hold, it wes burnt with fire, and their wives, andtheir ſons, and their daughters were taken captives. 4 Then David and the people that were with him, lift
- Up their voice and wept, until they had no more power
to weep f. f Till either the Humour was wholly ſpent,or the Conſideration of their Calamity had made them ſtupid. 5 And Daridstwo wives were taken captives, Ahino- am the Jezreeliteſs, and Abigail the wife of Nabal, the
Carmelite.
6 And David was greatly diſtreſſed : for the people ſpake of ſtoninghim g, becauſe the ſoul of all the peo- ple was Þ grieved, every man for his ſons, and for his daughters: but David encouraged himſelfin the LORD his God þ. :
g As the Author of their Miſeries, by coming to Zikag at firſt, y provoking the Amalekites to this Cruelty, by his forwardneſs in marching away with A4chiſb, and leaving their Wives and Child:en unguarded. hz. e. In this that the All-wiſe, and All-powerful Lord, was his God by Covenant-relation,and ſpecial Promiſe,and true and fatherly AieQion, as he had thewed himſelf ro be in the whole
courſe of his Providence towards him.
7 And David faidto Abiathar the prieſt, Ahimelechs ſon, I pray thee bring me hither the ephod ;: and Abi- athar brought chither the ephod ro David.
; And pur it upon thy ſelf, that thou maiſt enquire of God, ac- cording to his Ordinance, Numb.27.21. See above, chap. 23. 9. Da- wid was ſenſible of his former Erro: in negleQing to ask Counſel of God by the Ephod,when he came to Achifh, and when he went out with Achiſb to the Battel ; and his Neceflity now brings him to his Duty, and his Duty mects with Succeſs
8 And David enquired at the LORD, ſaying, ſhal 1 purſue after this troop ? ſhall I overtake them ? And he anſwered him, Purſue, for thou ſhalt ſurely overtake zbem, and without fail recover all &.
k Before, God anſwered more ſlowly and gradually, chap. 23. 17, 12. but now he anſwers ſpecdily,and fully at once,becauſe the bu- ſineſs here required more haſte. Sv gracious is our God, that he
conſiders even the degree of our Neceflities,and accommodates him- ſclf to them.
9 So David went, he and the fix hundred men that were with him, and came to the brook Beſor, where thoſe that were left behind, ſtayed.
io But David purſued, he and four hundred men I : ( for. two hundred abode behind, which were ſo faint, that they could not go over the brook Beſor. )
_ 7 Aſmall number for ſuch an Artempr: but David was ſtrong in Faith, giving God the Glory of his Power and Faithfulneſs.
Ix Y And they found an Egyprianin thetield »,, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and hg did gat, and they made him drink water », |
a U 5 i Chap. XX ji v Whom by his Habit they gueſſed to be a Soldier that had been W| engaged in that Expedition. » Partly, out of humanity and com- il pray to a periſhing Creature : and partly, in Prudence, that by Mt im they might learn the true ſtate of their Enemies. i; | 12 And they gave him a piece ofa cake of figs, and | i two cluſters of raiſins : and * when he had eaten, his *$See Jud ſpiric came again to him : for he had eaten no bread, 15-19. |ij
nor drank ay water, three days, ard three nights 6. * 14-M
o Which is to be underſtood Synecdochically of one whole day and part of two others, as the fame Phraſe is taken. Matth. 12. 46. a+ appears from: the next Verſe, where he ſaith, three days agone I fell jick, but in the Hebrew it is, this is the third day ſince I fell (ich.
13 And David ſaid unto him, To whom belongeft thou ? and whence art thou ? And he ſaid, I am a young man of Egypt p, ſervant to an Amalekite, and my maſter left me q, becauſe three days agone I fell I1ck.
þ God by his Providence ſo ordering it, that he was not one of
that curſed Race of the Amalekites,wlio were to be utterly deſt: oyed,; but an Egyptian, who might b- ſpared. q In this Place 4i.d Condi- tion: which was barbar: us inhumanity: for he oi.ght, and calily might have carried him away with the Prey hic: they had taken. Bur he paid dear for this Cruelty, for this was the occaſion o! the ruine of him and of all their Company. And Goc by his ſecret Pro vidence ordered the matter thus for that very end $0 that there 15 no fighting againſt God, who can make the ſmalleſt Accidents ſerviceable to the produQtion of the greateſt Efte&s.
14 We madean invaſion upon the ſouth of the Che- rethires 7, arid upon the coaſt which belongerh ro Judah, and upon the ſouth of Caleb s, and we burnt Ziklag
r 7. e. The Philifines, as is manifeſt from v. 16. who are ſo cal: led Zeph. 2. 5. ſ This is added by way of Explication : 9. 4. that part of the South of Judah which belongs to Caleb's Poſterity, Joſ.
14. 13.
15 And David ſaidto bim,Canſt thou bring me down to this company ? Andhe ſaid, Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my maſter, and I will bring thee down to this company z. | | 7 For his Maſter had told him whither they intended to go, that he might come after them, as toon as he could.
16 4 And when he had brought him down, behold; they were ſpread abroad upon all the-earth «, eating and drinking, and dancing, becauſe of all the great ſpoil chat chey had taken our of the land of the Philiſtines, and out of the landof Ju.ah. |
« Secure and careleſs, becauſe they were now come almoſt to the Borders of their own Country, and the Philiftines and Iſraelites both were otherwiſe engaged, and David, as th:y believed, with them.
So they had no viſible cauſe of danger ; and yet then they wers neareſt to their deſtruction.
17 And David itmore them from the twilight *, even _ unto the evening of the f next day : and there eſcaped f Heb: not a man of them, ſave four hundred young men 72 mrs which rode upon camels, and fled. SE FRY
* The word ſignifies both the Morning and Evening Twi-l'ght,
But the latter ſeems here intended, partly becauſe their Eating,an