2 Samuel 8:1-18: God’s Victories through David

2 Samuel 8:1-18: God’s Victories through David

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of 2 Samuel, and today the next passage we come to is 2 Samuel 8:1-18. Hear now the words of the Living and True God:

¹ After this David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and David took Metheg-ammah out of the hand of the Philistines. ² And he defeated Moab and he measured them with a line, making them lie down on the ground. Two lines he measured to be put to death, and one full line to be spared. And the Moabites became servants to David and brought tribute. ³ David also defeated Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to restore his power at the river Euphrates. ⁴ And David took from him 1,700 horsemen, and 20,000 foot soldiers. And David hamstrung all the chariot horses but left enough for 100 chariots. ⁵ And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck down 22,000 men of the Syrians. ⁶ Then David put garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Syrians became servants to David and brought tribute. And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went. ⁷ And David took the shields of gold that were carried by the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ And from Betah and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took very much bronze. ⁹ When Toi king of Hamath heard that David had defeated the whole army of Hadadezer, ¹⁰ Toi sent his son Joram to King David, to ask about his health and to bless him because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him, for Hadadezer had often been at war with Toi. And Joram brought with him articles of silver, of gold, and of bronze. ¹¹ These also King David dedicated to the Lord, together with the silver and gold that he dedicated from all the nations he subdued, ¹² from Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, Amalek, and from the spoil of Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah. ¹³ And David made a name for himself when he returned from striking down 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. ¹⁴ Then he put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom he put garrisons, and all the Edomites became David’s servants. And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went. ¹⁵ So David reigned over all Israel. And David administered justice and equity to all his people. ¹⁶ Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder, ¹⁷ and Zadok the son of Ahitub and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar were priests, and Seraiah was secretary, ¹⁸ and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and David’s sons were priests.  

May God bless the reading of his Word.

Let’s pray: Father, what a privilege it is to open and study your word. We understand that these words come from your very mouth. They’re God-breathed and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. So help us, by your Holy Spirit, to be thoroughly equipped for each of those things and ultimately to come to a deeper knowledge, a deeper love, and a deeper relationship with you. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

One of the things that experience teaches us is to only trust those who show themselves to be trustworthy people. For example, if someone asks you to lend them several thousand dollars and promises to pay you back within a week, your response will most likely depend on how trustworthy you believe that person to be. If you’ve known them for a decent amount of time and have personally seen them demonstrate integrity on numerous occasions, you might consider lending them the money. But if you don’t know them very well or see something in their life you find concerning, you’ll probably be rather hesitant to lend them anything. And that’s a very wise and reasonable way to live. If you’re not discerning about who you trust, you’ll probably be taken advantage of quite a bit.

However, for whatever reason, we often seem to have doubts about the trustworthiness of God. Although we don’t usually express these doubts out loud, we often struggle to believe that we truly can trust God to fulfill his promises. And this struggle to trust God becomes especially apparent during times of difficulty in our lives. When we’re going through something difficult, it’s not that we don’t know we should trust God but that struggle to believe we can trust God. When push comes to shove, we often struggle with doubts about whether God can truly be trusted to do what he’s promised and be faithful in the midst of our trials.

So, how can we develop deeper trust in God? How can we convince our doubting hearts that God is trustworthy? How can we know not just that we should trust God but that we can trust God? Well, I believe it’s by seeing examples—both in the Bible and in our own lives—of God showing himself trustworthy. When we see examples of God faithfully keeping his promises, it bolsters our faith and deepens our confidence that God really is a promise-keeping God.

And that’s why I appreciate today’s main passage of 2 Samuel 8:1-18 so much. This chapter gives us front row seats to God keeping his promise to his people time and time again. The main idea of this chapter is that the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went. That’s a direct quote of what we read in verse 6 and again in verse 14. The Lord gave victory to David wherever he went. And the chapter records numerous examples of those victories.

Yet, in order to fully appreciate the significance of these victories, you have to understand a promise God made to Abraham way back in Genesis 15:18. It says that “…the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.’” So, notice the boundaries of the land God promised. It would extend from “the river of Egypt”—which is often taken to be the Nile River—to “the river Euphrates.” As you can see on this map, that’s quite a bit of territory that certainly included everything David conquered during his reign.

