Unsung Heroes: An Egyptian Slave Who Helped David

Introduction: He had been taken as a slave and now was far from his homeland. He was so sick he almost died but David and his men found him. When this slave had recovered, he gave David some very vital information which helped David a great deal!

Text: 1 Samuel 30:13-19, KJV: 11 And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat; and they made him drink water; 12 And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins: and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him: for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights. 13 And David said unto him, To whom belongest thou? and whence art thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days agone I fell sick. 14 We made an invasion upon the south of the Cherethites, and upon the coast which belongeth to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire. 15 And David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this company? And he 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.

16 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 that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah. 17 And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled. 18 And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives. 19 And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all.

Thoughts:

In 1 Samuel 28-29, David had fled Israel and taken his family and soldiers to Gath of the Philistines. We’re not told how long they stayed there except long enough for David to be recognized as someone the king of Gath could trust. In fact, the first verses of Acts 29 describe how David had even offered his services to Achish, king of Gath, for mercenary service. Of course, some of the other Philistine nobles were very upset and forced Achish to make David and his soldiers leave!

This took place at Aphek, a good ways north of Gath, where the Philistines planned to attack Jezreel (1 Sam. 29:11). David and his men returned to the land of the Philistines.

But they found things had changed for the worse. Much worse,

David and his men returned to Ziklag, the city where they had stayed for about 16 months (1 Sam. 27). During the time these men had gone to Aphek and back, an enemy of both Israel and the Philistines, the Amalekites, had destroyed Ziklag and captured all families of these men. David and the others wept until they had nothing left but the grieving wasn’t done.

David, to his credit, “strengthened himself in the LORD his God” and asked advice from the LORD as to what to do. The message from the LORD was, in so many words, “Pursue them and you’ll recover everything”. With this in mind, David and his men started out on the journey.

On the way, they found the unsung hero of this story. He was an Egyptian and likely a slave, as he called one of the Amalekites his “master (1 Sam 30:13)”. To be honest, I’ve wondered how an Egyptian could be taken captive, and by an Amalekite at that, but in those days almost anything could happen and, in this case, did.

But to leave anyone sick, and to die in the field, is one of the most heartless things anyone could do to anyone else. Yet, that’s exactly what happened and this Egyptian was about to die when David and his men found him. They gave him something to eat and some water to drink and eventually he recovered.

David found that the Egyptian was a servant to an Amalekite; that the Amalekites had made a raid on Ziklag, and they had burned it with fire. David, I’m guessing, was somewhere between furious and frustrated but recovered enough to ask if this Egyptian could take them to where the Amalekites had camped. The Egyptian agreed, on the condition that David would never deliver him back to his master.

The information led David to the enemy camp. David and his men recovered everything and returned to Ziklag, or what may have been left of it!

We hear nothing more of this unknown Egyptian after this. He was, though, a truly unsung hero because he accepted aid from the Hebrews, of whom he may have known little; and guided David to the exact place he needed in order to recover everything. He didn’t let cultural, ethnic, tribal, language (how could they understand each other?) or other barriers get in the way. This Egyptian needed help, and he got it from David and his men. He repaid that kindness by leading David to the right place. Whoever this Egyptian was, we can be grateful for what he did.

Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV)