1-2 Samuel Week Thirty-Six: 2 Samuel 8:1-18

Now after this it came about that David defeated the Philistines and subdued them; and David took control of the chief city from the hand of the Philistines.

² He defeated Moab, and measured them with the line, making them lie down on the ground; and he measured two lines to put to death and one full line to keep alive. And the Moabites became servants to David, bringing tribute.

³ Then David defeated Hadadezer, the son of Rehob king of Zobah, as he went to restore his rule at the River. ⁴ David captured from him 1,700 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers; and David hamstrung the chariot horses, but reserved enough of them for 100 chariots. ⁵ When the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer, king of Zobah, David killed 22,000 Arameans. ⁶ Then David put garrisons among the Arameans of Damascus, and the Arameans became servants to David, bringing tribute. And the Lord helped David wherever he went. ⁷ David took the shields of gold which were carried by the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ From Betah and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took a very large amount of bronze.

⁹ Now when Toi king of Hamath heard that David had defeated all the army of Hadadezer, ¹⁰ Toi sent Joram his son to King David to greet him and bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him; for Hadadezer had been at war with Toi. And Joram brought with him articles of silver, of gold and of bronze. ¹¹ King David also dedicated these to the Lord, with the silver and gold that he had dedicated from all the nations which he had subdued: ¹² from Aram and Moab and the sons of Ammon and the Philistines and Amalek, and from the spoil of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

¹³ So David made a name for himself when he returned from killing 18,000 Arameans in the Valley of Salt. ¹⁴ He put garrisons in Edom. In all Edom he put garrisons, and all the Edomites became servants to David. And the Lord helped David wherever he went.

¹⁵ So David reigned over all Israel; and David administered justice and righteousness for all his people. ¹⁶ Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder. ¹⁷ Zadok the son of Ahitub and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar were priests, and Seraiah was secretary. ¹⁸ Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David’s sons were chief ministers.

—2 Samuel 8:1-18

Sermon Outline

1. God’s Activity (MULTILINE)
2. Your Heart (MULTILINE)
3. to God (MULTILINE)

References

Weekly Study Guide

The backdrop for this discussion of the Land Covenant is the “long war against God” being waged by Satan—something we have referenced many times before. Knowing that the “seed of the woman” was to be his eventual downfall, and knowing that this promise of a redeemer would be channeled through the Jewish people, Satan has mercilessly persecuted the Jews all throughout history. Satan also knows that the Jewish people will be the key to the return of Christ—which will eventuate in his imprisonment. Thus, Satan continues his campaign of aggression and hatred against the Jewish people even today. The irrational hatred that the Jewish people have faced all throughout their history is undeniably sponsored by Satan. Anti-Semitism is satanic in origin and is a direct assault on the plans of God.

God has sovereignly protected the Jewish people in their homeland—whether in periods of disobedience or blessing. But God promised them, way back in the beginning of their history (Lev 26), that if they continued in disobedience, He would bring in nations to subjugate them. If they didn’t respond to that, God promised that He would take them off to temporary exile. If that didn’t work, God promised He would scatter them throughout the world. That final escalation of judgment is precisely what happened in 70 A.D. after Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. The Jewish people then entered a time called “the diaspora”—where they would not have a national homeland for nearly 2,000 years. But God is faithful to His word. He promised to bring them back, and we saw that happen in the decades leading up to 1948 when they finally became a nation again. The diaspora was now over—but Satan’s attack on Israel didn’t miss a beat.

On May 14^th, 1948, David Ben Gurion declared the independence of the state of Israel through this famous quote: “We hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state in the land of Israel.” On the following day, five Arab nations attacked Israel from every side. And the attacks on the nation of Israel have continued ever since. Satan does not want a nation of Israel in the land because it spells his doom. He has fanned the flames of hatred in every one of Israel’s neighbors, and all throughout the Muslim world, in hopes of destroying this renewed nation and wiping it out of existence. However, God has declared that as long as the sun, moon, and stars are in the sky, there will be a nation of Israel (Jer 31:35-37).  The point of all this is that we must view the attacks on Israel and the opposition to their ownership of the land, as well as the complicity in the mainstream media, as tools of Satan in his long war against God.

