1 Chronicles 18-20: The Heart of Victory

We trace David’s campaigns in 1 Chronicles 18–20 and show how every victory points beyond tactics to trust. Strategy matters, but the source of real triumph is God’s purpose and power, culminating in a hope that points from David to Jesus.

• focus on Judah’s history through David’s reign
• key wars against Philistines, Moabites, Arameans and Ammonites
• Joab’s two-front strategy and disciplined courage
• dedication of tribute and plunder to the Lord
• siege of Rabbah and the weight of kingship
• giants defeated and fear dismantled
• theological theme that God gives the victory
• call to fight God’s battles, not personal vendettas
• practical steps to fight well with Scripture and integrity
• David as a shadow of Christ’s greater kingdom

Chapters

• 0:34 Setting The Scene In Chronicles
• 1:04 David’s Campaigns And Conquests
• 3:23 Tribute, Administration, And Justice
• 3:23 Ammonite Insult And Escalation
• 4:52 Two-Front Battle Strategy
• 5:49 Reinforcements And Decisive Victory
• 6:36 Siege Of Rabbah And Aftermath
• 7:28 Giants Fallen, Enemies Subdued
• 8:19 Theological Takeaway: God Gives Victory
• 9:27 Fighting God’s Battles With God’s Strength
• 11:00 From David To Jesus: Final Exhortation

