"David’s Conquest"

2 Samuel 8-10

Intro: We have seen in our study of 2 Samuel that when David became King in Israel – Israel began to expand their borders

A) Ch. 5 David took Jerusalem from the Jebusites and the valley of Rephaim from the Philistines

B) Tonight we come to Ch.8 where we see a great expansion – Israel will come as close as they ever have to possessing all of the Promised Land!

C) Israel had just been immersed in a number of really good years.

D) Things were great; David’s leadership had brought Israel to a place of unprecedented prosperity, both materially and spiritually.

1) The land that was to flow with milk and honey, was flowing with milk and honey, on every level.

E) But Israel was still surrounded by enemies on every side!

God had made a promise to Abraham in Gen 15 where God had set forth the boundaries for the Promised Land,

A) God said that the Promised Land would extend from Egypt to the Great River Euphrates, it would include all of the land of the Kenites, and the Hittites, Perizzites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and Girgashites and the Jebusities.

B)And God had re-enforced those boundaries again when Joshua went in and divided up the Land.

1) The only problem was that Israel had never taken all of the land that God had given them, they had never fully controlled the Promised Land.

C) They had become content to live in a little portion of the land while the enemies of Israel controlled the bulk of the land.

1) We can do the same – God has so much for us – but we can become content to settle for far less than what he has.

Often when we do that – we give up ground – No standing still in the Christian life – this is what happened to Israel

A) Their borders shrunk – the enemy had them squeezed in. {See Slide

B) They had Philistines to the west by the Mediterranean; they had Syrians there in the Area of Aram Damascus in the North

1) They had the Moabites to the East in Ammon beyond the Dead Sea, and they had the Edomites to South.

C) What happened is that these enemies just kept creeping in, taking more and more land as they sucked the life out of the people.

1) That is what the enemy seeks to do in our lives when we don’t possess all that the Lord has for us !

PREEMPTIVE STRIKE- Well David wasn’t going to stand for it. So he goes on the offensive launches a Preemptive strike RDV. 1-2

A) David’s 1st Strike was against the Philistines Israel’s oldest and closet enemy.

B) David goes in and he takes the City of Metheg Ammah, which we know as the City of Gath.

1) What is interesting here is that Metheg Ammah means, "The Bridle of Ammah"

C) This was the control point for Philistia, if you controlled this part of the country, you controlled the whole thing!

 

Next David goes up against the Moabites in the East and he is particularly brutal in his conquest of them.

A) He takes their army and lays them out on the ground and all of them who are two lines tall he kills, and those who are one line tall he lets live.

B) It was a good day to be short if you were a Moabite. {All the short guys with a complex were – happy to be short on that day.

C) Why was David so brutal with the Moabites.

1) When David was a Fugitive – Took his parents there for safety

It was believed the King of Moab killed them!

D) So David had a score to settle here and he did.

Next David goes up North to take back the territory that was being inhabited by King Hadadezer. RD V. 3-8

A) King Hadadezer had quite an army, he had 1000 chariots, 700 horsemen, 20 thousand-foot soldiers.

B) David Hamstrung the horses – cut the Hamstring – make it so they couldn’t run!

1) Why would David do that, why would he destroy the horses.

C) It was an act of military necessity, not animal cruelty –

1) David could not care for so many horses while on military campaign, and he could not give them back to the enemy

D) But also because in Deut 17 where God says that the Kings of Israel were forbidding to do three things,

1) multiply to themselves wives, multiply to themselves silver and gold, and multiply to themselves horses.

E) God wanted the Kings and Leaders of Israel to trust in Him, not in horses or chariots.

1) So David destroys the horses and the chariots saves only 100 of them.

So in these 8 verses – We see that David has taken care of 3 of Israel’s major enemies

A) 8 verse record of it – Not a long book – not long Chapters –

Just a simply record of what took – place

B) Long standing enemies were defeated – Land that belonged to Israel was now occupied by Israel

C) Well after conquering these kingdoms – Israel for the first time and sadly the Last time was now in control of the Promised Land!

1) It was all because of God’s hand upon David.

D) The key is found in v.6 So the LORD preserved David wherever he went

1) Preserved = Rescued, protected, defended, kept safe.

E) The reason there is no long record of this or fanfare to accompany it – the victory was from the Lord

1) The Battle belongs to the Lord

F) This is a testimony to us – God is with us!

The Bible portrays God as having emotions:

A) Mad/ Angry/ Heartbroken/ disappointed / well pleased / Joyful

The Bible even tells us that God LAUGHS

B) God is only shown laughing 3 times all of which are in the Psalms and each time – You know what He is laughing at? – His Enemies

C) The enemies of God – don’t scare him – they don’t bother Him at all – He laughs – Like Shaq – School girls

D) This is good for us to Know: See sometimes my enemies can scare me / they can intimidate me – They seem so strong –

1) But God just laughs at them – they are amusing to Him!

Application: The enemies that plague you are nothing to God!

A) Just like He gave David what he needed to overcome those enemies God can and will do the same for us.

B) Because God was with David – he was able to go on the offensive against his enemies and so can we.

C) What does it mean to go on the offensive against our enemies?

1) Identify them

D) You have to see them as those things that are occupying territory that God wants you to have.

