Hail King David!

Well, let's take our Bibles tonight and open them to 2 Samuel.

! Samuel, that really has nothing to do with Samuel, the second book, has everything to do with David.

And so here is our subject for tonight, or title, maybe I'll say title, Hail King David. Hail King David.

And I might even add this word of exclamation, finally. Finally, he's going to be king of all of Israel. So I want to read chapter 5, 2 Samuel chapter 5, and we're going to take in the whole chapter.

And so let me go ahead and begin by reading it. Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and spoke, saying, Indeed, we are your bone and your flesh.

Also in time past, when Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them in. And the Lord said to you, You shall shepherd my people Israel and be ruler over Israel.

Therefore, all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.

So David was 30 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 40 years. In Hebron, he reigned over Judah seven years and six months.

And in Jerusalem, he reigned 33 years over all Israel and Judah. And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spoke to David, saying, You shall not come in here, but the blind and the lame will repel you, thinking David cannot come in here.

Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Judah, excuse me, of Zion, that is, the city of David. Now David said on that day, Whoever climbs up by way of the water shaft and defeats the Jebusites, the lame and the blind, who are hated by David's soul, he shall be chief and captain.

Therefore, they say, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house. Then David dwelt in the stronghold and called it the city of David, and David built all around, from Milo and inward.

So David went on and became great, and the Lord God of hosts was with him. Then Hiram, king of Tyre, sent messengers to David in cedar trees and carpenters and masons, and they built David a house.

So David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people, Israel. And David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, kind of which this verse was not in there.

After he had come from Hebron, also more sons and daughters were born to David. Now these are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem. The lighting's bad up here.

That's at least my excuse for not being able to pronounce these Hebrew names. Now when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David.

And David heard of it and went down to the stronghold. The Philistines also went and deployed themselves in the valley of Rephaim. So David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines?

Will you deliver them into my hand? And the Lord said to David, Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand. So David went to Baal-perizim, and David defeated them there.

And he said, The Lord has broken through my enemies before me like a breakthrough of water. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perizim.

And they left their images there, and David and his men carried them away. Then the Philistines went up once again and deployed themselves in the valley of Rephaim.

Therefore David inquired of the Lord, and he said, You shall not go up. Circle around behind them and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees.

And it shall be when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees. Then you shall advance quickly. For then the Lord will go out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.

And David did so as the Lord commanded him. And he drove back the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer. All right, so, hail to the king.

Hail King David. And you know, it's been a long journey, hasn't it, for David? It's difficult to get a sense of it because, you know, we look at pieces of it, you know, every week.

Sometimes even skip a week. And so we're trying to think back, you know, when was it? Way back there in 1 Samuel when David was first anointed, albeit privately, to be the next king of Israel.

God had rejected Saul, and he's raising up a man. David chose him, anointed him, did it privately. And that was a long time ago.

And he's now been king seven and a half years there with the people of Judah just for that tribe, anointed by the people of the tribe of Judah.

So seven and a half years has transpired since that happened. And that's, of course, added into his total number of years as king, as we read out of the passage.

And while Ish-bosheth, remember him, Saul's only surviving son, while Ish-bosheth became the king over the rest of Israel.

So David is king over Judah, region of the tribe of Judah. Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, king over all the rest of it. And, of course, he's propped up, as it were, by Abner.

We studied that last week. And remember, also mentioned, in fact, the author of 2 Samuel mentions it, that he's going to come back to him. But he mentions that Saul did have one other remaining heir, possible heir to the throne, potential heir.

That would be Jonathan's son, Mephibosheth, who's lame. And we read last time how that happened to him. And we're going to get back to his story, but probably not physically able to be king anyway.

But David certainly shows kindness to him, and we'll get to his story later. Now, as we saw last time, Ish-bosheth was taken out of the way.

He was the impediment for David, impediment to the throne, Ish-bosheth. He was taken out of the way, and done so by a couple of ambitious young men, you know, Rechab and Ba'anah.

And they're going to take him out of the way, and they do. They murder Ish-bosheth while he's asleep on his bed, albeit he's asleep at noontime in the day, lazy bum.