Modern Israel has weathered storm after storm, and attack after attack, and has emerged victorious—not because of their own might or ingenuity—but because God is fighting their battles once again. They survived the attack by those nations in 1948 and emerged with more land than they started with. They were then attacked again in 1967 and 1973 and again, they emerged victorious with more land than they previously had. The current attacks on Israel are no different. These attacks may appear different because this is a war being waged by Iran behind the scenes through many different terrorist proxies. But the important point to remember is that every war Israel has faced is ultimately not about the amount of land Israel has, but its very existence. The Muslim enemies of Israel do not want a 2-state solution. They want a 1-state solution with Israel erased from existence. In pursuit of peace, Israel has offered its enemies a 2-state solution at least 6 times since 1948, and those proposals have always been rejected by the Arab Muslim people groups and political entities.

We left off last time debunking some of the popular lies floating around in modern culture today that are being championed by the media in all its forms. The first lie—which we addressed last week—is that there is even such a thing as the Palestinian people. The next lie floating around is the notion that the land of Israel is actually the historic homeland of these so-called “Palestinian people”, and that Israel is an apartheid state committing genocide against this defenseless people. These people use the name “Palestine” as their justification for the claim, citing its long use in history as their support. A little history lesson regarding the use of this term will help us debunk this lie as well.

The land of Israel has been referred to by many different names in its 3,000-year history. Depending on the historical situation, it has been called: Israel, Judah, Palestine, Syria-Palestina, Jehud, Samaria, Judea, Canaan, the Holy Land, the Promised Land, and the Levant. Prior to God giving this land to Abraham and his offspring, it was known as the land of Canaan. This was where Canaan, the grandson of Noah, settled after the flood. The land retained that name until it was conquered by Joshua, when it began to be called Israel. But this was the land God gave, by divine right, to Abraham some 2,000 years before Christ. We’ve already explored how this right to the land is eternal. Nothing anyone can do can disqualify or disinherit Israel from its ownership.

As we come to 70 A.D., when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in response to the Jewish rebellion, the people of Israel were dispersed. But again, this eviction does not mean that they no longer owned the land. Eventually, after the Bar Kokhba revolt around 135 A.D., the Roman emperor Hadrian grew tired of these pesky Jews revolting against his empire, so he banished all Jews from Jerusalem and made it illegal for them to enter. He renamed Jerusalem, Aelia Capitolina, and built a pagan temple on top of the temple mount. He also removed the name Israel from use, and referred to it as the Roman province of Syria-Palestina. Ever since then, the land has been referred to by most historians as Palestine. But simply calling it Palestine does not touch on ownership, nor does it create a national identity for any people groups.

The name “Palestine” itself is being used today by some who wish to claim some kind of ancient heritage, or connection to the land. Many people mistakenly believe the origin of the term Palestine is connected to the Philistine people. And some misguided pro-Palestinians today even claim that the modern Palestinians are descended from the Philistines. This is obviously done in order to give their false claims some historical validity. But there is absolutely zero historical evidence to support this. Not to mention that the Philistines were Greek in origin, not Arab. Others claim the modern “Palestinians” are descended from the Canaanites. Again, there is no support for this claim, nor for the idea that any of the Canaanite tribes even survived much into the biblical period. As mentioned earlier, the Palestinians are not a distinct people group, and thus, they cannot have historical roots. Having said that, the term Palestine is actually much older than most people realize. Although many experts claim that the name Palestine was coined by Hadrian, the name is not actually Roman in origin, and it was not coined by Hadrian as an insult to the Jewish people. The term actually goes back some 500 years earlier to the Greeks. But as often happens, when one writer claims something that sounds reasonable, others tend to repeat it—until it comes into common usage.

According to Robert Dean:

“While many think that the name Palestine is etymologically related to the term “Philistine” and therefore refers to the land of the Philistines, that is not its source. However, a cognate of the Greek word PALE [palh] means a wrestler, and this was a term that the Greeks applied to this land long before the Jewish revolt. The Greeks loved puns, and so they called it the “land of the wrestler” because it was the land of Israel and Israel got his name when he wrestled with the angel of the Lord at Peniel. There is a play on words here because Palestine also sounded like Philistine and the Greeks got a great chuckle over that.”

