1 Samuel 30:16-20 – Stay alert at all times

Having secured the help of that Egyptian, David and his 400 men went after the Amalekites who had raided Ziklag. When they came to the place where the raiders were, they found them carelessly spread out all over the camp. They were busy reveling, eating, drinking and dancing and completely caught up in rejoicing over the booty they had taken from the land of Philistines as well as the land of Judah. So involved were they with their carousing that they were not aware of the presence of David and his men and oblivious of the looming dangers. The Amalekites had shown how careless they were. They had no idea that David and his men were sent back to Ziklag by the Philistines. So verse 17 tells us that “David slaughtered them from the twilight until the evening of the next day; and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled.”

David’s victory here once again shows us that God always keeps His words. He told David to pursue the raiders and assured him that he would overtake the marauders. Everything God said to David came to pass. He and his men found the Amalekites and carried out such a mighty slaughter and recovered everything. David rescued Ahinoam and Abigail his wives and took back everything that the Amalekites had taken. Verse 19 describes it this way: “Nothing of theirs was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that they had taken for themselves; David brought it all back.” Their victory was so complete that they even took all the loots that the Amalekites had taken from other places.   

Verse 20 seems to suggest a change of attitude in David’s men. When they first saw Ziklag up in flames and their families and goods were taken, they wanted to stone David. But now they wanted to reward David with all the cattle. David had taken all the sheep, but the cattle the people drove ahead and said, “this is David’s spoil.” In other words, their anger with David had abated and they even took all the cattle and intended to give the cattle to David as a reward. 

One key lesson to glean from this account. The Amalekites were careless to let down their guard and gave David and his men the advantage. From the way they responded to their success we learn about something we should not do after a successful exploit. We must not be like them and let our guard down after a victory. All of us will constantly overcome some areas of weakness in life and when we do, we need to make time to guard those achievements. Bear in mind that those areas we have successfully overcome may return to trouble us if we don’t take the pain to guard our achievements. The Amalekites became vulnerable because of their carelessness. Peter warned us to stay alert, for the enemy, the devil, prowls around like a lion seeking to devour those who let their guard down. Peter also tells us to stay sober and alert for the purpose of prayer. When we have achieved a spiritual victory, remember we have only gotten one step closer to accomplishing our goal. There are many more battles in our spiritual journey that we will have to fight. So stay alert and be vigilant!