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Then all the wicked and worthless men among those who went with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away and depart.” 1 Samuel 30:22 NASB
Wicked and worthless – What collection do you belong to? That’s the question behind this unusual description of David’s men. We often think that David chose only those who were true servants of the Most High God. We imagine that God Himself selected David’s warriors with special attention to their spiritual acumen. But this verse says otherwise. It says that David’s army was made up of men whose attitudes were essentially selfish. At least that’s the way the translation appears. Time to take a deeper look.
The Hebrew here is kal ‘is-ra ubeliyya’al. Literally, “every man evil and good for nothing.” While this can be translated “all the wicked and worthless,” notice that the Hebrew concentrates on each man (the singular ‘is) in the collective (kol). The text does not treat these men as a group. It emphasizes the individual character of every man in this group. Each one of these men was ra and beliyya’al. Each one of these men expressed contempt for those who did not go to the battle. Each one thought of himself first. And yet God used them all.
The reaction of these men is perfectly understandable, isn’t it? We might feel the same way. “Hey, they didn’t put in as much effort as we did. Why should they share in the spoils?” We believe in the law of performance—you get what you earn. That law fails to recognize God’s involvement in every human action, and the failure to recognize this divine involvement is why each of these men was evil and useless. Every one of David’s army experienced God’s favor. No man succeeded without the intervention of God. Therefore, not a single one of these men could claim victory on his own. What makes these particular men wicked and worthless has nothing to do with their battle prowess. It has everything to do with their evaluation of the results. They demonstrate a disregard for God’s sovereignty after the fact. They went to battle full of courage. They fought valiantly. They won. And they thought, “We did it.” They were wrong. That attitude of self-sufficiency caused them to discount the men who did not accompany them into battle. By overlooking the hand of the Lord, they showed themselves incapable of true compassion.
David’s reaction reminds us of a parable. Yeshua describes the attitude of kal ‘is-ra ubeliyya’al who claim that because they worked all day, they should be paid more than those who worked only one hour. What was the point of this parable? God is sovereign. David recognized that fact centuries before Yeshua’s story. “Wicked and worthless” does not describe reprobate sinners here. It describes those who fail to see God’s hand in their victories. I wonder where that leaves us.
Topical Index: kal ‘is-ra ubeliyya’al, wicked and worthless, sovereignty, 1 Samuel 30:22
Comparison me to them as far as I’m concerned God first seek God first all my heart mind and strength and along with his kingdom and his righteousness everything else his loss does that mean I’m perfect? No I just get back up see what I did wrong repent and do my best next time. Holding close to the treasure that is in my heart. These men did not even go for the gusto it seems like they weren’t even selfish it was just one battle at the time what’s mine is mine what’s yours is yours like you said selfish. It would be hard to go around killing people in battle and have compassion yet true compassion looks at the heart of the matter does not see the person as a sinner but Caesars in that is in them that’s where the true battle is and each of us knowing god serving him.
To clear the confusion of that last line I’d we do not see person has a sinner but we do see the sin that is in them. Hope that clears things up
Division comes in so subtle and sounds so right at the moment. It’s so deceptive, I’m not sure we can determine whether it’s willing or not most of the time, but I love how David addresses the issue. He was just as apt to lose the 4 hundred as the 2 hundred, never mind the heart of the people, but he pressed unity in purpose, even over personal loss. Always seem to be one finger flick away from the dominoes falling in succession, thank you Lord, for your staying hand of mercy.
Robert, are you not the person who is praying for my cooking skills? Pray harder, another dismal week end in the kitchen produced a few lovely dishes that all tasted like salt. ?
Thank you.
I have learnt that prayer is only answered when it is for wisdom… And wisdom is explained as a life talent. Be it craftsmanship or scholarship or following or leading. Then I was reminded we need to practice harder to gain a skill which is not naturally ours…
So no harder praying will help but rather more focussed input.
My daughter discovered the other day she can cook an excellent dish when she remains by the stove and does what the recipe says rather than trying to add her pinch of insight.
