8:1
Having had the “theological” assessment of David becoming king, and where things were headed, we now get a very practical and immediate assessment of David conquering various enemies and so giving Israel peace. When David was under pressure he usually sought the Lord for advice on whether to attack, and if so, how to attack. There is none of that here, but we are told in 8:6,14 that it was the Lord who gave David victory. David defeated and subdued the Philistines.
8:2
David also defeated the Moabites. This included embarking on what to us seems an unduly cruel and barbaric means of reducing the Moabite army in size. He made the soldiers lie down in a line and allowed every third person to live, the others being killed. This strikes us as the sort of thing the Nazis or communists might do. It could be argued that in the context of the times it was actually merciful, rather than everyone being killed, one third were allowed to live. Anyway, the key point is that the Moabites were now subject to David.
No comments:
Post a Comment