1 Chronicles 14:1-17

7. DAVID'S PALACE, WIVES, AND EARLY MILITARY VICTORIES (Chapter 14)

TEXT

1 Chronicles 14:1. And Hiram king, of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar-trees, and masons, and carpenters, to build him a house. 2. And David perceived that Jehovah had established him king over Israel; for his kingdom was exalted on high, for his people Israel's sake. 3. And David took more wives at Jerusalem; and David begat more sons and daughters. 4. And these are the names of the children whom he had in Jerusalem: Shammua, and Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon, 5. and Ibhar, and Elishua, and Elpelet, 6. and Nogah, and Nepheg, and Japhia, 7. and Elishama, and Beeliada, and Eliphelet. 8. And when the Philistines heard that David was anointed king over all Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David: and David heard of it, and went out against them. 9. Now the Philistines had come and made a raid in the valley of Rephaim. 10. And David inquired of God, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? and wilt thou deliver them into my hand? And Jehovah said unto him, Go up; for I will deliver them into thy hand? 11. So they came up to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there; and David said, God hath broken mine enemies by my hand, like the breach of waters. Therefore they called the name of that place Baal-perazim. 12. And they left their gods there; and David gave commandment, and they were burned with fire. 13. And the Philistines yet again made a raid in the valley. 14. And David inquired again of God; and God said unto him, Thou shalt not go up after them: turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry-trees. 15. And it shall be, when thou hearest the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry-trees, that then thou shalt go out to battle; for God is gone out before thee to smite the host of the Philistines. 16. And David did as God commanded him: and they smote the host of the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gezer. 17. And the fame of David went out into all lands; and Jehovah brought the fear of him upon all nations.

PARAPHRASE

1 Chronicles 14:1. King Hiram of Tyre sent masons and carpenters to help build David's palace and he supplied him with much cedar lumber. 2. David now realized why the Lord had made him king and why he had made his kingdom so great; it was for a special reasonto give joy to God's people!

3. After David moved to Jerusalem, he married additional wives and became the father of many sons and daughters. 4-7. These are the names of the sons born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, Ibhar, Elishu-a, Elpelet, Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Beeliada, Eliphelet.
8. When the Philistines heard that David was Israel's new king, they mobilized their forces to capture him. But David learned that they were on the way so he called together his army. 9. The Philistines were raiding the Valley of Rephaim, 10. and David asked the Lord, If I go out and fight them, will you give me the victory? And the Lord replied, Yes, I will. 11. So he attacked them at Baal-perazim and wiped them out. He exulted, God has used me to sweep away my enemies like water bursting through a dam! That is why the place has been known as Baal-perazim ever since (meaning, The Place of Breaking Through). 12. After the battle the Israelis picked up many idols left by the Philistines, but David ordered them burned.
13. Later the Philistines raided the valley again, 14. and again David asked God what to do. The Lord replied, Go around by the mulberry trees and attack from there. 15. When you hear a sound like marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, that is your signal to attack, for God will go before you and destroy the enemy. 16. So David did as the Lord commanded him; and he cut down the army of the Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer. 17. David's fame spread everywhere, and the Lord caused all the nations to fear him.

