Tag Archives: David

The Bible & War: United Israel

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The next stop along our way through the Bible is the united kingdom of Israel. If we’re extremely generous in defining this period (including Samuel and maybe Eli), Israel was truly united for all of 150 years. There is a disproportionate amount of material in the Old Testament about this time period, so it can seem longer.

During this time, especially under David and Solomon, Israel had great military success. The borders of Israel were expanded to basically take in all of the land which had been promised to Israel. Under David’s rule, idolatry was suppressed, if not eliminated.

We find some interesting comments on war in this section:

  • In 1 Chronicles 20:1, we find the comment “In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war…,” with an implied criticism of David for not going out with his army. There’s no record of Solomon ever going out with the army, so it’s hard to know how strong of a custom it was that kings went to war in the spring. But we can imply, at least, that it was David’s custom.
  • 1 Chronicles 22:8 “You have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not to build a house for my Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight.” Solomon, in 1 Kings, says that David couldn’t build the temple because there was no peace in his lifetime. David, however, says it was because of the blood he had shed. (See also 1 Chronicles 28:3) That is not an implication of guilt; I think it has more to do with the ceremonial cleanness needed for those dealing with the tabernacle/temple.

Some have also pointed to the celebrations of victory during this time as being parallel to Christians celebrating military victories today. I’ll throw that out there and see if anyone has any comment on it.

Maybe someone can help me with this: I can’t remember a time when David fought battles outside of the promised boundaries of Israel. (Num 34:3-12) I’m open to correction on that one. My theory is that his warfare was only for securing the Promised Land; please poke holes in that if you are able.

Bringing The Ark: Consuming Praise

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Yesterday, we looked at the first attempt to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. In that effort, no attention was paid to God’s instructions about how to move the Ark. Because of this, Uzzah died when he touched the Ark during the move.

David was angry with God and fearful at the same time. He left the Ark at the home of Obed-Edom. Months later, seeing that God had blessed Obed-Edom during this time, David decided to bring the Ark to Jerusalem.

I love the description of David’s actions as the Ark was being brought: “David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.” (2 Samuel 6:14-15)

David laid aside his royal robes and put on common clothes, the clothes of a servant, somewhat similar to what the High Priest would wear when he entered the Holy of Holies. Chronicles tells us that the Levites and musicians wore the same clothes that David wore. They weren’t royal clothes, but they weren’t immodest, either.

I love the description of David’s worship. He worshiped with all his might. When was the last time I could say that? How often do I come away from a time of worship feeling tired?

This wasn’t prescribed worship. God didn’t tell David to dance, nor to surround the Ark with musicians and their instruments. The Israelites weren’t told to shout for joy. All of this was natural, spontaneous worship of God.

Last week, in the comments section, Jay talked about how the church has forgotten how to celebrate, how to truly rejoice. The Old Testament is full of calls to worship God through feasting and rejoicing. None of that changed in the New Testament.

David, the great king, humbled himself and joined in the celebrations with all the people. He worshiped God with all his might. It’s a beautiful image. It’s a beautiful example for us.

Bringing the Ark: Consuming Fire

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The story of David bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem is an interesting one. It’s interesting to see how God works in the life of this man described as being “after God’s own heart.”

The Israelites had lost the Ark to the Philistines. Someone thought it would be a good idea to take the ark into battle, which God hadn’t instructed them to do (despite what you may have seen in Raiders of the Lost Ark). There’s not a lot of detail about how they did that; I’m curious as to whether or not they followed the instructions from the Law about how to carry the Ark.

The Israelites lost the battle and the Ark was captured. However, the Philistines soon discovered that it was a bad idea for them to keep God’s Ark, and they sent it back in a cart pulled by two milch kine (gotta love the KJV), that is, two milk cows. The Ark ended up in Kiritah Jearim, where it stayed until David decided to take it to Jerusalem.

David didn’t return the Ark to the Tabernacle; he set up a tent in Jerusalem for the Ark. He also failed to transport it as the Law said. The Ark was to be carried by the Levites, covered by a curtain. Instead the Israelites placed it on a cart, and nothing is said about it being covered.

This lack of attention to God’s instructions led to disaster, but only when Uzzah went to touch the Ark. God is slow to anger and overlooks a certain degree of ignorance. However, the actual touching of the Ark was too much. Uzzah was struck dead when he touched the Ark.

This first part of the story reminds us that God’s holiness is a serious matter. It’s not merely a question of obedience and disobedience, else many more people would have died on that day. In some ways, David was the guiltiest of all, yet he is not reprimanded; he even becomes angry with God over what happened.

What happened to Uzzah should remind us why we worship God with reverence and holy fear; our God is a consuming fire.

We’ll look some more at this story over the next few days.