DAVID’S BATTLES AND CONQUESTS (Chapters 18 to 20) David’s battles and building the temple: The book might have disregarded the inner controversies in the kingdom during David’s days; the tragedies of his royal family; his fall into adultery (2 Samuel 11- 12); his son Amnon’s fall with his sister Tamar; the killing Amnon by his brother Absalom, Absalom’s rebellion (2 Samuel 15-19); the opposition of some and the plots against him; etc. Yet the author confirmed that what is left in David’s portrait and in his kingdom was everything glorious and splendid; for the sake of the purity of his heart, and his serious repentance after every weakness in which he happened to fall, The three chapters (18 t0 20) dealt with David’s battles and conquests, which came in more details than in the second book of Samuel, about which we spoke in our commentary on the later book. As to the wars into which David entered, the book mentioned them to confirm that, being a man of war, it is not befitting of him to build the temple )22: 8; 28: 3). Although those wars have provided Solomon with a well-established kingdom, plus the spoils got from those wars, which were used to the expense of building the temple. The book intends to make it clear that David was a great victorious leader; who counted his continuous conquests, as not set upon his own exalted courage and cleverness, as much as they were gifts from the hand of God. That is why all the spoils that came from those wars, David dedicated to God, and not to his own account; were stored for the sake of the building of the temple. The author was perpetually preoccupied with the issue of building the temple; even while narrating the events of the wars and the battles. The first book of the Chronicles cared for the extension of David’s kingdom, his conquests over his enemies, and his awe before the nations. It was preoccupied with David’s achievements in the foreign policy, more than in the inner affairs; It did not mention his compassion toward Saul’s household; even though that did not mean disregarding the inner achievements altogether. Who Is the Leader of the battle: David or God? The book mostly dealt with the period of peace in the reign of David, which he used in moving the ark and setting it in the tabernacle in Jerusalem; preparing for the building of the temple of the Lord on all aspects. But it was not possible to keep silent regarding the military side of David’s work; As he was a symbol of the Lord Christ, who was fairer than the sons of men; but, at the same time He girds His sword upon His thigh to destroy the devil, and to take away the authority of death, and the sting of sin. Why the wars? Stirred-up by this question, the apostle James answered it in his epistle, saying: “Where do war and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and cover and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask” (James 4: 1, 2). In other words, the cause of wars is the sin lying deep in man’s heart. The way David stood up and fought against his enemies to defend his kingdom, the Christian, likewise, has bitter enemies; the spirits of evil in the high places, against whom he should fight; hence the apostle Paul exhorts us to “Put on the whole armor of God” (Ephesians 6: 11). + “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil” (Ephesians 6: 11). He did not say: against the wars, nor against the animosities, but “against the wiles”; for this enemy does not fight us openly, but through wiles, meaning, through (deception)… The devil does not present to us sins in their natural colors; but clothe them differently, using wiles. By this way, the apostle stirs-up the (spiritual) warriors, educates them, and exhorts them to watch; making it clear to them that their spiritual strife is one of the mighty wars; for we fight an enemy, who is not neither simple nor direct, but a deceptive one. At the beginning, the apostle stirred the disciples up, to take into consideration the craftiness of the devil; then talked to them about his nature and the size of his hosts. He did that, not to destroy the psyche of the spiritual warriors, but to exhort them to watch, to increase their enthusiasm, and to show them the tricky ways of their enemy; Because if he just says how huge is the number of his hosts, that would dampen their enthusiasm … But before and after that, he confirmed the possibility of conquest on such an enemy; … As much as he showed the power of the enemy, he ignited the zeal of the warriors (for the spiritual strife) “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6: 12). Speaking about how ferocious the enemies are, he added that they rob us of great blessings! … The wresting, being “in the heavenly places”; namely, It is not for the sake of riches nor of glory; but to enslave us; therefore, there is no place in it for reconciliation … Wrestling becomes more vicious the more important its object is. For the expression “in the heavenly places” means (for the sake of the heavenly places). The enemies gain nothing through their conquest upon us, but to rob us of our blessings … The devil exerts all his effort to drive us out of heaven, (St. John Chrysostom) The blessings of the spiritual wars: After the sweet fellowship which David enjoyed with God through the word, the prayer, and the praise; as is mentioned in the previous chapter, he resumed his work with love, and exalted enthusiasm, as a “conqueror and to conquer” . David’s wars presented a portrait of the spiritual blessings of the wars against the devil and sin; of which are the following: 1- Overcoming the traditional enemies, the pagan Philistines, who, for several generation, were the source of trouble for the Israelites; but David conquered them (1). … Likewise, all principalities, authorities, and adversary powers, will submit to the Son of David; and fall down before Him (3). 2- It often happens that things of this world change, leading to loss of wealth and power, when men intend to establish them; as it did occur with Hadadezer , whom David struck, as he went to establish his power (3) 3- “A horse is a vain hope for safety” That is what David says in psalm 33: 17; That is why, as it came in (Psalm 20: 7), “he hamstrung all the chariot horses” (Psalm 18: 4), and did not use them, on account of that God commanded His people that their king should not increase neither his horses, nor his wives. 4- It often happen that the enemies of the church of God destroy themselves through joining forces against her (5); as it occurred with the people of Damascus who were defeated when they came to support Hadadezer. Joining forces against the church, “God will gather them like sheaves to the threshing floor” (Micah 4: 11, 12) . 5- The sinner’s wealth are sometimes meant for the righteous; The Aramites became David’s servants, and brought tributes ((6); their shields of gold and bronze were brought to Jerusalem; and the tabernacle of meeting was built by the spoils of Egypt; and the temple was built by the spoils of wars against other nations. All that were signs of the entrance of the Gentiles into the gospel of the church. ====================== CHAPTER 18 EVEN DURING HIS WARS, DAVID WAS PREOCCUPIED WITH THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD All the acts of David reveal how much he was preoccupied with building the temple of the Lord. In all his wars, he only cared for how much gold and silver he will get; beside the tributes and taxes paid by the defeated kings; to store completely to the account of building the temple. He was preoccupied with the divine presence in every possible way. His thought was: [If I cannot build the temple, I shall at least help my son to do]. With every battle, the deposit kept for building the temple, steadily increased. … The same way, with every temptation we go through, by the grace of God, beside the conquest upon the hosts of darkness, we enjoy a new deposit to the account of the kingdom of God in us. Despite relieving the priests of military service, to concentrate on their religious ministry, we see ‘Benaiah the son of Jehoiada (16) the priest (1 Chronicles 27: 5), join the army to become one of the mighty men of valor, a chief over 24000; and a personal guard of David; who killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day (2 Samuel 23: 20). The events mentioned in chapters 18-20, historically came after David became a king (chapter 12), before bringing the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem (12-17). 1- The defeat of the Philistines 1 2- The defeat of the Moabites 2 3- The defeat of the Syrians (the Aramites) 3 - 10 4- The defeat of the Edomites, and dedicating the spoils for the Lord 11 - 12 5- Appointing governors in Edom 13 6- David’s care to provide all his people with judgment and justice 14 7- Appointments in the army, and in the governmental administrations 15 8- Appointment for the ministry of the temple 16 – 17 1- THE DEFEAT OF THE PHILISTINES: “After this it came to pass that David attacked the Philistines, subdued them, and took Gath and its towns from the hand of the Philistines” (1) David enjoyed a continuous series of conquests, since his fight while a young man against ‘Goliath’ the mighty Philistine; because the lord helped him wherever he went. According to many fathers, David’s wars against the pagan nations, and his victory over them, refer to the work of the Lord Christ as a Leader of the spiritual battle against the devil and his angels, to liberate us from our bondage to him and to the sin. + Christ, the true David, came to lift up the human race from the valley of sins and tears. The Israelites confronted the Philistines (1 Samuel 17: 19- 20) in a valley; for the burden of their sins brought them down. There, the Israelites, nevertheless did not dare to fight their enemy, because David, the symbol of Christ has not arrived yet. That was true, beloved brethren, for who could fight against the devil, before our Lord Christ liberates the human race of his authority? … Now, the word ‘David’ means (strong with his hand); Who is stronger than Him who conquered the whole world, armed with the cross, and not with a sword? (Father Caesarius, bishop of Arle) David’s conquest over the Philistines (1); we already talked about in (14: 9-16) His conquest over the Moabites (2); was portrayed in a lesser way than what came in (1 Samuel 22: 3) He moved toward the north, defeated Zobah (3) and the Syrians (5) All those nations submitted under David’s authority, he reigned as far as the Euphrates, 2- THE DEFEAT OF THE MOABITES: “He defeated Moab; And the Moabites became David’s servants, and brought tributes” (2) The second book of Samuel (8: 1-2), tells