Daily Bread

More Victories of David’s Men

I Chron. 20:1-8

In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, Joab led out the armed forces. He laid waste the land of the Ammonites and went to Rabbah and besieged it, but David remained in Jerusalem. Joab attacked Rabbah and left it in ruins.

“In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war…” This opening phrase alludes to the fact that David did not go out to war when kings normally go off to war. Instead, he stayed in the palace, slept in late and committed adultery with Bathsheba. But the emphasis of 1 Chronicles is on the victories of David’s men. Joab was leading the armed forces and he was an excellent military commander. He laid waste the land of the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah leaving it in ruins.

Although David did not go out to fight, he still received the glory. The crown of the king of Rabbah was placed on David’s head. He took a great quantity of plunder and assigned the people to forced labor. When we are victorious, we must give all glory to God. God is the one who makes us victorious. We can see in these events that the seeds of corruption and easy-going mentality were growing in David. It really would have been best if he had gone off to war. Then he would have avoided temptation and perhaps through depending on God as before, he would have been inclined to give all the glory to God. Jesus is our King. We must place the crown on Jesus’ head rather than our own. One way to define a Christian is the one who has deposed self on the throne of his heart and let Jesus be Lord.

War continues but David is not mentioned. Instead, we find the exploits of David’s men. Sibbekai the Hushathite killed Sippai, one of the descendants of the Rephaites, and the Philistines were subjugated.

In another battle with the Philistines, Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod. Elhanan reminds us of the boy David who killed Goliath with a sling and a stone. He is repeating the same victory as David.

In another battle that took place near Gath, a huge man with six fingers and six toes came out to taunt Israel. When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him. It’s another David and Goliath story.

All of these victories of David’s men are similar to David when he was fighting the Lord’s battles. While the king was enjoying sin, his men were fighting the good fight. The passage closes: “…and they fell at the hands of David and his men.” 

Lord, help me to fight the good fight of faith, overcoming all temptation.