This seems like a no brainier – but there are those who think their enemies are just a part of their personality

A) Guy who says – I am Italian – I am just an angry person. – My dad was angry / his dad was angry – all the mafia guys are angry

1) It is just a part of who I am – part of my Heritage –

B) From that guys perspective ANGER is not his enemy – it is just a part of who he is.

1) That is a lie from the pit of Hell.

C) Listen you don’t drink because you are Irish / Cheat on your wife because you are French / or fight because you are Hispanic

1) That is a lie from the enemy- that is the enemy masquerading as something that it is not – We need to Clearly identify the Enemy!

 

#2 Once you identify the enemy ask God for a Strategy to take the enemy out! Ask God for a Battle Plan

A) God will instruct you – often times the instruction is right there in the word – But sometimes – He will be specific

B) Call someone – Change something!

C) Sunday we were talking about lust and Porn. – Here are a couple of strategies some guys have employed to deal with that enemy.

1) Web Program- Everything you view gets sent to someone else

D) Another guy: Shrine around his computer – Pictures of the Lord on the Cross / Wife / His kids / His Pastor

So Identify the enemy – Ask God for a Strategy #3 Go for it in God’s strength – Knowing We have the victory in Jesus – David does here!

A) It really is that simple – no need to read 50 books on how to have victory

B) We have victory in Jesus – Go for it – stand in it

C) 9 times out of 10 I meet someone struggling in sin – two things are true #1 Not in the word / #2 Not applying what they already know

D) David believed the promise of God to Abe – and went on the offensive to take land given to Israel by God

 

TOI Reward and Treaty RD V.9-14

A) Now because David realized that Lord’s hand upon him – So He brought all the Spoil to Jerusalem & dedicated it to the house of the Lord!

B) Even as David took the shields & the spoil of the ungodly, and dedicated them to God,

1) We can take whatever is of value that was once dedicated to Satan’s service and use it for God.

D) Like the pastor who received a large contribution from a gambler, and answered objections that he was taking "the Devil’s money":

"The Devil has had it long enough; let’s see what God can do with it!"

RD V. 15-18

Chapter 9 David and Meph. – God’s Grace –

A) David showed Meph. Kindness because his relationship with Jonathan

B) God has shown us grace and Kindness based on our relationship with Jesus! Evan – David series ETC

CH.10 V.1-2

A) David had a good relationship with Hanun’s Dad Nahash.

B) In fact Nahash had extended kindness and grace to David when he was running from Saul.

1) Here was a chance to return that kindness; here was a chance to extend grace to his son.

C) Father died / Big responsibility / Good for him to be aligned w/ David

1) So David sends some servants to offer help – watch what happens v3-4

Hanun’s advisors get suspicious of David’s Kindness

A) What happens here is something that I see that happens all the time

B) Hanun’s advisors instead of Judging David by his actions they judge him on the basis of what they think his motives are

C) We do that too – Husband pitches in to help his wife around the house – she takes it as he is sending a message to her –

1) He is not happy with how she is taking care of the house

D) We judge our kids on their motives – We judge each other -

That is what these guys are doing – they think that David is up to No Good!

A) Take his servants and shave their beards and cut their garments – so their buttocks were exposed – {basically they disgraced them

B) The worst of it was having half of your beard cut off.

1) This wasn’t just having their beards shortened; this was shaving one side of the face and not the other.

C) This was the ultimate humiliation for the Middle Eastern man. A man’s beard was considered his greatest ornament.

1) It was their badge of honor/ a sign of their authority and wisdom

D) A Middle Eastern man would rather die than have his beard cut off.

1) The Middle Eastern man only cut his beard for two reasons, first, to show submission.

D) When a conquering army would take over a city, those conquered would have to shave their beards so that everyone could tell the conquered from the conquerors.

E), The other time that they would shave their beards would be to mourn the loss of a loved one.

1) It was the ultimate statement of grief.

So this was a huge Insult and they would end up paying dearly for it

Before we look at that – Notice how David takes care of the disgraced

RD V. 5

David gave them time to heal up from this ordeal.

A) He didn’t send them back out on another grace assignment, like "get back up on that horse" no, he gave them time to rest,

B) He allowed time for the sting of their humiliation to go away. And it did.

1) But that took Isolation, which allowed for restoration.

C) Confrontation will often require isolation, which allows for restoration.

1) Wisdom here on David’s part – he protected them and gave them the time and the place to be restored.

D) RESTORATION: Time is needed!

School violation of our Code of Conduct – Law is for rebellious

Grace is for the Repentive

Sometimes when a person is hurt – time heals RD v 6-7

The two sides prepare for war

A) Ammon hires the armies of Syria to fight for them

B) 1 Chronicles 19:6 says the Ammonites paid 1,000 talents, equaling $5.77 million today

RD V.8-12

Joab divides the army into two groups: One to fight the Ammonites in the city { Abishai / One to fight the Syrians in the country{ Joab

A) Joab’s wise philosophy: Be of good courage, and let us be

strong for our people and the cities of our God. And may the Lord

do what seems good in his sight (verse 12)

B) Joab wisely prepared for the battle to the best of his ability and worked hard for the victory; but he knew that ultimately, the outcome was in God’s hands

RD 13-19

So Joab defeats the Syrians, and the Ammonites

All of this was the result of Hanun’s advisors misinterpreting David’s kindness and Grace

A) This is a battle that should never have taken place!

B) Reminds me of a story that Jesus told -

Turn to Matt 21:33