us that David, whose grandmother was ‘Ruth’ the Moabite, killed two-third of the Moabites. + It is befitting of us to realize that those wars were symbols of the conquests of the Savior Lord, who conquered the idol-worship and the lack of faith of people all over the world. He wiped out all their old nonsense, to make them qualified for the change through the grace of the New Man. (Father Casidorus) + In the second book of Samuel, the Holy Book, recording David’s victory on the Moabites, presents to us two separate lines: one of life and another of death (2 Samuel 8: 2 LXX); … Leaving some of the Moabites to live, while letting some others die, was made clear in the episode of ‘Orpah’ and ‘Ruth’. The first, ‘Orpah’, who returned to idol-worship in her old town, was designated to death; Whereas the second ‘Ruth’ who followed her motherin- law, ‘Naomi’, meaning (glad), said to her: “Your people shall be my people, and your God my God” (Ruth 1: 16) (St. Jerome) 3- THE DEFEAT OF THE SYRIANS (THE ARAMITES): “And David defeated Hadadezer king of Zobah as far as Hamath, as he went to establish his power by the River Euphrates” (3) Hadadezer: a name derived from the name ‘Hadad’, of a Syrian god; that came to be the title of the rulers of that region, like ‘Pharaoh’ for the kings of Egypt. Zobah: close to, and north-west of Damascus, which, according to some was called before ‘Hobah’ (Genesis 14: 15); the capital of the kingdom that ruled the region of Syria. David intended to establish his kingdom by extending it toward the River Euphrates, according to the divine promise (Genesis 15: 18; Numbers 24: 17) “David took from him one thousand chariots, seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand foot soldiers. And David also hamstrung all the chariot horses, except that he spared enough of them for one hundred chariots” (3) In the book of Deuteronomy 17: 16, it came that the king “shall not multiply horses for himself”; lest he may fall into pride, or enter into competition for greatness with the kings around him, It so seem that David kept the one hundred chariots as a sign of his conquest over Hadadezer, then was to destroy them as he did for the rest. While, according to others, David, the way he erred by multiplying wives (14: 13), he so did in multiplying horses. “When the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David killed twenty-two thousand of the Syrians” (5) “Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus; and the Syrians became David’s servants, and brought tribute. Thus the Lord preserved David wherever he went” (6) “And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem” (7) David dedicated all the gold, silver, and bronze things to the Lord; which were used by his son Solomon later in building the temple. “And from Tibhath and from Chun, cities of Hadadezer, David brought a large amount of bronze, with which Solomon made the bronze sea, the pillars, and the articles of bronze” (8) Tabath and Chun: The locations of those two cities are unknown, nor the relationship between them. In the old Arabic text, their names came as ‘Amesa’ (Nowadays Homs), and Baalbeck. “When ‘Tou’ king of Hamath heard that David had defeated all the army of Hadadezer king of Zobah…” (9) The kingdom of ‘Tou’ was on the border of that of Hadadezer (2 Samuel 8: 8-9) “He sent Hadoram his son to king David, to greet him and bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him (for Hadadezer had been at war with Tou). And Hadoram brought with him all kinds of gold, silver, and bronze” (10) 1- It is for our benefit to have friends who enjoy the divine presence; When the king of Hamath heard about the greatness of David’s achievements, he sent his son to congratulate him, and to bring to him a precious gift (9- 10). It is not wise to be an adversary to the Son of David; hence it is said: “Kiss the son lest He be angry” (Psalm 2: 12). Let the kings and judges of the earth, as the lowly ones, learn and seek the wisdom. Yet the gifts we should bring to the Lord are not gold and silver, for those are befitting for him who has nothing; but we should present to Him our hearts and our pure love, as well as our souls, as living sacrifice. 2- We should honor God out of the blessings He grants us. The gifts of his friends, and the spoil of his enemies, David presented to the Lord (11); namely, he kept them for the building and the adornment of the temple. We, likewise should dedicate to the Lord, and use for the glory of His name, everything true and precious we have: “(Our) gain and (our) pay will be set apart for the Lord”.