1 Chronicles 20:1-8 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is 1 Chronicles 20:1-8. Let’s go!
1 Chronicles 20:1-3 (NIV)
1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, Joab led out the armed forces. He laid waste the land of the Ammonites and went to Rabbah and besieged it, but David remained in Jerusalem. Joab attacked Rabbah and left it in ruins.
2 David took the crown from the head of their king–its weight was found to be a talent of gold, and it was set with precious stones–and it was placed on David’s head. He took a great quantity of plunder from the city
3 and brought out the people who were there, consigning them to labor with saws and with iron picks and axes. David did this to all the Ammonite towns. Then David and his entire army returned to Jerusalem.
On verse 1-3: Here we see a longtime enemy of Israel, the Ammonites, fighting against King David and his army. Under the leadership of David’s commander in chief Joab, the armies of Israel defeat the Ammonites soundly and consign them to labor. In a similar way, the Bible says that for a long time we were enemies of God’s kingdom (Colossians 1:21), constantly fighting against its king – Jesus Christ — until the day we surrendered to Him and allowed Him to take over our lives. When the kingdom of God took over our lives, we went from being his enemies to becoming his servants.
Notice one more thing: Just as David took the crown that belonged to his enemy the Ammonite king (v2), Jesus the Son of David took the crown that belonged to his former enemies – you and me. But the crown Jesus took from us was not a crown of gold, but a crown of thorns that we deserved for our sins. When Jesus died, the crown of thorns we were supposed to wear for our sins was placed on Jesus’ head (Matthew 27:29; Mark 15:7; John 19:2). In exchange, Jesus’ royal crown was placed our heads, so that through Jesus we go from being his enemies to becoming God’s royal sons and daughters.
1 Chronicles 20:4-8 (NIV)
4 In the course of time, war broke out with the Philistines, at Gezer. At that time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai, one of the descendants of the Rephaites, and the Philistines were subjugated.
5 In another battle with the Philistines, Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod.
6 In still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot–twenty-four in all. He also was descended from Rapha.
7 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him.
8 These were descendants of Rapha in Gath, and they fell at the hands of David and his men.
On verses 4-8: In 1 Samuel 17, as a young man David stepped out in bold faith and defeated the giant Goliath. From that day on, David would be known as Israel’s giant slayer. Here in verses 4-8 we see a number of David’s men following in David’s footsteps and defeating giants themselves. What can we learn from this?
- Later on Jesus the Son of David would defeat even bigger giants than Goliath. He would defeat the giants of sin and death for us.
- When you live a life of courageously facing and slaying the giants in your life, you set an inspiring example for others. Those who come after you will be encouraged to face and slay their giants as well.
Lord Jesus, thank You for being my giant slayer, the one who defeated the giants of sin and death for me. Thank You for taking my crown of thorns and giving me Your crown of honour. I pray that I would live a life of courageously facing and slaying the giants that come into in my life, and that my life would inspire others to slay their giants too. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
