Shall I Pursue Them?
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David made no rash decision this time. He asked what the Lord would have him do. Should he pursue the raiders and recover what was lost? He must have desperately wanted a positive answer to his question, for Ahinoam and Abigail, “David’s two wives,” were among those taken captive (1 Samuel 30:5). David wisely sent for Abiathar, the priest, asking him to bring forward the ephod so that he might ask God for guidance (v. 7).
The ephod of the high priest had the Urim and Thummim (which start with the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet), which were encircled with light when a question was asked of the Lord (Exodus 28). Upon receiving God’s instruction, “David and his soldiers at once set out in pursuit of their fleeing foe. So rapid was their march, that upon reaching the brook Besor, which empties near Gaza into the Mediterranean Sea, two hundred of the band were compelled by exhaustion to remain behind. But David with the remaining four hundred pressed forward, nothing daunted.” Moving rapidly, they came upon an Egyptian slave left in the desert to die by his cruel Amalekite master. Upon being revived, the Egyptian related the story of the raid and agreed to lead David’s band to the camp of the raiders. The encampment that greeted their eyes was deep in celebration. Obviously, the marauders expected no one to be on their trail.
An attack was planned, and David’s four hundred rushed the camp.
The fighting continued all night and into the next day.
In the end, only a band of four hundred nomads, mounted on camels, made their escape. “The word of the Lord was fulfilled. ‘David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives. And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor anything that they had taken to them: David recovered all.’” God stands ever ready to counter the workings of evil.
