Share and share alike

"share alike"

1 Samuel 30:24

As chapter 30 begins, things are unusually bad for David; even at this point in his life where he's being pursued by a practically rabid King Saul, intent on killing him for no reason at all.... Curious to know how it could be worse than that??

Well, David had been hangin' with the Philistines ~ yes, those Philistines.  In order to evade Saul, he'd been hiding with the enemy {details in 1 Samuel 27 and 29} until the Philistines (wisely) decided they didn't trust him to fight alongside them.  So they sent him away.

But when he and his men arrived at their home at Ziklag, they discovered that the Amalekites had been there in their absence.  They had burned the city and had taken captive all of their wives and children.  David and his men were understandably distraught, but David showed why he was a man after God's own heart, strengthening himself in the Lord (verse 6) and then inquiring of the Lord what to do (verse 8).  And the Lord answered "Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them, and without fail recover all."

So off David went, with his 600 men.  At least, there were 600 of them until they got to the Brook Besor, and there 200 of them remained because they were too tired to cross. 

Now, at first I thought these 200 must be single guys, because anyone with a wife and family being held by the Amalekites is going to find the strength to rescue them, right?  Well, maybe not...

The Brook Besor was about 13 miles south of Ziklag, and though it was called a brook, at some times of year it belies that name. And these 200 men were weary to the point of exhaustion.  And perhaps, because of that, David saw them as a liability.  So they stayed behind, guarding the supplies.  David is a warrior, but with the heart of a shepherd.

So David and the 400 pursued and attacked the Amalekites, and recovered all that was taken ~ just as God had said ~ and the spoils of war as well.

But when they rejoined those men who had stayed behind, the returning warriors ~ well, the worthless and wicked ones (verse 22) ~ thought that the spoils of war should not be shared, "except for every man's wife and children, that they may lead away and depart."

David replied, "My brethren, the Lord has preserved us and the Lord has given into our hand.  They shall share alike."  As the poet John Milton said, "they also serve who stand and wait."

It reminded me of the parable Jesus told in Matthew 20, of the workers in the vineyard.  Those who were hired early felt they were entitled to a higher wage than those who were hired in the last hour of the day.  It's one of the many times we can read the words of David foreshadowing those of Christ.

David knew that it's impossible for all, in any endeavor, to give equally.  God doesn't compare.  God wants each of us to give the best we have; to do the best we can, based on how He has equipped each of us.   Everything else is for Him to decide.

~ "Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, 

'But Lord, what about him?'

Jesus replied, 'what is that to you?

   You follow Me.' " ~

John 12:21-22