Monday, October 19, 2015

II Samuel 8: Winning A Name For Himself

Everything is going David's way.  As this chapter testifies, "The Lord gave victory to David wherever he went" (vs. 14).  Those pacified by David and his forces include the Philistines (vs. 1), the Moabites (vs. 2), the Zobahites (vs. 3-4), the Arameans (vs. 5-6), and the Edomites (vs. 13-14).  It's a good day to be a Jew!

Yet the amount of bloodshed that is mentioned here might give us pause.  It sounds like an awful lot of Moabites were killed by David, along with thousands of Arameans and Edomites, to say nothing of the hamstrung horses.  The nation of Israel here is ascendant, and God is providing David with the necessary victories to secure the land and establish the people.  Truly, David "won a name for himself" (vs. 13).

This chapter also gives us the identities of David's court officials and administration.  Despite killing Abner, Joab is still serving as David's military commander.

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