1 Samuel 30:21

And David came to the two hundred men, which were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they had made also to abide at the brook Besor: and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him: and when David came near to the people, he saluted them.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
David	דָוִ֗ד da.Vid	H1732	David · proper noun, a man's name
came	וַיָּבֹ֣א vai.ya.Vo'	H935	to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
hundred	מָאתַ֨יִם ma.Ta.yim	H3967	a hundred · noun, common feminine dual absolute
men	הָאֲנָשִׁ֜ים ha.'a.na.Shim	H582	a man in general (singly or collectively) · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
faint	פִּגְּר֣וּ pi.ge.Ru	H6296	to relax · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person common plural
follow	יָלַךְ yâlak	H3212	to walk (literally or figuratively)
David

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Judges 8:15 And he came unto the men of Succoth, and said, Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, with whom ye did upbraid me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Za…
1 Samuel 30:10 But David pursued, he and four hundred men: for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.
Hebrews 13:1 Let brotherly love continue.
1 Peter 3:8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 30:21–end

We have here an account of the distribution of the spoil which as taken from the Amalekites. When the Amalekites had carried away a rich booty from the land of Judah and the Philistines they spent it in sensuality, in eating, and drinking, and making merry with it; but David disposed of the spoil taken after another manner, as one that knew that justice and charity must govern us in the use we make of whatever we have in this world. What God gives us he designs we should do good with, not serve our lusts with. In the distribution of the spoil, I. David was just and kind to those who abode by the stuff. They came forth to meet the conquerors, and to congratulate them on this success, though t…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 30:21

David came to the two hundred men, which were so faint that they could not follow--This unexpected accession of spoil was nearly proving an occasion of quarrel through the selfish cupidity of some of his followers, and serious consequences might have ensued had they not been prevented by the prudence of the leader, who enacted it as a standing ordinance--the equitable rule--that all the soldiers should share alike (see Num 31:11; see on Num 31:25).

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 30:20

And David took all the flocks - He and his men not only recovered all their own property, but they recovered all the spoil which these Amalekites had taken from the south of Judah, the Cherethites, and the south of Caleb. When this was separated from the rest, it was given to David, and called David's spoil.

John Gill on 1 Samuel 30:21

And David came to the two hundred men,.... Left at the brook Besor: who were so faint that they could not follow David; or, as the Targum, were restrained from going over after him; either through faintness of spirits, and weakness of body, or through the order of David that they should not follow him; and which seems to receive some countenance from what follows: whom they had made also to abide at the brook Besor; to guard the passage there, and to tarry by and keep the stuff: and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him; to congratulate them upon the victory they had obtained, and to see and receive their wives and children, and what portion of the spoil…

The Church Fathers

David came to the two hundred men, etc. After the victory over the plunderers, David equally enriched those who were weary and stayed behind, with those who fought, with a share of the spoils. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom (Jerem. IX). We cannot all do everything. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Yet all laboring at different times in the same vineyard of the Lord, will receive the same denarius of life in contemplating the image of the supreme king.
— Bede, Commentary on Samuel

Let there be no special food for anyone working in the kneading room. Let the food be the same for everyone, for those who bake and those who are appointed to any task, in accordance with what was established from the beginning by the father of the koinōnia, Apa, to whom God entrusted this great calling. If other fathers who have succeeded him have made canons granting special food to the bakers, they did so after Moses' manner, as we have learned in the Gospel that says, "Because of your hardness of heart, Moses has allowed you to repudiate your wives, but in the beginning it was not like this." If, for some light fatigue, a man separates himself from his brother and differs from him in his food more than do those who are to leave for the harvest or for any other task at which they will have to endure the heat, let us not allow the brothers who have been appointed for any other task in the community to eat with these, since they have not set out to endure the heat and to work strenuously.On the contrary, the unity of the koinōnia consists in a like measure for all, according to the saints' way of doing; thus David approached those who had not gone to war and spoke to them peacefully, giving them a share of the spoils equal to that received by those who had gone to war with him. He did not listen to those who were wicked and said, "We will not share with them." The Lord taught us likewise in the Gospel by the parable, when those who had "borne the weight of the day and the heat murmured, saying, 'Why have you treated us like those who have worked only an hour?' " They, too, heard the reproach, "Is your eye evil because I am good?"
— Oresiesis-Heru-sa Ast, REGULATIONS 2.48

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Besor — Cold, a ravine or brook in the extreme south-west of Judah, where 200 of David’s men stayed behind because they were faint, while the other 400 pursued the Amalekites (1 Sam. 30:9, 10, 21). Probably…
Besor, The Brook — (cool), a torrent-bed or wady in the extreme south of Judah. (1 Samuel 30:9,10,21)
Robbery — Practised by the Ishmaelites (Gen. 16:12), the Chaldeans and Sabeans (Job 1:15, 17), and the men of Shechem (Judg. 9:25. See also 1 Sam. 27:6-10; 30; Hos. 4:2; 6:9). Robbers infested Judea in our…
Besor · A brook near Gaza — A brook near Gaza
Salutations · Were given: By superiors to inferiors — Were given: By superiors to inferiors
Travellers · Generally halted at wells or streams — Generally halted at wells or streams

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

1 Samuel 30:21

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 30:21–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 30:21

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 30:20

John Gill on 1 Samuel 30:21

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

1 Samuel 30:21

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 30:21–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 30:21

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 30:20

John Gill on 1 Samuel 30:21

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 30:21–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Samuel 30:21-31

Rashi on 1 Samuel 30:20