Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 159
2S
| 7:27–8:14
S am u el – K I N G S
147
“O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, God of Israel, I have been bold
enough to pray this prayer to you because you have revealed all this to
your servant, saying, ‘I will build a house for you—a dynasty of kings!’
For you are God, O Sovereign Lord. Your words are truth, and you
have promised these good things to your servant. And now, may it
please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue
forever before you. For you have spoken, and when you grant a
blessing to your servant, O Sovereign Lord, it is an eternal blessing!”
After this, Dav id defeated and subdued the Philistines by conquering
Gath, their largest town. David also conquered the land of Moab. He made
the people lie down on the ground in a row, and he measured them off in
groups with a length of rope. He measured off two groups to be executed
for every one group to be spared. The Moabites who were spared became
David’s subjects and paid him tribute money.
David also destroyed the forces of Hadadez er son of Rehob, king of
Zobah, when Hadadezer marched out to strengthen his control along the
Euphrates River. David captured 1,000 chariots, 7,000 charioteers, and
20,000 foot soldiers. He crippled all the chariot horses except enough for
100 chariots.
When Arameans from Damascus arrived to help King Hadadezer, David
killed 22,000 of them. Then he placed several army garrisons in Damascus,
the Aramean capital, and the Arameans became David’s subjects and paid
him tribute money. So the Lord made David victorious wherever he went.
David brought the gold shields of Hadadezer’s officers to Jerusalem,
along with a large amount of bronze from Hadadezer’s towns of Tebah
and Berothai.
When King Toi of Hamath heard that David had destroyed the entire
army of Hadadezer, he sent his son Joram to congratulate King David for
his successful campaign. Hadadezer and Toi had been enemies and were
often at war. Joram presented David with many gifts of silver, gold, and
bronze.
King David dedicated all these gifts to the Lord, as he did with the silver
and gold from the other nations he had d efeated—from Edom, Moab,
Ammon, Philistia, and Amalek—and from Hadadezer son of Rehob, king
of Zobah.
So David became even more famous when he returned from destroying
18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. He placed army garrisons throughout Edom, and all the Edomites became David’s subjects. In fact, the Lord
made David victorious wherever he went.