The Greek historian Herodotus used the term “Palestine” in 440 B.C. in his work, The Histories. He wrote: “This part of Syria as far as Egypt is all called Palestine.” There are several other quotes by Herodotus using this term as well. In the first century A.D., the historian Josephus refers back to Herodotus, citing his use of the term as well. It was well-known back then that the Greeks invented the term, and then later, the Romans copied it. The Roman Emperor Hadrian simply chose to call the region by the name of the Roman province “Syria-Palestina” to remove all reference to Israel. This is why the Romans and the Ottoman Empire, and even the Jews themselves—prior to 1948, anyway—called the land Palestine. It was simply a regional designation that had been in use since ancient times. However, just because this is one of the names that conquering nations called the land of Israel, does not legitimize it as the only proper name, nor does it legitimize any connection to a non-people group—a people group invented in the 1960s for political purposes.

Because of all this political baggage, many biblical scholars refer to this covenant simply as the “Land Covenant”, rather than the Palestinian Covenant—although from time to time you might come across this term in older commentaries. This discussion reveals why we should refer to it as the Land Covenant, but also touches on the ownership of the land—which we will discuss more in-depth next time.

(MULTILINE)

Discussion Questions

1. Describe a time when you experienced some successes. How well do you think you handled that success? (MULTILINE)
2. In what ways was David’s faith on display throughout these military victories? Why did David hamstring the chariot horses (Deut 17:16)? Why do you think David only hamstrung some of them? What does this one act say about the heart of David? Why would David defeat and subjugate his warring neighbors rather than annihilate them? How would this ultimately strengthen his nation? (MULTILINE)
3. What do verses 10-11 say about David and his heart in victory? Who gets the glory and spoil for David’s victories? How did David do in dealing with success? Why do you think this phrase is repeated: “and the Lord helped David wherever he went”? How does the violence and seeming brutality in this chapter inform our understanding of God and His justice? How does it comport with your understanding of God’s gracious nature? What do we learn about the sovereignty of God in this chapter? (MULTILINE)
4. We may struggle when reading about the successes and victories David experienced—when all we seem to experience are the pains and struggles. How can we find God’s comfort in those times? How do you think most Christians do in not allowing the “highs” to get them too high, and the “lows” to get them too low? What steps might we take to find a good balance? (MULTILINE)
5. What qualities does David demonstrate that made him a successful and beloved king? How can we follow his example? David achieved impressive military victories with might and power, but also ruled with justice and righteousness. How might we strive to balance strength and compassion in our own lives? What areas in your life do you think you might “dedicate to the Lord”? What would this look like? (MULTILINE)

Going Deeper

1. Read verse 15 again. How does this verse summarize both this chapter and the overall reign of David? How might this statement also be a contrast to and rebuke of the kings that came before and after David? Why do you think the people who supported David are also mentioned in this passage (vv. 16-18)? What does this say about surrounding yourself with capable leaders and making sure they receive credit? Is there ever such a list mentioned with regard to Saul’s reign? Why not? How does this list demonstrate David’s leadership skills? (MULTILINE)
2. Israel possessed more of the land God had promised to Abraham under David’s reign than at any other time in their history. How does this relate to the conditionality of the Mosaic Covenant—as discussed in the introductions to previous weeks? What was the connection between obedience and enjoyment of the land? Why do you think God set it up this way? What do we learn about God’s faithfulness in this chapter? (MULTILINE)

Transformational Activity

Outreach

The simple statement, “David reigned over all Israel; and David administered justice and righteousness for all his people,” speaks so loudly to the heart of David and how his people viewed his life and impact. What kind of statement would be made characterizing your life? We must be diligent to remember that our witness is affected by our lifestyle. When we have a heart for outreach, this singular priority can influence the choices we make. How might we incorporate this reminder in our own lives? Take some time this week to devise a way to keep this reminder at the forefront of your thoughts so that your lifestyle witness can become even more powerful.