(2 Samuel) David's Triumph — David Guzik

David Defeats the Philistines

We've been making our way through the book of 2 Samuel this morning, today, we're at chapter 8, and it's a chapter all about the triumph, the victory of King David. Let's take a look here, beginning at verse 1.

After this, it came to pass that David attacked the Philistines and subdued them, and David took Methag-amah from the hand of the Philistines. The Philistines, of course, had troubled the people of Israel for centuries.

Generations upon generations of Israelites had been troubled, and sometimes greatly oppressed by the Philistines. Israelite cities had been conquered by the Philistines. Israelite kings had been killed by the Philistines.

This is something very important, that David went out and attacked them. He didn't say, well, we've lost so many times before in front of the Philistines, and surely we can't win again. David didn't think about that.

He treated the enemies of God, if you might say, with contempt. He said, we're just going to go. We're going to win the victory in the name of the Lord. And so he went out and he attacked the Philistines, and I love what it says there in verse 1.

He subdued them. They were under his power, under his authority. This enemy of God would not stand before David and the armies of Israel. Well, that wasn't all. Look at it in verse 2. Then he defeated Moab, forcing them to lie down to the ground.

He measured them off with a line. With two lines, he measured off those to be put to death, and with one full line, those to be kept alive. So the Moabites became David's servants and brought tribute.

Well, this seems very brutal of David, especially when we consider that he was of Moabite heritage, at least in part. You may know from other studies of the Bible that David's great-grandmother was named Ruth, and she was from Moab.

Well, David still trusted the Moabites enough at the end of 1 Samuel to entrust his mother and father into their care. Many Bible scholars believe that the Moabites must have mistreated or perhaps even killed David's parents for him to act upon them in such a strong way, where he measures out the Moabites, I should say, and lays them out on the ground and just measures a line.

And for every two segments that he kills, one he keeps alive. But David brought the Moabites low, even to where they paid tribute unto David, as you see at the end of verse 2. Well, that wasn't all. Verses 3 through 8 describe how David defeated a Syrian alliance.

Verse 3 says David also defeated Hadadzer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his territory at the river Euphrates. David took from him 1 ,000 chariots, 700 horsemen, and 20 ,000 foot soldiers.

Also, David hamstrung all the chariot horses, except that he spared enough of them for 100 chariots. So this people of Zobah, which was a region of Syria to the north of David, they came against to sort of establish their territory out to the river Euphrates.

David came against them and conquered them in a dramatic way, destroying the horses that they brought into battle, except for a small number, which he kept for his own army. Well, that stirred up another Syrian group, those centered around Damascus.

David's Triumph Over the Syrian Alliance

Look at verse 5. When the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadzer, king of Zobah, David killed 22 ,000 of the Syrians. Then David put garrisons of Syria, of Damascus, and the Syrians became David's servants and brought tribute.

The Lord preserved David wherever he went, and David took the shields of gold that had belonged to the servants of Hadadzer and brought them to Jerusalem, also from Bittah and from Barathi, the cities of Hadadzer.

King David took a large amount of bronze. So he's spoiling these enemy peoples, and he's bringing their riches into the Lord's treasury. These great golden shields that are mentioned here, the tribute here from the Syrians, David brings it all, and he gives it before the Lord.

You're getting a feel for the comprehensiveness of David's victory here, in every direction, on every point of the compass, north, south, east, and west, he's conquering the enemies of God. So much so, and you see the acclaim that was brought to David, that in verse 9, neighboring kings come to bring him tribute.

When Toi, king of Hamath, heard that David had defeated all the army of Hadadzer, then Toi sent Joram, his son to King David, to greet him and bless him, because he had fought against Hadadzer and defeated him, for Hadadzer was at war with Toi.

And Joram brought with him articles of silver, articles of gold, and articles of bronze. David dedicated these to the Lord, along with the silver and gold that he had dedicated from all the nations which he had subdued, from Syria, from Moab, from the people of Ammon, from the Philistines, from Amalek, and from the spoil of Hadadzer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

And David made himself a name when he returned from killing 18 ,000 Syrians in the Valley of Salt. He also put garrisons in Edom. Throughout all Edom, he put garrisons, and all the Edomites became David's servants, and the Lord preserved David wherever he went.