So, every victory of David recorded in 2 Samuel 8 is like its own exhibit in the museum of God’s faithfulness. Each victory is another example of God faithfully keeping his promise to Abraham and should therefore deepen our trust that God will fulfill his many promises to us as well.

So, let’s walk through this passage together, beginning with verse 1: “After this David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and David took Metheg-ammah out of the hand of the Philistines.” Now, if you were here when we went through the book of 1 Samuel, you probably remember that the Philistines were a constant threat to the Israelites. There was definitely something of a rivalry between the Israelites and the Philistines. Barely a year went by when the Israelites and Philistines weren’t slugging it out on the battlefield.

Yet we read here that, after all these years of struggle, David finally managed to subdue the Philistines. As you can see on this map if you’re eyesight’s good enough, Philistia was located to the west of Israel and came under David’s control. Everything in gray on the map represents the extent of Saul’s kingdom, while everything in green represents the extent of David’s kingdom.

So, the Philistines came under David’s control with the result that there isn’t any mention of a battle against the Philistines after David’s reign until approximately 250 years later during the reign of King Hezekiah. So, imagine an American president taking care of business in the Middle East through military action so well that no further military action is needed for the next 250 years—which is as long as our country has been around. That’s pretty much what David did with the Philistines. And again, the greater significance of that is that God’s promise to Abraham was being fulfilled.

We then read in verse 2 regarding David, ² And he defeated Moab and he measured them with a line, making them lie down on the ground. Two lines he measured to be put to death, and one full line to be spared. And the Moabites became servants to David and brought tribute.

So, the next nation over which David’s victorious is Moab—which, as you can see from the map, was located southeast of Israel. The man Moab, from whom people in the nation of Moab were descended, was the son of Abraham’s nephew Lot. This means the Moabites were like very distant relatives of the Israelites but unfortunately expressed hostility toward the Israelites on numerous occasions, such as when they refused to grant the Israelites safe passage through their territory when the Israelites were journeying from Egypt to the Promised Land.

Yet, as we read what this verse records about David’s conquest of the Moabites, it naturally makes us quite uncomfortable. I mean, we’re told that David has all the Moabites lay down in a huge line and measures that line with a measuring tape and then simply executes two thirds of them. And if you’re struggling to see how that could possibly be morally acceptable, you’re not alone.

Over the centuries, Christian theologians have used biblical teachings to develop an understanding of what qualifies as a “just”—or morally acceptable—war. This understanding is called “Just War Theory.” For example, in order to be just, a war has to confront a real moral wrong that’s being committed such as unjustified military aggression or violence being committed against innocent people. In addition, the goal of the war has to be justice and peace rather than revenge or conquest. There also has to be a reasonable chance of actually achieving that goal.

Moreover, for a war to be just, all reasonable non-violent options such as diplomacy have to be exhausted before resorting to military action. Military action should only be employed as a last resort. In addition, military forces have to distinguish between military targets and civilians in their acts of warfare. And when they capture enemy combatants, they have to treat them humanely. And finally, in order for a war to be considered just, the expected good of the war has to outweigh the anticipated harm caused by the war. 

So, with those principles of Just War Theory in mind, it’s difficult to see how David’s conquest of the Moabites could possibly pass the test of being a just—or morally acceptable—war. To our modern ears, what he does to the Moabites sounds more like a war crime than it does to anything resembling a just war.

However, we have to keep in mind the historical context. Israel was a legitimate theocracy that was directly led by God to accomplish God’s purposes and even execute God’s judgments against the nations around them—which is what David did with the Moabites. I think John Calvin expresses it well when he writes, that “the stringency which David exercised against the Moabites ought not to be considered cruelty, but to be the just judgement of God, since they had abused his long patience and had mocked him.”

So, I don’t believe what David does to the Moabites can be properly evaluated by Just War Theory because of the uniqueness of Israel’s historical situation. God had chosen the Israelites and directly commanded them to function as his instrument of judgment on the wicked nations around them. So, all of their military actions were in obedience to what God commanded. And in case you’re curious, I don’t believe God’s chosen to give nations today those kinds of commands. Nations today are absolutely bound by the principles of Just War Theory.

