1 & 2 Samuel

2 Samuel Chapter 8

David's Victories

• 2Samuel 8:1  And after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them: and David took Methegammah out of the hand of the Philistines. 
• 2  And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive. And so the Moabites became David's servants, and brought gifts. 
• 3  David smote also Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his border at the river Euphrates. 
• 4  And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: and David houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for an hundred chariots. 
• 5  And when the Syrians of Damascus came to succour Hadadezer king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men. 
• 6  Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus: and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought gifts. And the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went. 
• 7  And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. 
• 8  And from Betah, and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, king David took exceeding much brass. 

Some bible scholars says that houghing the horses is not in the original text. If he did do that it was to render the horses useless in battle. The ones David conquered were enemies of his kingdom. He was taking back what was originally given to Israel by the Lord in some incidences and others were because they fought against Israel previously. David was securing his kingdom which is what kings did back then and many places in history records kings establishing kingdoms and getting rid of the enemies.

• 2Samuel 8:9  When Toi king of Hamath heard that David had smitten all the host of Hadadezer, 
• 10  Then Toi sent Joram his son unto king David, to salute him, and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer, and smitten him: for Hadadezer had wars with Toi. And Joram brought with him vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of brass: 
• 11  Which also king David did dedicate unto the LORD, with the silver and gold that he had dedicated of all nations which he subdued; 
• 12  Of Syria, and of Moab, and of the children of Ammon, and of the Philistines, and of Amalek, and of the spoil of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah. 
• 13  And David gat him a name when he returned from smiting of the Syrians in the valley of salt, being eighteen thousand men. 
• 14  And he put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom put he garrisons, and all they of Edom became David's servants. And the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went. 

We see the the King of Hamath was on the side of David and saluted him for his victory. Apparently this king had wars with Hadadezer.

It may be very hard for those of us in the free world like the United States to understand all these wars but we must remember that God will remove His hand of protection over nations that get to the point of no return and do evil. He also promised Abraham the whole land of Canaan but Abraham was not allowed to take it in his lifetime because their sins didn't get to the point of no return. When they did it was many years later during the time of Moses. David was finishing the job that was previously neglected by some of the tribes that were tired of war and some of it was because of those that caused trouble for Israel later. All the wars however was why David was not allowed to build a house of the Lord but he was gathering materials for Solomon to build it. David did not take all these riches for himself but to help his son Solomon build a temple for the Lord.

I will say one thing. We all need to be thankful and take advantage of this era of grace and the gospel of Jesus which is all about mercy and salvation rather than judgment because if we keep going like some in many nations are going and ignore God's divine order and God's holy work, judgment will come. God is merciful and desires to save rather than destroy but He will have to stop evil eventually.

David's Officials

• 2Samuel 8:15  And David reigned over all Israel; and David executed judgment and justice unto all his people. 

Here David is seen a just and fair leader over the people.

• 2 Samuel 8:16  And Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the host; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder; 
• 17  And Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, were the priests; and Seraiah was the scribe; 
• 18  And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over both the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David's sons were chief rulers. 

David was king of all Israel now and was setting up a government that was actually a good one. We must remember that he wasn't killing a bunch of innocent people minding their own business but those that were enemies of Israel and a threat to it's existence.

God promised Abraham that He would bless them that blessed Israel and curse them that cursed Israel. So we have to leave the details of this chapter to the Lord even when we might not understand all things.

I will end this short chapter by say, that if a nation truly observes God, His Son Jesus Christ, and stand by His word taken in context, no weapon formed against them shall prosper. His hand of protection is only removed when we begin to reject, ban, and turn away from living by His word.

This many nations have done. In my own country, they kicked God out of public schools back in the 1960s. In the 1970s abortion was legalized. It started with only allowing abortion in the early stages of pregnancy, In the Clinton years partial birth abortion was legalized. which allowed abortion during all trimesters of pregnancies. Now we have a few states that allow babies to die    even after the baby is born. We have left off teaching God as creator and substituted evolution teaching. There are many other abominations that we have legalized. If we don't repent as a nation the past prophecies of some preachers may come to pass that we ignored for many years. They prophesied that another nation will destroy the United States. I have always hoped it wasn't true. The only thing keeping us from being destroyed is the millions or believers in Jesus we have in this country. -DC

2 Samuel Chapter 9