Victory on all points. Israel was at its height as a nation, strong, secure, conquering enemy nations, enemy nations bringing tribute into Israel, other neighboring nations recognizing how the Lord had lifted up David in his kingdom.

This was a nation under the blessing of God, because David was a man after God's own heart, and God could work through him in this great way. What a contrast to the previous king Saul. You know, Saul spent his time mistakenly thinking that Israelites themselves were his enemies.

Saul spent more time fighting against David than he did the enemies of the Lord. You see, David was at peace with God's people. He was not consumed with fighting against the people of God, and so he could win great victories over the enemies of the Lord.

And then again, we can't help and look at this, but to think that this is how God wanted to reign in the life of Saul, as Saul would only have let him. The Holy Spirit wanted to win these kind of victories through Saul, but Saul had rejected the Lord's ownership of his life.

Saul was resisting the move of the Spirit in his life, and we never saw this kind of victory worked out in and through the life of Saul. Well, you sort of see a bow tied on it in verse 15, where it says,.

So David reigned over all Israel, and David administered judgment and justice to all his people. David wasn't just effective in foreign policy. David was also effective there at home. He was a just ruler.

But when you went to the law courts of Israel in the days of David, you could be assured of finding justice. You could be assured that there would be righteousness throughout the land. Corruption wasn't permitted among the officials.

The things were regulated and things were organized very well. And the last few verses of the chapter speak of the organization. Verse 16, Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was over the army. Jehoshaphat, the son of Ehud, was the recorder.

Zadok, the son of Ahitab and Ahimelech, the son of Abathar, were the priests. Sarariah was the scribe. Ben-Ananiah, the son of Jehudiah, was over both the Cherithites and the Pelethites. And David's sons were the chief ministers.

What a remarkable example of the organization of David's kingdom. Again, something we never see in the administration of Saul's kingdom. You won't find a list like this. Saul's kingdom was disorganized.

You know, the Lord works through organization. That may be sort of convicting to some of you. You know, you're disorganized and you almost prize yourself on it. But God works through organization. And you know, even when great things are done and it seems like they happen with no organization.

I've been a part of ministry events that are like that. Everything is a mess. There's been poor planning. There's been utter chaos. And you just wonder, oh God, this is going to blow up in our faces. And then oftentimes, not every time, but oftentimes God just miraculously pulls things together.

And it's tremendous blessing and tremendous effectiveness in ministry. And sometimes after a time like that, you're tempted to step back and say, well, I guess we don't have to organize. I guess we don't have to have it, you know, well ordered because the Lord will just rescue us at the end.

Don't you presume on God. God has used organization. It's just that the organization was with him, not with you. He had it organized in heaven just fine. And perhaps if we would have listened more to the Lord along the way, we would have been in touch with his organization.

David's Victories as a Pattern for God's Work

Now, I think we've had a very interesting history survey here from Second Samuel, chapter eight. But we can all stand back and say, well, we know this very well. David was victorious. He conquered all his enemies.

He ruled effectively in his own kingdom. If I were to give out a multiple choice test here on Second Samuel, chapter eight, you probably all would do very well on it. But that's not where the Holy Spirit wants it to end.

You see, the Bible says that all scripture is given by God and is profitable for us for instruction, for reproof, for admonishment, for making us into the men and women of God that he wants us to be. So what does God want you to see from Second Samuel, chapter eight this morning?

I would say that there's two great things, two great themes running alongside here. Of course, the predominant theme is David's work in the past, in the history of Israel. But there's two additional themes that you need to know very well.

And David's work in the past speaks of, first of all, God's work in eternity. Secondly, it speaks of the Holy Spirit's work today in your life. In other words, I believe if we take a look at what David accomplished point by point through this chapter, you're going to see how it illustrates both God's work in eternity and the Holy Spirit's work today in your life.

You should know about both of those things. You should know about God's work in eternity. He wants you to know the big picture. He wants you to know what your place is in the big picture. Now, he's working out a grand strategy, a great plan of the ages.

And you have a role in it. God wants you to know something of the entire plan. But then again, there's something that he's doing in your life by the work of the Holy Spirit. If you belong to him, if you are born again by the spirit of God, there is a work that the Holy Spirit wants to do in your life that began before you were born again.

