שמואל א, פרק ל׳, פסוק א׳

After a long and exhausting military campaign, soldiers expect to find rest and the comforting embrace of their families upon returning home. Instead, David and his men arrive to find their city completely destroyed and entirely emptied of its inhabitants, the devastating result of a vengeful enemy attack.

The soldiers arrive on the third day, which marks the exact amount of time that had passed since they departed Ziklag, marched alongside Achish, the king of Gath, to the war in Jezreel, and journeyed back [מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ, אברבנאל]. During this extended absence, the city was left vulnerable, inhabited only by women and children [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Seizing the opportunity, the Amalekites spread out across the region with the primary goal of taking spoils [מצודת ציון]. Their raid targeted the south. The primary approach among commentators is that this refers to a general collection of southern territories, including the regions belonging to Caleb and the Cherethites [מצודת דוד, מלבי״ם, אברבנאל]. Emphasizing the attack on these specific Israelite areas is important, as this aggression is exactly what ultimately provoked David to pursue the raiders [אברבנאל]. Alternatively, there is a viewpoint suggesting that this southern target might not refer to a general region at all, but rather to a specific city bearing that name [רד״ק].

A natural question arises regarding how the Amalekites knew to target Ziklag specifically. David had always been careful to leave no survivors during his own raids to maintain strict secrecy. However, the Amalekites persistently interrogated neighboring populations until they discovered the exact origin of the forces that had been attacking them. Despite the fact that David had previously killed many of their people, God granted special protection to David and his men. Because of His intervention, the Amalekites did not massacre the inhabitants in retaliation, but instead only took them away as captives [רד״ק].

Although the invaders violently struck the city, this does not imply the murder of its residents. Rather, it describes the physical conquest of the area, the tearing down of its buildings, and the overall ruin of the settlement [רד״ק, אברבנאל, מלבי״ם, מצודת דוד]. The invaders made a deliberate choice to burn the city to the ground, driven by a clear motive of revenge and deterrence. Because David had used the city as a military base to launch campaigns that devastated Amalekite territory, they completely incinerated it to ensure he could never return and use it as a stronghold again [אברבנאל, מלבי״ם].