He'll wish that he got up earlier that day. And so they kill him, they stab him, he's out of the way. And if they thought, of course, that David would reward them, they soon found out differently.

And so David has these two guys killed and hung out to dry. I mean, literally. I mean, after he had his men cut off their hands and feet and then hung them out in public display.

All right, so, from there, things move very quickly. I mean, we go from chapter 4 on into chapter 5 and boom, you know. David's king.

So things are going to move very quickly. He becomes king of all Israel. He conquers and establishes his throne in Jerusalem. And the city of David builds a house for himself there, a palace, literally.

And all totaled, he will reign as king over Israel for 40 years. 40 years. Now, before we really get into the passage, here's the kind of the overarching, I think, lesson.

Certainly at this point, though we see this lesson being taught over and over throughout the pages of Scripture. Certainly as we've been studying 1 and 2 Samuel. And that lesson is that God, what God says will happen, will happen.

I mean, that's pretty simple, isn't it? What God says he's going to do, he will do. He says, I'm going to do something, and he does it. Now, obviously, not always does he do it the way we think and wish he would do it.

Right? You've had that experience, haven't you? And certainly not always according to our timing, you know. In fact, rarely on our timing. And I guess I would add not always in the way that fits our desired comfort levels, you know.

God does things in his own way. God moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform. All right, so this is kind of the overarching lesson throughout, really, really, really throughout the Bible.

But especially throughout those parts of Scripture that are telling the story, the narration of God working out his redemptive plan through people, through man, and the people he raises up for power.

And certainly that's true of David. David, of course, being very special in that he was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I want us to see this chapter tonight under, ready for this, seven points.

Okay? Seven points. Did I hear a moan or a groan back there? What? A ray. A ray. All right, I'd expect that from Wes back there, you know. Well, seven, seven points.

And I know this will surprise you. They all begin with the letter C. All right, so that maybe you can memorize these. They're really not those kinds of points. But it kind of helps us identify the segments of the story as it unfolds for us.

And the first C is the coronation. The coronation of David. And the first couple of verses are really very key to this entire chapter.

And verse 1 says, Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and spoke, saying, Indeed, we are your bone and your flesh. And what do they mean by that? Well, they're family, in a sense.

I mean, not all from the same tribe. These are elders or representatives of each of the 12 tribes of Israel. Israel. And so they're not all from the same family, per se.

But they're all Israel. All the children of God. So, in a very real way, they are the same. You know, they're saying we're bone and flesh. Just like you.

But it really is an expression that means we're with you. 100%. We're behind you. We want you, David. All right? That's what they're saying. And then they say, in verse 2, also, in time past.

All right? So they begin by saying, We're with you. You're our man. And then in verse 2, they explain how they came to that decision. Or why they came to that decision.

And so here it is. In time past, when Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them in. And the Lord said to you, You shall shepherd my people Israel and be ruler over Israel.

Now, you know, it may seem a little strange. But suddenly, all of the opposition to David has just vanished.

It's just gone away. And when did that happen? Well, primarily when Abner died. Well, Abner was alive. And before he defected over to David's side.

We can debate what his motives were for that. But before he died, before he defected, Abner was their man. I know Ish-bosheth was the king. But he was just simply a puppet king.

Abner was the one they trusted. The one they respected. And until then, there was war between Judah and the rest of Israel over who would be king.

But now, very quickly, I mean just from one chapter to the next, they're saying, David, you're the guy. You're the man. And so all that has changed very quickly.

But after King Saul and Jonathan died back there in that battle against the Philistines, out on the battlefield. Jonathan, not only Jonathan, but two of Saul's sons as well.

And then his third son after Ish-bosheth dies and Abner dies. Because I guess you could say that David was, at the very least, the only obvious choice to be king.

I mean, how could they come up with anybody else? Or you could say that at the very least. But there was more to it than that. And their choice went much deeper than that.

In fact, we might identify at least four factors that led the elders, the representatives of all the other tribes of Israel, that led them to coronate David as their king, to choose him as their king, to support him, get behind him, coronate him as their king.

At least four factors. Two of them they name explicitly right here in this verse of Scripture. And then a couple are implied. But the first one is David's impressive military exploits.

