Shmuel Alef 30

1And it came to pass, when Dovid and his anashim were come to Tziklag on the Yom HaShelishi, that the Amaleki had made a raid on the Negev and Tziklag and attacked Tziklag, and burned it with eish;

2And had captured the nashim, that were therein; they killed not any, either gadol or katon, but carried them off, and went on their derech.

3So Dovid and his anashim came to the Ir, and, hinei, it was aflame with eish; and their nashim, and their banim, and their banot, had been taken captive.

4Then Dovid and HaAm that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more ko'ach to weep.

5And Dovid's two nashim were taken captive, Achinoam the Yizre'elit, and Avigal eshet Naval the Carmeli.

6And Dovid was greatly distressed; for HaAm spoke of stoning him, because the nefesh of kol HaAm was marah (bitter), every ish for his banim and for his banot; but Dovid made himself chazak in Hashem Elohav.

7And Dovid said to Evyatar HaKohen Ben Achimelech, Bring me now here the Ephod. And Evyatar brought the Ephod to Dovid.

8And Dovid inquired of Hashem, saying, Shall I pursue after this gedood? Shall I overtake it? And He answered him, Pursue; for thou shalt surely overtake, and without fail save.

9So Dovid went, he and shesh me'ot ish that were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those that were left behind stayed.

10But Dovid pursued, he and arba me'ot ish; for two hundred stayed behind, which were so exhausted that they could not go over the brook Besor.

11And they found an Egyptian in the sadeh, and brought him to Dovid, gave him lechem, and he did eat; they made him drink mayim;

12And they gave him a piece of pressed fig cake, and two raisin cakes; and when he had eaten, his ruach returned to him; for he had eaten no lechem, nor drunk any mayim, shloshah yamim and shloshah lailot.

13And Dovid said unto him, To whom belongest thou? And from where art thou? And he said, I am a na'ar Mitzri, eved to an Amaleki; and my adon left me, because yamim sheloshah ago I fell sick.

14We made a raid upon the south of the Kereti, and upon the territory of Yehudah, and upon the south of Kalev; and we burned Tziklag with eish.

15And Dovid said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this gedood? And he said, Swear unto me by Elohim, that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my adon, and I will lead thee down to this gedood.

16And when he had led him down, hinei, they were spread out over the surface of kol ha'aretz, eating and drinking, and revelling, because of all the great plunder that they had taken from Eretz Pelishtim, and from Eretz Yehudah.

17And Dovid struck them from the neshef (twilight, evening) even unto the erev of the next day; and there escaped not an ish of them, except four hundred na'ar, which rode off upon gemalim, and fled.

18And Dovid recovered all that Amalek had carried away; and Dovid saved his two nashim.

19And there was nothing of them missing, lacking neither katon nor gadol, neither banim nor banot, neither plunder, nor anything that they had taken for them; Dovid recovered all.

20And Dovid took all the tzon and the bakar, which they drove before those other mikneh, and said, This is shalal Dovid (the plunder of David).

21And Dovid came to the two hundred anashim, which were so exhausted that they could not follow Dovid, whom they had left behind also at the brook Besor; and they went forth to meet Dovid, and to meet HaAm that were with him; and when Dovid came near to the people, he gave them a shalom greeting.

22Then answered all the ish rah and the Beliyaal among the anashim of those that went with Dovid, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them any of the shalal that we have recovered, except to every ish his isha and his banim, that they may take them and leave.

23Then said Dovid, Ye shall not do so, my achim, with that which Hashem hath given us, Who hath been shomer over us, and delivered the gedood that came against us into our yad.

24For who will pay heed unto you in this matter? But as his chelek is that goeth down to the milchamah (battle), so shall his chelek be that tarrieth by the kelim (supplies): their chelek they shall share alike.

25And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a chok (statute) and a mishpat for Yisroel unto this day.