And he's going to complete it until that day of glory. So what does David's work in this chapter suggest to us about both God's work in eternity and the Holy Spirit's work today? Well, first of all, take a look at the victory that he won over the Philistines.

That was in verse one. What does that have to tell us about God's work in eternity? Well, his victory over the Philistines was a victory over a stubborn enemy, an enemy that had hung around a long time.

Now, friends, you know that in God's great plan of the ages, God will overcome every old stubborn enemy in this universe. Think of Satan himself ruling as the god of this age, so to speak, for generations upon generations of man's rule on this earth.

That stubborn enemy is going to be completely put away by the Lord in the new heavens and the new earth. There's going to be a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. And everything that has opposed God, no matter how stubbornly entrenched in this world, God is going to deal with it.

The Holy Spirit's Victory Over Entrenched Sin

But it also speaks about the Holy Spirit's work today in your life. You know, there are probably some old stubborn enemies in your life. Maybe taking ground day by day, and you've sort of just passed them off.

You've sort of made a peace treaty with sin here and there. You know, here's that old stubborn enemy in your life. It's a bad temper. And you've just sort of written it off as, well, that's just the way I am.

You know, some people are smart, some people are funny, and I have a bad temper. And so there you are, you're yelling at your family, you're yelling at your co-workers. And every time the Holy Spirit convicts you about it, you just say, well, that's just me.

It's like the presence of the Philistines among the people of Israel. Well, you need the Holy Spirit to work in your life, like David worked among the people of Israel, who said, listen, we don't care if the Philistines have stubbornly oppressed us for generation upon generation.

Their day is over. The day of the Spirit of God is here now to work. And so if you have that stubbornly entrenched sin in your life, I'm here to call you to some hope and to some faith and the work of the Holy Spirit in your life.

God can deal with that sin. You don't have to accept it there any longer. God can work in your life in power and in victory to uproot even the oldest, most stubborn enemy in your life, just like he did with the Philistines in the days of David.

Then we have the example of the victory over Moab. Well, that shows us how harshly David dealt with the enemies of the Lord. It's kind of striking there, isn't it? Laying out the Moabite army on the ground.

Then you get out the measuring rod. Let's measure three units. Two of them we're going to kill. One we'll let live. That was dealing with enemies severely. It reminds us that in God's eternal picture, he's going to deal with enemies severely, isn't he?

Then there's going to come a day where the separation is permanent, where it's heaven or hell, where it's with God or without him. There's not going to be any middle ground anymore. There will come a day when all the enemies of God are dealt with, and when they're dealt with, they'll be dealt with severely.

God's Severe Mercy in Sanctification

Well, the Lord wants to do a work in our life today. I would say that the Holy Spirit wants to and must deal with the enemies in our life severely. Speaking for myself, I'd say when the Holy Spirit does this work in my life, sometimes I resent it.

I'm just like the rest of you, I suppose. I can be given to bouts of self-pity and just sort of introspection where I think, oh, woe is me. You know, everything is against me. Lord, you're so tough on me.

God, why won't you lighten your hand upon me? But when I look at it in rational moments, in moments where I really look at it with a bigger perspective, I realize, well, first of all, I realize that the Lord isn't severe with me at all.

That actually what I deserve from him is much, much worse than what he ever deals with me. But even what seems to be severe from the hand of the Lord is his mercy extended towards me. So the Lord is severe, perhaps, in rebuking my pride.

That is the hand of his mercy towards me. What, am I the only one here that I realize that sometimes I need to be dealt with severely from the Lord? From time to time. I mean, is that only me? Perhaps it's you also, that you realize that it's not just you need the gentle, soft, loving hand of God towards you.

You know, the pat on the head and the encouragement, the hug. Sometimes we need a bit of severity from God. And God is gracious enough to give us that. You can trust God that every time that you think the Lord is being severe towards you, first of all, he's not being as severe as you deserve.

But secondly, there is a great hand of mercy and love, even in that seeming severity. That's what the Holy Spirit wants to do in your life today. Then we see the victory that David won over the Syrian alliance.

