“David asked him, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you from?’ He answered, ‘I’m an Egyptian boy, the slave of an ‘Amaleki. My master abandoned me three days ago, because I got sick. We raided the Negev of the K’reti, the Negev of Y’hudah and the Negev of Kalev; and we burned down Ziklag.'”-1 Samuel 30:13-14
When David inquired of the Lord through the Urim and Thummim, we’re told God said the following:
“Go in pursuit, because you will overtake them and recover everyone and everything.”
Now, here’s the thing.
That wasn’t a direct quote.
God didn’t actually say those words.
The narrator added this piece of dialogue to make the story more exciting.
But it did capture the gist of what God said.
Remember, God didn’t speak directly to David as he did with Moses.
The Urim and Thummim stones only provided “Yes” or “No” binary answers.
David asked God whether he should go after the Amalekites and if he did, would he succeed?
The answer to both questions was a yes.
So with victory assured, David gathered his men and headed south to cut off the Amalekites.
They traveled 25 miles and stopped at a Wadi (river) to rest before continuing.
Interestingly, we’re told 600 men stopped to rest but when it came time to move on, only 400 men went with David.
So it appears 200 men were too exhausted to continue the journey.
This is understandable.
The men had traveled several days from Ziklag to Afek…
Then after one night’s rest, they marched back to Ziklag.
This was a whopping 3-day journey in each direction!
To top things off, when they returned home, they found their worst nightmare had come true.
Their wives and children had been stolen along with all their belongings.
There was no more food left to nourish their exhausted bodies.
And now they had to go in hot pursuit after a band of marauding Amalekites.
Boy, I tell you, folks were tough as steel back then.
David left the 200 weaker men at the Wadi and continued with the 400 stronger ones.
Along the way, they met an Egyptian boy abandoned by his master.
This poor fellow hadn’t eaten for 3 days.
He was a slave who was forced to be part of the group.
But when the Amalekites were escaping the area, he fell ill, and they left him behind in the desert to die.
David’s men revived the boy with bread and water and asked him, “To whom do you belong, and where are you from?”
Now the boy’s answer revealed a lot.
He said…
“I’m an Egyptian boy, the slave of an ‘Amaleki. My master abandoned me three days ago, because I got sick. We raided the Negev of the K’reti, the Negev of Y’hudah and the Negev of Kalev; and we burned down Ziklag.“
Look at the part I enlarged and colored red: the Negev of the K’reti (the Kerethites).
This refers to the Philistines or their close blood relatives.
Here are other verses that support this:
“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am about to stretch out my hand against the Philistines, and I will wipe out the Kerethites and destroy those remaining along the coast.”-Ezekiel 25:16
Or this verse:
“Woe to you who live by the sea,
you Kerethite people;
the word of the Lord is against you,
Canaan, land of the Philistines.
He says, “I will destroy you,
and none will be left.”
-Zephaniah 2:5
So the Hebrew seems to point to Crete.
Many believe this is where the Philistines originally came from.
Onward.
The Amalekites had also raided the area near Hebron and the southern parts of Judah.
They were nomadic outlaws who could’ve cared less about whose stuff they stole.
They were not only the enemies of Israel, but they weren’t buddies with the Philistines either.
David asked the Egyptian boy if he could lead them to the Amalekites.
The boy agreed to help if David promised not to return him to his master.
Let’s stop here for the takeaway.
The Egyptian boy abandoned by his cruel Amalekite master can be seen as a metaphor for the salvation of the Gentiles.
Think about it for a second.
We have a boy who was a slave to the Amalekites.
This poor lad had no hope for the future.
When he became ill, there was no compassion shown to him.
He was left to die…
Until a group of Israelites led by David (who is a type of Messiah) came along and rescued Him.
However, what was the condition of the boy’s “salvation”?
He had to befriend and be kind to Israel.
He had to be like the prostitute Rahab when she befriended the two Hebrew men who came to spy out the land.
If you’re a believer, wasn’t this a picture of you before you were saved?
You too were a slave…
A slave to sin that is…
You were separated from God and His son.
You were also “excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise.”
You were “without hope and without God in the world.”
Until Messiah came and set you free…
Just as David came and rescued the Egyptian boy.
Another takeaway I’m getting here is the reinforcement that there is no salvation in the ways or gods of the goyim (gentiles).
If you live as the goyim, in the end, they will spit you out and abandon you as what happened to the poor Egyptian boy.
Admittedly, this is an imperfect analogy.
We don’t have evidence the boy ever confessed allegiance to the God of Israel.
But that’s the pattern that popped into my mind.
See ya all next time.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“So if the Son sets you free,
you will be free indeed.”
-John 8:36
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