Showing posts with label Uriah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Uriah. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

David Establishes Jerusalem and David's Mighty Men

After Saul's and his sons' deaths, all of Israel chose David to be king and he reigned from Hebron. In that time, Jerusalem was called Jebus and was settled by the Jebusites. Joab took took the stronghold there for David and David made the city into Jerusalem.

The rest of the chronicles is about the mighty men of David. Jashobeam once killed three hundred men at one time. Eleazar was one of the three mighty men who defended
the ground with David at Pasdammim against the Philistines. Another three of thirty mighty men risked their lives to go into Philistines camp to get David some water.

Abishai, the brother of Joab, was a leader of three mighty men. He also killed three hundred men at one time. Benaiah, was the son of Jehoiada, was another of the three mighty men, known for killing several other mighty enemy warriors. He was said to be honoured higher the the other thirty mighty men. Finally a list of the mighty men of David was also listed, and one of the notable one was Uriah the Hittite whom David conspired to murder. Uriah was among David's renowned thirty mighty men.



1 Chronicles 11

David Made King over All Israel

 1 Then all Israel came together to David at Hebron, saying, “Indeed we are your bone and your flesh. 2 Also, in time past, even when Saul was king, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them in; and the LORD your God said to you, ‘You shall shepherd My people Israel, and be ruler over My people Israel.’” 3 Therefore all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD. And they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the LORD by Samuel.

The City of David
 
4 And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, which is Jebus, where the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land. 5 But the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, “You shall not come in here!” Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion (that is, the City of David). 6 Now David said, “Whoever attacks the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain.” And Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, and became chief. 7 Then David dwelt in the stronghold; therefore they called it the City of David. 8 And he built the city around it, from the Millo[a] to the surrounding area. Joab repaired the rest of the city. 9 So David went on and became great, and the LORD of hosts was with him.

The Mighty Men of David
 
10 Now these were the heads of the mighty men whom David had, who strengthened themselves with him in his kingdom, with all Israel, to make him king, according to the word of the LORD concerning Israel.
11 And this is the number of the mighty men whom David had: Jashobeam the son of a Hachmonite, chief of the captains;[b] he had lifted up his spear against three hundred, killed by him at one time.
12 After him was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, who was one of the three mighty men. 13 He was with David at Pasdammim. Now there the Philistines were gathered for battle, and there was a piece of ground full of barley. So the people fled from the Philistines. 14 But they stationed themselves in the middle of that field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. So the LORD brought about a great victory.
15 Now three of the thirty chief men went down to the rock to David, into the cave of Adullam; and the army of the Philistines encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. 16 David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. 17 And David said with longing, “Oh, that someone would give me a drink of water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!” 18 So the three broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless David would not drink it, but poured it out to the LORD. 19 And he said, “Far be it from me, O my God, that I should do this! Shall I drink the blood of these men who have put their lives in jeopardy? For at the risk of their lives they brought it.” Therefore he would not drink it. These things were done by the three mighty men.
20 Abishai the brother of Joab was chief of another three.[c] He had lifted up his spear against three hundred men, killed them, and won a name among these three. 21 Of the three he was more honored than the other two men. Therefore he became their captain. However he did not attain to the first three.
22 Benaiah was the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man from Kabzeel, who had done many deeds. He had killed two lion-like heroes of Moab. He also had gone down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day. 23 And he killed an Egyptian, a man of great height, five cubits tall. In the Egyptian’s hand there was a spear like a weaver’s beam; and he went down to him with a staff, wrested the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and killed him with his own spear. 24 These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada
26 Also the mighty warriors were Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, 27 Shammoth the Harorite,[d] Helez the Pelonite,[e] 28 Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, Abiezer the Anathothite, 29 Sibbechai the Hushathite, Ilai the Ahohite, 30 Maharai the Netophathite, Heled[f] the son of Baanah the Netophathite, 31 Ithai[g] the son of Ribai of Gibeah, of the sons of Benjamin, Benaiah the Pirathonite, 32 Hurai[h] of the brooks of Gaash, Abiel[i] the Arbathite, 33 Azmaveth the Baharumite,[j] Eliahba the Shaalbonite, 34 the sons of Hashem the Gizonite, Jonathan the son of Shageh the Hararite, 35 Ahiam the son of Sacar the Hararite, Eliphal the son of Ur, 36 Hepher the Mecherathite, Ahijah the Pelonite, 37 Hezro the Carmelite, Naarai the son of Ezbai, 38 Joel the brother of Nathan, Mibhar the son of Hagri, 39 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Berothite[k] (the armorbearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah), 40 Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, 41 Uriah the Hittite, Zabad the son of Ahlai, 42 Adina the son of Shiza the Reubenite (a chief of the Reubenites) and thirty with him, 43 Hanan the son of Maachah, Joshaphat the Mithnite, 44 Uzzia the Ashterathite, Shama and Jeiel the sons of Hotham the Aroerite, 45 Jediael the son of Shimri, and Joha his brother, the Tizite, 46 Eliel the Mahavite, Jeribai and Joshaviah the sons of Elnaam, Ithmah the Moabite, 47 Eliel, Obed, and Jaasiel the Mezobaite.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

