1st Chronicles 20 VICTORY AND FAILURE The writer of 1st Chronicles had a reason for putting certain events down in writing to be read by the returning Jews, and omitted other events that would not promote the objective of rebuilding. The objective of the chronicles was to give the Lord's people motivation to rebuild the temple and the city. As a place of habitation for God in the middle of His people, the temple would be the center of attention, the place of sacrifice and a reminder of their sovereign God who is the Ultimate Ruler. The legacy left to the restored people was the history of the holy city and the service of the temple to remind them as to who they were and to whom they belonged. God's dealing with His people in the past set the foundation for His dealing with them in the present. The temple, the law and the prophets were the way God unified His people to Himself in the past. Now they were to pick up the torch of Israel's testimony among the nations and rebuild, and carry on that legacy. Their obedience to God was expected if there was to be peace, prosperity and victory over those who opposed. The hope of Israel was in their hands now. The restored people had this opportunity to establish again a unified testimony to the name of the Lord God of Israel.
In view of the shrinking size of assemblies that gather to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we need to take stock of ourselves and face the fact that "There is dearth in the land. Is there not a cause?" There is a sense in which we have been taken captive by the world-religion of materialism. In this pseudo-religious movement, money and possessions have become the focus of our attention and effort. Pleasure seeking is a fallout of that as the pursuit of this evasive thing takes up any extra time we have. Then we use any leftover money to add extra square feet to our dwellings so we can look across a large room and congratulate ourselves for "having arrived." But the fact is, we have gone backward. If we are not going forward in the things of God, we are going backward. The only solution to this trend is to change our goals and make sure the objective of our lives is that which God wants. "Fix your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim; In the light of His glory and grace."
For some reason, David did not take seriously the value of his role as king and leader at this particular time. Perhaps he had become used to victories by the power of God, and thought it wouldn't matter if he was there or not. Joab, even though he was not a nice man at all, realized his role and responsibility. He also realized his limitations, so he led "the power of the army to deal with the Ammonites. He took no chances and left nothing behind that was needed - except the king. We may be well-trained, our skills may be honed to accomplish that for which we have been called to do, but we need to use every provision God gives us and be honest enough to admit our own inadequacy. We need God in any work we do. It may seem small in our eyes at first, but behind every obstacle ahead of us is an organized enemy under the control of Satan, and empowered by his unceasing hatred. He hates God, he hates God's people, he hates God's work being done by His people and he uses every nefarious means he can find to stop the advancement of the kingdom of God.
Sadly, we have allowed his deception to cloud our commitment to the commission our Lord gave of "going into all the world" and making disciples, baptizing them and teaching them to "observe all things whatsoever I have command you." An enthusiastic approach to the heralding of the Gospel, has been toned down to making friends with as many people as possible in order to "win them." True, "He that winneth souls is wise," but it is also true that "The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but to us which are saved, it is the power of God." We have substituted a quiet chat at Christmas time in which we quote, "Jesus is the reason for the season," instead of "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." The Easter bunny and colored eggs has taken the place of "Christ died for the ungodly;" "He made peace through the blood of His cross; " and "He was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification." We need again to go forth "in the power of the army" as a band of Christian soldiers "Marching as to war. With the cross of Jesus going on before."
It is true the chronicler left out the events in David's life that happened when "He tarried at Jerusalem," because it did not need to be told again to help meet the objective of motivating the new generation to build the temple. As general rule there is no need to back over failures from the past. However, for us as individuals, we need to be reminded of the fact that there are temptations and sinful opportunities that attract us and can bring us down if we "tarry at Jerusalem." When we have a choice of making a million or "making it to a meeting," choose the meeting with God's people where the real battle is going on. If we have the choice of taking a vacation to "get a rest," or helping out in an outreach work or missionary enterprise, choose the last ones, not the first, and you "will find rest to your soul," - and avoid sin.
Joab and his army surrounded and besieged the city of Rabbah. They waited until David finally came before taking the full surrender of the Ammonites. The 75-pound gold crown was put on David's head that had been on the head of foolish Hanun. One wonders whether someone pointed out to David the place where Uriah the Hittite was killed because he had been sent out front by David's "arm-chair" directive. Likely when David and his army returned to Jerusalem, he did so with a sense of guilt. The forced labor of the Ammonites, and the spoils of war would have been an asset in building Solomon's temple. But failure and victory often are not far apart.
Another major victory written about by Ezra to encourage the people he led, was the victory over the Philistines. They had been a problem to God's people from the time they left Egypt. They went through the wilderness rather than go by way of the Philistines so the people of God would not be attracted or captured by the world system the Philistines represented. The overpowering influence of the world has behind it the power of the adversary, the devil. Giants seemed to be always nearby when there are people of God who want to serve Him. There were giants at the beginning when Noah preached righteousness for 120 years before the flood. There were giants in the promised land, and there are giants who oppose us today.
It would have been an encouragement to the returned Jews to know that there were four giant-killers in their past history who by the power of God with them defeated the giants. The opposition the returned Jews faced could be overcome by the power of God when they went forward in their work by faith. David, Sibbechai, Elhanan and Jonathan were able to bring down those who opposed the people of God. The three battles and the three victories over the Philistines were centered around the defeat of those giants. One man who knows his limitations, but is willing to prepare himself as best he can, then steps out in faith against opposition, can bring victory for many.
Paul wrote, "My (God's) strength is made perfect in weakness." Peter wrote, "The trial of your faith is more precious than gold that perisheth." As our numbers shrink in assemblies who gather in the name of the Lord unto Him, we pray for men and women of God to rise up with "vision, vitality and venture," to take the word of God in hand and move forward for God to reach the lost, rather than go backward to find an easy-chair or a pool-side chaise. Jim Elliot wrote, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose."