18:1 Later David defeated the Philistines and subdued them. He took Gath and its surrounding towns away from the Philistines.
Chronicles was written from God’s viewpoint. According to divine viewpoint, man is a sinner and he will attempt to kill and plunder other men who are weaker than Himself. When Israel was a weak nation, no one paid much attention to her. Now that Israel has turned into a world power and cornered the gold market, all of the other nations want to plunder her.
In the New Testament, James explained the reason for wars. “Where do the conflicts and where do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, from your passions that battle inside you? You desire and you do not have; you murder and envy and you cannot obtain; you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask.” (James 4:1–2).
The reason for war is the sinful heart of man. In the sixties, hippies protested the war, thinking that these protests would put and end to war. Protests may get rid of a single war, but it will never get rid of the sinful heart of man. Until the Lord Jesus Christ returns to establish His messianic kingdom, man will not be able to bring peace to the world. The United Nations gather together to bring peace to a sinful world, but they will most likely usher in the Antichrist. The Antichrist will cry out “peace and safety,” but after he gains control, he will bring total destruction through a brutal world war.
Jesus said, “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his possessions are safe. But when a stronger man attacks and conquers him, he takes away the first man’s armor on which the man relied and divides up his plunder.” (Luke 11:21-22) If a nation living in the satanic world system wants to keep itself from being killed, enslaved, and plundered by other nations, then they better protect themselves with as many soldiers and as many weapons as possible. The Spartans understood this secular principal, so they created a nation of elite warriors. This situation will not change as long as Satan is in control of this world. Peace from war and peace with God will only occur when Jesus returns and purges these types of evil men out of the world.
The purpose of the Great Tribulation is to eliminate these evil people out of the world by global genocide. Genocide is good if it is called by God, because it purges evil out of the world. Evil people who hate God and threaten society will be dumped into the divine garbage can, which is a burning hell.
Christ will return, get rid of all governments of the satanic world system, and establish a Millennial dictatorship where He is in control. A dictatorship is the perfect form of government only if you have perfection on the throne. All other governments of the satanic world system, including democracy, will eventually be controlled by Satan and his followers. Currently in many modern nations, it seems that democracy is working along with communism in order to create a multi-trillion dollar global deficit. The purpose of this un-payable debt is to create a global economic collapse system which will cause nations to trade in their national debts for loss of their god-given freedoms to this one world dictator.
When David turns the nation of Israel to the worship of the one true God, then Satan raises up enemies to come against this anointed king. As long as David was a little petty tribal king, the nations paid very little attention to him. The nations mentioned in this chapter were perpetual enemies of Israel. They always attacked when they thought that Israel was weak.
Saul could never defeat the Philistines. David defeated them in every battle. David took away all of the Philistine cities and placed them under the control of Israel.
18:2 He defeated the Moabites; the Moabites became David’s subjects and brought tribute.
David’s grandmother, Ruth, was from the tribe of the Moabites. The Moabites had always been friends with David. David even hid his family among them while Saul was in pursuit of David. The Moabites have now become enemies of David, but they could not defeat an anointed King of God. This was a softer report, as Kings recorded that David executed 2/3 of the Moabite soldiers.
18:3 David defeated King Hadadezer of Zobah as far as Hamath, when he went to extend his authority to the Euphrates River.
Hamath was north of Damascus. Damascus was the capital of Syria, near the Euphrates River. This land was promised to Abraham.
18:4 David seized from him 1,000 chariots, 7,000 charioteers, and 20,000 infantrymen. David cut the hamstrings of all but a hundred of Hadadezer’s chariot horses.
Most kings would have taken the horses and chariots as plunder in order to strengthen their army. David did not, because it was against the Mosaic law to multiply horses. Instead, he cut their hamstrings so that they could not be used for war. The anointed kings of Israel were to trust in God and not in horses and chariots.
2 Samuel 8:4 stated that there were seven hundred horsemen, so this verse must contain a copyist error. Only the original document are inspired. The original documents no longer exists, because man would worship the documents rather than the Creator.
18:5 The Arameans of Damascus came to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, but David killed 22,000 of the Arameans.
The Arameans were Syrian armies who often attacked Israel.
18:6 David placed garrisons in the territory of the Arameans of Damascus; the Arameans became David’s subjects and brought tribute. The Lord protected David wherever he campaigned.
God would not allow the Syrians to defeat David. David made them tribute nations. He established Jewish military garrisons in their cities.
18:7 David took the golden shields which Hadadezer’s servants had carried and brought them to Jerusalem.
Syria’s golden shields were placed in the Jewish temple. Gold is a soft metal. These shields were used for show and not for battle. In parades, they demonstrated Israel’s power.
18:8 From Tibhath and Kun, Hadadezer’s cities, David took a great deal of bronze. (Solomon used it to make the big bronze basin called “The Sea,” the pillars, and other bronze items.
Solomon built the temple, because David’s hands were too bloody. However, David accumulated most of the supplies.
Tibhath and Kun were long gone, but they were mentioned in the records of ancient Egypt.
18:9 When King Tou of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of King Hadadezer of Zobah, 18:10 he sent his son Hadoram to King David to extend his best wishes and to pronounce a blessing on him for his victory over Hadadezer, for Tou had been at war with Hadadezer. He also sent various items made of gold, silver, and bronze. 18:11 King David dedicated these things to the Lord, along with the silver and gold which he had carried off from all the nations, including Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and Amalek.
David did not gather plunder for himself. He regarded all of his conquests as God-ordered. He dedicated all of his spoils of war for use in the future temple.
18:12 Abishai son of Zeruiah killed 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt.
Zeruiah was the sister of David. Abishai was not only the nephew of David, but he was also one of David’s mighty men. The Edomites were descendants of Esau and perpetual enemies of David. David was able to subdue them in the Valley of Salt. The Valley of Salt was located in the Dead Sea area.
18:13 He placed garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became David’s subjects. The Lord protected David wherever he campaigned.
The Edomites were conquered. Jewish military forts were placed inside of their cities.
18:14 David reigned over all Israel; he guaranteed justice for all his people.
David was a righteous king who was called “a man after God’s own heart.” For this reason, the blessings of the Mosaic Covenant were bestowed upon Israel.
18:15 Joab son of Zeruiah was commanding general of the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was secretary;
Zeruiah was the sister of David. Joab was the nephew of David. Joab was a very dangerous man, but he was loyal to David.
18:16 Zadok son of Ahitub and Abimelech son of Abiathar were priests; Shavsha was scribe;
The author listed the religious leaders of David’s political staff.
18:17 Benaiah son of Jehoiada supervised the Kerethites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were the king’s leading officials.
The Kerethites and Pelethites were special contingents of Israel’s armies. They were probably Philistines, either proselytes or mercenaries. David now controlled most of the land which was promised to Abraham.