That must have been frightening. It wasn't just one king. Now it was this fellow from Zobah and the Syrian city of Damascus, allied together. Wow, this is a tough army to conquer. It's an alliance against David.

David overcame them with a glorious victory. And it teaches us that in God's eternal plan, God will overcome every alliance against him. You know, there's a wicked alliance formed against the things of God, the alliance of the world, the flesh and the devil.

I've got news for you, they're all going down. They're all going to see their day passed. God will destroy every alliance against him. But, you know, the Holy Spirit can overcome whatever alliance we have in our life that's set against him.

You have some ungodly alliances in your life. Maybe the Lord's breaking those up. He's stirring those up and they're separating right now in your midst. That relationship that you had, and it's not a godly relationship.

It's turning sour. Maybe that's the Holy Spirit's way of defeating an ungodly alliance in your life. We see that David, all in all, had victory over every enemy. North, south, east and west. And of course, that's the sign of the Lord's great work.

He's going to overcome every enemy. You know, it's marvelous to see God doing that in the world today, in this sense of taking the word of God out to all the nations and doing a great work in other nations.

There was not a single nation that came against David that could stand. And God is doing his great work in the nations of the world as well. I've seen it just this last week. Again, in visiting in Europe at different works that the Lord is doing through Calvary Chapel churches that I know there.

God is doing a great work. It's absolutely wonderful to see his work spread about the nations. We have representative of that right here today in our own midst. Why, in our own congregation, we have people from, well, I don't know, I started counting once, it's 10 or 12 different nations represented here in our own congregation.

It's wonderful to see. It's wonderful to see the great promise of God that around his throne would be people from every tribe, every nation, every tongue. There's not a single nation that will not be represented before the throne of God.

And so that should be our heart as well, to see God extend his work out through all the nations of the world, to have a great work of God done, not a small one, but a wonderful, great, powerful work extended out to every nation.

Of course, God wants to extend that principle by the Holy Spirit to your individual life, too. There's not a single enemy in your life and not a single thing that stands against the Lord that he doesn't want to overcome.

Sometimes we may satisfy ourselves with a partial surrender to God, but I'll tell you now, he's not satisfied with it. He's gently knocking at your heart today, saying, won't you surrender this unto me?

Even things that you've just written off, well, God doesn't care much about that. Perhaps now the Holy Spirit's convicting you of it. That's the Holy Spirit's way. You know, sometimes the Holy Spirit convicts us of things that other people don't think are sin at all.

I see sometimes people convicted of their laziness before the Lord. They say, oh, how terrible this is. You know, I have so much energy for my career. I have so much energy for my hobbies. I have so much energy for the sports teams that I follow.

And when it comes to God, I seem to have no energy for him. I'm so lazy in my walk before the Lord. Won't this enemy ever get defeated in my life? You can take it that just as much as David conquered every enemy around him, north, south, east and west, so the Lord wants to do a complete victory in your life.

And when you see this enemy, whether it be laziness or bad temper or some kind of immorality in your life, you know that the Lord can win great victory over that. David's example here in 2 Samuel 8 shows it to you.

Trusting God Instead of False Strength

I think there's a whole nother set of examples that we find here. It's how David dealt with his enemies. Did you notice what he did in verse 4? It says there David took from him 1 ,000 chariots, 700 horsemen and 20 ,000 foot soldiers.

Also, David hamstrung all the chariot horses, except that he spared enough of them for 100 chariots. You might say, well, this is animal cruelty on David's part. Actually, it was a dramatic gesture of trust in the Lord.

You see, chariots were the great weapons of warfare in that day. And of course, horses were great weapons of warfare. And David destroyed almost all the horses that he captured. Almost all of them. He kept just a small number for himself.

This was great self-control on David's part. Almost every other military leader would have taken every horse and every chariot. David destroyed almost all of them. You know why? Because he said, I'm not going to trust in horses.

I'm not going to trust in chariots. I'm going to trust in the Lord my God. It's the Holy Spirit that gives us these victories. It's not our own strength. It's not our own armaments. David would not trust in false strength.

You know, that's God's work in eternity, isn't it? To knock out every false strength in this world. Oh, there's a lot of false strength out there that the Lord is knocking out. There's the CEO of the great corporation.