They hadn't forgotten about that. I'm not talking about his military exploits of late. There were many of those. But specifically those which occurred while in service to Saul, King Saul.

Do you remember that? You go back to 1 Samuel 18, verse 13. Where the Bible says that Saul made him his captain over a thousand.

And he went out and came in before the people. And David behaved wisely in all his ways. And the Lord was with him. But all Israel and Judah loved David because he went out and came in before them.

That's more than just simply they saw him leave and come back. They came back alive. And those he was leading also came back alive. He was very successful in his military leadership and exploits.

And they hadn't forgotten that. A little bit later in the same chapter, in chapter 18 of 1 Samuel in verse 30. The Bible says, Then the princes of the Philistines went out to war.

And so it was, whenever they went out, that David behaved more wisely than all the servants of Saul. So that his name became highly esteemed. So that hadn't changed.

I mean, people hadn't forgotten about that. Well, maybe they had forgotten about it. But now that reality, that memory, those things that happened in the past, they came flooding back into their minds.

You remember the people back in that day even sang a song about David. Remember? Saul has killed his thousands and David his ten thousands. Which really got David in solid with King Saul.

You know, just made him, well actually made him public enemy number one. But then looking back at our text, notice how they worded this. And it's really very interesting.

Though really not surprising. They said, In time past, And they're referring back to those times that I just quoted for you from scripture.

In time past, when Saul was king over us. Saul was the king. You. You were the one. You were the one who led Israel out and brought them in.

You. Implication being, not Saul, but you. So they remembered. That's the first factor, I think, in their decision to go with David.

Though, really, we'd have to admit there were no other candidates. Not really. I mean, all of Saul's family, they're not dead. Except for Mephibosheth.

But this was a factor. David's impressive military exploits. The second thing they also mention here in this chapter, in chapter 5.

The divine, and we could name it this way, the divine revelation regarding David's destiny as king of Israel. The divine revelation.

Well, they said, the Lord said. Okay. The Lord said. That's divine revelation. The Lord said.

You. That's David. You, David, shall shepherd my people Israel and be ruler over Israel. Now, when did God say that? Well, we can go back again to 1 Samuel, chapter 16, verse 1.

The Lord said to Samuel, fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided myself a king among his sons.

We know the rest of that story, don't we? Now, initially, that was private. That was a private anointing, and it had to be. David's life would have been in jeopardy immediately.

I mean, Saul was still king. Saul was still alive. So, initially, it was private, but later it had become common knowledge. How do we know that? Because Abner knew about it. How do we know Abner knew about it?

Because it was Abner who reminded the people of it. Remember when Abner defected and he joined with David and became loyal to David, he went back to the leaders of Israel and spoke for David.

And this is what he said in 2 Samuel, chapter 3, verses 17 and 18. Now, Abner had communicated with the elders of Israel, saying, in time past you were seeking for David to be king over you.

Now then, do it, he said. Do it. For the Lord has spoken. This divine revelation. The Lord has spoken of David, saying, by the hand of my servant David, I will save my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and the hand of all their enemies.

So, there are two factors there. David's impressive military exploits. Also, the divine revelation, the prophecy, as it were, regarding David's destiny to be king over Israel.

And the third one really connects with the last thing I said there, and that is Abner's endorsement of David. That was a key factor.

Abner was highly respected. His word carried a great deal of weight with the people of Israel. And then I would add a fourth one then, David's honorable treatment of the slain leaders of Saul's dynasty.

His sons, those connected to his sons. And David was always honorable with that. You know, even having the men who executed Saul's son Ish-bosheth, having them executed.

And 2 Samuel 3.36 says, and all the people took note of it. And it pleased them. Pleased them. So, you can take all four of those, and there may have been other factors.

Or maybe you can just throw all those out. And David's the only option. He's the only one. But I think, really, you have to consider these things. And two of these things, the people of Israel, of course, mention here.

So, these were important. So, the coronation. Then, because then the Bible says that David made a covenant with the people.

So, the second word is the covenant. The covenant of David. Or the, some have translated, compact. Though it really is best translated covenant.

Verse 3, therefore. That is based upon the reasons given in the previous verse. Therefore, all the elders, that be the heads of each of the tribes, or representatives of the tribes of Israel, came to the king.

