1 Chronicles 18: 1 – 17
Peace with your enemies
18 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. 2 Then he defeated Moab, and the Moabites became David’s servants, and brought tribute. 3 And David defeated Hadadezer king of Zobah as far as Hamath, as he went to establish his power by the River Euphrates. 4 David took from him one thousand chariots, seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand-foot soldiers. Also, David hamstrung all the chariot horses, except that he spared enough of them for one hundred chariots. 5 When the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David killed twenty-two thousand of the Syrians. 6 Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus; and the Syrians became David’s servants, and brought tribute. So, the LORD preserved David wherever he went. 7 And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. 8 Also 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. 9 Now when Tou king of Hamath heard that David had defeated all the army of Hadadezer king of Zobah, 10 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 articles of gold, silver, and bronze. 11 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. 12 Moreover Abishai the son of Zeruiah killed eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt. 13 He also put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became David’s servants. And the LORD preserved David wherever he went. 14 So David reigned over all Israel and administered judgment and justice to all his people. 15 Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder; 16 Zadok the son of Ahitub and Abimelech the son of Abiathar were the priests; Shavsha was the scribe; 17 Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David’s sons were chief ministers at the king’s side.
One of my favorite verse in the bible is Proverbs 16: 7 which says, “When a man’s ways please the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.”
You mean to say that if my ways please God, I will never have an enemy? That is how too many people view this proverb. But the proverb itself assumes that we will have enemies when we are walking with the Lord. Then what does this proverb mean - and how can we know when God has done this on our behalf.
This passage teaches us that when our ways are pleasing to God that God does some wonderful things in our lives. He takes those who are our enemies and makes them to be at peace with us. It does not mean that we don't have enemies, it means that they are at peace with us instead of warring or seeking to destroy us. They may still be our enemy, but they will choose peace rather than to be in open conflict with us.
If we desire to live godly in Christ Jesus, we will suffer persecution as we are taught in the book of 2 Timothy chapter 3. Our Lord Jesus faced enemies that desired and conspired to put Him to death. To say that God promises a carte blanche freedom from having enemies is to say that Jesus did not please the Father - and evidently His ways were not pleasing to God. Nothing could be further from the truth. God does not promise freedom from enemies - He promises that when we do have them - He will choose to even make our enemies to be at peace with us. Therefore, we should choose the wisdom of God's ways and walk in them. There is something desirable and is dependent on how we live. There is an honesty - a joy - a freedom - a peace that will make even our enemies not be concerned in making our lives miserable. When this happens, we can know that God in His grace has worked in our lives.
You will see throughout this chapter examples of how our Great God created peace for his servant David.
What follows comes immediately after the bringing of the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH into Jerusalem, and YHWH’s making of a covenant with David. This brings out that David’s successes, which will now be described, were due to the presence of the living God in Jerusalem, and to the covenant that YHWH had made with the house of David. In accordance with YHWH’s promise, David’s dynasty was being established, and God was subduing all his enemies. This would have been proof by the men of his day of the fact that God was with him.
The Old Testament is not full of wars and fighting because of what man is (compare James 4.1-2). But that was how men thought in those days. The sin of Adam had resulted in a world at constant war with itself. For David it was thus a case of ‘defeat the enemy or they will defeat you’. Before the rise of David Israel had been under the heel of the Philistines. And Moab, and Zobah had only to see a weakness in Israel and they would also have invaded without a twinge of conscience (indeed, as we see below Zobah was already busy extending its territory - verse 10). All three saw Israel in weakness as fair game. Thus, the only way to ensure peace was to exercise the iron hand. That does not justify all that David did. David was a sinful man like we are. But it does explain why God helped him against his enemies.
18 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.
The words ‘after this’ make clear the connection of what is now being described with the previous chapter. Thus David’s victory over the Philistines, and his subduing them and taking from them Gath and its related cities , and all that follows, are seen as the consequence of God’s covenant with David. The constant harassers of Israel were now themselves harassed. Israel would no longer be under the domination of the Philistines, that warlike people who themselves had taken the fertile coastal plains of Palestine from the Canaanites.
2 Then he defeated Moab, and the Moabites became David’s servants, and brought tribute.
He also smote Moab, a country which constantly harried Israel from the east (Judges 3.12-30). And the Moabites came under David’s rule and had to pay him tribute.
3 And David defeated Hadadezer king of Zobah as far as Hamath, as he went to establish his power by the River Euphrates.
David now turned his attention to the king of Zobah, who was himself seeking to extend his territory to the north, and had powerful allies as we see later, and would later no doubt have turned his attention on Israel. David thus attacked him to protect Israel’s borders.