26And when Dovid came to Tziklag, he sent of the shalal (plunder) unto the Ziknei Yehudah, even to his re'im (friends), saying, Hinei, a brocha for you of the shalal (plunder) of the oyevim of Hashem;

27To them which were in Beit-El, and to them which were in Ramot of the South, and to them which were in Yatir,

28And to them which were in Aro'er, and to them which were in Siphmot, and to them which were in Eshtemoa,

29And to them which were in Rachal, and to them which were in the cities of the Yerachme'eli, and to them which were in the cities of the Keni,

30And to them which were in Chormah, and to them which were in Chor-Ashan, and to them which were in Atach,

31And to them which were in Chevron, and to all the mekomot (places) where Dovid himself and his anashim were accustomed to visit.I Shmuel is an amazing character study of the tragedy of King Saul. A slow breakdown in his character is carefully presented to us as a warning. We too could become like him, jealous, cracking under pressure, not obeying G-d with fearful care and attention to detail, taking our eyes off G-d, off His Word, laying down carnal and arbitrary policies, getting out of step with the Ruach Hakodesh, no longer lifting up the glory of G-d but instead building a monument to ourselves [see 1Sm 15:12 If we are become spoiled, and focus on our own prerogatives rather than G-d’s, He may lose patience with us and replace us, if we abuse our privileges. G-d doesn't want to be obeyed our way; He wants to be obeyed His way. See 1Sm 15 and what happens if we rebel against this teaching. Saul's personal Meribah-Massah experience took place at Gilgal where his rebellion cost him his ministry [review I Sm. 13:8-l4; Ex. 17:l-7; Num. 20:1-13; Ps. 106:32; 95:8; Deut. 33:8; MJ. 3:8.] Here we see Saul repeating in his kingly person the experience of the children of Israel in the wilderness. Every generation has a Kadesh-barnea opportunity to obey the L-rd and to follow Him and to gain new ground for the Kingdom of G-d, or else to hesitate; and, as the story of the wilderness illustrates, he who shrinks back, he who hesitates, is lost. Every generation is put to a test and a trial—either to march ahead in faith and take some ground for G-d, or to rebel and “grumble in your tents” and die with a faithless hardened heart in the wilderness. If even Moses, great though he was, fell short of the L-rd’s holy expectations and was punitively replaced, how much more should we be careful not to rebel against G-d’s Word. We see that Saul repeated the sins Israel committed when she entered the Promised Land: Saul committed the sin of Achan (compare Josh.chp 7 and I Sm. 15:13-23) and Saul almost caused the death of Jonathan (compare Jephthah's daughter--Judg.11:39 and ISm. 14:28-30). A minister should stay small in his own eyes (1Sm 15:17), unless he wants to be replaced. There is always a young David waiting in the wings to replace an old proud Saul. We see in Saul a man demonized and depressed and very much in need of, among other things, deliverance through music ministry. We see the importance of spiritual song in 1Sm 16:14-23. David’s musical skill has left us a rich treasure to worship G-d, but it is also important to remember the demonic oppression of Saul and how it was abated by David’s harp. Notice the importance of the ministry of music in 1Sm 18:10-12. 1Sm 16:17 indicates that the L-rd’s musician must be an artist who can play well. The man of G-d is necessarily a refugee in a wicked and G-d-hating world, but in 1Sm G-d gives Dovid favor and guides his steps to safety. See chapter 19. In chapter 22 we see the wickedness of Saul, who has no respect for G-d's ministers. This is called anti-clericalism. Increasingly the world is filling up with Sauls and preparing for the Great Tribulation when the Brit Chadasha kehillah will be under a final massive anti-Moshiach assault of anticlericalism. See 1Sm 23:14. Notice that when Dovid seemingly lost everything at Ziklag, he "strengthened himself in the L-rd his G-d" (1Sm 30:6). However, by contrast, on the verge of losing everything, Saul turned to the occult. In this we also see the destructive results of involvement with psychics and fortune-tellers or any occult practice. A concordance search of the word “Moshiach” in 1Sm reveals it as a concept lying just under the surface in the Bible’s