The Battle is His

As we continue on in our study of 2 Samuel, we come to chapter 8—a chapter of David’s victories over the peoples around him.

We’ll see the extent of David’s dominance as we read, and, if you’re good, I’ll show you a map.

There are a handful of names and several locations mentioned, and we’ll get into that. It’s worthwhile for us to delve into these things.

But, like every part of the Bible, the most important part of what we will find here is what this teaches us about God, how it points to Jesus, and what it shows us about ourselves.

If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to 2 Samuel 8. Keep your Bible open in front of you this morning. We’ll be referring to it often.

To begin, let’s look at verses 1-6 and 13-14, the two victory sections, to see the battles that David fights and wins.

2 Samuel 8:1–6 NIV

1 In the course of time, David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and he took Metheg Ammah from the control of the Philistines. 2 David also defeated the Moabites. He made them lie down on the ground and measured them off with a length of cord. Every two lengths of them were put to death, and the third length was allowed to live. So the Moabites became subject to David and brought him tribute. 3 Moreover, David defeated Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, when he went to restore his monument at the Euphrates River. 4 David captured a thousand of his chariots, seven thousand charioteers and twenty thousand foot soldiers. He hamstrung all but a hundred of the chariot horses. 5 When the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck down twenty-two thousand of them. 6 He put garrisons in the Aramean kingdom of Damascus, and the Arameans became subject to him and brought tribute. The Lord gave David victory wherever he went.

2 Samuel 8:13–14 NIV

13 And David became famous after he returned from striking down eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt. 14 He put garrisons throughout Edom, and all the Edomites became subject to David. The Lord gave David victory wherever he went.

This is a thematic retelling of all the LORD did for David and His people.

The end of verses 6 and 14 are key. Look at what they say:

2 Samuel 8:6 “…The Lord gave David victory wherever he went.”

2 Samuel 8:14 “…The Lord gave David victory wherever he went.”

Identical statements found at the end of each battle sequence. This is important, as we’ll see. Especially as we consider these victories won by David.

VICTORY WON

The key word in these verses, as you probably noticed, is the word “destroyed” or “struck down. Or, if you prefer, “smote.” It appears 5 times, and there are a couple more variations of the word in the chapter.

If you focus on that word, you’ll see the main thrust of the passage:

David defeated/struck down the Philistines, the Moabites, Hadadezer of Zobah, the Arameans of Damascus, and Edom.

What we see is David’s total dominance over all these people, all across the land, all over the map.

I promised you a map, so here you go.

[MAP]

First, the familiar Philistines are defeated by David. For decades, the Philistines had been Israel’s main military enemy.

Goliath, the champion from Gath, was a Philistine.

It was the Philistines who absolutely routed Saul’s army and killed King Saul and his sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-shua.

When David first took the throne, he sent his army against the Philistines and drove them out of Israelite territory (2 Samuel 5:17-25).

Now, here in 2 Samuel 8, David takes the battle to the Philistines’ front door to end the threat once and for all.

So complete was David’s conquest of the Philistines, we’ll see the Philistines pop-up in Israel’s history from time to time. But they never again pose a serious threat to David’s kingdom.

After David takes care of the Philistines, he moves to the eastern border, and goes after another ancient enemy, the Moabites.

It’s real dark, what David does. He makes the Moabites lie down on the ground and then he measures them off.

This has a real Negan-from-The-Walking-Dead energy here. It’s not eenie, meenie, miny, moe with a baseball bat. But it’s just as frightening. He measures them off, and kills two-thirds of them.

The rest are “allowed to live”—that’s nice—but they become subject to David.

David then heads north, to Zobah, to restore power up at the River Euphrates. There, David captured chariots, charioteers, a whole mess of foot soldiers. And he took out all but a few of their horses.

Finally, David heads down to the southern border, to strike Edom.

David struck down 18,000 Edomites, and made a name for himself in the process.

The Edomites are the offspring of Jacob’s brother, Esau. The Edomites lived in strong, mountain fortresses. So David defeated their army and then put garrisons/forts throughout the land.

And the Edomites also became subject to David.

The result of these conquests was to secure for Israel the boundaries that God had—long before this—established as His Promised Land.

When the Covenant God made His covenant with Abraham, God promised: Genesis 15:18 “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—” [See Map]

These were precisely the boundaries of David’s empire as a result of these battles. Coincidence? I think not. The LORD doesn’t play in coincidence.

“There is no coincidence in God’s economy.” -Ty Cross

This is a fulfillment of the LORD’s promise to Abraham from way back. AND a fulfillment of a promise the LORD made to David in the previous chapter of this book when He said, 2 Samuel 7:11 “I will also give you rest from all your enemies.”

Remember the key phrase and the main point of 2 Samuel 8. It’s there at the ends of verse 6 and verse 14.

