XXXIX IN THE LAND OF THE ENEMY

N the midst of David’s troubles with the king of Israel he received a present from the king of Gath. The king of Gath gave him a town.

It happened in this way. As weeks grew into months, and David, in spite of Saul’s fair words, did not dare to trust his head within reach of Saul’s spear, he said to himself at last, “I am afraid that I shall some day perish at the hand of Saul. What shall I do? Whither shall I turn? How can I get beyond his reach? I will go over to the enemy. I will offer my sword, and the swords of my six hundred men, to the Philistines.”

And that he did. And Achish, king of Gath, to whom he went, received him. But many of the Philistines were in doubt. They feared that David’s coming was but a plot to defeat and destroy them. “Some dark night,” they said, “David will rise up and kill us.”

Then David said to Achish, “Give me, I pray thee, some small place in the country, where I may dwell.” And Achish gave him the border town of Ziklag, far from the princes of the Philistines. So all the band with their wives and children settled in Ziklag.

Having Ziklag for their headquarters, they went out on forays and fought the Amalekites. They brought away whatever they could lay their hands upon, and no Amalekites remained to tell the tale. And when they came back from these adventures, Achish would say, “Where have ye made a raid to-day?” And David would answer, “We have been in the south country, in the land of Judah.” For in those days men did not understand, as we do, how wrong it is to tell a lie. And Achish believed this false report, and said to himself, “David is making war on his own people. He will never dare to desert us now and go back to his own land.”

At last, the time came for another war between the Philistines and the Israelites. In all the towns of the Philistines men were busy shaping bows and arrows; the blacksmiths at their flaming forges were sharpening swords and spears; soldiers were drilling on every village green, captains were making plans, and the army was assembling. Achish sent for David. “Now,” he said, “we are to make a great march against your old enemy, King Saul, and we shall need your help.” That was very hard for David; but when the march began, there he was with his six hundred, bringing up the rear. What else could he do?

Fortunately for David, the Philistine leaders would not have him. “What do these Hebrews here?” they said. And Achish answered, “They are trusty men. David has been sent into exile by Saul, his master, and has come with us to fight against him.” But the princes and the captains were not satisfied. “Make this fellow return,” they said; “he will attack us from behind. He will reconcile himself to Saul by bringing him our heads.”

So Achish was obliged to dismiss David. “The princes will not have you,” he said. “Come now, to-morrow morning by the first light, rise up and get you gone.” And when the sun rose on the morrow, David and his men were on their way to Ziklag.

But when they came in sight of Ziklag, their joy was turned to lamentation; for, behold, the whole place was on fire. A cloud of black smoke covered the town, and underneath the smoke were heaps of ashes. Not a living soul remained. The Amalekites had come and destroyed the town, and had carried away the women and children into captivity.

At first, the whole six hundred sat down upon the ground and cried. Then they got up with stones in their hands, and began to mutter something about throwing them at David’s head. But Abiathar, the priest said: “The thing to do is to follow the Amalekites. Quick! let us pursue and overtake them!”

So off they started on the run, and never stopped till they came to the bank of the brook Besor. And then two hundred men lay down and declared that they could go no further. But the others pushed still forward over the brook.

By and by, in a field, they found a man who, at first sight, seemed to be dead. But they raised him up, and gave him bread and he did eat, and they made him drink water, and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten, his spirit came to him again. For he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water three days and three nights.

And David said, “To whom belongest thou? and whence art thou?”

And he said, “I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite, and my master left me, because three days ago I fell sick. We had been on a raid, and had burned Ziklag.”

And David said, “Canst thou bring me down to this company?”

And after David had promised neither to kill him nor to give him up to his master, the man agreed to act as guide.

As the sun was setting, they came in sight of the Amalekites, eating and drinking and dancing like wild Indians, because of the great spoil which they had taken. And David smote them so suddenly and fiercely that they were surprised and overcome. Four hundred of them, young men on swift camels, escaped, but all the spoil remained. There was nothing lacking, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters: David recovered all.

But meanwhile, in the north, along the Great Plain, the army of the Philistines was marching day and night to give battle to the army of King Saul.