Teaching Notes

TH1054: I CHRONICLES

As we move into I Chronicles chapter 17, David's palace has been completed. He has not only made Jerusalem the political capitol of the nation but he has also made it the religious capitol of the nation as he brought the ark back into the land. And God is blessing David in all that he did. We read in I Chronicles 14:17 "Then the fame of David went out into all lands, and the LORD brought the fear of him upon all nations."

I CHRONICLES 17

VERSE 1

1. As David sat in his beautiful palace, as he gazed out the window and saw the ark of God residing in a tent, he felt uncomfortable. The ark represented the presence of God and thus, David desires to build a house for God.

VERSE 2

1. As Nathan hears the heart of David, his request to build a house for God, Nathan tells David to go ahead and do all that is in your heart, build a house for God. You see it was the right thing to do. Nathan doesn't even bother to inquire of God for he feels it is the right thing to do. But Nathan is going to find out that just because it is the right thing to do, doesn't mean it is the will of God.

VERSES 3-4

1. God tells Nathan, "Son, you have to go and tell David that he can not build me a house." And you may wonder why God would not allow David to do this, for David was a man after God's own heart! In I Chronicles 28:3 we are told the reason. We read "But God said to me, 'You shall not build a house for My name, because you have been a man of war and have shed blood.'" You see, David's hands were the hands of a warrior and God would not allow him to build Him a house, but we are going to see that He is going to let David's son Solomon build Him a house, for Solomon was a man of peace and not of war.

VERSE 5

1. It has been some 500 years since Moses erected the tabernacle, that portable worship structure. And don't be confused when it speaks of God going "from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another." During those 500 years some of the materials would wear out and the skins and the curtains would need to be replaced. I believe that is what God is speaking of here.

VERSE 6

1. Today we build elaborate and expensive churches, and I don't think God wants us to spend His money that way. You can build a simple church, that is very comfortable. What happens many times is we become enthralled with the structure more than we are with the one we are to worship within the walls of that structure.

2. In John 1:1-2, 14 we read, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God...And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." That word "dwelt" speaks of a tabernacle or tent, and that is interesting to me. God, who dwelt in a tent in the wilderness, has dwelt in a body of flesh. And now God does not reside in a building but in believers!

VERSES 7-10

1. David may have been disappointed in hearing that he was unable to build God a house, and so God encourages him. He tells David that He will build David a house. And not only that, because David wanted to build God a house, God was going to honor David's heart, and bless him for his desire to serve the Lord.

VERSES 11-12

1. In these two verses we see a near fulfillment and a long term or future fulfillment. If you don't understand this, then prophecy will be very confusing to you. The near fulfillment of putting a king on the throne was seen in David's son Solomon. He was to be the next king. The long term fulfillment speaks of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, from the lineage of David, who will sit on the throne and rule and reign forever. This is what God was speaking of when He said He will build David a house-the Messiah!

VERSES 13-18

1. As Nathan comes to David, telling him all that God has said, David was blown away. He can't understand how God can bless him so abundantly, for he is so unworthy. David recognized that he had failed at times and yet God was still blessing him, Why? We call it grace or unmerited favor. We don't deserve what God does, and David rightly recognized this fact. He was humble before the Lord. It is when we try to justify why God is blessing us by saying it is because of our goodness, because of all that we have done for God, that we are walking on thin ice. It is never our goodness nor will it ever be our goodness, but only His grace.

VERSE 19

1. David sees these blessings coming from the heart of God. It flows from His heart as His goodness touches our lives.

VERSES 20-22

1. God has chosen the nation of Israel to be His special people. Now God chose them not because they were worthy, but because He chose them. He chose them to be vessels for Him to work through, and not because they were worthy. He chose them to make them a special people. Listen to what God has to say in Deuteronomy 7:6, and 9:6. He says "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. ..Therefore understand that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people."

VERSES 23-27

1. Why did David have such boldness to pray for his house to be established forever? Because David knew it was the will of God. And this is so important. David did not put his faith in his faith, but in the word of God. You see, David knew God's promise for him, His will for his life, and so he could pray with boldness.

2. As I have said many times before, prayer is not to get your will done here on earth, but to get God's will done. Thus, once you know God's will, you can pray with boldness and trust that God will answer that prayer, for it is His will.

I CHRONICLES 18

VERSE 1

1. The Philistines were a thorn in the side of Israel ever since the time of Joshua, when they entered the land of Canaan. Now David takes the wind out of their sail and subdues them.

VERSE 2

1. David continues to defeat the enemy, this time the Moabites. The sad thing about this was they were family. The Moabites, along with the Ammonites were descendants of Lot, Abraham's nephew. Remember the story of Lot fleeing the city of Sodom before God's judgment came upon that city, and Lot and his wife and two daughters fled the city. Lot's wife could not leave that all behind her and she turned into a pillar of salt. Lot's two daughters thought they were the only ones left and thus got their father drunk and had sex with him. It is out of this incestuous relationship that these two nations were born. In Genesis 19:37-38 we read, "The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. And the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the people of Ammon to this day." And remember that David's great grandmother was a Moabite, Ruth. David also went after the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, the son of Isaac and the brother of Jacob.

VERSES 3-4

1. It may seem cruel that David hamstrung all those horses, crippling them, but you see, in that condition they could not be used in war. In Deuteronomy 17:17 God said that the kings of Israel were not to multiply horses unto themselves. The reason is simple, God wanted them to put their trust in Him and not their weapons of war. You see, the strength of any nation is not its military, but its commitment to the Lord.

