Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 155
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S am u el – K I N G S
143
David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty
years in all. He had reigned over Judah from Hebron for seven years and
six months, and from Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah for
thirty-three years.
David then led his men to Jerusalem to fight against the Jebusites, the original inhabitants of the land who were living there. The Jebus ites taunted
David, saying, “You’ll never get in here! Even the blind and lame could
keep you out!” For the Jebus ites thought they were safe. But David captured the fortress of Zion, which is now called the City of David.
On the day of the attack, David said to his troops, “I hate those ‘lame’
and ‘blind’ Jebus ites. Whoever attacks them should strike by going into
the city through the water tunnel.” That is the origin of the saying, “The
blind and the lame may not enter the house.”
So David made the fortress his home, and he called it the City of Da
vid. He extended the city, starting at the supporting terraces and working
inward. And David became more and more powerful, because the Lord
God of Heaven’s Armies was with him.
Then King Hiram of Tyre sent messengers to David, along with cedar
timber and carpenters and stonemasons, and they built David a palace.
And David realized that the Lord had confirmed him as king over Israel
and had blessed his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.
After moving from Hebron to Jerusalem, David married more concubines
and wives, and they had more sons and daughters. These are the names
of David’s sons who were born in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan,
Solomon, Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.
When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king of Israel,
they mobilized all their forces to capture him. But David was told they
were coming, so he went into the stronghold. The Philistines arrived
and spread out across the valley of Rephaim. So David asked the Lord,
“Should I go out to fight the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?”
The Lord replied to David, “Yes, go ahead. I will certainly hand them
over to you.”
So David went to B
aal-perazim and defeated the Philistines there. “The
Lord did it!” David exclaimed. “He burst through my enemies like a raging flood!” So he named that place B
aal-perazim (which means “the Lord
who bursts through”). The Philistines had abandoned their idols there, so
David and his men confiscated them.