And that's important wording. That is, they recognized him as the rightful king. Came to the king at Hebron. Because that was his, where his throne was.

His capital city of Judah, as king of Judah. Came to Hebron. And king David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord.

And they anointed David king over Israel. For Israel. A covenant. And I've mentioned this before. In fact, mentioned it at one point in connection with David.

When he made a covenant with his dear friend Jonathan. That it literally means he cut a covenant.

Cut a covenant. And generally, there would be a ceremony involved. Though I think as time progressed, they did away with the actual ceremony.

But it's still, the meaning of it is rooted in this sacrifice of an animal. Where the animal would be cut.

Cut in two. And half of it would be laid on the ground. And the other half on the other side. And the two making the covenant would walk between these two pieces.

Thereby signifying, let what happened to these animals, or this animal, let that happen to me if I break this promise. It's just symbolic, of course, to signify the strength and the binding nature of this covenant.

And so David, King David, cut a covenant. Extremely binding promise. And especially so since the Bible, the verse says that it was done before the Lord.

All right? So you better not break this covenant. Okay? And what did this covenant consist of? Well, it doesn't tell us, really. But I think that we can surmise from something that was said in the previous verse.

That David, the covenant would be that David would be to the people of Israel exactly what God had anointed him to be. The people said, remember back there in verse 2, you shall shepherd.

That's a key word there. Shepherd my people, Israel, and be ruler over them, overseer over them. Shepherd them. And so the covenant, I think, really had two parts to it, or two promises.

One would be that the people would always belong to God, not to the king. That's an important feature of this covenant.

And an important arrangement or agreement concerning the king's relationship to the people and the people to the king. Because the verse says, you shall shepherd my people.

Not your people. My people. The people will always belong to God. That's part of the covenant. And that makes a difference in how you rule them, or ought to.

Didn't always make a difference with most of the kings of Israel down through the years. But there's a second part to this, and that is that David would shepherd a God's people.

In fact, really, there's nothing in there that says anything about king. In fact, even referring back to this, you know, this is what God said.

There's nothing in this prophecy that uses the word king. Now, David is king. I mean, don't make any mistake about that.

But the emphasis is on shepherd. Shepherd. And that's interesting. Because that's not normal. Certainly not normal in relation to the kings of all the other nations.

And that's the kind of king that God's people said they wanted. We want a king like every other nation. Well, they did get one. Saul. Now, they're going to get a different king than David.

Because he will be a shepherd king. David was a shepherd king. And so, in keeping, and there's a reason for that, in keeping with the role of a shepherd, a role that David knew very well.

In keeping with that role, he is promising, he's covenanting to defend the sheep, to lead the sheep, and to tend to the needs of the sheep.

The sheep being God's people, something that Saul utterly failed to do. And so, with the coronation completed, the covenant ratified, they anointed David king over Israel, and the next couple of verses state the length of David's kingship.

And we don't need to go back over those. He ruled all total 40 years. 40 years. All right, so then, what will be the king's first order of business?

I mean, he's now king. King not just of Judah. Well, first, king not just privately, from a private anointing. And now, not just king of Judah, one tribe, but king of all of Israel.

Unified Israel. What will be his first duty, his first order of business? Well, to set up his throne. Where's that going to be?

I mean, he's now king, but he doesn't have a throne. Doesn't have a place for it. And so, he's got to set that up, and that leads to my second C, the city of David.

The city of David. And David chose a city outside of the tribe of Judah, the territory of Judah, which was smart leadership.

That he would do that. He certainly didn't want to appear to be giving Judah his own tribe, his own people, preferential treatment as king. And so, he chose a city outside of Judah, not very far from Judah, kind of on the border of Judah.

But it was actually in the territory of Benjamin. Benjamin. The tribe of Benjamin. And it's Jerusalem. Right?

All right. So, that's all well and good. But Jerusalem was, at the time, controlled, inhabited by the Jebusites. The Jebusites.

Who were they? Well, they were, you know, one of those Canaanite nations under the ban of God. Go all the way back to Joshua.

And what God mandated Israel do when they went into the land. They were all the people, the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, were under the ban.

