Scripture Daily

Context No. 1534 of 4322 · 2 Samuel

Context · Reflection

2 Samuel 8:1-8: in context

1After this, David struck the Philistines and subdued them; and David took the bridle of the mother city out of the hand of the Philistines. 2He defeated Moab, and measured them with the line, making them to lie down on the ground; and he measured two lines to put to death, and one full line to keep alive. The Moabites became servants to David, and brought tribute. 3David also struck Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his dominion at the River. 4David took from him one thousand seven hundred horsemen and twenty thousand footmen. David hamstrung the chariot horses, but reserved enough of them for one hundred chariots. 5When the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck twenty two thousand men of the Syrians. 6Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus; and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought tribute. The LORD gave victory to David wherever he went. 7David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. 8From Betah and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took a great quantity of bronze.

This chapter summarizes a season of David's conquests. He subdues the Philistines, defeats Moab, strikes down Hadadezer of Zobah, and routs the Syrians who came to help him. He takes horsemen and footmen and chariots, garrisons the conquered lands, and carries off gold shields and great quantities of bronze. Amid the list of victories runs a single refrain that explains them all: the LORD gave victory to David wherever he went.

The line to hold, threaded through the whole catalog of conquests, is the refrain: the LORD gave victory to David wherever he went. This was not one victory but a whole season of them, an unbroken run of success against enemy after enemy; and scripture does not attribute it to David's skill or strength but to God, again and again, wherever he went. It is worth noticing how the refrain guards against a particular danger. A long run of success is precisely the time we are most likely to forget God and begin to credit ourselves. One victory we might thank God for; a whole string of them, and we start to assume it is our own competence, our own strength, that keeps winning. The refrain will not allow it: it was the LORD who gave the victory, wherever he went, every time, throughout the season. There is a discipline in that for our own seasons of success. When things are going well, one thing after another, it is easy to lose sight of the giver and imagine the run of good outcomes is simply what we produce; the refrain insists on crediting God through the whole of it, not just at the start. Every victory, wherever David went, was God's gift, and remembering that is what kept David's success from becoming his pride. A season of unbroken success is a spiritual danger as much as a blessing, and the guard against it is to keep saying, through all of it, that the LORD gave the victory, wherever we went.

In my seasons of unbroken success, one good outcome after another, do I keep crediting God through the whole of it, or do I begin to assume it is my own competence, forgetting that it is the LORD who gives the victory wherever we go?

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