Historical

Chapter 7

David’s Concern for the Ark.^{[a] 1} When King David was settled in his palace and the Lord had granted him rest from all his enemies surrounding him, ² he said to the prophet Nathan: “Here I am, dwelling in a house of cedar, while the Ark of God dwells in a tent.” ³ Nathan replied to the king: “Do not hesitate to do whatever you have in mind, for the Lord is with you.”

⁴ However, that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: ⁵ “Go and tell my servant David: ‘Thus says the Lord: “Are you determined to build a house for me to dwell in? ⁶ I have not dwelled in a house from the day I brought the Israelites out of Egypt to this very day. I have been moving from place to place while living in a tent and a tabernacle. ⁷ In all of my travels everywhere among the Israelites, did I ever ask any of the judges whom I had appointed to shepherd my people Israel why they had never built me a house of cedar?” ’ ”

⁸ “Now then, this is what you are to say to my servant David: ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “I was the one who took you from the pastures and your work of caring for the sheep to be the ruler of my people Israel. ⁹ I have been with you wherever you went, and I have destroyed all of your enemies who dared to challenge you. Moreover, I intend to make your name as famous as the names of the greatest men on the earth.

¹⁰ “ ‘ “I also shall provide a place for my people Israel, and there I will plant them so that they may dwell there and never again be disturbed. Nor will the wicked afflict them anymore, as was the case formerly, ¹¹ from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. I will grant you rest from all of your enemies.

“ ‘ “Moreover, I, the Lord, promise that I will establish a royal house for you. ^12 [b]And when it is time for you to be with your ancestors, I will designate as your heir one of your sons to succeed you, and I shall establish his kingdom forever. ¹³ It is he who will build a house in honor of my name, and I shall ensure that his royal throne will stand firm forever.

¹⁴ “ ‘ “I shall be a father to him, and he will be my son. If he does wrong, I shall punish him as any father would do and not fail to inflict chastisements upon him. ¹⁵ However, I will never withdraw my steadfast love from him as I withdrew it from Saul and shielded you from his vindictive plots. ¹⁶ Your descendants and your kingdom will stand firm forever before me, and your throne shall endure forever.” ’ ”

¹⁷ Nathan then related all these promises and this entire revelation to David.

¹⁸ King David’s Prayer. Then King David went in and, sitting in the presence of the Lord, he said:

“Who am I, Lord God, and what is my lineage, that you have brought me this far? ¹⁹ Yet you regarded this as too insignificant an honor, Lord God, for you have also deigned to extend your protective care to the house of your servant for a long time to come. Who can truly consider himself sufficiently worthy to be the recipient of such love, Lord God?

²⁰ “What more can David say to you, Lord God, since you know everything about your servant? ²¹ For the sake of your promise and in accordance with the purpose you have in mind, you have decided to reveal all this to your servant.

²² “How great you are, Lord God! There is no one like you, and there is no God except you alone, as everything that we have heard confirms. ²³ And what other nation on earth can be compared to your people Israel, whom you sent forth to redeem for yourself from Egypt by awe-inspiring deeds as you drove out other nations and their gods. ²⁴ You have established your people Israel as your own forever, and you, Lord, became their God.

²⁵ “And now, Lord God, in regard to the promise that you have made concerning your servant and his house, do what you have promised, ²⁶ so that your name will be exalted forever, and people will say: ‘the Lord of hosts is the God of Israel,’ and the house of your servant David will be established before you, ²⁷ since you, the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, made this revelation to your servant: ‘I shall build a house for you.’ Therefore, your servant has found the courage to offer this prayer to you.

²⁸ “And now, Lord God, you are God, and your words are true. You have made this generous promise to your servant.^{[c] 29} Therefore, bless the house of your servant, so that it may remain ever before you. For you, Lord God, have spoken, and with your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever.”

Chapter 8

Summary of David’s Wars. ¹ A short time later, David attacked the Philistines and subdued them, and he also wrested Metheg-ammah from their control. ² In addition he defeated the Moabites, after which he ordered them to lie on the ground and then measured them off with a length of cord. He measured two lengths of cord for those who were to be put to death, and one length for those who were to be spared. The Moabites then became David’s subjects and brought him tribute.

³ David also defeated King Hadadezer of Zobah, the son of Rehob, as he led an expedition to restore his dominion along the Euphrates River. ⁴ David captured from him one thousand seven hundred horsemen and twenty thousand foot soldiers. He also hamstrung all but one hundred of the chariot horses.

⁵ When the Arameans of Damascus came to the aid of King Hadadezer of Zobah, David killed twenty-two thousand men of the Arameans. ⁶ He then established garrisons among the Arameans of Damascus, and they became his subjects and brought him tribute.^[d] The Lord brought David victory wherever he went.

⁷ David also took the gold shields that were carried by the guards of Hadadezer, and he brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ In addition, from Bethah and Berothai, towns belonging to Hadadezer, David removed an immense quantity of bronze.

⁹ When Tor, the king of Hamath, heard that David had defeated Hadadezer’s entire army, ¹⁰ he sent his son Joram to King David to greet him and to congratulate him for having been victorious in his battle against Hadadezer, for Hadadezer had often been at war with Tor.

Joram brought with him objects of silver, gold, and bronze. ¹¹ These also King David consecrated to the Lord, as he had also done with the silver and gold he had taken from every nation he had conquered— ¹² from Edom and Moab, from the Ammonites and the Philistines, from Amalek, and from the spoil taken from King Hadadezer of Zoab, the son of Rehob.

