Day #132

Sermon - Audio
1 Chronicles 19 & 2 Samuel 10 & Psalm 20 Audio
1 Chronicles 19 & 2 Samuel 10 & Psalm 20 - Reading

Daily Insights - Please Comment

1 Chronicles 19

1-5 - Free men wore beards, and having them shaved was typically a sign of slavery. This was a big insult to these men. The king was more than likely mocking David through the cutting of the men's garments and beards. David was trying to show kindness, but Ammon suspected trickery.

6-8 - Mercenaries were hired by Ammon.

13 - I love this speech by Joab. It makes me think of a rallying cry that us Christians could use today when discussing the cities we live in. We need to be strong in the Lord, put our hope and desires in Him, which will give us courage to engage our cities/culture. Joab also recognizes at the end that the outcome is not up to us as humans, in the end it's God's story.

Q. What desires in your life are holding you back from fulling engaging in God's story?

16-19 - David's army defeats the reinforcements from Syria as well. Two battles in one so to speak.

2 Samuel 10

1-2 - It seems that David's "kindness" is for political reasons. As the ESVSB expounds: "David wants to keep the Ammonites as peaceful neighbors..." That doesn't really work out.

1-19 - "The account of the war with Ammon serves as background to the next story, which deals with David’s sin against Bathsheba and Uriah. The first part of the present account explains the cause of the war, the second part tells of its first stage, which involved both the Ammonites and the Arameans, and the third part reports the second stage, which was conducted against the Arameans only (mentioned in ch 8). David did not initiate the war, but through his victory he gained supremacy in the region (the third stage of the war, against the Ammonites only, is related in chs 11–12)." -JSB-

*Interestingly enought, these battles happen right before David sleeps with Bathsheba...God gives David a mighty victory, that very well could have gone to his head. As Larry stated on Sunday, "David decided that he was king and in charge of His story, and forgot that everything he had was given to him by God." David was a simple shepherd, chosen, and called by God...who forgot.

Psalm 20

God save the king: a prayer for victory [ Psalm 20 ]. The imagery of battle and victory, coupled with the wish expressed in the last verse that the Lord will save the king, makes it plausible to put this psalm into the category of royal psalm—a poem that focuses on the king, in this case the king as he prepares to enter battle. But we need to avoid tying a poem like this so closely to an inferred original occasion that we miss the fact that the sentiments it expresses are appropriate for any believer in God in any situation in life. The sequence is as follows: a litany of wishes for the victory of the king, using the “may . . .” formula (vv. 1–5); assertion that victory comes from trusting in God, not from military resources (vv. 6–8); prayer to God to save the king (v. 9).

Psalm 21 will give thanks for God answering this prayer in Psalm 20.

2-3 = Themes of the sanctuary (place of the presence of God) and offerings and sacrifices are the basis of the requests in these two verses.

7 = "David was confident of victory because he did not trust in military might (see 33:16–18) but in the “name of the LORD our God.” Since the “name” refers to the attributes (see Ex 34:5–7; Is 9:6), the object of David’s faith was the person and works of Yahweh. The word translated “take pride” is literally “keep in remembrance, make mention of, ponder”—he built his confidence by meditating on the nature of God." -ASB-

10 = The Septuagint reads = “O LORD grant victory to the king; answer us when we call”