To The Word – Day 80

₁Once more David called together the best soldiers in Israel, a total of 30,000 men, ₂and led them to Baalah in Judah, in order to bring from there God's Covenant Box, bearing the name of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned above the winged creatures. ₃They took it from Abinadab's home on the hill and placed it on a new cart. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the cart, ₄with Ahio walking in front. ₅David and all the Israelites were dancing and singing with all their might to honour the LORD. They were playing harps, lyres, drums, rattles, and cymbals.

₆As they came to the threshing place of Nacon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah reached out and took hold of the Covenant Box. ₇At once the LORD God became angry with Uzzah and killed him because of his irreverence. Uzzah died there beside the Covenant Box, ₈and so that place has been called Perez Uzzah ever since. David was furious because the LORD had punished Uzzah in anger.

₉Then David was afraid of the LORD and said, “How can I take the Covenant Box with me now?” ₁₀So he decided not to take it with him to Jerusalem; instead, he turned off the road and took it to the house of Obed Edom, a native of the city of Gath. ₁₁It stayed there three months, and the LORD blessed Obed Edom and his family.

₁₂King David heard that because of the Covenant Box the LORD had blessed Obed Edom's family and all that he had; so he fetched the Covenant Box from Obed's house to take it to Jerusalem with a great celebration. ₁₃After the men carrying the Covenant Box had gone six steps, David made them stop while he offered the LORD a sacrifice of a bull and a fattened calf. ₁₄David, wearing only a linen cloth round his waist, danced with all his might to honour the LORD. ₁₅And so he and all the Israelites took the Covenant Box up to Jerusalem with shouts of joy and the sound of trumpets.

₁₆As the Box was being brought into the city, Michal, Saul's daughter, looked out of the window and saw King David dancing and jumping around in the sacred dance, and she was disgusted with him. ₁₇They brought the Box and put it in its place in the Tent that David had set up for it. Then he offered sacrifices and fellowship offerings to the LORD. ₁₈When he had finished offering the sacrifices, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD Almighty ₁₉and distributed food to them all. He gave each man and woman in Israel a loaf of bread, a piece of roasted meat, and some raisins. Then everyone went home.

₂₀Afterwards, when David went home to greet his family, Michal came out to meet him. “The king of Israel made a big name for himself today!” she said. “He exposed himself like a fool in the sight of the servant women of his officials!”

₂₁David answered, “I was dancing to honour the LORD, who chose me instead of your father and his family to make me the leader of his people Israel. And I will go on dancing to honour the LORD, ₂₂and will disgrace myself even more. You may think I am nothing, but those women will think highly of me!”

₂₃Michal, Saul's daughter, never had any children.

₁King David was settled in his palace, and the LORD kept him safe from all his enemies. ₂Then the king said to the prophet Nathan, “Here I am living in a house built of cedar, but God's Covenant Box is kept in a tent!”

₃Nathan answered, “Do whatever you have in mind, because the LORD is with you.” ₄But that night the LORD said to Nathan, ₅“Go and tell my servant David that I say to him, ‘You are not the one to build a temple for me to live in. ₆From the time I rescued the people of Israel from Egypt until now, I have never lived in a temple; I have travelled round living in a tent. ₇In all my travelling with the people of Israel I never asked any of the leaders that I appointed why they had not built me a temple made of cedar.’

₈“So tell my servant David that I, the LORD Almighty, say to him, ‘I took you from looking after sheep in the fields and made you the ruler of my people Israel. ₉I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have defeated all your enemies as you advanced. I will make you as famous as the greatest leaders in the world. _10-11I have chosen a place for my people Israel and have settled them there, where they will live without being oppressed any more. Ever since they entered this land, they have been attacked by violent people, but this will not happen again. I promise to keep you safe from all your enemies and to give you descendants. ₁₂When you die and are buried with your ancestors, I will make one of your sons king and will keep his kingdom strong. ₁₃He will be the one to build a temple for me, and I will make sure that his dynasty continues for ever. ₁₄I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him as a father punishes his son. ₁₅But I will not withdraw my support from him as I did from Saul, whom I removed so that you could be king. ₁₆You will always have descendants, and I will make your kingdom last for ever. Your dynasty will never end.’ ”

₁₇Nathan told David everything that God had revealed to him.

