II Samuel 8-9; I Chronicles 18     Listen

David...what a warrior! (II Samuel 8; I Chronicles 18)

Getting a promise from God like David did (The Davidic Covenant - II Samuel 7:1-17; I Chronicles 17:1-15) can give you a good bit of confidence. David goes about to expand his kingdom. By the way, to conquer or be conquered was a rule of thumb in those days. To allow your neighbor to amass an army on your borders without taking action meant your certain demise down the road. David expands his kingdom all the way to the Euphrates River in this passage (verse 3). As a matter of fact, this is the border God had promised Abraham's descendants back in Genesis 15:18 (see notes) as part of the Abrahamic Covenant.

David has finally acquired control of all the land that God had promised Abraham in Genesis 15:18.

Here we see that David defeats and subjugates the Philistines: "...David took Metheg Ammah from the hand of the Philistines." That phrase means he took control of their mother (capital) city. Then David defeats and subdues the Moabites. That's interesting inasmuch as David's great grandmother (Ruth) was born and raised in Moab before she left home with Naomi for Israel. Moreover, we see in II Samuel 8:2 that some fascinating method of measuring by David was implemented with the Moabite prisoners of war to determine which two-thirds of them would be executed, leaving the remaining one third as servants of Israel.

Perhaps these Moabite prisoner executions were excessive. When David is denied permission to build the Temple, he is told in I Chronicles 22:8 (see notes), "you have shed much blood..." This could be one of those times. Then David goes after Hadadezer, king of Zobah, which was a Syrian province or kingdom to the south of Coele-Syria, and extending from the eastern slopes of Lebanon north and east toward the Euphrates. This king had a chariot battalion; after his defeat, the chariot horses were intentionally crippled by David's army to prevent a subsequent attack. Saul and David had war with the kings of Zobah (I Samuel 14:47, see notes; II Sam. 8:3; II Samuel 10:6, see notes).

It's no wonder King Toi brought offerings to David - better to be David's friend than his enemy. David had just conquered everything around him, and after the defeat of the Edomites, his name was known everywhere. I think we can assume that David's border with Egypt probably extended to the Nile River, thus fulfilling Genesis 15:18 (see notes), "On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: 'To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates.'" It would appear that this was David's goal.

David was definitely on a roll, and I Chronicles 18:13 tells us why, "He also put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became David’s servants. And the LORD preserved David wherever he went." Then take special notice of I Chronicles 18:14, "So David reigned over all Israel, and administered judgment and justice to all his people." David was a just king, and "the LORD preserved David wherever he went" (verse 13). His regime was not one of oppression or cruelty. His became the Old Testament model for reigning.

The office of high priest was shared by Abiathar and Zadok (II Samuel 8:17; I Chronicles 18:16) during David's reign. See the notes on I Samuel 22:6-23 to understand how this came to be. Zadok was a descendant of Aaron's son Eleazar, while Abiathar was a descendent of Aaron's other son, Ithamar. The priesthood had been assigned exclusively to the descendants of Eleazar's son, Phinehas, back in Numbers 25:13 (see notes) because of his decisive action when Israel stumbled into idolatry. In subsequent generations, this decree seems to have been overlooked by the Israelites. Eli, Samuel's mentor (I Samuel 2, see notes), was not a descendant of Phinehas.

Later on after David's reign, while Abiathar (a descendant of Eli) and his ancestors had enjoyed the office of high priest, he was deposed by Solomon because he took part in the attempt to raise Adonijah to the throne instead of Solomon (I Kings 2:13-46, see notes). Thus ended the line of priests through Ithamar just as had been told Phinehas back in Numbers 25:13 (see notes); it just took a few hundred years. Zadok's line became the exclusive line for the high priests. As a matter of fact, it is believed by many that the name "Sadducees" has "Zadok" as its root. In Jesus' day, the Sadducees exclusively filled the office of high priest.

David looks for a way to make it up to Jonathan (II Samuel 9)

1 Now David said, “Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”
2 ¶ And there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba. So when they had called him to David, the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” ¶ He said, “At your service!”
3 ¶ Then the king said, “Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, to whom I may show the kindness of God?” ¶ And Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan who is lame in his feet.”
4 ¶ So the king said to him, “Where is he?” ¶ And Ziba said to the king, “Indeed he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo Debar.”
5 ¶ Then King David sent and brought him out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo Debar.
6 ¶ Now when Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, had come to David, he fell on his face and prostrated himself. Then David said, “Mephibosheth?” ¶ And he answered, “Here is your servant!”
7 ¶ So David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather; and you shall eat bread at my table continually.”
8 ¶ Then he bowed himself, and said, “What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I?”
9 ¶ And the king called to Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, “I have given to your master’s son all that belonged to Saul and to all his house.
10 You therefore, and your sons and your servants, shall work the land for him, and you shall bring in the harvest, that your master’s son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth your master’s son shall eat bread at my table always.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.
11 ¶ Then Ziba said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king has commanded his servant, so will your servant do.” ¶ “As for Mephibosheth,” said the king, “he shall eat at my table like one of the king’s sons.”
12 Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micha. And all who dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants of Mephibosheth.
13 So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king’s table. And he was lame in both his feet.

Before his death, Jonathan was heir apparent to King Saul's throne. One problem though - God had discontinued the line of kings from Saul (I Samuel 13:8-14, see notes) and anointed David instead (I Samuel 16:1-13, see notes). Now that David is in a position to do so, he finds the crippled son of Jonathan, Saul's grandson, and brings him into his care. You will recall that Mephibosheth became crippled from a fall as his nurse was fleeing with him after the deaths of Saul and Jonathan (II Samuel 4:1-12, see notes). Typically, a king would do everything possible to exterminate the descendants of previous kings in order to prevent their ascension to the throne at a later time. David, however, honors his friendship with Saul's son, Jonathan. He gives him servants and promises to take care of him for the rest of his life. Saul's former servant, Ziba, strikes it rich here along with his entire household. They get the pleasure of serving Mephibosheth, compliments of David. So, David has subdued his enemies, built a nice house in Jerusalem and extended kindness to Saul's descendant; he's on a roll.

Incidentally, this man Ziba facilitates this Mephibosheth/David connection and subsequently gets a very nice job of taking care of Mephibosheth on behalf of King David. However, Ziba later deals treacherously with Mephibosheth - even lies about him (II Samuel 16:1-4, see notes). Sometimes it's simply hard to get good help.