“David did exactly as Adonai had ordered him to do and pursued his attack on the P’lishtim from Geva all the way to Gezer.”-2 Samuel 5:25
David’s victory in the closing verses of 2nd Samuel Chapter Five was as decisive as it was final.
For three long centuries, the Philistines had harassed Israel and been a major obstacle to peace.
But now in this one battle, Israel’s current Messiah, King David, had dealt a deadly death blow.
I want you to notice how Scripture records Israel’s battles differently from gentile accounts.
More often than not, the Biblical battle accounts are pretty anticlimactic, aren’t they?
There isn’t a lot of fanfare or hullabaloo.
Well, here’s the thing.
And this is something you should’ve noticed over the years as we studied Scripture together…
Whenever the Lord establishes a religious practice for His people, it’s usually quite different or even the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of how the Gentiles did things.
Ya feel me?
Again, this pattern is quite pronounced when we compare Scripture to gentile battle accounts.
When Gentile kings kicked some serious booty in battle, they had a whole team of dedicated scribes record the account in a very exaggerated fashion to make them look good.
Even when they suffered defeat, they’d have their journalists rewrite what happened and turn the loss into a win or at the least a draw.
The whole purpose was to showcase to the public that the king (or queen) possessed supernatural god-like powers.
This was not the case when Scripture recorded Israelite war victories.
There is hardly any detail, nor do they hype up the leaders.
Why?
Because at the end of the day, those wins were seen as God’s victories, not something accomplished by man.
Focusing on all of the bloody details or praising the leader would’ve been missing the point.
The two battles in 2 Samuel 5 between David and the Philistines are perfect cases in point.
Although it was a game changer for Israel, the Scripture doesn’t go into deep detail because that would’ve been missing the point.
All of the credit was to go to the Lord, who had already guaranteed the victory before even one arrow was shot off.
And that’s your takeaway for today.
Our battle plans and preparation are important…
Taking courageous action is also important…
But in the final analysis…
It is God and God alone who is to be given credit for our victories.
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