They were to be not just simply destroyed, but annihilated. I mean, we studied that back when we studied Joshua. And so, the Jebusites were one of those people.

And one of those people that Israel never did take care of. Right? And it could be that David made this decision based upon his desire to, you know, further fulfill what God had mandated Israel do.

I mean, he knew, as all Israelites knew, that they really didn't complete the job. So, maybe that's a part of it. He's going to take care of the Jebusites, get them out of there. All right.

So, if the Jebusites were one of those nations under the ban, the Canaanite peoples under the ban, then why were they still walking around alive? Well, first place, they were not the only Canaanites still kicking in the promised land, in the land of Canaan.

The Philistines were still there, too, you know, and others. I mean, Israel never did complete God's mandate. Second place, they inhabited a city that had, prior to this, never been conquered.

The city of Jerusalem. And Jerusalem was nearly impregnable as a city, as a fortress, a fortress of a city.

It was walled, which was not all that common with many of the cities in that time. There was some. It was not only walled, but it was located on high ground, Mount Moriah to be exact.

And was surrounded on three sides by valleys. I mean, this adds up to a pretty good place to have a city in those days. I mean, it would be very difficult to conquer.

And not only that, but they had safe access to and access to a well. It would provide all the water they needed in case of a siege from an enemy.

Which, by the way, as we're going to find out, was how David conquered them. And so this was a very formidable city.

And, in fact, the reference there in verse 8 to the blind and the lame, well, what does that suggest? It suggests that the city was so well fortified that even blind people and cripples could keep it, keep it safe, could guard it.

In fact, some scholars even suggest that the Jebusites actually used blind people and crippled people on the walls to be placed there as guards.

I mean, not that they could do anything, but, you know, they just have somebody up there in uniform. It just kind of adds to the illusion that this is a well fortified city. But there was never any worry that someone was going to breach the city through the walls.

So they could just use blind people up there. It didn't matter. It may or may not be true, but it's an interesting thought. But certainly it was known in the land that, you know, that even blind people and cripples could guard this city.

It just guarded itself. So it had never been conquered prior to this time. And so David is about to do that and does do it, doesn't he?

He takes the city. That's what the Bible says here. And really David's approach to conquering the city was a stroke of genius. Although it may seem to us very obvious.

But in verse 8 it says, whoever, and this is David saying to his people, whoever climbs up by way of the water shaft and defeats the Jebusites, he shall be chief and captain.

So a little incentive there. Climb up by way of the water shaft. And presumably it's not that David's entire army is going to climb up this water shaft, though many possibly did.

But they could get inside the city and then take, you know, take the guards, which would be limited on the inside, to one of the gates. And that would allow David's armies to come in.

And this water shaft is known as Warren's Tunnel. Warren's Tunnel, which was actually a vertical shaft.

A vertical shaft, 40, I think, if I remember, 49 feet vertical shaft cut out of solid rock. And what was it for?

It was to supply water from the spring. So internal access to water, which in that day was very important, you know, in case of being in siege.

You know, having a surrounding army. I mean, you could live on indefinitely and have plenty of food in there, but water was important. You could go for a while, but you couldn't go without water. And so this is what they climbed up.

It would be difficult, I'm sure, but they made their way up there. And so this water shaft proved to be the Jebusite's Achilles heel.

And so David took the stronghold of Zion, took it, the city of David, verse 7. David dwelt in the stronghold and called it the city of David. And David built all around from Milo, the Milo, to, or rather inward.

That's verse 9. And literally means he built it up. Built it up all around. That is, you know, they estimate that Jerusalem at this point under the Jebusites stood on about 12 acres.

Relatively small. And David, for David's purposes, it was going to be too small. And so what did he do? He built up all around it.

He expanded the level ground of the city and eventually expanded its walls to make it larger. He brought in tons of rock and earth from nearby hilltops and he built it up.

Built retaining walls, built new foundation, and expanded the size of the city. And then at the end of this segment of the chapter, we have another summary statement, verse 10.

So David went on and became great. And the Lord, God of hosts, was with him. Number four, the construction.

The construction of David's home, his palace. You're a king. You've got to have a palace. All right. So they had one built. Actually, it was built for him.