A biblical lesson we can take from this blog and add to our daily way of doing.
Bcp thanks for the comment it got me reflecting on what I can do to improve…
I’m not sure about your idea that restricts wisdom to a life talent. That doesn’t seem to be the range of the word in Hebrew. But I appreciate your point. Here’s the interesting consequence. If Solomon is the wisest man who ever lived (since he had a DIVIVE gift of wisdom), then how is it that he made such tragic mistakes? This is the topic of a book I am trying to write. It seems to me that Solomon’s wisdom lacked something every important, something that was denied him regardless of the divine gift.
Skip, yes I would would be limiting the full application of what God intended…
BUT Maybe the missing part was Solomon’s ability to apply. We are all often caught in this fleshly trap, I know, I have insight so I share or advice, but seldom do I actually do.
Solomon had everything but the full gift of Christ the wisdom and POWER of God. Having half the gift does not make us complete.
As Moses had and shared all the knowledge he also did not have the fullness of Christ.
Yeshua on the other hand acknowledge that wisdom and power without knowledge will not suffice so he also consulted the one with all the knowledge – Moses.
It may be for this reason that Yeshua was proclaimed the image of God. Knowledge, Wisdom and Power in complete harmony while on earth…
Not only one ingredient of the fullness of God. But all mixed and used correctly. The WORD. The SPIRIT and The DEED.
Just my 2 cents Skip.
Seeker, I have been meditating on power lately, and think I have boiled it down to an act of the will. As in WILLPOWER. The gift of the Spirit, then, is to know the will of the Father, and the ability to choose what He chooses. I don’t think it is like some electrical energy or genie in a bottle that we can then spend any way we choose.
The power from on high that descended on the ones praying in that upper room at Pentecost was the gift of the understanding of the will of the Father. It was received because those recipients had just spent 10 days doing nothing but emptying themselves of their own wills. They were correctly lined up with heaven. The power from on high is that Will (which is the power that runs the universe, no less) and is the first (most important) thing we are shown to ask for in that model prayer, the Lord’s Prayer.
Willpower is motive force, for it is the essence of purpose, or, intention, which powers all choice and makes it efficacious. The will of heaven is what is running the entire show, and we were created to be a part of it! To line up with that Will is to line up correctly with everything else! It was the power that Yeshua repeatedly said that He ran on, and promised that we could, too. Everything else descends from that. I know I am not getting out of my driveway without it.
That is a really provocative point, Skip. I wonder if all the gifts and interactions with the Source of love – which is that Throne – don’t have the characteristics of love. Love is a two way street, not a one-way shot. Wisdom, then, must not only be proffered, but received and, further, met with a corresponding response. Wisdom is not some static condition (like eye color), but more like a lifeline with heaven. Solomon got to thinking he was the source, and so let go of his end of that lifeline. We hold our end of love’s line by asking with humility and receiving with gratitude, and that is not just wisdom, Seeker; I need my daily bread around here, too!
Bread to do the will of God.
Looking into the word as into a mirror, we try to see where we fit in, not where God is leading…
Seeker, don’t get me wrong, but if we do not think and act as if our every breath, roof over our heads, food put in our mouths, time given us to function in our day, etc. etc. comes from above, then we are going to be suffering from the arrogance that it came from us, or the government, or, or. Daily bread includes EVERYTHING we are needing for survival. None of it comes automatically, nor from ourselves, either.
Personally, I I run on more than just wisdom, although some mystics claim to run on pure air, (which is still a gift to be asked for, and grateful for), I don’t think your flesh and blood is there yet, and mine sure isn’t! We are nephesh, and part of our humility is to acknowledge that we live in a mortal existence. Where does the bread that you chew in your mouth come from, that is what I keep wanting to ask?
I know it is hard to come out of gnosticism, and I think we in the West must have a penchant for it built into our DNA, but we are not just spirit. We are flesh, too. As was/is Yeshua. He broke bread, and gave thanks. I presume He had also asked for it.