I think it’s also important to mention that Christians—in this New Testament era—aren’t called to advance God’s kingdom through military conquest at all. So, for example, the Crusades of the Middle Ages were—to say the least—severely misguided.

Instead, the Bible’s clear that God calls Christians to seek victory not over human armies or human governments but rather over the spiritual forces of evil that comprise the demonic realm. As Paul clearly explains in Ephesians 6:12: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” So, we’re called to advance God’s kingdom through spiritual warfare rather than any kind of physical warfare.

But, of course, that wasn’t the case for David. David was very much called to “wrestle against flesh and blood”—and he did so very effectively against the Moabites. And again, through David’s conquest of the Moabites, God’s promise to Abraham was being fulfilled.

After that, we read in verses 3-4, ³ David also defeated Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to restore his power at the river Euphrates. ⁴ And David took from him 1,700 horsemen, and 20,000 foot soldiers. And David hamstrung all the chariot horses but left enough for 100 chariots. Looking once again at our map, the kingdom of Zobah was located to the far north of Israel. And even though Hadadezer, the king of Zobah, was quite powerful, David defeated him.

By the way, I find it interesting that this chapter names Hadadezer but doesn’t name any of the other kings David conquers. I believe this is because of the significant irony of Hadadezer’s name. The name “Hadadezer” literally means “Hadad is [my] help”—Hadad being an ancient pagan deity. Yet, David defeated Hadadezer. So, apparently, the pagan deity Hadad wasn’t very much help when he was up against the armies of the true God—the God of Israel. God was determined to fulfill his promise to Abraham, and no pitiful pagan deity was going to stop him.

We then read in verses 5-6, ⁵ And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck down 22,000 men of the Syrians. ⁶ Then David put garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Syrians became servants to David and brought tribute. And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went. As you can see on the map, Syria was located north of Israel—right next to Zobah. And they were either an ally or a vassal state of Hadadezer. So, they attempted to come to Hadadezer’s defense but were likewise conquered by the Israelites.

And at the end of verse 6, we find our first summary statement of the chapter, which we’ve adopted as our main idea. It says, “And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went.” I believe that’s significant because it highlights the fact that David’s victories were the result of God’s blessing rather than merely the result of David’s own strategic brilliance or military might.

Likewise, for us, as we seek to advance God’s kingdom and be fruitful in the work God’s given us to do, we’re absolutely dependent on God. One thing I’ve learned from the past decade of pastoral ministry is that God can accomplish more in a single moment through his power than we can accomplish through years and years of our own striving. To put it another way, fruitful ministry is the result not of us attempting to do things for God but rather of allowing God to do things through us.

And the telltale sign of whether or not we’re truly relying on God is how faithful we are in prayer. Just like a fever is a key indicator that someone’s sick, prayerlessness is a key indicator that someone’s trusting in their own abilities rather than trusting in God. So, at the most basic level, let me encourage you to cast yourself upon God in prayer.

Yet let me be even more specific and encourage you to claim God’s promises in prayer. As we’ve been seeing throughout 2 Samuel 8, we serve a promise-keeping God. And God’s made promises not only to Abraham and the Israelites but to us today. And what a shame it would be to leave those promises unclaimed.

I recently heard about a maintenance worker named Larry Awe, who worked at Capitol Court Mall in Milwaukee. When the mall had been closed down and they were in the process of beginning to demolish it, Larry found a pair of Air Jordans in a storage room buried under a pile of old boxes. He could tell the shoes were used, and as he looked at them more closely, he saw what he recognized to be Michael Jordan’s signature with the words “My Very Best.” He would later discover that they were authentic. Michael Jordan himself had indeed worn those shoes in a basketball game on February 17, 1985, and had then signed them and given them to Nike, which, in turn, gave them to a store in the mall to display in their store window. And it appears that somehow, everyone eventually ended up just forgetting about the shoes as they sat in the storage closet all those years. So, Larry was able to sell the shoes at auction for $20,000 and, presumably, was a very happy man.

