白了：人啥时候都可能没招儿，但只要倚靠耶和华，就还有路。“”“请把这段改过的故事写成英文。