CHAPTER 30 Jul. 15 
The Amalekites Destroyed by David
When David and his men had come to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid on the South and on Ziklag, and had attacked Ziklag and burned it, 2and had taken captive the women and all who were in it, both young and old. They didn’t kill any, but carried them off and went their way. 3When David and his men came to the city they found it had been burned, and their wives, their sons and their daughters taken captive. 4Then David and his men wept aloud until they had no more power to weep. 5David’s two wives were taken captive: Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail who had been the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. 6David was greatly distressed, for the men spoke of stoning him because they were grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God. 7David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, Please bring me here the ephod. Abiathar brought the ephod to David 8and David inquired of Yahweh saying, Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them? He answered, Pursue, for you will certainly overtake them and recover all. 9So David and the six hundred men who were with him went to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind had stayed. 10But David pursued the Amalekites with four hundred men; two hundred had stayed behind because they were so exhausted that they couldn’t go over the brook Besor. 11They found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David, and gave him food and he ate, and they gave him water to drink. 12They gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. When he had eaten, he revived, for he had eaten no food nor drunk any water for three days and three nights. 13David asked him, To whom do you belong? Where are you from? He said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite, and my master left me because three days ago I fell sick. 14We made a raid on the South of the Cherethites and on the territory which belongs to Judah and on the South of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire. 15David said to him, Will you lead me down to this raiding party? He said, Swear to me by God that you will neither kill me nor deliver me up into the hands of my master, and I will take you down to them. 16When he had led him down, there they were, spread around over all the ground, eating, drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines and out of the land of Judah. 17David fought them from twilight to the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled. 18David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives. 19There was nothing missing, small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that they had taken. David brought back everything. 20He took all the flocks and herds, which they drove before the other livestock, and he said, This is David’s spoil. 21David came to the two hundred men who had been so exhausted that they could not follow David, who had been left behind at the brook Besor, and they went out to meet David and the people who were with him. When David came near them he greeted them. 22But all the wicked men and troublemakers among David’s followers said, Because they didn’t go with us we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, just each man’s wife and children; then he can take them away and depart. 23David said, You must not do that, my brothers, with what Yahweh has given us. He has preserved us and delivered the forces that came against us into our hand. 24Who will listen to what you say? The share of the one who goes down to the battle shall be the same as the share of the one who stays with the baggage; they shall share alike. 25From that day forward he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day. 26When David came to Ziklag he sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, his friends, saying, Here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of Yahweh. 27He sent it to those who were in Bethel, Ramoth of the South, Jattir, 28Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa, 29Racal, the cities of the Jerahmeelites, the cities of the Kenites, 30Hormah, Borashan, Athach, 31Hebron and to those in all the places where David himself and his men used to stay.

Commentary

30:7 There are several references to the ephod and to “Urim” and “Thummim” in the historical records. The ephod was the priest’s waistcoat upon which the breastplate was hung. It seems that Urim and Thummim were the names of two stones kept within the ephod. From the questions answered by them, it would seem they were capable of giving binary answers to questions, presumably through flashing in a certain sequence- if God chose to work through them in response to prayers for answers about yes / no choices.
30:22 Paul considered that Mark had not gone with them to the work (Acts 15:38). This is quoting the Septuagint of 1 Sam. 30:22, where "all the wicked men and troublemakers among David’s followers said, Because they didn’t go with us we will not give them any of the spoil”. Why does the Spirit make this connection? Is it not suggesting that Paul, zealous soldier of David / Jesus as he was, was in those early days in some sense a sinful man, bent on achieving his own glory in preaching, and unwilling to share it with anyone who wasn't spiritually or physically strong enough to do it as he was (cp. the weaker followers of David)? If this is the case, then this is a far, far cry from the Paul who wrote his letters some years later, begging Timothy to come to encourage him. Paul like David developed spiritually over the course of his spiritual journey. 
30:31 We wonder why God arranged for David to have the experiences of this chapter just before the death of Saul. The moment of Saul’s death was of huge significance to David psychologically- it was the end of an era of persecution, the end of a love-hate relationship which must have emotionally and spiritually drained him, and the beginning of his own kingship. God is very sensitive to us, and He obviously knew that David needed these humbling experiences in order to prepare him for the news of Saul’s death- e.g. he had to go through the experience of having his supporters turn against him to the point of almost literally killing him, falsely blaming him for a disaster (:6), in order to prepare him for widespread acclaim and desire to crown him king just days later.