Dear Laurita
You are right at what you are saying. Our biggest blessing is to breath and seek forgiveness.
I am flesh and will be so till God does not permit me to inhale life again. What I do when the breath is in me is what determines if my soul is alive or not.
Attitude of gratitude and lately I must learn to be a champion at love…
Shalom
Skip,
First and foremost, you didn’t get around to answering my question. #nobitterness
Secondly, since you brought it up, Solomon was under his father’s judgement from the event of Uriah.
YHVH was clear, it was a pretty severe fallout, and frankly i’m not sure that the initial tryst was so unforgivable, it was the ensuing cover-up that resulted in the grand finale of David marrying Bathsheba (you all know the story), and the end result was the YHVH decreed that “the sword will never depart from thy house…” (i love the KJV, sorry). 2 Samuel 12:10
For the sake of brevity i won’t detail all the steps that Solomon took that inched him away from sanctification and into a dark hole that culminated in his ignominious death. Indeed, he DID start off strong, but the lure of female bodies was strong in his bloodline and it didn’t take long for him to succumb to it.
Not that having more then one wife was error for that time, but having wives that were outside the faith (read: pagan) was, for the simple reason that they would bring into a godly home an ungodly spirit. Note: it’s hard enough to live a godly lifestyle, in any time, let alone when inviting ungodliness to sleep with.
An orgasim has the same effect as cocaine on the body, and is just as addictive. Sexual magic is powerful and evidently Solomon found it to powerful to resist. 1 Kings 11 records Solomon’s heart dividing and following after Ashtoreth, the goddess of fertility. One can imagine the ‘rites’ involved in that religion.
Remember that YHVH had set down that familia judgement makes it easier to explain away, but i can’t help but wonder if David ever talked w/his kids, told them the judgement, warned them, equipped them for the battle in the that regard.
I’m thinking not.
The sins of the father’s are visited upon the 3rd and 4th generation.
David committed adultery in the flesh, his son Solomon committed spiritual adultery, one is (seemingly) more easily forgivable then the other. Additionally, David didn’t come under generational judgement, Solomon did.
The Sword divides, and each generation adds to the power, be it holy or unholy. So it was for Solomon, 1 Kings 11 records yet another judgement against David’s bloodline, this one against Solomon’s issue, YHVH even going so far as to state that for the sake of David he would not level the judgement against Solomon nor rend the kingdom from David’s line
fully, but that it would fall on the next generation.
Regarding the sword that was placed in David’s bloodline, re: 2 Samuel 12:10; it is of interest to note that Messiah stated “Do not suppose that i came to bring peace, but a sword”…the Sword obviously cuts both ways.
I know people love to venerate King Solomon, i do not, i think the greater lesson, warning, is this: One can, indeed, start out strong for YHVH, and be drawn away by lusts of the flesh, money, power, sex, place, prestige….the Sword divides wrightly, what is hidden WILL be revealed.
hmmm, this is much longer then i usually like to post, but i have tried to just stick to my points and MY train of thought(s). If you got this far, thank you so much for your forbearance.
You may wish to reconsider your exegesis of Exodus 34:7 regarding generations. The word is paqad, notoriously difficult, and, as I have written elsewhere, not support for the non-biblical idea of generational curses.
Strictly pulling from the words of YHVH, i find:
Deuteronomy 23:2 “A bastard shall not enter the house of the Lord, even unto the tenth Generation”
2 Samuel 12:10 “Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from thy house“….
1 Kings 11:12, 13 “Notwithstanding in thy days i will not do it, for David thy father’s sake; but i will rend it out of the hand of thy son“…
1 Sam 2:32 “And ALL the increase of thine house shall die in one day”…
Joshua 7:24,25 “And Joshua and all Israel with him, to Achan the son of Zerah, … and his sons and his daughters…and stoned him with stones and burnt them with fire after they had stoned them with stones….”
Strictly speaking, it reads like generational visitation to me.
look up the Hebrew word paqad
You are presuming i did not, and that i haven’t read your piece.
I guess i was presuming you were examining words and relating them to Scripture.
