Useful Bible Studies > 1 Samuel Commentary > chapter 30
David and his men were searching in the desert for the robbers who had attacked Ziklag. David probably organised his men into small groups for that purpose; they had a vast area to search.
David’s men did not find the robbers’ camp. However, they did find a man who was lying unconscious in the desert.
It astonishes us to see how much David’s men cared about this man. They were desperate to save their own wives and children, whom the robbers had taken away. However, when they saw this man, they stopped. Carefully and gently they looked after him, and slowly he started to recover.
The man was not an important man. He was only a slave from Egypt. He would probably be naked; slaves wore few clothes.
David’s men gave him their own water, and water is precious in a desert. They also gave him dried fruit, which was a convenient food for the men to bring into the desert. Dried fruit contains natural sugars, which give energy.
The men did all these things as an act of kindness to a stranger. They had no reason to expect that the man would be able to help them. That did not become clear until the man started to recover.
As the man became stronger, he began to talk. He probably did not speak the same language as David’s men, but they would recognise a few of his words. In particular, he knew something about their town, Ziklag. Suddenly, it became clear that the man had extremely important information.
They took him to David, who then asked him a series of questions (30:13-15).
Next part: David asks the slave about the robbers (1 Samuel 30:13-15)
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© 2014, Keith Simons.