Verse 11. Then Hiram, king of Tyre, sent messengers to David and cedar trees and carpenters and masons. And they built David a house, a palace.

Now, this is interesting because at the time, Tyre was a very powerful, I think, call them city-states. I mean, where this nation, in a sense, was located in one locale, one massive city, Tyre, there on the coast of the Mediterranean.

And what's interesting about this is that David's reputation as a military leader and as a king had become very quickly international.

I mean, it crossed borders into other nations. And so he was highly respected. Either that or he was greatly feared. Probably a little bit of both.

So they honored him. And you can imagine this king sending all of this stuff to build a house, a grand house, a palace for David. This also points to something else, and that is number five, the confirmation.

There's a confirmation here. In all that happens at this point, there's a confirmation, a confirmation to David. And this is one major confirmation to David that God, and not just to David, but his people as well, that God's hand is upon David.

Verse 12. So David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake, for the good of his people, Israel.

So God is gracious to give David this confirmation. You're on the right track. I really have. I've called. You know, sometimes when we're convinced that God has led us in a certain way, and we go that way or do that thing he has led us to do and has confirmed that he wants us to do, you know, after a time we sometimes forget.

Or maybe things happen, and we can even begin to doubt, you know, whether or not, you know, I'm in the right place doing the right thing. And then God will come along and do something that confirms, reconfirms that he has called you.

So the confirmation. And number six, the conquests. Not everyone was happy for David. You know, I mentioned this king of Tyre.

He sent all this stuff to David, honored him. Not everyone was happy about him. And I'm talking about the Philistines.

And they knew David. Knew him well. Right? I mean, he had even, in a sense, had been in league with them for a time. Although it was kind of a ruse.

But they knew him, knew him well. Their history with him was pretty lengthy, and not always was it good. I mean, you can go all the way back to what happened to their champion, Goliath.

Well, the Philistines never forgot about that. And perhaps there was a point in time when it seemed that David was joining with him. He had left his country mainly to save his life, fled from Saul.

And he kind of joined up with the Philistines. And maybe for the time, they thought they had a good ally in David. But then as soon as he became king, became a parent to them. He's not for our interests.

And you understand also that the Philistines were not happy to see a unified Israel either. I mean, they're kind of located, you know, to the west of them.

And so Israel's above and below. And they would like nothing better than to divide that nation. Not only that they would be a divided nation over who would be king.

That served Philistines' interests. But divided even geographically. That's why the Philistines were always kind of coming to the middle there to separate them.

To kind of gain a foothold in the territory. And so they were not happy when suddenly they're unified. Unified under a king. A king that they were pleased to follow.

And they also were not happy to see a powerful king like David. A king very much unlike Saul. And they had good reason to be concerned about that.

And so let's look at it here again. Verse 17. And really we have recorded here in the chapter two separate conquests.

Conquests or the accounts of two times that David conquers the Philistines. And the Philistines just, they just can't get enough of it, you know.

In verse 17. Now when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel. All the Philistines went up to search for him. For David. Why? They want to kill him.

And David heard of it. And went down to the stronghold. That would be Jerusalem. The fortress there. The Philistines also went and deployed themselves in the valley of Rephaim.

A valley about a mile, mile and a half from Jerusalem. Southwest of there. So what did David do first? Well he prayed.

Unlike his predecessor. He inquired of the Lord. That's what verse 19 says. He inquired of the Lord. Now how he did that we're not told. We know in times past. He used the Urim and Thummim.

Whatever that was. But it was a method that God had prescribed and ordained. And had given instructions on. For his people.

His leaders. Primarily his priests. To know. Know his will. And so I think it's implied here. That David is. Is consulting.

Is consulting. The high priest. Who has the Urim and Thummim. But regardless. I mean this was the way. That you would find out God's will. And so this is. Same as prayer. That's what this is.

Is symbolic of. And so David is inquiring of the Lord. He's not going to. Take a step. Make a move. Without God's. God's word. God's leadership. Till he finds out what that is.

And so he asks the Lord. Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hand? And the Lord says yes, yes on that. And so David does it.

Goes up. Wins a great battle. And the battle apparently was so decisive. And so intense. That the Philistines had to flee. And they left their God behind.