₁₈Then King David went into the Tent of the LORD's presence, sat down and prayed, “I am not worthy of what you have already done for me, Sovereign LORD, nor is my family. ₁₉Yet now you are doing even more, Sovereign LORD; you have made promises about my descendants in the years to come. And you let a man see this, Sovereign LORD! ₂₀What more can I say to you! You know me, your servant. ₂₁It was your will and purpose to do this; you have done all these great things in order to teach me. ₂₂How great you are, Sovereign LORD! There is none like you; we have always known that you alone are God. ₂₃There is no other nation on earth like Israel, whom you rescued from slavery to make them your own people. The great and wonderful things you did for them have spread your fame throughout the world. You drove out other nations and their gods as your people advanced, the people whom you set free from Egypt to be your own. ₂₄You have made Israel your own people for ever, and you, LORD, have become their God.

₂₅“And now, LORD God, fulfil for all time the promise you made about me and my descendants, and do what you said you would. ₂₆Your fame will be great, and people will for ever say, ‘The LORD Almighty is God over Israel.’ And you will preserve my dynasty for all time. ₂₇Almighty LORD, God of Israel! I have the courage to pray this prayer to you, because you have revealed all this to me, your servant, and have told me that you will make my descendants kings.

₂₈“And now, Sovereign LORD, you are God; you always keep your promises, and you have made this wonderful promise to me. ₂₉I ask you to bless my descendants so that they will continue to enjoy your favour. You, Sovereign LORD, have promised this, and your blessing will rest on my descendants for ever.”

₁Some time later King David attacked the Philistines again, defeated them, and ended their control over the land.

₂Then he defeated the Moabites. He made the prisoners lie down on the ground and put two out of every three of them to death. So the Moabites became his subjects and paid taxes to him.

₃Then he defeated the king of the Syrian state of Zobah, Hadadezer son of Rehob, as Hadadezer was on his way to restore his control over the territory by the upper Euphrates. ₄David captured 1,700 of his horsemen and 20,000 of his foot soldiers. He kept enough horses for a hundred chariots and crippled all the rest.

₅When the Syrians of Damascus sent an army to help King Hadadezer, David attacked it and killed 22,000 men. ₆Then he set up military camps in their territory, and they became his subjects and paid taxes to him. The LORD made David victorious everywhere. ₇David captured the gold shields carried by Hadadezer's officials and took them to Jerusalem. ₈He also took a great quantity of bronze from Betah and Berothai, cities ruled by Hadadezer.

₉King Toi of Hamath heard that David had defeated all of Hadadezer's army. ₁₀So he sent his son Joram to greet King David and congratulate him on his victory over Hadadezer, against whom Toi had fought many times. Joram took David presents made of gold, silver, and bronze. ₁₁King David dedicated them for use in worship, along with the silver and gold he took from the nations he had conquered — ₁₂Edom, Moab, Ammon, Philistia, and Amalek — as well as part of the loot he had taken from Hadadezer.

₁₃David became even more famous when he returned from killing 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. ₁₄He set up military camps throughout Edom, and the people there became his subjects. The LORD made David victorious everywhere.

₁₅David ruled over all Israel and made sure that his people were always treated fairly and justly. ₁₆Joab, whose mother was Zeruiah, was the commander of the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was in charge of the records; ₁₇Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests; Seraiah was the court secretary; ₁₈Benaiah son of Jehoiada was in charge of David's bodyguard and David's sons were priests.

₁One day David asked, “Is there anyone left of Saul's family? If there is, I would like to show him kindness for Jonathan's sake.”

₂There was a servant of Saul's family named Ziba, and he was told to go to David. “Are you Ziba?” the king asked.