Similarly, it seems that we often let God’s promises sit untouched in a storage room of sorts by not claiming them when we pray. God’s given us incredible promises in his Word about all kinds of things, yet we often forget all about them and leave them unclaimed in prayer.

Just to give you a few examples of promises we might claim, there’s the promise of God’s presence. James 4:8 states, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” We also have a promise of sufficient grace in times of difficulty. In 2 Corinthians 12:9, the Lord responds to Paul’s prayer for deliverance from his suffering by telling him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” God also promises wisdom to those who ask. As James 1:5 assures us, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”

We’re also given a promise of daily necessities. In Matthew 6:33, Jesus says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Moreover, God promises peace to those who pray. Philippians 4:6-7 states, ⁶ do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

In addition, any time we sin, we can claim the promise of 1 John 1:9 that “If we confess our sins, he [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We can also take comfort in the fact that, as Romans 8:1 reminds us, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” And whenever our sanctification seems painfully slow, we can rest in the promise of Philippians 1:6 (NIV) that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Furthermore, as we seek to serve God faithfully, we can be encouraged by Romans 1:16 that “the gospel is…the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” And as Isaiah 55:10-11 reminds us, ¹⁰ “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, ¹¹ so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. And may we never forget the promise in 1 Corinthians 15:58 that “in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

And all of these only scratch the surface of the promises in the Bible that we can claim in prayer. So, don’t leave these promises unclaimed!

The nineteenth-century preacher Charles Spurgeon compares claiming these promises in prayer to cashing a check at a bank. He writes, “The precious promises of our great God are distinctly intended to be taken to Him and exchanged for the blessings which they guarantee. Prayer takes the promise to the Bank of Faith and obtains the golden blessing. Take care how you pray. Make real business of it. Let it never be a dead formality. Some people pray a long time, but do not get what they are supposed to ask for because they do not plead the promise in a truthful, businesslike way. If you were to go into a bank and stand for an hour talking to the clerk, and then come out again without your cash, what would be the good of it? If I go to a bank, I pass my check across the counter, take my money, and go about my business. That is the best way of praying. Ask for what you need according to His will, because the Lord has promised it. Believe that you have the blessing, and go out to your work in full assurance of it. Get up from your knees singing because the promise is fulfilled. Then your prayer will be answered. It is not the length of your prayer, but the strength of your prayer that wins with God; and the strength of prayer lies in your faith in the promise which you have pleaded before the Lord.”

So, as we read in 2 Samuel 8 about God’s promise being fulfilled, hopefully it encourages us to claim the promises God’s made to us in our prayers before him.

We then read in verses 7-8 about the treasures David took from Hadadezer. It says, ⁷ And David took the shields of gold that were carried by the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ And from Betah and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took very much bronze. These treasures would later be used by David’s son Solomon to build the temple.

We then read about one neighboring king who actually has the good sense to make peace with David. Verses 9-12: ⁹ When Toi king of Hamath heard that David had defeated the whole army of Hadadezer, ¹⁰ Toi sent his son Joram to King David, to ask about his health and to bless him because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him, for Hadadezer had often been at war with Toi. And Joram brought with him articles of silver, of gold, and of bronze. ¹¹ These also King David dedicated to the Lord, together with the silver and gold that he dedicated from all the nations he subdued, ¹² from Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, Amalek, and from the spoil of Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

After that, we read about one more military victory David won—this time over the Edomites. Look at verses 13-14: ¹³ And David made a name for himself when he returned from striking down 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. ¹⁴ Then he put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom he put garrisons, and all the Edomites became David’s servants. And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went.  

As you can see on our map, Edom was to the south of Israel. And that completes the catalogue of David’s victories. As the map demonstrates, David acquired territory on every side of Israel—north, south, east, and west—and enjoyed victory over every nation around him. As verse 14 repeats, “the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went.” What wonderful confirmation that we can trust God to fulfill his promises.

Verse 15 then summarizes, “So David reigned over all Israel. And David administered justice and equity to all his people.”