Or their gods. That's pretty fitting isn't it? They left their images. Their idols. I mean they just left their God behind.

And it gets even worse. It says in David. And his men carried them off. Presumably to have them destroyed. I would hope that's what they did. I'm sure that's what they did. So you know.

What kind of God is that? I mean might as well leave them behind. Gods didn't do them any good. And their enemies just picked them up. Carried them off. Threw them into the fire probably.

But if you can say one thing about the Philistines. And kind of looking at the sweeping history of them throughout scripture. If you can say one thing about them. That is that they never give up.

They just never seem to go away. I mean they just always come back. And they did here. And so we have the account of a second conquest against the Philistines.

Verse 22. Then the Philistines went up once again and deployed themselves in the valley of Rephaim. And what does David do?

He prays. He prays. He inquires of the Lord. It's a good lesson for us. And God provides David with an answer.

But this time it's a very specific military strategy. And he said you shall not go up. That is I don't want you to lead. I don't want you to go right now.

Rather here's the strategy. I want you to circle around behind them. Which makes good sense. Come up to them.

Come upon them in front of the mulberry trees. That's how it's translated here in the New King James. Mulberry trees. And the kind of tree is insignificant.

Because I hate mulberry trees. But he said come up behind those. All right. And I think the image is that these mulberry trees are kind of a blind.

So that the enemy can't see David and his armies. And so they're behind the mulberry trees. But it's more than that. Because he says and it shall be when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry tree.

I can only imagine what that might be. But I think it's safe to say this was some supernatural thing of God. Maybe a rushing wind going through the trees.

Maybe thunder. Maybe in the top of the trees or above the trees. Maybe it's just simply because it's up there. Whatever it was. We don't really know.

But it's supernatural. Some supernatural phenomena. And so when that happens then you shall advance quickly. This is your signal. My signal to you.

Advance quickly for then the Lord will go out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines. This is a key phrase here.

And a lesson from God. For then the Lord will go out before you. Before you. And strike the camp of the Philistines. Verse 25.

And David did so as the Lord commanded him. And he drove back the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer. Gezer. But I'm afraid there's one more C word here.

And it comes in part of the chapter that I skipped a moment ago. Because I wanted to end with it. And here it is. The compromise. David's compromise.

Albeit perhaps we could argue out of ignorance. But for all of his wisdom he's being really foolish. Verse 13 says, And David took more concubines.

Now understand that we're not just concubines but also wives. Took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem after he had come from Hebron.

Now, why would he do that? I mean this is really, this kind of activity.

Primarily reserved for patriarchs or in this case kings. Kings would do this. And it's like, you know, David's kingship is maybe kind of going to his head here.

He's not acting very wisely. I don't know why the author inserted that. Other than, obviously, he goes on to name David's sons.

Some of these sons will be key people. These are not all the sons because there will be more sons born. For example, from Bathsheba. And she hasn't come along yet.

So I don't know why this is put in here. And it's kind of the ongoing argument, you know, and speculation about how God would allow this kind of thing.

I mean, it's pretty clear from Scripture, and I've mentioned this before, that God's intention, God's plan is one man, one woman. Not multiple wives.

But David had six wives before this happened. That was a problem already. He's just too stupid to see it.

So he already had six wives, and now more concubines and more wives. I mean, how? Now, understand, throughout this chapter, actually throughout the life of David, but we could actually make some connections here, some comparisons here in this chapter.

The king who will experience conflict, but who will conquer. Now, that's David, but it's also a type of someone else.

Who would experience conflict, but will conquer. A king before whom the nations of the world will honor one day and bow before one day.

And a king who will enter into a covenant with his people. All those things that were true of David, they're a type of foreshadowing of Jesus.

David is a type of Jesus, type of Christ. He's the Old Testament type of Christ. And it will be David's throne that Jesus will one day take for himself, an everlasting throne.

Right? But David, for all of his greatness, he's not Jesus. He's not Jesus. He's just a man.

And what a compromise. Six wives, and added to that concubines and more wives. And David will rue the day that he made this compromise in this part of his life.

And it's going to come home to roost. And pretty soon. Pretty soon.