1. Samuel 30:17

David surprised them in the midst of their security, and smote them from the evening twilight till the evening of the next day, so that no one escaped, with the exception of four hundred young men, who fled upon camels. Nesheph signifies the evening twilight here, not the dawn, - a meaning which is not even sustained by Job 7:4. The form מחרתם appears to be an adverbial formation, like יומם.

When David was dismissed from the army of the Philistines he did not go over to the camp of Israel, but, being expelled by Saul, observed an exact neutrality, and silently retired to his own city Ziklag, leaving the armies ready to engage. Now here we are told, I. What a melancholy posture he found the city in, all laid waste by the Amalekites, and what distress it occasioned him and his men (Sa1 30:1-6). II. What course he took to recover what he had lost. He enquired of God, and took out a commission from him (Sa1 30:7, Sa1 30:8), pursued the enemy (Sa1 30:9, Sa1 30:10), gained intelligence from a straggler (Sa1 30:11-15), attacked and routed the plunderers (Sa1 30:16, Sa1 30:17), and recovered all that they had carried off (Sa1 30:18-20). III. What method he observed in the distribution of the spoil (Sa1 30:21-31).

30:17 The total number of Amalekite raiders must have been quite large if 400 young men escaped.