2 Samuel 8:6 “…The Lord gave David victory wherever he went.”

2 Samuel 8:14 “…The Lord gave David victory wherever he went.”

This “is not David’s achievement, but the LORD’s gift.” -DRD

Victory has been won, but not by David. Not Ultimately. The LORD gave David victory wherever he went.” That’s the key.

David’s kingdom is foreshadowing Christ’s kingdom. Conflict precedes conquest; this is almost always the case.

The enemies of Christ will be defeated. But not in the way people are used to, not in the way David strikes down his enemies here.

At the cross, Jesus defeats the dominion of darkness by His own death. It was bloody and violent, to be sure, but it’s not Jesus’ enemies who bleed. Jesus dies, but His death was not HIS defeat. It was Satan’s defeat. Death’s defeat.

The death of Jesus crushed death to death. And when Jesus rose again, defeat was handed out to all who oppose Him.

What we have here in the record of David’s victories over all of his enemies is a deliberate anticipation of the victory of the of the LORD Jesus over all of His enemies.

Jesus kneels in the Garden of Gethsemane and acknowledges the destruction of Satan, saying, John 12:31 “Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.”

From Gethsemane, Jesus heads to the cross. Then to the tomb. And then out of the tomb. He ascended into heaven where He reigns until He comes again.

When He comes again, He will set the world at rights and destroy the last enemy, death, finally and completely.

David’s victories anticipate Jesus’ victory.

All of this is meant to point us to Jesus, our Savior, our Victor.

Let’s look now at the verses in the middle:

2 Samuel 8:7–12 NIV

7 David took the gold shields that belonged to the officers of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. 8 From Tebah and Berothai, towns that belonged to Hadadezer, King David took a great quantity of bronze. 9 When Tou king of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer, 10 he sent his son Joram to King David to greet him and congratulate him on his victory in battle over Hadadezer, who had been at war with Tou. Joram brought with him articles of silver, of gold and of bronze. 11 King David dedicated these articles to the Lord, as he had done with the silver and gold from all the nations he had subdued: 12 Edom and Moab, the Ammonites and the Philistines, and Amalek. He also dedicated the plunder taken from Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

GRATITUDE EXPRESSED

To the victor go the spoils, right? The verses we just read catalog the spoils of war and the wealth that David collected from the people he conquered and subjugated to himself.

He took gold and bronze and silver, and ended up with more gold and more bronze.

There’s an interesting couple of verses in there about Tou/Toi, the king of Hamath.

When Tou/Toi heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer, Tou/Toi sent his son to congratulate David and to deliver to David articles of silver, gold, and bronze.

Some people, some kingdoms, some nations don’t have to be struck down. David didn’t have to smite or destroy Hamath; Tou/Toi willingly, happily, delightedly expresses gratitude to David for his trouncing of Hadadezer.

You see, there are rulers and nations and people who war against the LORD’s kingdom. And then there are some who lay down their arms and seek peace under His kingdom.

Dale Ralph Davis puts it like this:

“Some must be subdued; others submit. Some remain rebellious, others are repentant. Some must be crushed, others are contrite.”

Tou/Toi is probably just thankful to David for getting Hadadezer off his back. But he’s thankful all the same.

Even more than that, though, look at what David does.

David could have pulled a full-on “Scrooge McDuck” and had himself a whole room in his palace full of gold to go swimming in.

The king could have gathered all that loot together. It would have made him look really good. He had a nice cedar house, time to fill it with all that stuff. People could come over and admire all of his silver, bronze, and gold.

But David doesn’t do that.

King David dedicated these articles to the LORD…He also dedicated the plunder taken from Hadadezer…

It’s fairly apparent that David dedicated/consecrated all of these objects to the LORD for their eventual use in the temple. You can read about it in 1 Chronicles.

All the spoils of war, all the evidences that God had given him victory were not to line David’s own pockets and fill his house. All of this stuff he collected from these battles was meant to make people say,

“The LORD, the God of Israel, is a great and good God, and here are some evidences of His triumph over the enemies of His people.”

That’s what the silver and bronze and gold was for. And David does the right thing.

We should begin by asking ourselves: “Have I made any money by way of Holy War or by subduing foreign peoples/governments to myself?

If the answer is “no”, that’s a good thing. If you answered “yes” we probably need to talk.

In all seriousness, the question we should ask ourselves is, “What do I have that’s not from the LORD?”

If you think you’ve earned anything, worked really hard which means everything you have is all yours, you need to check yourself.

Spend some time thinking about it and reading the Bible to see what God has to say about your possessions.

1 Corinthians 4:7 “What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?”

Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;”

Job 41:11 “Everything under heaven belongs to me.”

1 Timothy 6:7 “For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.”

David, the King of Israel, could have held on to most of what he gathered from the Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, Philistines, and Amalekites, as well as what the Hamathites had gifted to him.

Instead, recognizing, I have to believe, that his many victories were the fulfillment of what the LORD had promised, David dedicates it back to the LORD.

David dedicates it to the LORD because the battle and the victory belongs to Him.

