This week,
we shall continue the study of I Chronicles of the Old Testament.
This chapter appears to sum up the victories of David over the surrounding enemies of Israel, likely during his entire reign, and chapter 19 would recount his battles with the Ammonites and their allies the Syrians.
(1) If you have access to a biblical map of David’s reign, it would be helpful for you to attempt to locate the Philistine and other territories like Moab, Zobah, Aram, Edom, plus lands of other enemies of David like the Amalekites and Ammonites. In terms of direction, what areas around Israel had David gained victory over and subjected to his control?
(2) Which of the enemies that David defeated had the greatest number of casualties?
(3) Which of the enemies that David defeated were best equipped?
(4) What was David’s strategy in securing continuous control over some of the enemies? (vv. 6, 13)
(5) What is the point the biblical author tries to make by reporting to us the geographical extent of David’s conquest, the size of the army he captured or defeated, and the plunder that he took?
(6) In spite of David’s great success, what does the biblical author attribute his success to? (vv. 6, 13) Why is it mentioned twice in this short chapter?
(7) What did David do with many of the articles of silver, gold and bronze that he captured or was given as gifts from the surrounding nations? What could he have done with these valuables?
(8) What did his action (of dedicating these articles to the Lord) show?
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) When God promised David rest from all his enemies (2 Sam. 7:11), it obviously does not mean that he would not have enemies, but that he would prevail over his enemies. This chapter shows us the reality of God’s promise in this respect. How then may you apply this truth in your life about being able to “rest” in the Lord?
(2) Ammonites were a traditional enemy of Israel (see 1 Sam. 11). Why would David wish to show kindness to the son of a former enemy? How unusual was such an act by a king?
(3) How was his kind gesture received? Should it be a surprise? Why or why not?
(4) What do you think was the intention behind the advice of the Ammonite nobles to their king?
(5) If the Ammonites knew that they were no match for the army of David, why then would they insult David’s messengers?
(6) How many mercenaries had the Ammonites hired? (Refer also to your own count of the size of David’s army in the answer to question 12 of the Scriptural Reflection for 1 Chronicles 12:1-40, Year 5 Week 15 Day 105.)
a. What then, in your opinion, would be the deciding factor in the outcome of the battle?
b. What strategy did Joab employ? (vv. 10-11)
c. How does Joab’s attitude in battle define his faith in God? (v. 13)
d. Did the Arameans give up upon Joab’s victory?
e. What was the eventual outcome of the second battle?
(7) What did this battle mean to the neighboring nations?
(8) What did this battle mean to David?
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
20:1-3—War with the Ammonites
(1) While the previous battle saw the active involvement of David, why does the Bible point out that he remained in Jerusalem during such a time “when kings go off to war” (20:1)?
(2) Take a look at the account in 2 Samuel 11:1ff to see what the result was of David’s having too much time in his hand?
(3) While the Chronicler has abridged the whole event of the taking of Rabbah, it is helpful to compare this account with the more detailed account in 2 Samuel 12:26-31, paying particular attention to 2 Samuel 12:26-28:
a. Why did Joab send a rather rude message to David in the battle against the Ammonites?
b. Joab must have known about the affair David had with Bathsheba because he was asked by David to have Uriah killed (2 Sam. 11:14-15). What did Joab now think of his king, David?
c. How great was this victory over the Ammonites?
d. Given the sins of David committed preceding this battle with the Ammonites, do you think this great accomplishment by David all of a sudden sounded quite hollow? Why or why not?
e. Why do you think the Chronicler chose to skip over the sins committed by David of 2 Samuel 11? (It is quite obvious that his immediate audience all knew about David’s affair with Bathsheba.)
20:4-8—War with the Philistines—These battles appear to be a collection of battles between the four descendants of Rapha (i.e. Rephaites) in Gath and David, and they were presumably known for their gigantic stature:
(4) Who was Sibbecai? (see 1 Chr. 11:29) What was the impact of his killing of Sippai? (v. 4)
(5) Who was Elhanan? (see 1 Chr. 11:26) What made this particular killing of Lahmi so special? (v. 5)
(6) Who was Jonathan? (v. 7; see also 1 Sam. 16:9—Shimea is a variation of Shammah)
(7) What was the common theme of these three accounts?
(8) What does the Biblical author intend to tell us?
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) The Chronicler says that this census was taken by David because, “Satan rose up against Israel and incited David” to do so (21:1) and yet 2 Samuel 24:1 says that it was the Lord who incited David to do so because His anger “burnt against Israel”.
a. How can you reconcile the two apparently differing accounts? (Can the incident in Job 1 provide an explanation?)
b. If the Lord’s anger had already burnt against Israel before this incident, what might be the cause? What purpose did this census serve then?
(2) Joab obviously saw through the evil motive of David:
a. From the words of Joab, what was the reason for David taking such a census?
b. Why did Joab, a ruthless warrior himself, see that he must confront David?
(3) In spite of the advice of Joab (and the army commanders, according to 2 Sam. 24:4), why did David still insist on the carrying out of his order?
(4) 2 Samuel 24:8 tells us that the census covering the entire area basically from the southern tip to the northern end of the kingdom, had taken a full 9 months and 20 days:
a. How large was the army that David could mobilize in case of war? (v. 5)
b. Why was David’s conscience not stricken when confronted by Joab? Why was his conscience stricken only now?