COMMENTARY

As David began to organize his government in Jerusalem he was able to enjoy a friendly relationship with the Phoenician people who shared the eastern coastline of the Mediterranean with Israel. Phoenicia boasted with regard to two great cities, Sidon and Tyre. Sidon was the older of the two cities and had been in contention with Egypt as early as 1500 B.C. When Sidon was subdued by the Philistines in the twelfth century B.C., Tyre came into a position of prominence. From the Biblical viewpoint Hiram was Tyre's most illustrious king. There is no certain information as to his background. He was contemporary with David and Solomon. Hiram was ever a lover of David (1 Kings 5:1), and he used his office to establish an alliance between his country and Israel. Such a relationship was mutually helpful. The Phoenicians needed the grain and olive oil produced in Israel. David and Solomon needed the cedar, fir, and marble from Phoenicia and the Lebanon region. From early times the Phoenicians were skilled craftsmen in the use of lumber and stone. While many of their neighbors continued to live in tents, the Phoenicians were already living in well constructed wooden houses. These people were expert builders of ships. These remarkable vessels plied the waters of the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean carrying to distant places their works in bronze, the precious purple dye, textiles, and glass products. Hiram's reign extended through about forty years. He beautified Tyre and made it one of the truly great cities of the near east. When David made Jerusalem his capital, Hiram moved quickly to offer products and services useful to David and Israel in return for which he hoped to receive David's good will and substantial food exports. So cedar trees, masons and carpenters provided by Phoenician friends resulted in well constructed kingly quarters for David and his family. The house (1 Chronicles 14:1) was David's own residence in Jerusalem. It was this circumstance (2 Samuel 7:1) that caused David to originate the idea of the Temple, a House for God. David saw the ark housed in a tent while he lived in a house of cedar. So the Temple idea was born. We are not to presume that the house Hiram built for David would even suggest the splendor of Solomon's palaces, yet David's house was surely the most splendid in Israel in David's day. The student should observe that this incident introduces a Gentile contribution to the kingdom of God. It looked ahead to that day when Gentiles would receive the Bread of Life from the true Israel. David was well pleased with this turn of events (2 Samuel 5:11-12) and saw in them an evident token of Jehovah's blessing.

A review of David's own family is in order at this point in the record. 2 Samuel 3:2-5 lists David's wives and children in those days when he lived in Hebron. At that time David had six wives; namely, Ahinoam, Abigail, Maacah, Haggith, Abital, Eglah. Ahinoam most likely came from Jezreel, a village in Judah. Abigail originally was the wife of Nabal, the wealthy rancher at Carmel in Judah (1 Samuel 25:10; 1 Samuel 25:42). Maacah came from the region of Geshur near Mahanaim on the frontier of the Gilead country east of the Jordan river. The origins of the other three wives are not indicated. These six wives each bore David a son. When David came to Jerusalem he brought his six wives plus Michal, Saul's daughter, and his six sons; namely, Amnon, Chileab, Absalom, Adonijah, Shephatiah, and Ithream. The order of birth was a matter of great importance in consideration of the responsibilities resting on the first born. Amnon should have been heir to the throne. He raped his sister, Tamar (2 Samuel 13:1; 2 Samuel 13:14). Chileab does not figure prominently in the history and may have died in infancy. Maacah was the mother of both Absalom and Tamar. When Amnon, a half brother, outraged his sister, Absalom killed Amnon. So Absalom was in line to be king. He stole the people's hearts (2 Samuel 15:6) and rebelled against David (2 Samuel 15:10). As he hung by the hair of this head from the limb of a tree Absalom was slain by Joab (2 Samuel 18:14) who may well have hoped that he might be king of Israel. With Absalom removed, Adonijah also rebelled against David as he sought to place himself of the throne (1 Kings 1:5). His hopes were dashed as Benaiah, upon Solomon's command, put him to death. So the order in which David's sons were born determined the course of events in the history

We do not know just how extensive David's harem was. In addition to the seven wives already named, we are told that he took more wives at Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 14:3). Among these was Bathsheba, wife of Uriah the Hittite (2 Samuel 11:27).[32] It was she who became Solomon's mother. We are told that David was the father of daughters. The only one named is Tamar. In 1 Chronicles 14:4-7 thirteen sons of David are named in addition to the six born in Hebron. The thirteen include Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet, Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Beeliada, and Eliphelet. Whether or not any of these at any time attempted to seize the throne is not known to us. Just prior to his death, David placed Solomon on the throne (1 Kings 1:30) and we hear nothing more of the sons of David. We understand from this record that David was husband to at least eight wives. He was the father of nineteen sons and at least one daughter. Among kings in the near east the harem and the king's household were very important status symbols. In this respect David qualified. There is no evidence that he sought God's approval for his polygamy. This aspect of his life brought him many sorrows. His lack of self-control in these matters almost ruined him.

[32] Schultz, Samuel J., The Old Testament Speaks, Harper and Brothers, New York, 1960, pp. 136, 137.

