1 Samuel 30 Saul should have done it.

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
1 Samuel 30:9 David and the six hundred men with him came to the Besor Valley, where some stayed behind. 10 Two hundred of them were too exhausted to cross the valley, but David and the other four hundred continued the pursuit.

11 They found an Egyptian in a field and brought him to David. They gave him water to drink and food to eat— 12 part of a cake of pressed figs and two cakes of raisins. He ate and was revived, for he had not eaten any food or drunk any water for three days and three nights.

13 David asked him, “Who do you belong to? Where do you come from?”

He said, “I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me when I became ill three days ago. 14 We raided the Negev of the Kerethites, some territory belonging to Judah and the Negev of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag.”

15 David asked him, “Can you lead me down to this raiding party?”

He answered, “Swear to me before God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master, and I will take you down to them.”

16 He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating, drinking and reveling because of the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah. 17 David fought them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled. 18 David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back. 20 He took all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, “This is David’s plunder.”​

This is from Bible.org.

The trail is indeed cold. It seems that David and his men do not even know who the raiders are. (We are told in verse 1, but David and his men seem to learn this information in verses 13-14.) David and his men must being to wonder what direction their pursuit should take. At this critical moment, they just “happen” to come across a man who has been left half-dead in a field. The man is so weak he cannot talk. It may seem to some that this is a “waste of time” for David and his men to stop and render aid to this man. Whether this is out of pure compassion (making David a kind of good Samaritan), their efforts are well rewarded. It takes bread and water, then a piece of fig cake and raisins to bring this man back to life, since he has gone three days and nights without either food or water.​

There was no longer any need to try to track this raiding party. Thanks to the Egyptian slave whom they revived, they would now be guided to the Amalekite camp. David and his men arrive at the raiders’ camp to find the Amalekites totally vulnerable. After all, the Philistines (along with David and his men, they suppose), and the Israelites are far away to the north at war. Who would come after them? They enjoy a successful mission, and now they are home where they can indulge themselves with the fruits of their victories. The Amalekites are “spread over all the land” (verse 16), implying that they are not tightly assembled, which would be the best defensive posture. (In the western movies, a wagon train always circled the wagons when under attack, placing the women and children inside the circle.) If the expression “divide and conquer” is true, these folks had already divided themselves by spreading out. On top of this, the Amalekites are eating and drinking and dancing. In short, they are too drunk to stand up straight, much less fight.

This is from gotquestions.org.

Unlike us, God knows the future. God knew what the results would be if Israel did not completely eradicate the Amalekites. If Israel did not carry out God’s orders, the Amalekites would come back to trouble the Israelites in the future. Saul claimed to have killed everyone but the Amalekite king Agag (1 Samuel 15:20). Obviously, Saul was lying—just a couple of decades later, there were enough Amalekites to take David and his men’s families captive. After David and his men attacked the Amalekites and rescued their families, 400 Amalekites escaped. If Saul had fulfilled what God had commanded him, this never would have occurred. Several hundred years later, a descendant of Agag, Haman, tried to have the entire Jewish people exterminated (see the book of Esther). So, Saul’s incomplete obedience almost resulted in Israel’s destruction. God knew this would occur, so He ordered the extermination of the Amalekites ahead of time.

They fought from dusk to night the next day.... so the battle last over 24 hours.... and 400 Amalekites got away. It makes sense we'll hear from them again. David and his men have their families back. None of this would have been necessary if Saul had done what he was supposed to do.... but nooo.... Prettyboy Saul from the good family knew better than anyone else.... he is after all the king.

:coffee:
 
Top