David gives it all to the LORD.

Like the widow with her two small coins, we give to express our gratitude. We give out of a recognition that everything we have, every single thing we have, is from Him.

In light of what Jesus has done for us, the victory over sin and death that He has won for us, we give freely. We give with open hands, taking delight in contributing to God’s work in the world.

My good friend, Alistair Begg poses this question: “Has Jesus not won a great victory over sin and death, over shame, over guilt in your life? Then bring all the spoils of His victory—your gifts, your abilities, your talents, your usefulness—bring them and use them in service of the King!”

We should willingly, eagerly express our gratitude to the Giver of all good things.

Look with me at the final verses of the chapter:

2 Samuel 8:15–18 NIV

15 David reigned over all Israel, doing what was just and right for all his people. 16 Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder; 17 Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelek son of Abiathar were priests; Seraiah was secretary; 18 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were priests.

This is the close of a major section of 2 Samuel. The author of 1 and 2 Samuel uses this summary to punctuate this section.

There’s nothing real exciting about these four verses. But it’s here for us. And there’s something for us to see, believe it or not, beyond a list of names and titles.

Look, once more, specifically at verse 15:

2 Samuel 8:15

15 David reigned over all Israel, doing what was just and right for all his people.

David does what is right and just for all his people. This is the ideal of the kingdom.

On the whole, David exercises his royal office in the proper way. In general, David is a good king (though not perfect). David does what a good and godly king was supposed to do.

Doing what was just and right.

Isn’t that nice? Aren’t you glad to hear that David was such a king?

You might be glad to hear that, but it doesn’t really do anything for you, does it? He’s not your king. You don’t benefit from his justice or his righteousness.

But there is something for us. This shows us the kingdom ideal of:

JUSTICE & RIGHTEOUSNESS LIVED-OUT

Before we go any further, let me remind you: You aren’t David. Neither am I. We’re not king over a nation of people. You don’t rule the kingdom, ya heard?

You aren’t David, but you can exemplify the kingdom of God, the Kingdom Jesus ushered in. You can demonstrate this wherever God has placed you.

You can demonstrate the values of the kingdom right where you are. The pattern for David, and for us, is the goodness and reliability—the justice and righteousness—of God Himself.

You can, in Him, live-out these kingdom values.

Whether you’re a mom or a dad, a husband or a wife, grandma or grandpa, teacher, student, farmer, nurse, employer, employee. Whatever you do, Christian, you can live-out these kingdom values of justice and righteousness.

If you keep doing what is just and right toward the people connected with you in your various capacities, then the ideal of the kingdom is clear, the order of the kingdom is enjoyed.

Micah 6:8

8 He has told you, O man, what is good;

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justice, to love kindness,

And to walk humbly with your God?

He’s shown you/us what to do: to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

We won’t live this out perfectly, we don’t live out justice and righteous perfectly, but we can do this to some degree and in increasing measure as we mature in our faith.

You shouldn’t leave doing justice and living righteously for David to do, simply because you can’t do it perfectly.

You, Christian, are called to live justly and righteously.

The temptation here is to say, “We need to live like this. We need to be like David” and call that good. End of sermon. Go and do better.

But that’s law and not gospel.

Let me rather say, “You can’t live like this; you can’t do it. Oh, but there’s One who did! And through faith in Him, you can begin to live like this, too!”

With God, when you’re in relationship with Him, when you’re united to Jesus—Him the vine, and you all the branches—it’s Him working through you. In Him, you will bear much fruit! Jesus says so!

In Christ, we have the ability and the strength to live out justice and righteousness in the day-to-day of our lives.

On our own, we’d never uphold justice or live righteously. But in Christ, we are able! We know injustice when we see it, don’t we? We should work for justice, to see justice done.

Our God is both Just and the One who justifies those who put their faith in Jesus (Romans 3). By doing justice, by walking justly, we are modeling Jesus, following the way of Jesus.

As followers of Jesus, we have been clothed with Jesus’ righteousness. We are only righteous because Jesus has imputed His righteousness to us.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

We live-out the righteousness of God because Jesus has made us righteous. Positionally, by faith in Jesus, we are righteous.

Practically, we mess this up all the time. We aren’t anywhere near perfect in living this out. But, by the power and presence of Jesus in our lives, we daily strive to live-out righteousness.

To live-out justice and righteousness requires us to be walking with Christ in the details of life.

Depending on Him.

Doing what He would do.

Daily learning from Him.

It’s all about Him. The battle belongs to Him.

He has been victorious! The LORD gave David victory. The LORD Himself has been victorious over all His enemies—Satan, and sin, and death. He has been victorious!

Let’s never stop expressing our gratitude to Him. We give and we serve, we use our talents and our treasure, expressing our thankfulness, our gratitude to the Giver of all good things.

Let’s go forth, Church, to live-out justice and righteousness. We’re meant to reflect Him—His justice and His righteousness—so others will see and give Him praise.