“At your service, sir,” he answered.

₃The king asked him, “Is there anyone left of Saul's family to whom I can show loyalty and kindness, as I promised God I would?”

Ziba answered, “There is still one of Jonathan's sons. He is crippled.”

₄“Where is he?” the king asked.

“At the home of Machir son of Ammiel in Lodebar,” Ziba answered. ₅So King David sent for him.

₆When Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan and grandson of Saul, arrived, he bowed down before David in respect. David said, “Mephibosheth,” and he answered, “At your service, sir.”

₇“Don't be afraid,” David replied. “I will be kind to you for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will give you back all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always be welcome at my table.”

₈Mephibosheth bowed again and said, “I am no better than a dead dog, sir! Why should you be so good to me?”

₉Then the king called Ziba, Saul's servant, and said, “I am giving Mephibosheth, your master's grandson, everything that belonged to Saul and his family. ₁₀You, your sons, and your servants will farm the land for your master Saul's family and bring in the harvest, to provide food for them. But Mephibosheth himself will always be a guest at my table.” (Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)

₁₁Ziba answered, “I will do everything Your Majesty commands.”

So Mephibosheth ate at the king's table, just like one of the king's sons. ₁₂Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica. All the members of Ziba's family became servants of Mephibosheth. ₁₃So Mephibosheth, who was crippled in both feet, lived in Jerusalem, eating all his meals at the king's table.

₁Some time later King Nahash of Ammon died, and his son Hanun became king. ₂King David said, “I must show loyal friendship to Hanun, as his father Nahash did to me.” So David sent messengers to express his sympathy.

When they arrived in Ammon, ₃the Ammonite leaders said to the king, “Do you think that it is in your father's honour that David has sent these men to express sympathy to you? Of course not! He has sent them here as spies to explore the city, so that he can conquer us!”

₄Hanun seized David's messengers, shaved off one side of their beards, cut off their clothes at the hips, and sent them away. ₅They were too ashamed to return home. When David heard about what had happened, he sent word that they should stay in Jericho and not return until their beards had grown again.

₆The Ammonites realized that they had made David their enemy, so they hired 20,000 Syrian soldiers from Bethrehob and Zobah, 12,000 men from Tob, and the king of Maacah with a thousand men. ₇David heard of it and sent Joab against them with the whole army. ₈The Ammonites marched out and took up their position at the entrance to Rabbah, their capital city, while the others, both the Syrians and the men from Tob and Maacah, took up their position in the open countryside.

₉Joab saw that the enemy troops would attack him in front and from the rear, so he chose the best of Israel's soldiers and put them in position facing the Syrians. ₁₀He placed the rest of his troops under the command of his brother Abishai, who put them in position facing the Ammonites. ₁₁Joab said to him, “If you see that the Syrians are defeating me, come and help me, and if the Ammonites are defeating you, I will go and help you. ₁₂Be strong and courageous! Let's fight hard for our people and for the cities of our God. And may the LORD's will be done!”

₁₃Joab and his men advanced to attack, and the Syrians fled. ₁₄When the Ammonites saw the Syrians running away, they fled from Abishai and retreated into the city. Then Joab turned back from fighting the Ammonites and went back to Jerusalem.

₁₅The Syrians realized that they had been defeated by the Israelites, so they called all their troops together. ₁₆King Hadadezer sent for the Syrians who were on the east side of the River Euphrates, and they came to Helam under the command of Shobach, commander of the army of King Hadadezer of Zobah. ₁₇When David heard of it, he gathered the Israelite troops, crossed the River Jordan, and marched to Helam, where the Syrians took up their position facing him. The fighting began, ₁₈and the Israelites drove the Syrian army back. David and his men killed 700 Syrian chariot drivers and 40,000 horsemen, and they wounded Shobach, the enemy commander, who died on the battlefield. ₁₉When the kings who were subject to Hadadezer realized that they had been defeated by the Israelites, they made peace with them and became their subjects. And the Syrians were afraid to help the Ammonites any more.