And he's putting out the financial figures for the quarter, isn't he? And he wants the stockholders to be very impressed with the performance of the company. But it's a false strength, isn't it? Because the accountant has cooked the books, hasn't he?

He's hidden losses and he's inflated profits. And it's all crumbling down, isn't it? Because the investigation comes in and all the rest of it. And they say, well, they've been cheating all along. It's been a false strength that the confidence in this company has had.

And suddenly the CEO is being let off in handcuffs. God has a habit of destroying false strength, not just in the world in general, but in our life. You've been leaning on that thing and it's been a false strength.

Now God breaks the crutch out and you're stumbling. Well, you should thank God for it, because now you can trust on the spirit of God. Every time that he kicks out the false strength in our life. Well, it's difficult, but we should thank him for it.

Because the real strength is what we need. David was bold enough in his trust to God, to hamstring all of those horses and to say, my trust is in the living God and in nothing else. Do you see the Holy Spirit doing that work of destroying false strength in your life?

You may be resenting God for that. Lord, I wanted that big bank account. How else can I be secure? And now you take a look at all, well, the stock market, it's just sucked dry all those savings. Now you're all down before the Lord.

Lord, what are you doing? I guess I have to trust in you now, Lord. Well, I guess you do. Not a false strength, but in the strength of the Lord. We also see something wonderful in what David did was that he dedicated the fruits of victory.

Did you notice how he did that there in verse seven? It says David took the shields of gold that had belonged to the servants of Hadad and brought them to Jerusalem. And then later on, it says in verse 11, how he dedicated all to the Lord.

Dedicating the Fruits of Victory to God

I can just see this, how David captures these glorious golden shields from these kings. You know, they go in there and conquer the city and they go into the temple, the treasury, wherever these golden shields were, you know, for sure they didn't carry them into battle.

A golden shield would be too heavy and too soft to be effective. These were ornaments. These were trophies from the enemy. And David says, take down all those golden shields. And perhaps first thing in his mind is, man, they would look great.

In the palace, you're right there in the well, in the fireside room and the palace mounted up there, you know, right next to the, to the, you know, the lion's head or whatever it was he had in there. And then David thinks, no, wait a minute, this shouldn't come to me.

The fruits of the victory, they need to go to the Lord, not to me. And so he comes back to Jerusalem and he dedicates to the Lord all the victory, all the tribute. It didn't go to personally enrich David.

David knew that when the Lord lifted him up, when the Lord gave him great victory, that the fruits of victory would be dedicated to the Lord. Well, we see this in God's work in eternity when the Bible tells us that at the end of it all, God, the son, will dedicate every aspect of the great victory unto God, the father, and bring more glory to the Godhead in turn.

But, you know, the Holy Spirit wants to work that in your life today. There's fruits of victory in your life, aren't there? How about in your family? You know, the kids are growing up and look at them.

They're godly and they're smart and, you know, they're good looking, too, and all the rest of it. And you've got great plans for your children, don't you? You're working it all out. You know, they're going to go to university and they're going to us.

And you've got the great plans for them. And then one day your son or your daughter, you have all these plans and they come to them. Mom, Dad, I feel called to the mission field. Well, you can't do that.

You know, we've been looking at colleges for you and all the rest of it. And we've got it all planned out for you. No, I feel I'm called to the mission field. Mom and Dad, will you support them at that time?

That child is a fruit of your victory. Will you give them over and let them serve the Lord? Will you give them up and say, Lord, as difficult as it is, as much as I've had my plans for them, I'm going to dedicate this fruit of your victory in my life.

I dedicate it to you. How about all that money you're making right now, that's a fruit of victory, isn't it? You've been faithful, you've been diligent. The Lord's blessing you. It's great that you're making all this money.

What do you think? God's given it just for you, just for your family. No, he wants you to dedicate those fruits of victory unto him. And in whatever place you're winning that great victory. Look at your life where you used to be just in bondage to this habit.

There you were. You were a gutter drunk. And now nobody would know it. Nobody would want to hang around you in this church if they if they if you were you, if you are now the way you were years ago before you were saved.

