Deep down in the caverns of 1 Samuel, towards the end of the never-ending chase between Saul and David, there is a story with hidden gospel power that needs to be rediscovered.
The king-in-waiting comes to Ziklag to spend time with family and friends when another crisis emerges (1 Sam. 30). A band of Amalekites had raided Ziklag, taking captive women and children, including David’s wives. After gaining divine approval via the ephod, David sets off in hot pursuit, and with the providential help of an Egyptian, catches the Amalekites by surprise, recovering all the spoils (v.18–20).
It sounds like a familiar ‘God-gives-us-victory-over-our-enemies’ Old Testament narrative, but it has an unusual ending. On his way to the Amalekites, David had to leave behind 200 men who were too tired to continue into the battle, and when he returns to them, some men in his army protest: ‘Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoils that we have recovered’ (1 Sam. 30:22).
David intervenes, emphasising that God had given them victory: ‘You shall not do so my brothers, with what the Lord has given us. He has preserved us and given into our hands the band that came against us’ (v.23). In other words, David’s kingdom was going to operate on grace, not merit. The fighting men had been given victory by the Lord and should not begrudge others from sharing in the spoils.
The spoils would be shared out among the men who were too exhausted to continue, as well as those who fought, and David even sends some of the spoils to those who weren’t in his army at all – ‘He sent part of the spoil to his friends, the elders of Judah’ (v.26).
God’s kingdom is not based on merit, but grace. Every believer will share in the spoils of Calvary, regardless of how much or how little they were able to do for Christ in their lives.
Believers whose lives have been marked by major seasons of doubt will share in the spoils. Saints who have been limited by health struggles or mental and emotional turmoil that prevented them from great activity in the kingdom, will share in the spoils. Those who came to Christ late in life and regret the ‘years that the locusts have eaten’, will share in the spoils of Calvary.
That is the scandal of amazing grace. And if we ever doubted it, the story of the thief on the cross will put us right. One of the most retrograde men of his generation, hanging on a cross because, by his own admission, he deserved it, simply looked to Christ with his dying breath and said: ‘Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’
That thief would never have passed a membership interview in my church. He had never been baptised and hadn’t spent even a moment serving Christ or battling with sin. And yet Jesus uttered those scandalous words of grace: ‘Today you will be with me in paradise.’ His ‘last-minute’ look to an all-sufficient Saviour, gained him paradise. Of course there will be different rewards given out for faithful service, but however we fare at the awards ceremony will not make paradise any less paradise for ‘last minute converts’.
And if any of us begrudge grace being shown to undeserving sinners, Jesus will say: ‘The grace that saved you, and enabled you to serve me, is just as amazing, just as full and free and undeserved, as the grace that saved that wretch.’ This is the gospel. Let’s keep the sweet song of grace alive in our hearts as we serve King Jesus today, and let’s keep sharing that grace with others.
(Picture Caption: 1 Samuel 30:21 says the 200 exhausted men were left at Wadi Besor. Today, Wadi Gaza and the Besor Stream are parts of a river system in the Gaza Strip and Negev region of Palestine and Israel. Between 1951 and 1954, the Yeruham Dam (pictured above) was built on one of the tributaries of the HaBesor Stream.)
