The Lord promised Abraham and his descendants that he would give them Canaan. The Israelites promised that they would obey him at Mount Sanai. God and Israel had made a covenant.
The stones that the covenant was written on were in the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark was in a tent in Jerusalem. David wanted to build a temple to put the Ark in.
The covenant was also written on paper by Moses. Moses also recorded other words that the Lord gave. Moses wrote five books in all. They recorded history, commands, and direction from the Lord.
Some of the commands concerned what the Israelites were to do once they occupies the promised land. They were to conquer it by war. The Lord promised to fight for them. When they won battles they were to kill all the Canaanites. None of them were to live. All the spoils of war were to go to the Lord when the Lord told them so. Because the Israelites disobeyed the Lord he told them he would keep some of their enemies in Canaan to test and to train them.
The Israelites were tired of being attacked and war. They believed it was because they didn’t have a king who would fight for them. So they asked for a king. This was yet another rejection of the Lord. God gave them a king as they asked. The king did fight for them. However, naturally, the Israelites still had to fight. Having a king did not make their lives easier as they believed. It made their life more complicated.
1 Chronicles 20 records some battles during the later years of David, the king of Israel. Some sins are recorded in these passages.
1. David did not go to war in the spring, at the time when kings go off to war (1).
2. David took the plunder of war for himself (2).
3. David did not kill all the Canaanites (3, 4).
The best course in life is to keep to the covenant of the blood of Jesus. I need to be content in the Lord. I must come to turns at my shortcoming and lay them on Jesus. I need to trust and obey.
