While David and his men are north with the Philistine armies, the Amalekites decide to get revenge for David’s earlier attacks against them (30:1–6). David’s city of Ziklag is burned and all of the women and children are taken captive. David and his men are heartbroken. The men even blame David and threaten to stone him, just as an earlier generation grumbled menacingly against Moses (Exod. 17:4). Yet in the midst of this opposition and his own personal sorrow at the loss of his two wives, “David found strength in the Lord his God” (30:6).

Since Abiathar the priest is there and can inquire of the Lord by means of the ephod, David determines that he can overtake the raiders (30:7–20). Encouraged, he and his men head to the southwest in pursuit. Only four hundred men are strong enough to k…