(5) Why did David consider his action a great sin?
(6) Was it? Why or why not?
(7) Taking a census of the army is only a prudent thing to do for any nation, especially in war time. Why then was David’s action such a serious offense to the Lord? (see the law governing the conducting of a census in Exod. 30:11-16)
(8) Now that David had shown his remorse and repented, why did the Lord still choose to inflict punishment on him? Has God not forgiven him then?
(9) God gave three options of punishment for David to choose:
a. Why did God give him options?
b. Which option did David choose and why?
c. Which option would you have chosen and why?
(10) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) How many men were killed in Israel? What had it done to the army of David?
(2) Why did the Lord stop the angel from further killing of the Israelites?
(3) What does this tell you about the Lord? (see David’s view of the Lord in v. 13)
(4) Do you think the angel had already carried out the killing for three full days? Why or why not?
(5) In an effort to save his people from such a calamity, what did David do? Would you have said the same to the Lord? (v. 17)
(6) Why didn’t David say so earlier?
(7) Why didn’t the Lord simply forgive David and stop the plague, but instead He asked David to offer a sacrifice?
(8) Why did David insist on paying Araunah for the threshing floor and the oxen:
a. Would the Lord not have accepted his sacrifice?
b. What did he mean by “I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offering that cost me nothing”? How does this define what a “sacrifice” should be?
(9) What is the main message to you today, and how may you apply it to your life?
22:1—The Future Temple’s Site
(1) It is best to link 22:1 with 21:29-30:
a. Which site did David pick for the building of the future temple?
b. What was the reason given in 21:30?
22:2-4; 14-16—Preparations Made by David
(2) David was prevented or prohibited by God from building the temple himself
(17:4). Consider the following:
a. What was the next best thing David could do in this respect?
b. How does this reflect his heart for the Lord?
(3) What were the provisions he made for the building of the temple? (vv. 14-16)
22:5-13—Instructions to Solomon
(4) What were the other reasons that caused David to make such lavish preparation for the building of the temple? (v. 5)
(5) What was the reason he told Solomon that God would not let him build the temple himself? (v. 8)
a. Since the battles by David were not only necessary in the building of the nation as commissioned by God, they were in essence battles that belonged to the Lord and were necessary in the procurement of “peace and rest” for the nation. Why then God would use it against David?
b. What does this reveal about the heart and the character of God?
(6) While David was not qualified to build the temple, why was Solomon qualified? (vv. 9-10)
(7) What, in particular, did David pray for his son? (v. 12)
(8) What were the conditions attached to Solomon’s success?
(9) While David prayed for “discretion and understanding” for Solomon (in other words, “wisdom”), how is true wisdom defined in this exhortation by David? (vv. 11-13)
22:17-19—Instructions to the Leaders
(10) In instructing the leaders to assist Solomon, in what forms would their assistance be given logically? (see 29:6ff)
(11) What did David remind them of, with respect to what God has done for them? (v. 18)
(12) What then should they do? (v. 19)
(13) What did the building of the temple have to do with their devotion of heart and seeking God with their soul?
(14) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Chapters 23-26 give detailed accounts of how David sought to establish a permanent temple worship by enumerating and assigning duties to the Levites, beginning with counting and naming the family heads of the descendants of Levi (ch. 23), the priestly divisions (ch. 24), the musicians (ch. 25) and the gatekeepers (ch. 26):
23:1-6—Introduction
(1) How many years did David reign and how old was he when he died? (see 2 Sam. 3:45; 1 Ki. 2:10-11)
(2) What was the significance of David establishing a permanent temple worship organization before he handed over his reign to Solomon?
(3) How many Levites of thirty years or more did David enumerate at that time? What general groupings where they subdivided into?
(4) Who were the three sons of Levi? (v. 6)
23:7-11—The Gershonites—it is perhaps necessary to point out that the list of family heads here recorded differs quite significantly from the earlier list in 6:16, 20-21 in that the list here reflects those in David’s time, while the list in chapter 6 reflects the heads of family that had chosen to return from exile. I suggest that you may wish to read the two lists side by side, simply to get an idea of their differences.
23:12-20—The Kohathites— a far more detailed record is given in 6:2-15; 50-53.
(5) The descendants of Aaron are essentially priests, as distinct from other Levites, and “Aaron and his eldest sons” (JFB, 298; i.e. the descendants of the eldest son) assumed the office of the high priest in succession:
a. What were the sacred duties assigned to these priests? (v. 13)
b. What does the fact that the descendants of Moses were not counted as priests and simply treated as ordinary Levites tell us? (v. 14)
23:21-23—The Merarites—Again, you may wish to read this list together with that of 6:29-30 and observe the differences.
23:24-27—David Made Changes to the Age Requirement
(6) What was the age requirement set by Moses? (see Num. 4:3, 23, 30, 39ff)
(7) What was the age requirement subsequently changed to? (Num. 8:23-26)
(8) Why did David choose to further lower the entrance age requirement? (vv. 25-26)
23:28-32—The Duties of the Levites—The duties were to assist “Aaron’s descendants”, i.e. the priests:
(9) It is helpful to list these duties one by one.
(10) Compare this list with that of the priests in v. 13: What is the main difference in their duties from that of the priests?
(11) What were the physical areas of their ministries? (v. 32)
(12) Where was the one place within the temple they could not enter?
(13) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?