The Living Bible (134 page)

1 Chronicles
17

After David had been living in his new palace for some time he said to Nathan the prophet, “Look! I’m living here in a cedar-paneled home while the Ark of the Covenant of God is out there in a tent!”

    
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 And Nathan replied, “Carry out your plan in every detail, for it is the will of the Lord.”

    
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 But that same night God said to Nathan,
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 “Go and give my servant David this message: ‘You are not to build my temple!
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 I’ve gone from tent to tent as my home from the time I brought Israel out of Egypt.
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 In all that time I never suggested to any of the leaders of Israel—the shepherds I appointed to care for my people—that they should build me a cedar-lined temple.’

    
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 “Tell my servant David, ‘The Lord of heaven says to you, I took you from being a shepherd and made you the king of my people.
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 And I have been with you everywhere you’ve gone; I have destroyed your enemies, and I will make your name as great as the greatest of the earth.
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 And I will give a permanent home to my people Israel and will plant them in their land. They will not be disturbed again; the wicked nations won’t conquer them as they did before
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 when the judges ruled them. I will subdue all of your enemies. And I now declare that I will cause your descendants to be kings of Israel just as you are.

    
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 “‘When your time here on earth is over and you die, I will place one of your sons upon your throne; and I will make his kingdom strong.
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 He is the one who shall build me a temple, and I will establish his royal line of descent forever.
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 I will be his father, and he shall be my son; I will never remove my mercy and love from him as I did from Saul.
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 I will place him over my people and over the kingdom of Israel forever—and his descendants will always be kings.’”

    
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 So Nathan told King David everything the Lord had said.

    
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 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family that you have given me all this?
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 For all the great things you have already done for me are nothing in comparison to what you have promised to do in the future! For now, O Lord God, you are speaking of future generations of my children being kings too! You speak as though I were someone very great.
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 What else can I say? You know that I am but a dog, yet you have decided to honor me!
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 O Lord, you have given me these wonderful promises just because you want to be kind to me, because of your own great heart.
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 O Lord, there is no one like you—there is no other God. In fact, we have never even heard of another god like you!

    
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 “And what other nation in all the earth is like Israel? You have made a unique nation and have redeemed it from Egypt so that the people could be your people. And you made a great name for yourself when you did glorious miracles in driving out the nations from before your people.
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 You have declared that your people Israel belong to you forever, and you have become their God.

    
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 “And now I accept your promise, Lord, that I and my children will always rule this nation.
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 And may this bring eternal honor to your name as everyone realizes that you always do what you say. They will exclaim, ‘The Lord of heaven is indeed the God of Israel!’ And Israel shall always be ruled by my children and their posterity!
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 Now I have the courage to pray to you, for you have revealed this to me.
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 God himself has promised this good thing to me!
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 May this blessing rest upon my children forever, for when you grant a blessing, Lord, it is an eternal blessing!”

1 Chronicles
18

David finally subdued the Philistines and conquered Gath and its surrounding towns.
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 He also conquered Moab and required its people to send him a large sum of money every year.
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 He conquered the dominion of King Hadadezer of Zobah (as far as Hamath) at the time Hadadezer went to tighten his grip along the Euphrates River.
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 David captured a thousand of his chariots, seven thousand cavalry, and twenty thousand troops. He crippled all the chariot teams except a hundred that he kept for his own use.

    
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 When the Syrians arrived from Damascus to help King Hadadezer, David killed twenty-two thousand of them;
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 then he placed a garrison of his troops in Damascus, the Syrian capital. So the Syrians, too, were forced to send him large amounts of money every year. And the Lord gave David victory everywhere he went.
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 He brought the gold shields of King Hadadezer’s officers to Jerusalem,
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 as well as a great amount of bronze from Hadadezer’s cities of Tibhath and Cun. (King Solomon later melted the bronze and used it for the Temple. He molded it into the bronze tank, the pillars, and the instruments used in offering sacrifices on the altar.)

    
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 When King Tou of Hamath learned that King David had destroyed Hadadezer’s army,
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 he sent his son Hadoram to greet and congratulate King David on his success and to present him with many gifts of gold, silver, and bronze, seeking an alliance. For Hadadezer and Tou had been enemies and there had been many wars between them.
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 King David dedicated these gifts to the Lord, as he did the silver and gold he took from the nations of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Amalek, and the Philistines.

    
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 Abishai (son of Zeruiah) then destroyed eighteen thousand Edomites in Salt Valley.
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 He put garrisons in Edom and forced the Edomites to pay large sums of money annually to David. This is just another example of how the Lord gave David victory after victory.
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 David reigned over all of Israel and was a just ruler.

    
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 Joab (son of Zeruiah) was commander-in-chief of the army; Jehoshaphat (son of Ahilud) was the historian;
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 Zadok (son of Ahitub) and Ahimelech (son of Abiathar) were the head priests; Shavsha was the king’s special assistant;
*
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 Benaiah (son of Jehoiada) was in charge of the king’s bodyguard—the Cherethites and Pelethites—and David’s sons were his chief aides.

1 Chronicles
19

When King Nahash of Ammon died, his son Hanun became the new king.

    
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 Then David declared, “I am going to show friendship to Hanun because of all the kind things his father did for me.”

    
So David sent a message of sympathy to Hanun for the death of his father. But when David’s ambassadors arrived, King Hanun’s counselors warned him, “Don’t fool yourself that David has sent these men to honor your father! They are here to spy out the land so that they can come in and conquer it!”

    
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 So King Hanun insulted King David’s ambassadors by shaving their beards and cutting their robes off at the middle to expose their buttocks; then he sent them back to David in shame.
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 When David heard what had happened, he sent a message to his embarrassed emissaries, telling them to stay at Jericho until their beards had grown out again.
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 When King Hanun realized his mistake he sent $2,000,000 to enlist mercenary troops, chariots, and cavalry from Mesopotamia, Aram-maacah, and Zobah.
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 He hired thirty-two thousand chariots, as well as the support of the king of Maacah and his entire army. These forces camped at Medeba where they were joined by the troops King Hanun had recruited from his cities.

    
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 When David learned of this, he sent Joab and the mightiest warriors of Israel.
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 The army of Ammon went out to meet them and began the battle at the gates of the city of Medeba. Meanwhile, the mercenary forces were out in the field.
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 When Joab realized that the enemy forces were both in front and behind him, he divided his army and sent one group to engage the Syrians.
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 The other group, under the command of his brother Abishai, moved against the Ammonites.

    
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 “If the Syrians are too strong for me, come and help me,” Joab told his brother; “and if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I’ll come and help you.
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 Be courageous and let us act like men to save our people and the cities of our God. And may the Lord do what is best.”

    
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 So Joab and his troops attacked the Syrians, and the Syrians turned and fled.
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 When the Ammonites, under attack by Abishai’s troops, saw that the Syrians were retreating, they fled into the city. Then Joab returned to Jerusalem.

    
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 After their defeat, the Syrians summoned additional troops from east of the Euphrates River, led personally by Shophach, King Hadadezer’s commander-in-chief.
^17-18
 When this news reached David, he mobilized all Israel, crossed the Jordan River, and engaged the enemy troops in battle. But the Syrians again fled from David, and he killed seven thousand charioteers and forty thousand of their troops. He also killed Shophach, the commander-in-chief of the Syrian army.
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 Then King Hadadezer’s troops surrendered to King David and became his subjects. And never again did the Syrians aid the Ammonites in their battles.