David at Ziklag

The Prayer of David at Ziklag

The Ephod in the Bible Event

Welcome to our Christianity Oasis Daily Bread study program. This is our The Prayer of David at Ziklag and the Ephod in the Bible study on God's Love and how the absolutely awesome Prayer of David at Ziklag message affects your be-YOU-tiful Christian walk.

The Prayer of David at Ziklag Story
The Ephod in the Bible Explained

It's so exciting to have you back with me at Daily Bread. At the end of our last chapter, Achish, king of Gath, told David that the leaders of his army didn't have confidence that David wouldn't be a traitor to the Philistines for his own benefit and make amends with Saul over the matter.

Now when David and his men arrived back in Ziklag, they discovered the Amalekites had invaded the south, including Ziklag. They attacked Ziklag, burned it, and taken the women who they held as captives. They didn't kill any of them, but took every woman, young and old, and left.

When David and his men saw that their town was burned and their wives and sons and daughters were gone, they screamed and cried until they couldn't cry anymore. David's two wives were both taken captive (Abigail and Ahinoam). David was greatly troubled because his people talked about stoning him since they all lost their wives, sons, and daughters as well. But David found strength in the Lord his God.

The Prayer of David at Ziklag Lesson
The Ephod in the Bible Power

There are two different perspectives we can look at here. One being David's, and the other being the view of his people. The people decided to place the blame on David ... So they were gonna kill him. Before we think that's way too extreme, let's examine our own lives and how we react to major problems that we're faced with. How often do we act like these people had acted?

We get unbearable news, and instead of knowing TWT (that is ... Time will tell), trusting in God ... Or even planning a rescue (Hello? Did anyone else want to run and save their loved ones?), we immediately want to assign blame and act in extremes. (I would say killing someone would be an extreme, wouldn't you?) Instead of looking for someone to blame, we may want to spend some time praying for a solution.

At either rate ...

David's perspective now ... He's going through the exact same thing everyone else is going through, but with the added bonus of all his closest friends and his mighty men want to kill him! But, what does a man of God do? He runs to the Lord! He finds the strength that he does not have, in the Lord. He doesn't try to place the blame on someone else (even though it wasn't his fault), or retaliate, or try to run away and hide ... He simply ... Prays to God. Wow.

The Prayer of David at Ziklag Study
The Ephod in the Bible Prophecy

In fact, you can read what David wrote about this very happening, in Psalm 56! Now that, folks, is how it's done ... Praise, supplication, trust and thanks!

So, David says to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, "Please, bring me the ephod." (Remember that Daily Bread Crumb we had a few Chapters ago, that an ephod is a garment the priests wore to assist in asking for guidance from the Lord.) Abiathar brought David the ephod and David used it to ask the Lord if he should go after the troops that invaded Ziklag and overtake them?

The Lord responded, "Definitely go after them and overtake them because without fail, you will recover everyone that was taken captive."

So David took 600 men and they started on their journey and approached the brook Besor, but some stayed behind. David then continued with 400 men, and 200 men stayed behind because they were too weak to cross the brook.

The Prayer of David at Ziklag Truth
The Ephod in the Bible is God's Answer

David's men then ran across an Egyptian man in the fields and brought him to David. They gave him bread and something to drink. They also gave him fig cakes and raisins which helped the man regain his strength and spirit since it had been 3 days since he had anything to eat or drink.

David asked the man, "Who are you? Where are you from?"

The man responded, "I'm from Egypt, a servant to an Amalekite but my master left me because I got sick 3 days ago. We invaded the south of the Cherethites, and Judah's coast, and the south of Caleb. And we also burned down Ziklag."

... Uh oh ...

David asked him, "Can you bring me to the rest of your people?" The man responded, "If you swear by God that you won't kill me nor tell my master where I am, then I will show you where they are." He led David to where they were all scattered over the land eating, drinking, and dancing because of the vast amount of plunder they had taken from the Philistine territory and out of Judah.

The Prayer of David at Ziklag Teaching
The Ephod in the Bible Discussion

David and his men killed everyone there through the night and into the evening of the next day. No one escaped except four hundred young men that got away on camels ...

Camels?? ... One might think that camels are extremely sloooowww ... But why do we think that? We don't believe giraffes to be slow, and most have seen on those National Geographic specials that even herds of elephants are pretty swift when they're stampeding, so maybe camels have their moments of light footedness too.

At either rate, David was able to recover all that was taken from his town and yes, safely recovered his two wives. Nothing was lost ... David and his men recovered everything that was taken. They rounded up all the flocks and herds and drove them on ahead and David's men said, "These all belong to David now as his reward."

The Prayer of David at Ziklag and Faith
The Ephod in the Bible Was Right

They approached the brook Besor on their way back, and the 200 men who stayed behind because they were too exhausted to go further. David went up and greeted them. But certain men of the group said to David, "Because they weren't with us, let's not give them anything we recovered. We'll give them back their wives, and sons, and daughters, and then make them leave."

David responded, "We're not doing that. We're not going to be selfish with what the Lord has given us. He has kept us safe and led us to victory. Who do you think is going to listen to you about this matter? We're on the same team. Some fight in battle, and some guard the stuff." From that day on, David made it a law for Israel and it is still followed today (at least at the time of the writing of the First Book of Samuel, it was).

When David arrived back in Ziklag, he gave some of the belongings he recovered to the elders of Judah and to his friends, telling them, "Here is a gift for you taken from the Lord's enemies." The gifts were sent to the leaders of the following towns where David and his men had been: Bethel, South Ramoth, Jattir, Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa, Rachal, Jerahmeelites, Kenites, Hormah, Chor-ashan, Athach, and Hebron.

The Prayer of David at Ziklag Summary
The Ephod in the Bible Conclusion

Did you notice that when the Lord blessed David, David blessed others. He paid it forward. He didn't keep all the wealth to himself ... A good thing for us to practice as well.

You absolutely must come back very soon to see what happens next in the life of David, and I'm honored to share it with you together, right here at Daily Bread!

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