4 David took from him one thousand chariots, seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand-foot soldiers. Also, David hamstrung all the chariot horses, except that he spared enough of them for one hundred chariots.
The strength and might of Zobah is brought out by the size of the force seized by David. He seized a large unit of chariots, that most dangerous of weapons; seven large units of horsemen, and twenty thousand soldiers. And once he had taken them he rendered their chariot horses incapable of pulling chariots, although keeping enough whole to service a small unit of chariots for himself.
5 When the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David killed twenty-two thousand of the Syrians.
Learning that Hadarezer was being defeated by David, the people of Aram, which was the area surrounding Damascus (Syria), sent their army to his aid with the result that David destroyed twenty two thousand of their men and took possession of Aram (Syria).
6 Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus; and the Syrians became David’s servants, and brought tribute. So, the LORD preserved David wherever he went.
Having defeated Aram (Syria) David then put garrisons throughout the land and the Syrians became subject to him, and from then on paid him tribute. Their intervention had cost them dear. This intervention by Syria demonstrates that David was not just attacking everyone around. Until Syria had attacked him he had left them alone. It is clear therefore that his reason for attacking Zobah was his fear that they had in mind possession of Israel once they had consolidated their other conquests.
Zobah was clearly a growing and expanding empire which had become very wealthy because of its attacks on nations round about. As a result, David was able to seize much of its wealth, quite apart from the spoils seized by his soldiers.
7 And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem.
As became conquerors Hadarezer’s leading men bore ceremonial shields of gold and these David seized and gathered together and took them to Jerusalem. They were trophies of conquest, but their presence in Jerusalem was an evidence of the enforced submission of the shield bearers.
8 Also 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.
He also seized large amounts of bronze from the cities of Zobah, and this would later be used to make the brazen sea, and the pillars, and the bronze vessels for use in Solomon’s Temple.
9 Now when Tou king of Hamath heard that David had defeated all the army of Hadadezer king of Zobah, 10 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 articles of gold, silver, and bronze.
The news of what David had done to the aggressive Hadarezer and his equally aggressive country of Zobah reached the ears of Tou, king of Hamath, whose country had suffered because of Zobah’s aggression. He accordingly sent his son to David, with expensive gifts, to salute him for what he had done, and to express his gratitude. By doing this they both entered into a treaty relationship, bordering on tributary, with David. Further gifts would no doubt follow. The present ones consisted of all manner of vessels of gold, silver and bronze, no doubt intended for the king’s palace.
11 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.
David dedicated all the gifts he received to YHWH, putting them into the king’s treasury. And along with these gifts was much gold and silver obtained from defeated nations. These included Edom, Moab, Ammon, Philistia and Amalek.
12 Moreover Abishai the son of Zeruiah killed eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.
Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, was one of the mighty men mentioned in 11.20-21. He regularly commanded part of David’s armies (2 Samuel 10.10; 18.2). And here he smote eighteen thousand Edomites.
13 He also put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became David’s servants. And the LORD preserved David wherever he went.
As he had with Syria, David put garrisons throughout Edom and the Edomites became his servants, and YHWH gave victory to David wherever he went.
14 So David reigned over all Israel and administered judgment and justice to all his people.
The section ends with David reigning over all the people of Israel (and over the nations whom he had subjected) and administering justice and righteousness to all his people. He is being pictured as the ideal king of Israel. It was this that YHWH had in mind for his future dynasty, and He especially had in mind the One Whom He had promised Who would arrive to establish the everlasting kingdom.
Those who assisted him in his rule are now listed:
15 Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder; 16 Zadok the son of Ahitub and Abimelech the son of Abiathar were the priests; Shavsha was the scribe; 17 Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David’s sons were chief ministers at the king’s side.
It will be noted that David had a recorder and a scribe, the one to maintain the country’s records, the other to deal with official correspondence. Israel had now moved into the level of sophisticated nations.
Joab was over the host as commander-in-chief of the armies of Israel, and that Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the king’s bodyguard. The Cherethites and Pelethites were probably Cretan mercenaries who were loyal to David (they disappear on his death). The Cherethites had settled alongside the Philistines in the south of Canaan (1 Samuel 30.14). Their loyalty to David might date from his time in Ziklag, and especially from the releasing of some of their number who had been captured by the Amalekites and released by David (1 Samuel 30.18 with 14). The Pelethites may well have been Philistine mercenaries.
It is interesting to me that even though David had his sons near him in his administration, he never noticed the evil that they schemed. Ultimately, as you know they caused much pain and sorrow for David.
