David and his men marched out with King Achish when the Philistines went to fight Israel. We will never know what David planned to do in that battle because the Philistine commanders expelled him and his army before the war began. They didn’t trust David not to defect back to Saul once the fighting was underway.

David’s army traveled for three days to get back to Ziklag where they had left their families, only to discover that the Amalekites had raided the town and destroyed it in their absence. The city was burned and everything of value had been taken, but there was no evidence that anyone had been killed. All of the people were missing.

The men wept for their lost loved ones until they could weep no more. David was doubly distressed because his loyal soldiers started talking about stoning him for taking them on a fool’s errand and leaving their families unprotected.

As he had always done, David turned to the Lord, and “David found strength in the Lord his God.” 1 Samuel 30:6

David Goes After the Amalekites

David didn’t have access to the Ark of the Covenant or the Tabernacle while he was on the run. In fact, King Saul stripped the Tabernacle of its priests when he told Doeg the Edomite to kill all eighty-six of them. When Abiathar escaped from Doeg’s slaughter, he brought David the ephod of the high priest. David used it to designate the place of worship when he needed to talk with the Lord.

“David inquired of the Lord, ’Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?’ “Pursue them,’ he answered. ‘You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue.’” 1 Samuel 30:8

After three days of hard travel, followed by the shock of seeing Ziklag destroyed, David rallied his troops to take off in pursuit of the Amalekites. Six hundred men followed David’s lead, but when they came to a rest stop two hundred men were too exhausted to go on. David pressed on with four hundred soldiers.

They came across an Egyptian slave who had been abandoned by his Amalekite master. He was thirsty and starving, but he revived when they gave him some food and water and he became their guide to the Amalekite raiding party. All he asked in exchange was that he not be killed or handed over to his master again.

David Defeats the Amalekites

When they found the Amalekite raiders they were spread out enjoying their victory and admiring their plunder. David and his men attacked and fought them for twenty-four hours before they defeated them. Four hundred young Amalekite men got away on camels, but the rest of the raiders were killed.

When David took stock of what the Amalekites left behind, he realized that not one captive had been killed and all of the plunder from Ziklag was intact. He and his men rounded up the flocks and herds, gathered the people and collected up the things that had been stolen and headed back to join the two hundred men they had left behind in Besor.

The men at Besor came out to meet David and he kindly asked how they were doing. Some of the soldiers had no sympathy for their comrades, however, and they didn’t want to share the plunder with them. David settled this by making a statute for his army to observe from then on.

“The share of him who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike.” 1 Samuel 30:24

David Goes from Strength to Strength

When King Achish gave David the city of Ziklag there were already people living there. So when the Amalekites raided Ziklag, they plundered its long-time citizens as well as David’s people. After David defeated the Amalekites, everything that had been in Ziklag became his, so he and his troops returned to Ziklag with wealth to spare.

David sent gifts from the plunder to the elders of Judah, as well as other leaders who had allowed him to roam with his men in their lands the previous thirteen years. His generosity helped cement vital friendships that he would need when he became king.

The Lord sent skillful fighters and commanders to join David in the field.

“Day after day men came to help David, until he had a great army, like the army of God.” 1 Samuel 30:22

The Death of Saul

The Philistines went to war with King Saul’s army after they sent David back to Ziklag. They fought so fiercely that Israel fled from them and many Israelites died on Mount Gilboa. The Philistines were intent on getting to King Saul and his sons and they soon took down Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua. Saul fought on until Philistine archers critically wounded him.

Saul commanded his armor-bearer to kill him with a sword as the Philistines closed in on him, but the armor-bearer was too afraid to kill his king. So Saul fell on his own sword. When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead he also fell on his sword and died.

When the Israelites who lived in the Jezreel Valley saw that Israel had lost the war and their king was dead, they fled from their towns. The Philistines moved in behind them and occupied the valley and the region beyond the Jordan River.

The next day the Philistines found Saul and his sons dead on Mount Gilboa. They cut off Saul’s head and sent messages back home to tell the Philistine people that their gods had delivered Israel into their hands. They brought Saul’s armor as an offering to the temple of the Ashtoreths and hung his body and the bodies of his sons on the wall of Beth Shan, a town near Mount Gilboa. It was a disgrace to leave their bodies exposed overnight.

The brave men of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done with Saul’s body and they marched all night to collect him and his sons from the wall. They burned the bodies and gathered the bones; then they buried them under a tree in Jabesh. They fasted for seven days in honor of the dead royal family.

Jonathan’s Descendants

Jonathan was next in line to the throne after Saul, but he and all of his brothers died the same day Saul died. One of Jonathan’s sons should have succeeded to the crown, so 1 Chronicles 9:40-44 lists the names of Jonathan’s heirs.

When news of the death of Saul and his sons reached the royal household, people panicked. One of Jonathan’s sons, Mephibosheth, was only five years old when his nurse tried to run away with him. She dropped him and he was injured, causing a permanent disability.

These sons were the people Jonathan had in mind when he made David swear that he would never harm a member of his household. With Saul and his sons gone, everyone in the royal family was in jeopardy. No one knew for sure who the next king would be, or whether the Philistines would take over all of Israel.

David Hears of Saul and Jonathan’s Deaths

David had only been back in Zilag for two days when a disheveled man arrived from Saul’s camp. His torn clothing and dust-covered head indicated that he was bringing bad news so David questioned him. He reported that Saul and his sons were dead and that Israel had fled from the Philistines.

David asked how the messenger knew Saul was dead and the young Amalekite lied and said that he was the one who killed Saul after he was wounded.

“David asked him, ’Why weren’t you afraid to lift your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed?’” 2 Samuel 1:14

Then David ordered the young man’s death and said, “Your blood be on your own head. Your own mouth testified against you when you said, ‘I killed the Lord’s anointed.’” 2 Samuel 1:16

David’s Eulogy for Saul and Jonathan

David’s respect for Saul and Jonathan lasted beyond their lifetimes. David never retaliated when Saul tried to kill him and he never harmed Saul when he could have. David believed that Saul was king by the will of God and that to touch him would be a sin. David was the only other person in Israel at this time who knew what it meant to be chosen by God to be the king.

He also had an abiding love for his friend Jonathan. He and Jonathan understood each other in ways that no other person on earth could. David’s relationship with these two men had been complicated, but he truly loved and esteemed them.

“Saul and Jonathan – in life they were loved and admired, and in death they were not parted. They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions . . . How the mighty have fallen!” 2 Samuel 1:23, 27

A new era was dawning for Israel and David was about to become king.