1 Samuel 29-30 recounts a particularly dark time in the life of David: The burning of Ziklag.
The backstory:
After running from Saul for 4 years, David seeks asylum in the land of Philistine. King Achish grants David and his band of outlaws the small town of Ziklag wherein they settle and begin to put down roots. They move in, build homes, plant gardens, nurture the beginnings of a herd and collect any wives and children that up to this point had been living in various safe houses scattered across the country of Judah.
For the first time in years, there is a sense of security and routine. These men have a place to call home.
Over the course of the next year and a half, David and his men perform a series of raids in the surrounding Philistine territories. Each raid is a total annihilation of the village population as David cannot allow any survivor to incriminate him. Through these raids, more goods and valuables are accrued.
The story:
It is at this time that the Philistines muster their army for a final showdown with an old enemy, the Israelites. David and his men receive the summons and join the marching column. On the eve of the battle, the King’s generals are incredulous and give the king an ultimatum: “There is no way you can allow David to fight with us! He is a former Israelite! What if he turns on us in the middle of the battle? If you let David fight, we are not going out there.”
King Achish apologizes profusely to David for the attitude of his generals, but insists that his hands are tied and David must return to Ziklag.
What a waste of time. However, David and his men trek the 3-day journey back to their hometown. As they draw near Ziklag, things seem different. There is smoke in the air and the country seems too quiet. Something has happened.
Ziklag has been burned to the ground.
The men run frantically to and fro, screaming, cursing, searching for their wives and children. They search for clues to understand what happened and who did this. These battle-hardened warriors spend an entire day weeping, searching, and cursing. A sinister thread begins circling among the men “This is all David’s fault. Let’s kill him.”
Scripture states that at this time, David comforted himself in the LORD. Some versions say “He encouraged himself in the LORD or strengthened himself in the LORD.” Whatever he did, clearly David distanced himself from the guys and went off by himself to meet with God.
He also instructs the acting priest to bring the ephod “So that I might inquire of the Lord”.
Psalms David could have written when faced with utter ruin at Ziklag: Psalm 6, 16, 18
God allows both trials and assaults from the enemy into our lives that feel absolutely overwhelming. It is important for us to just acknowledge this so that when these horrible seasons of pain enter our lives, we won’t think that something strange is happening to us. Life can be intensely painful at times, and this is certainly what we see here in David’s life.
Following this crushing setback, David pursues the mystery raiders and finds that it was the Amalekites. The Amalekites had had word of this epic battle about to take place between Israel and Philistine, and decided it was the perfect opportunity to raid the southern end of Judah and Philistine. Ziklag was their last conquest before melting quietly back into their own territory. It had been a perfect raid. The loot was of astronomical proportions and the prisoners collected were all in excellent health. Spirits were high, it was time to party and thank the gods…
Until David’s weepy but lion-hearted army of 400 discover the camp. Night falls, and under the cover of darkness, David’s men attack. It is total chaos – a massacre. Though significantly outnumbered, for the next 24 hours, David’s army of 400 men slaughter the Amalekites. Only 400 Amalekites escape.
They spend days organizing the loot and making their way back to Judean territory. There is so much plunder, David sends tons of it ahead to the various leaders and elders in Judah as gifts.
Within the week, the elders of Judah send a delegation to David with an important query. “Our king has died. Would you please come be our king?”
What sets the Believer apart from the rest of the world, is not that we experience fewer or less severe trials, but that we can respond in the grace of God.
David did not find solace in whining and self-pity. He doesn’t spend hours thinking how bad he has it or how deep his hurt runs. He doesn’t even waste time questioning why God would ever allow this to happen. David’s theology obviously had room for his God to allow him to be horribly assaulted and suffer deeply.
Read the Psalms; David was always honest with God how he felt, but he didn’t blame God.
It was David’s habit to purposefully recall past faithfulness and stand in confidence of who God is.
There are more than 7000 promises of God to us in scripture. Lean into these!
The circumstances had not changed; David’s men were still blaming him, Ziklag was still smoking, and the women and children were still gone. But God assured David that he would have the victory. David set out, not sure who he was after or even exactly where the bad guys were!
I know this is long but there is so much to unpack in this story! I’ve been excited to recognize some of these truths and see how they played out in David’s life. I hope you can ruminate on this chapter of David’s life and discover some relevant truths for yourself. I know I’ll be parked here for a while!
Debilitating trials are to be expected. We can respond in God’s grace because we are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ.