But David answered
My brothers, you can't do this with what the Lord has given us! He kept us safe and gave us victory over the raiders. No one can agree with what you say!
All must share alike: whoever stays behind with the supplies gets the same share as the one who goes into battle.”
1 Samuel 30:23-24 GNT
Let's back track a little (I encourage us to read the whole chapter).
So, David and his men returned from battle and saw their families had been taken captive.
As they ventured on the rescue, majority of the men stayed back and the few that went with David, after recovering their families and extra loot, were being stingy with the loot. They asked that only the families of the stay home soldiers be returned to them.
Honestly, I used to think that way too; if you didn't render any help in this situation, how do you expect to reap from it? Well, there are 2 things we will pick from David's response:
He recognised that it was God who gave them the loot: When we realize that it's God that owns it all and we are only stewards, we would be more generous with what we have.
He pointed out the fact that the ones who stayed back played a part; they watched over home base while others went into battle: Always find a reason to be generous and share, no matter how flimsy.
