When David went with his soldiers to live in the land of the Philistines, he became friendly with Achish, the king of Gath. God caused this heathen king to be kind to David and his men, and to give them a city to live in. The name of this city was Ziklag.
At the time of Saul’s death, David and his soldiers were making their homes at Ziklag. Achish wanted David to go to the battle against Saul, and had him in his army; but the other rulers of the Philistines were afraid of him. So David took his men and went back to the land of the Philistines.
When they came near to Ziklag they saw that an enemy had been there and had burned the city. All their belongings were stolen, even their wives and children. David called Abiathar, the high priest, and he asked God whether they should follow after the enemy and try to overtake them. God told them to go, so David took his six hundred men and started to follow the trail of the enemy.
Because they had no food to eat, a part of David’s men became too weak to go very far on the trail. These stopped by a brook to rest, while the others went on with their brave captain. As they went they found an Egyptian, nearly dead, lying in a field, and they gave him water to drink. For three days this Egyptian had lain without a drop of water and without food. After he ate some bread and drank water he was able to speak with David and his men. He told them that a band of Amalekites had passed by that way and had left him behind when he fell sick. He said they had been in the land of the Philistines and had burned the city of Ziklag. David asked, “Can you show us which road they have taken!” The Egyptian promised to go with David and help him find the Amalekites if David would not allow the Amalekites to take him again for their servant. And David took the Egyptian with his men.
The Amalekites were camping in a valley and enjoying a feast when David and his soldiers found them. They fell upon the company and rescued their wives and children and all the goods, the Amalekites had stolen from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. They killed many of the Amalekites and drove the others away into the wilderness.
When David returned to the men who were resting by the brook, he divided with them the goods that he and his men had taken away from their enemies. And they hurried back to their place in the land of the Philistines.
Now Ziklag was burned, and they had no homes to live in. While they were wondering what to do, a messenger came running from the battle-field to tell about the death of Saul and of his sons. The messenger said he was an Amalekite and that he had found Saul leaning upon his spear nearly ( dead. Thinking David would be pleased to hear that his enemy, Saul, was killed, the Amalekite told David that he had killed Saul and had brought Saul’s crown to him.
But David was not pleased. He tore his clothes as a sign of sorrow, and cried, “Were you not afraid to kill a man who was the Lord’s anointed!” The Amalekite had expected David to give him a present because he had killed Saul. But David commanded his soldiers to kill the stranger.
David mourned about the death of Saul and of his dearly loved friend, Jonathan. He seemed to forget that Saul had ever been unkind to him. He tried to remember only the good things that Saul had done. He wrote a poem about their death, and one of the verses reads thus:
Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, And in their death they were not divided: They were swifter than eagles, They were stronger than lions.
After Saul’s death, David asked the Lord what to do. He no longer had a home in the land of the Philistines, because the city of Ziklag had been burned. The Lord told him to go back to his own land again; so he took his family and all his soldiers and their wives and children and went back to the land of Judah, to live in Hebron.