Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20061022.htm
1 AND 2 CHRONICLES: GAINING DIRECTION OUT OF THE AIMLESSNESS OF APOSTASY
Part II: Gaining Direction From God's Work In The Reign Of David, 1 Chronicles 10-29
C. Gaining Direction From God's Blessing David In Conquering The Philistines Opposite Saul's Defeat
(1 Chronicles 14:1-17 with 10:1-2, 13-14)
- Introduction
- Good spiritual leadership is always based upon spiritually following God well.
- This truth is evident in comparing the reigns of David and Saul, which comparison the author of 1 Chronicles made with a great lesson for anyone who leads or disciples another party (as follows):
- Gaining Direction From God's Blessing David In Conquering The Philistines Opposite Saul's Defeat.
- After the tragic loss of the life of Uzzah who reached out to touch the ark of the covenant in disobedience to God's Law, David expressed dismay and shock: this tragedy made him afraid of God so that he dared not bring the ark into Jerusalem until he knew why God had so severely judged Uzzah, 1 Chron. 13:9-13.
- David's ignorance of knowing the Scriptural method of transporting the ark by poles carried by the Levites and not on a cart that could tip had led to this tragedy (1 Chronicles 13:7 with 15:2), so this calamity served to make David a better follower of God and His WORD to David's blessing (as follows):
- After Uzzah's tragic death, God began to bless David with the offer of Hiram, king of Tyre to supply him materials for the construction of the temple. This led David to realize God had elevated him for the sake of edifying the people of Israel, the people God had chosen to bless, 1 Chronicles 14:1-2.
- Though David violated Deuteronomy 17:17 in taking many wives as king to set alliances with other nations, he did respond well to the Philistine threat by seeking God's help, 1 Chronicles 14:3-7, 8-10a.
- Indeed, David asked God not only if he should fight the Philistines, but if God would give him victory were he to fight, a series of questions the Lord answered in the affirmative, 1 Chronicles 14:10b,c.
- Accordingly, David soundly defeated the Philistines, naming the battlefield "Baal-perazim" that means "The Lord of breaking forth" to describe how his forces had burst through the Philistine assault force to defeat them, 1 Chronicles 14:11; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, ftn. to 2 Samuel 5:20.
- David also ordered the burning of the idols the Philistines left in their flight to obey Deuteronomy 7:5, 25 and thus to keep Israel from trusting in any of the Philistine's false gods, cf. 1 Chronicles 14:12.
- The Philistines again tried to fight David, and he again refused to be self-sufficient, but sought the Lord's advice in facing these longtime foes of Israel, 1 Chronicles 14:13-14a.
- This time, God gave David a new battle plan: instead of attacking the Philistines with a frontal assault as before, he was to go around the baka trees and attack only after he had heard the sound of God's angelic army marching over the top of these trees ahead of David, 1 Chron. 14:14b-15; Ibid., ftns.
- As David again followed the Lord, he won a great victory over the Philistines so that his fame spread to all the Gentile lands and inhibited their armies from making war with Israel, 1 Chronicles 14:16-17.
- David's bent to follow God is greatly contrasted to Saul's actions, and that with equally opposite results:
- In contrast to David who kept depending upon the Lord even after his initial defeat of the Philistines, Saul failed to obey the Lord once God had used him to gain a victory over the Ammonites, for Saul chose to trust in his own might after his initial victory, 1 Sam. 15:17 with 11:6, 11 versus 15:18-19.
- Consequently, God allowed Saul and his sons to be killed by the Philistines, 1 Chronicles 10:1-2, 13a.
- In contrast to David's repeat inquiries of God about fighting the Philistines, Saul failed to ask God's help with them, but sought a medium in violation of the Law, 1 Chron. 10:13b; Lev. 19:31. Due to this sin, God let the Philistines kill Saul opposite David's slaying of the Philistines, 1 Chronicles 10:14.
Lesson: Where Saul became self-sufficient as king and so failed to heed and seek the Lord to guide him to his great loss before the Philistines, David learned from his mishap with the transportation of the ark to stay dependent on the Lord for repeat battles with the Philistines, and that to his victory over them.
Application: (1) When we ERR before God in oversight as did David in the issue of the moving of the ark, may we LEARN from it as did David to FOLLOW God CLOSELY and STAY DEPENDENT on Him for blessings. (2) May we NOT like Saul take God's blessings for obedience to Him as a sign that we can somehow become self-sufficient so as to act independent of God, His power and His leading.