He built a great house. David had a rather extensive harem. He allied himself with Hiram and the Phoenicians. This whole situation threatened the position of the Philistines as they shared Judah's territory along the coastal plain. A new kingdom was rapidly being established on the Philistine frontier. It was being set up around a warrior-king well known to this ancient enemy of Israel. The Philistines could not let this go unchallenged. If they could attack David before he made any other alliances or became stronger militarily, they might be successful in strangling this new kingdom in its infancy. They went up to seek David (1 Chronicles 14:8). David was the key person. He had humiliated the Philistines many times. The Philistines organized their army for an attack on Israel in the Valley of Rephaim.[33] This valley lay just to the southwest of Jerusalem. Perhaps they intended to move through the valley and come directly into the capital. As on other occasions, David inquired of Jehovah. When Abiathar had joined David as David fled from Saul, he brought the ephod with him. The Urim and Thummim probably were carried in the ephod. David had the services of this priest and by use of the sacred lot the immediate will of Jehovah could be determined. He also had the counsel of the prophets, Nathan and Gad. He had no difficulty in finding out what God wanted him to do. As in the account in 2 Samuel 5:17-25, so here, two questions were of urgent concern to David. The first was this, Do you want me to fight the Philistines? He may have wondered whether or not he had sinned against God and if the Philistines were being sent by God to chastise him. The second question was, If I am to wage war, will you give me victory? The answer to both questions was affirmative. God said, Go. I will deliver them into thy hand (1 Chronicles 14:10). The battle between David's forces and the Philistines raged in that valley. The Philistine army was completely routed. They had brought images of the fertility god, Baal, with them into the battle. Baal was supposed to guarantee victory to his people. In their haste to escape the pursuing Israelites, the Philistines flung their gods to the ground. When the dust of battle settled, the battlefield was strewn with corpses of soldiers and broken idols. So this place of conflict was called Baal--perazim, or the break-up of Baal. Involved in this was the unleashing of the wrath of Jehovah on the Philistine army. The reader is impressed with the unusual power on the side of David's forces. It was like the breach of waters, as if a great dam had broken loose. The enemy was caught in the flood and swept away before it. The idols were gathered up and burned. Israel was to have no doubt about who gave the victory that day.

[33] Schultz, Samuel J., The Old Testament Speaks, p. 131. Pfeiffer, Charles F- The Biblical World, p. 447.

Sometime after this, when the Philistines had had time to gather their forces and forget the stinging defeat of the earlier encounter, they decided to make another attack at the same place. This was their most direct approach to the capital city. The hour was growing late for Philistia. David's kingdom became stronger with each passing day. So once again they moved into the Valley of Rephaim. David inquired of God again. He took nothing for granted. Each situation was different. This time David was told not to go after the enemy but to turn away from them (1 Chronicles 14:14). A tactic similar to this was employed when Joshua led Israel's army against Ai (Joshua 8:15). When the men of Ai came out to attack, Joshua led Israel in an organized retreat setting up the men of Ai for a maneuver that brought victory to Israel. The mulberry trees probably were a species of balsam. Somewhere in the vicinity of the valley the balsam groves appeared to offer a hiding place for Israel's army. In feverish pursuit the Philistines came on. When they could no longer see the Israelite army clearly, suddenly they began to hear the sound of marching (1 Chronicles 14:15) in the balsam woods. Miraculously once more Jehovah intervened. He caused the Philistines to hear what they could not see and did not need to see. They heard the sounds of mighty armies, not just the sounds of David's soldiers. Had David's allies arrived? Where was the enemy they could hear but could not see? Their ears did not deceive them. Jehovah had brought in His host. David and his men turned on the Philistines as they reversed their apparent retreat. The enemy was cut off from the rear and could not get back to the coastal plain. The Philistines were pursued all the way from Gibeon, just north of Jerusalem, to Gezer, which was some fifteen miles west of Gibeon. These two engagements broke the Philistine military power. Never again were they to trouble Israel seriously. All of these events served to accomplish the very thing the Philistines wanted to avoidthe establishment of David's kingdom.