II Samuel 5 DAVID REIGNS, JERUSALEM FALLS TO ISRAEL With Saul dead and ineffective Ishbosheth out of the way (see I Samuel 31 and II Samuel 4), the elders of all Israel come to David at Hebron; they have one request: be our king. He was the military genius when Saul was king, and they were aware of Samuels prophecy that he would rule (see I Samuel 16)...and they were so ready for effective leadership. (I think most Americans today would understand their strong desire.) David made a covenant with them before the Lord; they anointed him king. He had been anointed years ago by Samuel; now he was anointed again at his placement. He was thirty years old when he began to reign in Hebron (2:1-7), and he reigned seven years and six months in a divided Israel. He reigned 33 years over a unified Israel... a cumulative reign of forty years. (vv 1-5) David did what David has always done so well--he battled and conquered and claimed ground. He cam against the Jebusites, who sarcastically said that even the blind and lame among them would defeat Israel. (v 6) Their presumption led to defeat. Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion (that is, the city of David). (v 7) David issued a challenge: anyone who climbed up by way of the water shaft and defeated the Jebusites (the lame and the blind, Davids return of the sarcasm in v 6) would be given a leadership position in his army. (v 8) Then David dwelt in the stronghold and called it the city of David. (v 9) He built it and established it. He possessed, occupied, claimed and renamed the formidable stronghold--this is the key to victory over the intimidating strongholds that would attempt to keep us from pursuing Gods best in our lives. David went on and became great; the Lord God of hosts was with him. (v 10) Hiram, king of the kingdom of Tyre, sent messengers and offered help: cedar trees, carpenters, and masons. They built David a house; David knew that the Lord had established him in his place...God had exalted His kingdom for the sake of Israel. (vv 11,12) It was bigger than David, it was bigger than Israel..it was something that only God could pull off. David took more wives and concubines (he already had six that we know of--see 3:2-5); he bore eleven more sons. Their names are rich with meaning: Shammar (Famous), Shobab (Returning), Nathan (Giver), Solomon (Peace), Ibhar (Chooser), Elishua (God is Rich), Nepheq (Sprout/Growth), Japhia (High), Elishama (God is Hearer), Eliada (God is Knowing) and Eliphelet (God is Escape). (vv 13,14) The Philistines heard that David was now king over all Israel, and they went to search for David. (v 15) (There was a lot of water under the bridge between David and the Philistines--see I Samuel 27-29) David did not run; he went to the stronghold that God had allowed him to conquer and occupy and rename (vv 6-9)--and the inquired of the Lord: Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand? (v 18) David had no presumption and no fear; his stance was reliance on God; that reliance trumped presumption in his own ability and overrode reticence because of his own inability. God answered: Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand. (v 19) So David went at the word of the Lord; he defeated the Philistines and said, The Lord has broken through my enemies before me like a breakthrough of water. (v 20) He called the place Baal Perazim...The Lord Who Bursts Through (NLT). At the place of breakthroughs, the people left their idols there, and David and his men carried them away. (v 21) At the place in which the Lord bursts through, at the place in which people see Gods power manifested, people see the futility of the idols in their lives...and not until!! An exposed idol is easily relinquished. How we need a breakthrough of the power of God in the midst of this anomic age of moral relativity!! When the Philistines assembled for battle again, David again sought the Lord...and received a completely different battle plan--a sort of sneak attack on their rear ranks. When they heard the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees (v 24), they were to advance quickly. (Sounds strange...but God can do it any way He wants to do it!) David obeyed, and he drove off the Philistines form Geba [Stronghold, Height, Hill] to Gezer [Cutting-off Place, Precipice]. (v 25) God desires that the enemy (and we only have one enemy, and that enemy is not flesh and blood) be driven from the place of the stronghold, clear to the place of the precipice--God desires that the strongholds in our lives be removed and possessed by His Spirit, and that the oppression be cut off and brought to the precipice..pletely broken! I LONG TO LIVE LIKE THAT!!! Tomorrow: II Samuel 6--The ark comes to Jerusalem
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 14:40:09 +0000
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