Yet, as great as David was, he ultimately prefigures one much greater than him. You see, David’s victories over the pagan nations around Israel are but pale reflections of the ultimate victory Jesus won over the most menacing enemies we’ve ever had—the enemies of sin and death. The Bible teaches that our sins have alienated us from God and made us deserving not just of physical death but of eternal death as we suffer God’s wrath. And try as we might, there’s nothing we can do to extricate ourselves from this impossible situation of being guilty and condemned before a holy God.

Thankfully, though, God saw our wretched condition and sent his own Son Jesus to rescue us by defeating sin and death once and for all. However, Jesus didn’t do this through military conquest—as David did—but rather through his own sacrifice on the cross. Jesus allowed himself to be crucified in order to pay the price for our sins. He functioned as our substitute and suffered the punishment our sins deserved in his death on the cross. So, unlike David, Jesus obtained victory not by taking lives but rather by laying down his own life. It was undoubtedly the greatest act of sacrificial love this world has ever known.

Jesus’s victory over sin and death was then demonstrated when he was raised from the dead three days later. And because of that, Jesus now stands ready to save everyone who puts their trust in him. This involves turning from our sins and putting our total confidence in Jesus alone to save us.

So, you have a choice. Will you continue rejecting the rescue Jesus offers and thereby continue in your state of enmity against him, or will you embrace Jesus and be at peace with him? Consider what King Toi did in verses 9-10 of our main passage. He saw what was happening to the nations around him—how they were all falling like dominos before David’s armies. So, he didn’t waste any time seeking peace with David before it was too late. Similarly, if you continue in your state of enmity against Jesus, you’ll eventually be conquered and destroyed. But if you’ll seek peace with Jesus, on the basis of his finished work on the cross, then peace is what you’ll find. As Jesus himself says in John 6:37, “whoever comes to me I will never cast out”—yet another promise we can claim.

Furthermore, it’s important for those of us who are already Christians to remember that we’re called to be like our Savior in the manner in which we seek victory over those who oppose us. It’s quite apparent that there are many people in our modern society who are quite opposed to Christians and Christianity—just as there have been many people throughout church history who have been opposed to Christians and Christianity.

Yet even though such people often treat us as their enemies, we shouldn’t ever treat them as our enemies. This means that we shouldn’t engage them or seek victory over them according to worldly wisdom or through morally dubious methods. Instead, following in the footsteps of Jesus, we should seek to obtain victory primarily through demonstrations of sacrificial love.

For example, I recently read a story about a church leader in China named Dai Zhichao, who was becoming increasingly prominent as a Christian leader and who was therefore targeted by government authorities. Government agents vandalized Dai Zhichao’s church on several different occasions. They also placed Dai under house arrest. Although the soldiers that were guarding Dai’s house allowed other family members to leave the house in order to get groceries and go to school and things like that, they wouldn’t let Dai himself leave the house even to do something as simple as take out the trash. This continued for a lengthy period of time. However, when winter came, it was bitterly cold outside. And the government authorities actually didn’t even give the soldiers who were guarding Dai’s house warm clothes to wear in the freezing temperatures. So, the government was basically neglecting its own soldiers.

And that gave the members of Dai’s church an opportunity to show the love of Christ even to those who were persecuting them. These Christians combined their resources and provided hot water, warm clothes, and warm blankets to the soldiers who were guarding Dai’s house and actively prayed for them as well. Now, I don’t know whether any of those soldiers ended up embracing Jesus, but the government authorities did end up having to transfer those soldiers elsewhere and bring in new soldiers to guard Dai’s house. And I think that’s a wonderful example of how Christians are called to “conquer”—as it were—those who oppose them not through physical force but rather through sacrificial love.

Yet we don’t even have to look all the way to China for examples of the sacrificial love Jesus calls us to show. There are examples of Christians showing sacrificial love to their enemies right here in the United States. Just last year—as I’m sure most of us are aware—Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, publicly forgave the man who had murdered her husband. At Charlie’s memorial service, she stated, “That young man, I forgive him. I forgive him because it was what Christ did, and is what Charlie would do….The answer to hate is not to hate. The answer we know from the gospel is love and always love. Love for our enemies and love for those who persecute us.”

So, whereas David conquered through military action in 2 Samuel 8, we as Christians today are called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and conquer through love—and specifically through the sacrificial love Jesus displayed so powerfully on the cross.