1 Samuel 30:20

This drove was put in the van of the triumph, with this proclamation, " This is David's spoil. This we may thank him for." Those who lately spoke of stoning him now caressed him and cried him up, because they got by him more than they had then lost. Thus are the world and its sentiments governed by interest.

And David took all the flocks, and the herds,.... Which they had taken from the land of the Philistines, or which belonged to the Amalekites properly: which they drave before those other cattle; which had been carried from Ziklag; first went the spoil taken from other places, and then those taken from David and his men, or what was found at Ziklag.

We have earlier gathered spoil for ourselves out of David's behavior in the hour of his sorrow at Ziklag and we will now turn to the other side of this leaf in his history and receive instruction from the time of his victory. But we must not do this till we have refreshed our memories with the story of his conduct under distress. When he came to the city he found it burned with fire, the property of himself and his comrades carried away and what was worse, all their wives and their sons and their daughters gone into captivity.

We have earlier gathered spoil for ourselves out of David's behavior in the hour of his sorrow at Ziklag and we will now turn to the other side of this leaf in his history and receive instruction from the time of his victory. But we must not do this till we have refreshed our memories with the story of his conduct under distress. When he came to the city he found it burned with fire, the property of himself and his comrades carried away and what was worse, all their wives and their sons and their daughters gone into captivity. In the madness of their grief the people turned upon their leader, as if he had led them into this calamity. He was the only calm person among them, for he "encouraged himself in the Lord his God." With due deliberation he waited upon the Lord and consulted the oracle through the appointed priest and then, under Divine guidance he pursued the bandits, took them by surprise, recovered all of his people's goods and captured a large booty which the Amalekites had collected elsewhere. David, who had been the chief object of the people's mutiny and the leader of the successful pursuit of the robbers, most properly received a special portion of the spoil and concerning it the words of our text were spoken, "This is David's spoil." We shall now look into this victorious act on the part of David with the view of finding spiritual teaching in it. David may be regarded as a very special type of our Lord Jesus Christ. Among the personal types David holds a leading place—for in so many points he is the Prophetic foreshadowing of the great and glorious Son of David. Whenever David acts as the man after God's own heart, he is the picture and emblem of the One who is still more after God's own heart— even the Christ of God. David, under Divine guidance, pursued the Amalekites who had come as thieves to smite and to burn and carry away captives.

The meaning is, “and David took all the sheep and oxen which the Amalekites drove” (i. e. had in their possession) “before that acquisition of cattle” (namely, before what they took in their raid to the south), “and they” (the people) “said, This is David’s spoil.” This was his share as captain of the band (compare Jdg 8:24-26). All the other plunder of the camp - arms, ornaments, jewels, money, clothes, camels, accoutrements, and so on - was divided among the little army. David’s motive in choosing the sheep and oxen for himself was to make presents to his friends in Judah 1Sa 30:26-31.