David’s Reign

2 Samuel 21:15-22

¹⁵ There was war again between the Philistines and Israel, and David went down together with his servants, and they fought against the Philistines. And David grew weary.

¹⁶ And Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of bronze, and who was armed with a new sword, thought to kill David.

¹⁷ But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid and attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You shall no longer go out with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.”

¹⁸ After this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was one of the descendants of the giants.

¹⁹ And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

²⁰ And there was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number, and he also was descended from the giants.

²¹ And when he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, struck him down.

²² These four were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

The seminal event that took place back in 1963 was the assassination of President Kennedy. Those of us alive at that time still remember that day fairly clearly, as we saw the leader of the free world gunned down in broad daylight. There were songs later written about Kennedy that painted him as a national hero and the light of the nation at the time and those who believed our “light went out” when he died. The nation was dispirited. During his reign, David was seen much the same way and when his life was in danger, his men saw that his death would be tragic for the nation, bringing them collectively to their knees. David’s men were determined to protect the “light of Israel.”

Throughout the story of David, we have seen numerous examples of ways that he was a “type” of Christ. Jesus was able to trace his family tree back to King David and thus fulfill the prophecies that declared the Messiah would be a return of the true King to the throne as David’s line regained control of the nation. While this was fulfilled in Christ, it did not happen quite the way the people had imagined it would. While they looked and waited for a political leader who would free them from the tyrannies they had suffered throughout the centuries, God had something much grander in mind as He seats His Son on the throne of heaven, ruling of the entire universe as Savior and Lord. The Light of Israel will never be extinguished!

There are a few notes on this text as the triumphs of David’s men are cataloged here in this chapter. Israel’s only true enemies during the reign of David were the Philistines. As noted during our discussion of the story of David and Goliath, this was a race of very large people. These warriors were very tall and just generally huge. But they were not too big for the God who created everything – including the Philistines. To clear up one rather confusing verse – David was the one who killed the giant Goliath. That story is told in 1 Samuel 17. In verse 19 of today’s reading, it says that Jaaare-oregim struck down Goliath. There are two possible explanations for this.

1. It was another guy named Goliath.

2. The name Goliath became synonymous with really big guys. So it would be said of someone, “he’s a Goliath.” We use the term even today in that way.

Either way, David killed Goliath before he became king.