You were just offensive. Nobody really liked you. Look at what a great work God's done in your life. You come here and just nobody would know the way you were before. Well, can you dedicate the fruit of that victory to the Lord?

Well, you'd be willing to tell people about what you used to be and now what God has made you. You see how he wants you to dedicate the fruits of those victory unto him. Well, you see, the next thing that David did was he declined the applause.

Giving God the Glory for Victory

Look at it there in verse 11 and said King David dedicated these to the Lord, along with the silver and gold that he had dedicated from all the nations which he had subdued. And then it describes all those nations when all the tribute came in to David, even from the visiting kings.

David just directed it all back to the Lord. And he declined the applause because God will have nothing else glorified in the final analysis, only him and his great work. Well, the Holy Spirit works in us today the same way.

He wants us to live our lives to glorify God. So how about that the next time there you are at the workplace and that that project gets approved and it's a big success. There you are in the lunchroom around the water cooler and, you know, the accolades are coming your way and well, they should because you did a great job.

Will you give God the applause? Will you tell your co-workers, you know, I'm really happy with the way it turned out, but it never would have turned out this way unless I prayed about it and God answered my prayers.

What a testimony that'll be in that moment, won't it? That's the way that you give the glory to God in the midst of it, because, you know, it's true. You know, you prayed about that project and you know, God answered your prayers.

David's Righteous Administration and Blessing Others

Well, just tell the truth before your co-workers and give God the applause, not yourself. Well, finally, we see that David had a righteous administration, right? And God will order all things righteously in our life.

But what's amazing to me about it, and it's seen so clearly in verse 15, where it says, so David reigned over all Israel and David administered judgment and justice to all his people. You know, victorious kings don't always do this.

Sometimes victorious kings believe that they've been blessed with victory just for their own good, and they never let the righteousness and the justice flow out from them to their people. David wasn't like that.

David was a victorious king who said, no, I've been blessed, but it's not just done to me. It's been to bless others as well. That's the heart God wants us to have to realize that everything he's blessed us with, he's blessed us for someone else's sake as well.

And here's the great secret that some of you have learned already, that when you really tie into this principle, when you really grab a hold of it and give the blessing that the Lord has given you and you give it on to other people, you find that he blesses you more and more.

It's an unending chain where he just keeps packing it down upon you. You OK, Lord, I'll give away the blessing more and more. You know, he blesses you more and more and more. David learned this principle and we see him in this chapter, just a glorious life, a glorious reign of triumph.

Well, you may know that as we come into the succeeding chapters of Second Samuel, there's going to be a minor chord introduced into this great song. There's going to be a shadow that comes over the bright light of David's reign.

But I want you to look at Second Samuel eight for what it is. It's a story of David's great triumph, but it's also telling us how God will work in eternity, how the Holy Spirit wants to work in your life today.

It wasn't just for David. It's for you, too. What work could the Holy Spirit do if you'll stop resisting him? You know, you thought that really it was a matter of you trying harder. I need to try harder.

You keep meeting with frustration. You know, maybe the great answer for some of you this morning is to stop trying so hard and to surrender yourself to the power of the Holy Spirit. You need to come up for prayer afterwards, have somebody pray for you.

You need the power and the work and the ministry of the Holy Spirit to work in your life without any kind of binding or hindrance whatsoever. You need the freedom and the fullness of the spirit because the work that God does in David's day and eternity and today in our life, it's not by might nor by power, but by his spirit, says the Lord.

Prayer for the Spirit's Complete Victory

We pray and ask God to really seal these things upon our hearts. Father, that is our prayer this morning. That you would work with power and greatness, that, Lord, you you would win a victory in our life just as complete, just as comprehensive as David won over all the neighboring nations.

Lord, we need to be mastered by you. We need to be subdued by you, just as David subdued the nations. May the son of David, Jesus Christ, win this great victory. Lord, that the great work of Jesus on the cross, paying for our sins and standing in our place as if he was a guilty sinner, Lord, that that great work.

Would have its fullest effect in our life and none of us would receive the grace of God in vain. Thank you, Lord, for showing us this morning that it's not just a history lesson, but the description of your plan of the ages and of your work in our life right now.

We bless you and thank you in Jesus name. Amen.