7 And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, Come here to me with the ephod. And Abiathar took the ephod to David. 8 Then David, questioning the Lord, said, Am I to go after this band? will I be able to overtake them? And in answer he said, Go after them, for you will certainly overtake them, and get back everything. 9 So David went, and his six hundred men went with him, and they came to the stream Besor. 10 And David, with four hundred men, went on: but two hundred of them were overcome with weariness, and not able to go across the stream. 11 And in the fields they saw an Egyptian whom they took to David, and they gave him bread, and he had a meal, and they gave him water for drink; 12 And they gave him part of a cake of figs and some dry grapes; and after the food, his spirit came back to him, for he had had no food or drink for three days and nights. 13 And David said to him, Whose man are you and where do you come from? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master went on without me because three days back I became ill. 14 We made an attack on the south part of the country of the Cherethites, and on the land which is Judah's, and on the south of Caleb; and we put Ziklag on fire. 15 And David said to him, Will you take me down to this band? And he said, If you give me your oath that you will not put me to death or give me up to my master, I will take you to them.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 1 Samuel 30:7-15
Commentary on 1 Samuel 30:7-15
(Read 1 Samuel 30:7-15)
If in all our ways, even when, as in this case, there can be no doubt they are just, we acknowledge God, we may expect that he will direct our steps, as he did those of David. David, in tenderness to his men, would by no means urge them beyond their strength. The Son of David thus considers the frames of his followers, who are not all alike strong and vigorous in their spiritual pursuits and conflicts; but, where we are weak, there he is kind; nay more, there he is strong, 2 Corinthians 12:9,10. A poor Egyptian lad, scarcely alive, is made the means of a great deal of good to David. Justly did Providence make this poor servant, who was basely used by his master, an instrument in the destruction of the Amalekites; for God hears the cry of the oppressed. Those are unworthy the name of true Israelites, who shut up their compassion from persons in distress. We should neither do an injury nor deny a kindness to any man; some time or other it may be in the power of the lowest to return a kindness or an injury.