Context No. 3248 of 4322 · 1 Samuel

1 Samuel 30:8-13: in context

8David inquired of the LORD, saying, “If I pursue after this troop, will I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue, for you will surely overtake them, and will without fail recover all.” 9So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed. 10But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind, who were so faint that they couldn’t go over the brook Besor. 11They found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he ate; and they gave him water to drink. 12They gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. When he had eaten, his spirit came again to him; for he had eaten no bread, and drank no water for three days and three nights. 13David asked him, “To whom do you belong? Where are you from?” He said, “I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days ago I got sick.

After raiders burn Ziklag and carry off the families, David inquires of the LORD whether to pursue, and God answers plainly: pursue, for you will surely overtake them and recover all. On the way, David's men find a half-dead Egyptian abandoned in a field, sick and starving, an enemy's discarded slave. They give him bread, water, figs, and raisins, and his strength returns.

Two things stand out. First, David inquires of the LORD before acting, even in crisis, even when the pursuit seems obvious, and God answers with assurance. And second, that small mercy to a stranger, reviving a discarded slave with no thought of gain, becomes the very key to finding the raiders, for the Egyptian leads them there. Kindness to a cast-off stranger, offered freely, turns out to serve God's larger purpose. Compassion to the abandoned is never wasted; here it opens the door to the rescue David sought.

Do I show mercy to the discarded stranger in my path, trusting that such kindness, offered freely, is never wasted in God's hands?

Sources

1 Samuel 30:8: "David inquired of the LORD... He answered him, Pursue, for you will surely overtake them, and will without fail recover all."
1 Samuel 30:11: "They found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he ate."
Proverbs 19:17: "He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD; he will reward him."