David Becomes King
Compared
with the account in 2 Samuel, David’s meteoric rise to power in Israel as told
in Chronicles was a breeze. After Saul
dies, the elders simply come to David and submit to him. David makes a covenant with them – likely a
covenant of financial tribute and military assistance in exchange for David’s
leadership and commitment to God.
Why is
the chronicler’s account so brief? To be
blunt, the chronicler is putting this book together to illustrate God’s hand in
the midst of trial and success. The
chronicler is attempting to write an inspirational book describing the
relationship of God to His people as those people are returning from
exile. The deeds of Abner and Joab as
well as the battles against Ishbosheth are simply not significant to the point
of the chronicler. What is important to
the chronicler is that this was God’s plan all along. God had ordained David as king and everything
else was simply God’s plan unfolding before the Master Creator.
Jebus
David
then sets his sights upon Jebus. Jebus –
Jerusalem – was a central city in the Promised Land. It was in the northernmost part of Judah, but
it would make an ideal place from which David could rule all of the Promised
Land. Again we have a minimal
description of the event, indicating that this was primarily God’s work, not
the work of men. This element is
dramatized even more by the simple statement that the Jebusites said to David, “You
shall not get in here.” Nevertheless,
David took the city. Human will be what
it may; God’s will is supreme.
However,
we do have the notation that Joab becomes the captain of the guard. When we do see evidence of human will, we see
it with respect to fervent obedience that is in line with God’s will. It is God’s will that David take
Jerusalem. It is God’s will that David
take upon himself the mantle of Melchizedek.
Joab pursues this will fervently and he is exalted among men because of
it.
David’s Mighty Men
The rest
of this chapter is dedicated to those among David’s company who followed David (and
Joab) in fervent pursuit of God’s will for David’s military success. The first group we hear of is “the three.” Jashobeam and Eleazar are mentioned in
Chronicles. The third, Shammah, is not
mentioned here but his deeds can be found in 2 Samuel 23:11-12. We are also told of Abishai, the brother of
Joab. Like the three, he had a moment of
personal victory, but he did not attain a status as high as the three.
These men
are noted for their personal heroism.
Each of these is lifted up and recognized for a personal moment of valor
– not unlike the moment noted for Joab earlier in the chapter. The chronicler desires us to see people who
were willing to risk all to pursue God’s calling. Each of these three stood up against
incredible odds and survived by the power of God. Everyone else had fled. They had every reason to flee. But they stood their ground. In spite of the seemingly insurmountable odds
against them, they rallied the people and stood in faith.
We also
hear about Benaiah, who eventually is set over David’s own bodyguard. Benaiah doesn’t seem to have the same
military success as the ones mentioned before.
After all, Benaiah doesn’t win against great odds and against many
men. But what Benaiah does is win
personal mano-a-mano contests where he is the clear underdog. As I read through the account of Benaiah, I
couldn’t help naturally thinking about the story of David and Goliath. No wonder David placed him in charge of his
bodyguard! You wouldn’t want a man like
this as a general over the battlefield.
You would want a man like this managing your personal security and
dealing with any threat too big or great to be handled by the rest of the soldiers!
What I
like about Benaiah is that here we get our first glimpse of appreciation for heterogeneity
among David’s closest people. David didn’t
surround himself with carbon copies of himself or carbon copies of one
another. David appreciated different
skills in different people and managed bringing them together and putting them
to work. David (and God!) valued heterogeneity.
It should also be noted that Solomon
promotes Benaiah to commander after Joab’s death.
Finally
we get a listing of the mighty men.
There is not much to report on this list. Among the names on the list, perhaps one
jumped out: Uriah the Hittite. Of
course, we know this name from the David and Bathsheba story. Since that story is not told in Chronicles,
this may be a great time to talk about why.
As we go
into the life of David, we will notice that several of the stories that we are
rather familiar with are simply omitted from the record. It is possible that the chronicler was
unaware of them; however this is unlikely.
The chronicler seems to get so many of the intricate details and order
of the story straight from the Samuel/Kings account that it really is unlikely
that the chronicler didn’t have access to the Samuel/Kings account.
In fact,
this leads us to a reason why the accounts are different. If the chronicler did have access to
Samuel/Kings, then there would be no need to copy it directly! Instead, the chronicler could focus upon the
stories that speak to the hand of God moving through David’s life. The chronicler can feel secure that the
Samuel/Kings account tells the historical account accurately. The chronicler is freed to focus not upon the
history but the spirituality of the story.
Thus, some of the more familiar stories are omitted because the
chronicler is focusing upon God at work rather than the human element.
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