The Warrior King: 2 Samuel 8:1-14
When we step up into the role suited for how God created us, we thrive. God blesses us with gifts, and He desires us to use them. It feels good to live into God’s design. When we allow God’s design for our life to lead us, we find growth and success.
David defeats the Philistines, Moabites, Amalekites, Edomites, the southern Syrian nations, and the Ammonites. We don’t have much detail in this passage other than his victories were thorough. He had enough success to carry off spoils of war not only from the soldiers he defeated but also from the citizens and temples of the defeated nations.
While there isn’t much detail in these verses about the conquests, there are some inspirational thoughts to be gleaned. First, David was not intimidated by Saul’s marginal success. Saul went up against the Philistines and Amalekites and had some success, but his campaigns weren’t great. Generally speaking, the Philistines gained territory under Saul. What success Saul did have was largely because of David, anyways. David knew how to fight, and he was not afraid of the Philistines or the Amalekites despite their reputation and recent success.
The story of the Moabites is an interesting story because we do not have any details about why David treated them as he did. When David fled into the wilderness to avoid Saul, David sent his parents to Moab because David’s grandmother was a Moabite. Thus, it seems odd for David to treat the Moabites as harshly as he did. It could be that the Moabites treated his parents poorly and the time for reckoning had come. It could be that God wanted to repay the Moabites for hiring the prophet Balaam to curse the Hebrew people during the exodus. It could be the Moabite soldiers refused to surrender and David needed to put his foot down hard to make a point. For whatever reason, David kills two out of every three men and made the rest pay tribute to his cause.
David’s conquest wasn’t all doom and gloom, however. After taking on the southern Syrian alliance, the king of Hamath in northern Syria brings gifts to David. David receives the gifts and dedicates them to the Lord. Clearly, David does not consider every non-God-fearing person an enemy. David is happy to have pleasant relationships with other people groups, even if they worship different gods and have a different culture and ethic. Just because a person does not believe in God nor honor God doesn’t imply we should treat them as the enemy.
In the end, we have the reason God didn’t want David to build the temple. God had other things for David to accomplish. God blessed David with a great military mind, and God planned to use David to stabilize the borders and secure the land for his people. David wasn’t an architect; he was a general. When we step up into the role suited for how God created us, we thrive.
