I Chronicles Chapter 18

Please read:  I Chronicles 18 –

Much like the gospels in the New Testament, the chronicler tells of the same events in the books of Samuel and the books of Kings but give us different details.  In this chapter we learn more details about how great a leader David was as the king of Israel.  For many years the Philistines had been raiding the promised land and taking cities or territories away from the people.  But David, because He relied on God, was victorious over all his enemies including the Philistines.

David was not a king who purposed to conquer other countries just to add to the size of his kingdom, but rather he fought back against those that attacked Israel and God gave him the victory, and God increased Israel’s territory.  And under David’s rule the people enjoyed what every human wants to enjoy, freedom.  The Bible says that David administered justice and equity to all his people.

Let's Reflect

1.  For years the Philistines had been taking territory away from Israel.  What territory did David take from the Philistines?

2.  Other countries that we read about David having control over by means of victory in battle are Moab in verse 2, Syria in verse 6 and through the leadership of David’s man Abishai what other country did they gain control over?  See verse 12.

3.  In verses 3-4 describes David’s attack on the army of King Hadadezer, king of Zobah (one of the Syrian capital cities).  Allow yourself a moment to look at the sheer numbers of the army of King Hadadezer that David was able to conquer.  David practiced restraint by only taking a small number of this king’s horses for himself.  Disabling the horses seemed cruel but David needed to render them incapable of being used in battle against him.  David could not have taken all those horses with him as he moved his armies forward for battle.  How many horses did he keep?

4.  The other Syrians of Damascus (the other capital of Syria) heard about David’s attack on King Hadadezer and they came to help.  What happened to those Syrians?

5.  Proof of David’s great leadership is evidenced not only in the victories over his enemies but also by the great gifts of wealth that other countries gifted to him.  Why would other countries give great gifts to David?  Perhaps because they revered the power of Israel and did not want to be brought under its control.  Or maybe it was God who just caused these other countries to give great gifts of wealth to David.  We see one example of this in verses 9-10.  What did King Tou give to David?

6.  David also accumulated great wealth through his victories in battle.  Gold, silver and bronze were stockpiled for use of a future building project.  One of those projects is listed in verse 8.  Who built beautiful objects from the bronze?

7.  What does verse 11 tell us that David did with all the wealth he gained?

8.  David brought great order to his kingdom.  In the last few verses, the chronicler describes all the various offices that people were given under David’s authority.  The last verse tells us of the special assignments of chief officials.  Who was given these special assignments?