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Chapter 30 shows that even though David is no longer obligated to the Philistines, He finds himself unable to go with the army of Saul. When David returned to his home they find out that the Amalekites had raided Ziklag and burned it to the ground.
Who were the Amalekites? They were descendants of Esau. They were called the "first of the nations". They occupied the desert south of Judah and east of the Wilderness of Zin. They were eternal enemies of Israel and they had attacked them during their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness (Deut. 25) Joshua had defeated them at Reph-i-dim (Ex. 17) and Gideon also defeated them in Judges 6 and 7. Saul had recently defeated them but failed to destroy them. They are referred to as "the people from the south". Samuel cut the King of the Amalekites into pieces in I Samuel 15. So we have a long period of conflict, about 275 years, between the Amalekites and Israel.
So David when he got home discovered that the Amalekites had been there and burned the village to the ground and made off with all the women and children. Notice how the men reacted to this. They wept until they could weep no more. Then they determined that it was David's fault and began talking about killing him. David called for the Priest Abithar and asked him to come and bring the "ephod". The ephod was an apron like garment worn under the breastplate by the priest. It housed the "Urim" which were small stones used in the "casting of lots" to determine God's will in a matter.
When the Priest arrived with the ephod, David asked him to ask the Lord two questions. One, shall I go after the Amalekites and two, will I catch them? The Lord answered, presumably by the "casting of Lots", yes to both questions. "You will catch them and recover all that was taken from you." So David and his 600 men went after the Amalekites.
When they reached the Besor Brook, 200 of his men were too tired to cross. They had "forced marched" for about 30 miles. The Besor Brook was probably a tributary of the River of Egypt. It was deep and would require swimming while you carried your armament. This cut David's army down to 400 men. What was the Lord doing to David? He was testing him. There were 1,000s of Amalekites, now he only had 400 men. Would he continue on or would he turn back? Would he insist that the 200 men continue or would he "consider their frame". While testing David, the Lord also aided him. Aid came in the form of a half-dead Egyptian boy. The boy had fallen by the wayside and had been left to die by his Amalekite master. He had nothing to eat or drink for 3 days. David gave him water and food and his strength returned.
Then David asked the boy who he was. After explaining who he was David asked him if he could tell them where the Amalekites were. The boy said that he could if David would swear not to kill him or give him back to the Amalekites. David agreed so the boy led them to the Amalekite encampment.
The Amalekites were eating and drinking and did not expect the arrival of David. David and his men rushed in and slaughtered all of the Amalekites accept 400 who escaped on camels. Then they recovered all that the Amalekites had taken from them plus other loot which the Amalekites had taken from other cities that they had destroyed.
Then David returned back to the brook where they had left the 200 men and when they arrived there, those who had fought did not want to share the loot with those who had remained behind, but David declared that they would share and share alike.
When they returned home, David sent some of the loot to the Elders of Judah.
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