“The following are those men who came to David at Ziklag. He could not move about freely because of Saul son of Kish. They were among the mighty warriors who helped him in war. They were archers. They could shoot arrows and sling stones with either the right or the left hand.”
Now this biblical author shows David in distress. King Saul was after him. This author does not even call Saul king, but refers to him as the son of Kish. However, David was able to attract a number of mighty warriors, especially skilled archers and sling shot specialists who could use either hand. David was at Ziklag, which is a town that originally was part of both Judah and Simeon in southern Judah, southeast of Gaza. Actually, according to 1 Samuel, chapter 27, David got the town of Ziklag as a residence from the Philistines, who had control of it. When David went with the Philistines to fight King Saul, the Amalekites sacked Ziklag, but he routed them in 1 Samuel, chapter 30. It was there that he found out about the death of King Saul at Gilboa at the hand of the Philistines.