A split second . . .
That’s all it takes between being in the dark
and seeing the light. Remember?
So let the light born within us walk amidst this earth
fully expecting the next split second to illuminate
whosoever.
“By overlooking the hand of the Lord, they showed themselves incapable of true compassion.” Truly insightful, Skip.
We suffer from the illusion that it is all up to us, in good times, we take the credit; in bad times, well, we try to blame! By not wanting to share, even in the good times, the ones who thought the credit was theirs were, in fact, blaming the rest for not ‘earning’ any. This is a glaring example of the glitch of thinking I am somehow ‘different’ than them. If the hand of the Lord were truly seen and acknowledged correctly (“give God the glory”), the bone of the credit would not get fought over. Covetousness has its entire basis in this particular glitch. Covetousness is a base of evil for a reason: we have to separate ourselves in our identity from another before we are able to harm them. Covetousness erases the identity of another in the place where we want to have ours, and the thing I think we use the most often to try to separate ourselves from others, in our attempts to be the god (source), is that attempt to take the credit, but the question is, take it from whom? Each other? Now we are two layers of insanity in, and going for more.
Compassion has its basis in the understanding that we all share a common position; that of being dependents upon the hand of the Lord, in good times and bad. It is never up to us (whew! what a relief!). At any moment, if I can learn to see it as either giving Him the glory or trusting Him for help, I will never be outside that common experience with those around me. There is room for all under that umbrella.
Thank you Miss Hayes whenever I hear the word credit I think of the word trust and Trust equals faith and faith comes from hearing and hearing from the word of God so how shall they hear if no one preaches and how should one preach unless he is sent. Was anyone sent to the soldiers how did David encouraged them if he did even?
Yeh, but….
While i agree with your break down of those men who were described as ‘wicked and worthless’, i have to take issue with summation that all o them were, if that is what you are saying.
ALL of the men were evil and worthless? Or was there a group of men, large enough to be noted (more then one or two). Because i find it difficult to believe ALL of David’s men were ‘evil and worthless’. Seriously.
I’ve read it a few times and it still doesn’t add up for me. Your focus is the phrase “wicked and worthless’, were the words all the added in for clarity? because that phrase, all the, in my mind sets these ‘wicked and worthless’ men apart from those that held to a righteous response. Although, militarily speaking, it does seem that success breeds self confidence many times, and a movement away from YHVH.
That being said, i do agree that, regardless, no victory is one’s own, if not for YHVH, even our very breath is impossible (thank you Laurita, for that observation).
AND…with all THAT being said…are you going to address the story of David in the cave w/Saul when he snipped Saul’s garment? I’ve read some different slants on that and am very interested in yours. Thank you!
Hee. My italics worked. #justsaying #itsthelittlethings #whereiscraig
Something to think about, even if some or most of the men weren’t “wicked”, I didn’t hear of any dissent. Silence will, more often than not, identify you with others even if you’re in disagreement with them.
Seriously? In the face of wickedness, in the moment, how loud IS the dissent. And since the dissent isn’t the point of the story, again, why would it be recorded?
As someone who is accustomed to carrying the minority opinion i can affirm that more times then not, no one hears it.
Interesting to note that back in the 70 a study on human behavior revealed that 80% humans will do just what they must to survive, 13% will do a bit extra to stand out, 2.3% will go out their way to do more than required to try and benefit or assist all, while 4.7% will be these wicked and worthless that will only cater for themselves including stealing and robbing from others… The self righteous of heart.
Looking at today we may find that the 4.7% has grown to around 30% of the population. May this be the reason why we have this reminder…
Which later reveals that when the true leaders (David) took control back the just and fair intent of God prevailed , verses 23 till 25.
So man and woman of God stand up for righteousness, teach people that from the perspiration of your body and labour of your own hands you will be rewarded. That is how we show love and compassion and not by just giving or sowing the word of the bible.
Be doers not hearers and I add neither just talkers. For what does it benefit a man if he saves a multitude but his own life he fails to discipline as he proclaims..