¹³ David became even more greatly renowned when, on his return, he slew eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt, ¹⁴ after which he stationed garrisons throughout Edom. Thus all the Edomites became David’s subjects. And the Lord continued to give victory to David wherever he went.

¹⁵ David’s Officials. David reigned over all Israel, and he administered law and justice among all his people.^{[e] 16} Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was in command of the army. Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, was in charge of the records. ¹⁷ Zadok, the son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech, the son of Abiathar, were priests. Seraiah was secretary. ¹⁸ Bena-iah, the son of Jehoiada, was in command of the Cherethites and the Pelethites.^[f] David’s sons were priests.

Chapter 9

David and Meribbaal.^{[g] 1} David inquired: “Is there anyone belonging to the family of Saul who is still alive, to whom I may show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” ² Now Saul’s family had a servant whose name was Ziba, and he was summoned to appear before David. The king asked him: “Are you Ziba?” He replied: “I am at your service.”

³ The king then asked: “Is there anyone from Saul’s family still alive to whom I may show God’s kindness?” “There is a son of Jonathan who still remains,” Ziba said to the king. “His feet are crippled.” ⁴ Then the king inquired: “Where is he?” Ziba answered: “He is living in the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar.”

⁵ Then King David sent for him and had him brought from the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar. ⁶ When Meribbaal, the son of Jonathan and the grandson of Saul, entered David’s presence, he fell on his face and did obeisance. David said: “Meribbaal!” He replied: “I am your servant.”

⁷ David then said to him: “Do not be afraid. I intend to show you great kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I shall restore to you all the lands that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you yourself shall always eat at my table.” ⁸ Meribbaal again prostrated himself and said: “Of what importance is your servant that you should look with kindness upon a dead dog like me?”

⁹ Then David summoned Saul’s servant Ziba and said to him: “I am turning over to your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and to his family. ¹⁰ You and your sons and your servants shall cultivate the land for him and bring in the harvest to provide for your master’s family to eat. However, Meribbaal, your master’s grandson, shall always eat at my table.”

Ziba, who had fifteen sons and twenty servants, ¹¹ said to the king: “Your servant shall do everything that my lord the king has commanded him.” Therefore, Meribbaal ate at the king’s table like one of the king’s sons.

¹² Meribbaal had a young son whose name was Mica. All the members of Ziba’s household became servants of Meribbaal. ¹³ However, Meribbaal lived in Jerusalem because he always ate at the king’s table, for he was crippled in both feet.

Chapter 10

Insult of the Ammonites. ¹ Sometime afterward the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun succeeded him as king. ² David thought: “I will show Hanun, the son of Nahash, the same loyalty that his father showed to me.” Then David sent a delegation to console him at the loss of his father.

When David’s envoys entered the country of the Ammonites, ³ the Ammonite princes said to their lord Hanun: “Do you truly believe that David means to honor your father just because he has sent envoys to express their condolences to you? Is it not far more likely that he has sent them to be spies so that they may explore and reconnoiter the city and thus be better prepared to overthrow it?”

⁴ Thereupon Hanun seized David’s envoys, shaved off half of their beards, cut away the lower half of their garments up to their hips, and then sent them away.^{[h] 5} When David was informed about how they had been treated, he sent messengers to meet them, for they were greatly humiliated, and to instruct them: “Remain in Jericho until your beards have grown again, and then return.”

Ammonites Defeated. ⁶ When the Ammonites realized that they had greatly offended David, they sent envoys to hire the Arameans of Beth-rehob and the Arameans of Zobah to come to their support, twenty thousand foot soldiers in number, as well as one thousand men from the king of Maacah, and twelve thousand men from Tob.

⁷ When David learned about this, he sent out Joab with his entire force of trained warriors. ⁸ The Ammonites then came forth and drew up in battle formation at the entrance of their city gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah stayed some distance away in the open country.

⁹ When Joab perceived that he would be attacked both from the front and from the rear, he chose the best of the troops of Israel and arrayed them against the Arameans. ¹⁰ He put the rest of his forces in charge of his brother Abishai and arrayed them against the Ammonites.

¹¹ Then Joab said: “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you must come to my aid. However, if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come to help you. ¹² Be brave! Let us fight courageously for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God. The Lord will do what he judges to be best.”

¹³ Then Joab and the soldiers with him moved forward into battle against the Arameans and put them to flight. ¹⁴ When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans had fled, they likewise fled when they were confronted by Abishai and withdrew into the city. Then Joab ceased his attack against the Ammonites and withdrew to Jerusalem.

¹⁵ Arameans Defeated. When the Arameans realized that they had been defeated by Israel, they gathered their forces together. ¹⁶ Hadadezer sent messengers to summon other Arameans who lived beyond the Euphrates, and they came to Helam, with Shobach, the commander of the army of Hadadezer, at their head.

¹⁷ When David was informed of this, he assembled all of the forces of Israel, crossed the Jordan, and advanced to Helam. The Arameans then drew up in battle formation against David and fought with him. ¹⁸ However, they were compelled to flee from the Israelite forces. David’s men killed seven hundred Arameans in chariots and forty thousand foot soldiers. In addition, Sho-bach, the general of their army, was seriously wounded, and he died on the battlefield.

¹⁹ When all of the kings who were vassals of Hadadezer realized that they had been defeated by Israel, they sued for peace with the Israelites and became their subjects. As a result, the Arameans were afraid to give any further help to the Ammonites.