David's Sin Revealed, Death of a Son, Birth of Solomon

The LORD sent Nathan to deliver a strong rebuke of David's sin with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah the Hittite. God considers the act of sin to be motivated by the despise of His Commandments and the despise of God. God out of mercy declared that David will not die immediately because of the sin, but will suffer the consequences which included a family that will fight against each other, his wives would be captured and taken by enemies and the his son with Bathsheba from that sinful night will die.

It is interesting that the child of David and Bathsheba from the night of sin was not named here in the Scripture. The child fell ill and David, also knowing the prophecy, was severely distraught and was pleading, fasting and praying to God with hope that his child would be restored. Another interesting thing that reflected the nature of David was that, as soon as the child died, he became calm again and went to worshiped God. Such was the man David who knew God so well that he would not get angry with God even in such tragic circumstances.

The love of God for David was also shown when David and Bathsheba had another son Solomon. Solomon was also called Jedidiah - or Beloved of God. God had no grudges with David and was eager to bless him again according to His promises.

The last part of the chapter is a curious short paragraph about the capture of Rabbah by Israel. The interesting fact from the paragraph is how Joab told David to come for the final assault after Joab had seemingly completed the hard part of the battle. It was as if David had been so distracted by his personal problems, that Joab tried to snap him out of it by making David do what he did best - conquering other nations.


2 Samuel 12

Nathan’s Parable and David’s Confession

 1 Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him: “There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. 3 But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him. 4 And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”
5 So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! 6 And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more! 9 Why have you despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. 10 Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11 Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’”
13 So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”
And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.” 15 Then Nathan departed to his house.

The Death of David’s Son
 
And the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it became ill. 16 David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. 17 So the elders of his house arose and went to him, to raise him up from the ground. But he would not, nor did he eat food with them. 18 Then on the seventh day it came to pass that the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, “Indeed, while the child was alive, we spoke to him, and he would not heed our voice. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He may do some harm!”
19 When David saw that his servants were whispering, David perceived that the child was dead. Therefore David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?”
And they said, “He is dead.”
20 So David arose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house; and when he requested, they set food before him, and he ate. 21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child died, you arose and ate food.”
22 And he said, “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who can tell whether the LORD[a] will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ 23 But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.”

Solomon Is Born
 
24 Then David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in to her and lay with her. So she bore a son, and he[b] called his name Solomon. Now the LORD loved him, 25 and He sent word by the hand of Nathan the prophet: So he[c] called his name Jedidiah,[d] because of the LORD.

Rabbah Is Captured
 
26 Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the people of Ammon, and took the royal city. 27 And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, “I have fought against Rabbah, and I have taken the city’s water supply. 28 Now therefore, gather the rest of the people together and encamp against the city and take it, lest I take the city and it be called after my name.” 29 So David gathered all the people together and went to Rabbah, fought against it, and took it. 30 Then he took their king’s crown from his head. Its weight was a talent of gold, with precious stones. And it was set on David’s head. Also he brought out the spoil of the city in great abundance. 31 And he brought out the people who were in it, and put them to work with saws and iron picks and iron axes, and made them cross over to the brick works. So he did to all the cities of the people of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

Total Pageviews