(Isaiah 23: 18) 3- It is said “God preserved David wherever he went”. God’s eyes are always on those whose eyes are perpetually directed toward him. 4- God gives strength to men, not to boast their greatness, but to do good. When he reigned over all Israel, David administered judgment and justice to his people; That was how he responded to his exaltation. He did not concentrate on his conquests abroad, to forget about doing justice inside; by which he served God, the divine King, who sits on His throne a just Judge; By that, David was a prominent symbol of the Messiah; “whose scepter of righteousness is the scepter of His kingdom” (Psalm 45: 6) 4- THE DEFEAT OF THE EDOMITES, AND THE DEDICATION OF THE SPOIL TO THE LORD: “King David also dedicated these to the Lord, along with the silver and gold that he had brought from all these nations – from Edom, from Moab, from the people of Ammon, from the Philistines, and from Amalek” (11) All the nations paid taxes to Israel, for the sake of its prevalence and the power of its authority. David dedicated the gifts he got from ‘Tou’ king of Hamath, as well as the spoils of gold and silver he got from the defeated nations, to the Lord, being the Source of everything; and everything should be dedicated to Him. So it is befitting of the believer to dedicate his heart, talents, and all his resources to God and His glory. “Moreover Abishai the son of Zeruiah killed eighteen thousand Edomites in the valley of salt” (12) David turned toward the south where he defeated the Edomites, and occupied the Gulf of Aqaba, that opens on the Red Sea, and all what is beyond; which was used by king Solomon to have commercial enterprises. 5- SETTING GOVERNERS IN EDOM: “He also put garrisons in Edom; and all the Edomites became David’s servants. And the Lord preserved David wherever he went” (13) “The Lord preserved David wherever he went”. Perceiving that God is the source of his conquests, David did not refer them to his cleverness, experience, nor possibilities. 5- DAVID’S CARE FOR JUDGMENT AND JUSTICE TO ALL HIS PEOPLE: “So David reigned over all Israel, and administered judgment and justice to all his people” (14) Realization of judgment and justice to all his people is the responsibility and mission of the king (1 Kings 3: 16-28; Isaiah 11: 4; Psalm 72). While the enemies felt the wrath of David, his people enjoyed his righteousness, piety, and justice. David was not only a brave and good leader, but he, as well, was a wise organizer. 7- APPOINTMENTS IN THE ARMY AND THE GOVERNMENTAL ADMINISTRATION: “Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army, Jehushaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder” (15) The list of appointments mentioned here conforms to what came in (2 Samuel 8: 16-18) The man directly next to David was Joab the chief of the army, who entered into battles for the sake of the kingdom. And beside his leadership of the army, he was the chief of the personal guards of the king. Guarding the king was of utmost importance as a price for the fame he got. The recorder: He most probably took up this system from Egypt; Beside recording the events pertaining to the state, the recorder has been the official spokesman on behalf of the royal house. 9- APPOINTMENTS FOR THE MINISTRY OF THE TEMPLE: “Zadok the son of Ahitub and Abimelech the son of Abiathar were the priests; Shavsha was the scribe” (16) Shavsha was the royal secretary, a personal secretary of the king, and general secretary of the state; Beside being responsible for all the correspondences, he was responsible for the revenue of the temple; and had an important role in the public affairs of the state. Mentioning the two high priests together with those men of high positions of the state, reveals the close connection between the state affairs and the religious life of the people. “Benaiah the son of Jehojada was over the Cherithites and the Pelethites; and David’s sons were chief ministers at the king’s side” (17) The Cherithites and the Pelethites, were most probably a group of foreign mercenaries who joined David when he was fleeing from the face of Saul; and remained loyal to him all along his reign (2 Samuel 15; 17-18); and became a part of his personal guards. In this list of military, civil, and religious leaders, David’s first sons were mentioned. In (2 Samuel 8: 18) as priests; not to practice the priestly work, like offering the sacrifices, but to practice the administrative works of the temple; For the priests had to be from the Levites. Here, in the first book of the Chronicles, they are mentioned as chief ministers and leaders at the king’s side. --------------------------- AN INSPIRATION FROM 1 CHRONICLES 18 FROM YOUR HAND, O LORD, ARE THE CONQUEST AND PROSPERITY + Beside what David got of courage since his early youth; He perceived that the secret of his courage was being attached to God; In all his battles, he never moved without You; Hiding in You, he enjoyed conquest; Grant me in my perpetual battle against the devil; Not to depend upon previous conquests; For You are the secret of holiness, purity, and conquest Your grace is my support; And Your presence in my depths is the secret of my perpetual edification. + Beside trusting in You, grant me to care for perpetually growing by You; David was not so preoccupied with his conquests upon the surrounding nations; Not to care for administering judgment and justice to all his people; Grant me not to be preoccupied with my conquest over certain sins, To care to deliver my whole life to You; To be covered by Your righteousness, and to hold fast to Your commandments. + David’s conquests did not preoccupy him from the good ordinances; In his army, as well as in the governmental affairs. Let me attach myself to you, and enjoy wisdom and good counsel; To have everything in me under the ordinance befitting of Your children; Glory be to You, O Grantor of conquest, wisdom, and counsel; Glory be to You, O who cares for what is inside and outside me; For You are the true Leader of my whole life.
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