discussion of the first king of Israel. There are also Messianic allusions in 1Sm that are cross-referenced by other parts of the Tanakh. Notice 1Sm 9:17 where you see the words HINEI HAISH (BEHOLD THE MAN). This phrase becomes a Messianic Prophecy in Zech 6:12, which says HINEI ISH and then adds the post-Exilic code word for Moshiach, TZEMACH (“BRANCH” [of Dovid]) SHMO ([is] his Name). The named person is the post-Exilic Kohen Gadol whose Messianic Personal Name is Joshua in Hebrew, Yeshua in Aramaic, and in Greek Yoh-tah, ee-tah, seegh-mah, oh-mee-krone, eeps-ee-lone, final seegh-mah. The successor to Moses, also named Joshua, is a Symbol of King Moshiach. Joshua (Joshua, Yeshua, Neh 8:17) is called "the servant of the L-rd" in the book of Joshua (Josh 24:29). Like Caleb, Joshua is also a sign-man, an ominous mofet of the King Messiah, for Joshua is an agent of chesed (undeserved, unmerited mercy e.g. in the case of the prostitute Rahab) and of wrath and judgment or condemnation, in the holy war of G-d against the seven wicked nations in the Promised Land. The prophet Daniel, who also speaks of both the chesed of chayei olam (eternal life) as well as judgment and condemnation (Dan 12:2), gives us a glorious apocalyptic picture of this coming King, this Moshiach of the Clouds of Himel (Daniel 7:13-14). Furthermore, Dt 18:15-19 foretells the prophet like Moses that G-d will raise up in the Promised Land, the Prophet-Moshiach. Isaiah infers that the Moshiach will be a new Moses (Isa 42:15-16; 49:9-10) and a new Joshua (Isa 49:8). The immediate (not final) fulfillment of the Dt 18:15-19 prophecy is Joshua (Yehoshua/Yeshua). The Sages (Avot 1:1) tell us that Moses accepted the from Sinai and transmitted it to Yehoshua/Yeshua. Not only that, Yehoshua/Yeshua is indeed a Moses-like prophet, because it was to Joshua and not to Moses that G-d gave the revelation of the boundaries of the tribal portions of Eretz Yisrael. Moses died in the wilderness because he angered G-d, but Joshua led the people victoriously to the promised new life in the Holy Land. Thus, Joshua (the Aramaic form of whose name is Yeshua-- see Nehemiah 8:17) is a prophetic sign of the King Moshiach, the ruler from among his brethren who, like Moses and Prince Joseph, the Savior in Egypt, would lead Israel's true faithful remnant all the way from the rebellious unbelief resulting in death in the wilderness to the eternal salvation and Messianic deliverance foreshadowed in the book of Joshua. Another Messianic allusion in 1Sm that is cross-referenced elsewhere in the Tanakh is 1Sm 10:1, where Shmuel anoints King Saul and submissively, showing honor, kisses him. Ps 2:11-12 warns that Moshiach must be approached in this way, “lest ye perish” or be “destroyed in your way.” Still another Messianic allusion in 1Sm is 9:20 where Shmuel says, And on whom is kol chemdat Yisroel (all the Desire of Yisroel)? Is it not on thee, i.e. on the Anointed King, the Moshiach? Now we go to Hag 2:7 where the post-Exilic prophet Chaggai, with great Messianic portent, prophesies that G-d is going to shake the heavens and the Chemdat kol Goyim (the Desired of all Nations, i.e. the Moshiach) will come. Moshiach’s coming is referred to many times in the Tanakh. “Until Shiloh Come” is a phrase found in Gn 49:10. Moshe tells us there that the Deliverer will come through the Tribe of Yehudah or Judah. Judah is the tribe of Moshiach and is therefore the first to break camp (Num 2:3,9) and makes the first offering (Num 7:12) and sets out first in the march from Sinai (Num 10:14). See also Prov 8:23 where Hashem’s Wisdom, His Word, is also “first” as well as Judg 20:18, where Moshiach’s tribe is likewise called “first.” Gen 49:10 says, “The shevet (sceptre) shall not depart from Yehudah, nor a Mekhokek (Lawgiver) from between his raglayim (feet), until Shiloh [Shin, lamed, holam vav can mean “until he whose it is”] come; and unto him shall be the obedience of the amim (peoples, nations).” The inference of Gn 49:10 is that Judah’s sovereignty (shepherd’s staff) will remain with that tribe until the coming of Dovid and the Ben Dovid Moshiach. See Ezek 21:27 and its reference to Gn 49:10, “until he comes to whom it rightfully belongs.” Gn 49:10 says “the obedience of the peoples” is his, that is, the Moshiach’s. Sanhedrin 98b says that is indeed a Messianic prophecy.]