There Was an Egyptian

All of the scripture in today’s story comes from the New Living Translation of the Holy Bible.¹

“I am an Egyptian…” 1 Samuel 30:13 (NLT)

Three days wandering in the wilderness, the young Egyptian was sick, hungry, thirsty, and alone. But he wasn’t really alone. God saw him and made him a part of His great plan.

Like Hagar, Rahab and Naaman, God proved His love and concern for the Egyptians—every nation, tribe, and tongue.

The tragedies of life can be mystifying. We don’t understand why or how some things happen.

The young Egyptian wasn’t looking for David’s God when their paths crossed. He was a slave of David’s enemy. He was dumped in the wilderness like a piece of garbage, not worth reclaiming.

The young Egyptian was too tired and weak to be afraid when he saw what looked like a hoard to him. In fact, it was six hundred men approaching. He had nowhere to hide in the vast wilderness. He must have assumed that death was near.

God often causes people’s paths and the events of life to collide in order to fulfill His perfect plan. This was one of those times.

David and his men had been on the run from King Saul for a long time. The bitter jealousy in Saul became deadly when David took down the mighty Philistine, Goliath, with a simple sling and stone.

Now David was returning to Ziklag, (1 Samuel 30) a town given to him by the Philistines. He discovered his two wives, along with everyone else, had been kidnapped. There were no signs of death, but the town was pillaged and burned.

The six hundred men must have considered this the breaking point of serving David and living on the run like fugitives.

David was now in great danger because all his men were very bitter about losing their sons and daughters, and they began to talk of stoning him. 1 Samuel 30:6 (NLT)

But David found strength in the Lord his God.

David’s response was exactly the right thing. He prayed. He sought God.

Then David asked the Lord, “Should I chase after this band of raiders? Will I catch them?” And the Lord told him, “Yes, go after them. You will surely recover everything that was taken from you!”

We aren’t told in scripture who was the first to spot the stranded Egyptian.

Along the way they found an Egyptian man in a field and brought him to David. They gave him some bread to eat and water to drink.  They also gave him part of a fig cake and two clusters of raisins, for he hadn’t had anything to eat or drink for three days and nights. Before long, his strength returned.

Do you see God’s kindness in the tragedies of David and his men and a pagan Egyptian slave?

It is so easy to be angry or overwhelmed with sadness in times of loss. We can be like the Egyptian, hungry, destitute, and impoverished—and God sees.

Maybe one day we will meet the Egyptian in Heaven. I hope so. But he may have simply been happy to be fed and given water and rest. He may have rejected God’s grace. Who knows, but God?

We don’t know any more than this passage tells us. But we know that God cares about the lost. God saved this young man’s physical life and at the same time used his plight to guide David to the captors of his people.

God could have delivered that enemy to David in any other way.

But He saw the Egyptian.

He sees all of mankind. He isn’t watching from a distance like a tyrant playing chess with helpless people’s lives.

The Egyptian wasn’t a slave because God saw him as less. He was a slave because human beings sinned against God when slavery was constructed by wicked hearts.

David was not perfect just because he walked with God. God chose him, yet David broke God’s moral law by having two wives. Polygamy came from sinful hearts.

God loves all people. He just does not force Himself on wicked people who reject Him.

 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

John 3:17 (NLT)

Let’s take a look at the conversation between David and the Egyptian.

“To whom do you belong, and where do you come from?” David asked him.

“I am an Egyptian—the slave of an Amalekite,” he replied. “My master abandoned me three days ago because I was sick. We were on our way back from raiding the Kerethites in the Negev, the territory of Judah, and the land of Caleb, and we had just burned Ziklag.” 

“Will you lead me to this band of raiders?” David asked.

Don’t you want to know how the story resolves?

Open your Bible to 1 Samuel 30:16-31

It’s only 15 verses. God’s Word will not disappoint.

Then share the compelling, true stories from God’s Word in your world.

Hagar Genesis 16, 17 & 21

Rahab Joshua 2-6

Naaman 2 Kings 5

1. New Living Translation (NLT)Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. ↩︎