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:22

Welcome back to the Out Loud Bible Project Podcast. This is Mike. We're reading through the Book of First Chronicles. First and Second Chronicles are very similar to the books of 1st and 2nd Kings, but we're primarily focused on the kings of the southern kingdom of Judah. And at this point in the Book of First Chronicles, we're still taking a look at the life of David, and we are, well, chronicling many of the events throughout his reign. So let's read about some of them here and what we can take away from them as we read 1 Chronicles 18 through 20 in the New English Translation. Later, David defeated the Philistines and subdued them. He took Gath and its surrounding towns away from the Philistines. He defeated the Moabites. The Moabites became David's subjects and brought tribute. David defeated King Hadadazar of Zobah as far as Hamath when he went to extend his authority to the Euphrates River. David seized from him one thousand chariots, seven thousand charioteers, and twenty thousand infantrymen. David cut the hamstrings of all but one hundred of Hadadazar's chariot horses. The Arameans of Damascus came to help King Hadadazar of Zobah, but David killed twenty two thousand of the Arameans. David placed garrisons in the territory of the Arameans of Damascus. The Arameans became David's subjects and brought tribute. The Lord protected David wherever he campaigned. David took the golden shields which Hadadazar's servants had carried and brought them to Jerusalem. From Tibhat and Kun, Hadadazer's cities, David took a great deal of bronze. Solomon used it to make the big bronze basin called the sea, the pillars and the other bronze items. When King Tu of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of King Hadadazar of Zoba, he sent his son Hadorum to King David to extend his best wishes and to pronounce a blessing on him for his victory over Hadadazer, for Tu had been at war with Hadadazer. He also sent items made of gold, silver, and bronze. King David dedicated these things to the Lord, along with the silver and gold which he had carried off from all the nations, including Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and Amalek. Abishai, son of Zereh, killed eighteen thousand Edomites in the valley of Salt. He placed garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became David's subjects. The Lord protected David wherever he campaigned. David reigned over all Israel. He guaranteed justice for all the people. Joab, son of Zereh, was commanding general of the army. Jehoshaphat, son of Elahud, was secretary, Zadok, son of Ahitub, and Amalek son of Abiathar, were priests, Shavshah was scribe, Beniah, son of Jehoiada, supervised the Karaathites and Pelathites, and David's sons were the king's leading officials. Later, King Nahash of the Ammonites died, and his son succeeded him. David said, I'll express my loyalty to Hanon, son of Nahash, for his father was loyal to me. So David sent messengers to express his sympathy over his father's death. When David's servants entered Ammonite territory to visit Hanon and express the king's sympathy, the Ammonite officials said to Hanan, Do you really think David's trying to honor your father by sending these messengers to express his sympathy? No. His servants have come to you so they can get information and spy out the land. So Hanan seized David's servants and shaved their beards off. He cut off the lower parts of their robes so that their buttocks were exposed, and then sent them away. People came and told David what had happened to the men, so he sent messengers to meet them, for the men were thoroughly humiliated. The king said, Stay in Jericho until your beards grow again, and then you may come back. When the Ammonites realized that David was disgusted with them, Hanan and the Ammonites sent one thousand talents of silver to hire chariots and charioteers from Aram Naharaim, Aram Makkah, and Zobah. They hired thirty-two thousand chariots, along with the king of Makah and his army, who came and camped in front of Medeba. The Ammonites also assembled from their cities and marched out to do battle. When David heard the news, he sent Joab and the entire army to meet them. The Ammonites marched out and were deployed for battle at the entrance to the city, while the kings who had come were by themselves in the field. When Joab saw that the battle would be fought on two fronts, he chose some of Israel's best men and deployed them against the Arameans. He put his brother Abishai in charge of the rest of the army, and they were deployed against the Ammonites. Joab said, If the Arameans start to overpower me, you come to my rescue. If the Ammonites start to overpower you, I'll come to your rescue. Be strong, let's fight bravely for the sake of our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what he decides is best. So Joab and his men marched toward the Arameans to do battle, and they fled before him. When the Ammonites saw the Arameans flee, they fled before Joab's brother Abishai and withdrew into the city. Joab went back to Jerusalem. When the Arameans realized that they had been defeated by Israel, they sent for reinforcements from beyond the Euphrates River, led by Shopak, the commanding general of Hadadazar's army. When David was informed, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan River, and marched against them. David deployed his army against the Arameans for battle, and they fought against him. The Arameans fled before Israel. David killed seven thousand Aramean charioteers and forty thousand infantrymen. He also killed Shopach, the commanding general. When Hadadazar's subjects saw that they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and became his subjects. The Arameans were no longer willing to help the Ammonites. In the spring, at the time when kings normally conduct wars, Joab led the army into battle and devastated the land of the Ammonites. He went and besieged Rabba while David stayed in Jerusalem. Joab defeated Rabba and tore it down. David took the crown from the head of their king and wore it. Its weight was a talent of gold, which looks like according to research is maybe like sixty-seven pounds, the crown. Gee whiz. And it was set with precious stones. He took a large amount of plunder from the city, he removed the city's residents and made them labor with saws, iron picks, and axes. This was his policy with all the Ammonite cities, and then David and all the army returned to Jerusalem. Later there was a battle with the Philistines in Gazer. At that time Sibekai the Hushethite killed Sippi, one of the descendants of the Rephaim, and the Philistines were subdued. There was another battle with the Philistines in which Elhanon, son of Jer the Bethlehemite, killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear had a shaft as big as the crossbeam of a weaver's loom. In a battle in Gath, there was a large man who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all, and he too was a descendant of Rapha. When he taunted Israel, Jonathan, son of Shime, David's brother, killed him. These were the descendants of Rapha who lived in Gath. They were killed by the hand of David and his soldiers. In the chronicles of these victories of David, we see a common theme where it says the Lord gave David victory wherever he went. And this is important for us to remember, as it was important for David to remember, and it's important for this intended audience. Remember the contingent of Jews coming back from exile into their homeland. Important to remember that the Lord gives the victory. This isn't just, you know, a history book. This is emphasizing a very important theological truth that victory only comes through the Lord. Now it's not that we have nothing to do. Like David, he led with courage, he led with integrity, he acted decisively, but he never acted independently. He never acted outside of the knowledge that God held the victory in his hands. David's success is clearly here, it's a partnership with God. It's not because David was particularly skilled in battle or strategy, which hey, he was, but he knew that victory came through the Lord. It's also important to remember that if we're seeking the Lord's victory, then we need to be fighting the Lord's battles. We can't expect him just to slap on a victory to any given battle we want to go out and fight. Let's make sure we're building his kingdom. David was trying to establish the kingdom that God had promised in Israel for him and his line. This meant dealing with some threats around that frankly should have been taken out long ago, but previous leadership had just allowed in. The previous culture had just tolerated. And part of David's work here was to purge the outside influences that lead people astray, that lead people away from God, that mock God, try to get them out of the way of life for Israel. And when we have that end in mind, looking for purity, looking for holiness, then God will give victory. Your enemies are probably not people or people groups. Your enemies are probably much more spiritual and within. But the same rule applies. The victory is only going to come through God. And if you're fighting his battles, looking for his desires to establish his kingdom in your life and on this earth, then let's fight well. How do we fight well? Let's read his word, let's know truth and surround ourselves with truth. Remind ourselves and others what his word says. Because all of David's victories here that we read about today and throughout these books show us that there is a greater king. David was a great king. He was just a shadow of Jesus and the work Jesus will do to make everything right, to establish his kingdom perfectly, and to vanquish all sin and evil. In the meantime, we do have battles to fight. Let's make sure we fight with his strength to secure his victories. That's the thinking out loud thought for the day.