VERSES 5-6

1. It seems like nothing is going to stop David. He is victorious in all that he is doing. The kingdom of David is spreading outward.

VERSES 7-8

1. David was told by God that he could not build Him a house, but God never said that David could not gather the materials for his son Solomon who will build God a house. This tells me that we are to give to the Lord whatever we have, to assist in the building of His kingdom.

VERSES 9-11

1. Tou, king of Hamath is overjoyed that David has defeated Hadadezer, king of Zobah, for they were at war with them. And now Tou sends tribute to David for doing this and David dedicates all these things to the Lord.

VERSES 12-17

1. Again, David is successful because God is his focus, not his might. The Cherethites and the Pelethites were David's royal body guards, you might say they were his secret service men.

I CHRONICLES 19

VERSE 1

1. Nahash and David were friends and now in his death, his son is ruling over the people of Ammon.

VERSES 2-4

1. As David sends some ambassadors to console the son of Nahash in his loss, Hanun gets some very bad consul. He is told that David's men are not coming to show respect to him, but to spy out the kingdom so they may destroy it. It seems that the friendship that David had with Nahash did not extend to his son. And so Hanun humiliates David's men, cuts off half of their beard and their garments, exposing their buttocks. A beard was a symbol of masculinity and by doing this he was humiliating them.

VERSE 5

1. These men were embarrassed by what happened and they did not even want to return to Jerusalem, and they only send word back to David of what has taken place. And David goes to meet them, tells them to remain in Jericho until they are ready to return and get back to work.

2. As our king sends us out don't think that people will welcome you with open arms. Don't think that people won't be suspicious of you, wondering what your true motives are. And sometimes things heat up. Who is going to stand up for you? Who is going to fight for you? Just as king David fought for his men, so our king, Jesus Christ will fight for us. And many times He sends us to Jericho, that oasis in the desert, for a time of refreshing, a time of rest. And as we are refreshed in Him and rest in Him, He tells us to go and return to the work that He has set before us.

VERSES 6-13

1. The Ammonites have rightly recognized that they have not made David happy, and so to protect themselves from the armies of Israel, they hire Syrian mercenaries to help protect them. David sends Joab to lead Israel against them and as Joab prepares for battle, he notices that the Syrian and Ammonite army has surrounded them. So he puts his brother Abishai in charge of half of the army, and they will attack the Ammonites, while Joab and his men deal with the Syrians. And Joab reminds his brother, whoever is in need of help, the other will come to his side in this battle to defeat the enemy.

2. As you look at the battle we are in, it is fought on different fronts, and as our brothers need help, or if we need help, we should not let non-essential doctrine, petty differences, prevent us from helping each other. I love the way Joab puts it, he says "Be of good courage, and let us be strong for our people and for the cities of our God. And may the LORD do what is good in His sight." I Chronicles 19:13.

VERSES 14-19

1. As Joab goes into battle, the Syrians flee and when the Ammonites saw the Syrians fleeing, they also flee for their lives. And God gave them the victory. It seems that whatever enemy that came upon David they were defeated. Nothing could stop David. Satan could not do anything from without, but that does not stop him. If he can't bring David down from without, then he will try to defeat him from within. David was a mighty warrior, and no enemy stood a chance against him. No enemy from without, be it the Philistines, the Ammonites, or whoever, was to big for David to defeat. The only real enemy that David had was himself. His flesh was the thing that would bring him down to defeat. And that is a lesson I pray we all learn and apply to our life so the things that have happened to David, will not happen to us. If we don't take the flesh seriously, it will be the thing that brings us down, just as it brought David down. David is going to learn the hard way, and a life that seemed unstoppable, is now going to see all kinds of trouble.

I CHRONICLES 20

VERSE 1

1. We have football season and deer season, and they had a time they would go to war, you might say a season for warfare. You see, fighting in the rainy season would not only be difficult, but your chariots would be useless. So during the rainy season they would plan their strategies and make their plans to fight against the enemy. And then when spring came around, they would go to war.

2. David, at this time, is around 55 years old. And maybe he was tired of fighting. Maybe he just wanted to rest and enjoy the fruits of his labor, resting in his beautiful palace. It was a time for kings to go to war, but we are told that "David stayed in Jerusalem." It doesn't matter how old you are or how young you are, the flesh must be dealt with on a daily basis. Idle time is used by the enemy to defeat us, for when we are busy we don't have time to let our mind wander. And David is going to find out that truth, as he remains at home, while his men are out fighting. Up to this point, as king, David has only seen victory, but after his sin with Bathsheba he will see wars and turmoil within his own family, that the enemies he once was victorious over are now defeating him. He will see his own sons try to usurp the throne from him. He will see all kinds of family problems. The devil could not defeat him from without, but he did defeat him from within.

3. Now this whole incident with Bathsheba and David's sin with her is not mentioned in the book of I Chronicles. And you may be wondering why God would leave it out. I believe that in the books of I & II Samuel and I & II Kings we are looking at things from the vantage point of man, a human perspective. But I & II Chronicles is written from a heavenly perspective. You see, God does not mention the sin of David because God does not hold our sins against us. In Psalm 103:12 we are told "As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us." On a horizontal plane the east and the west don't ever meet, thus God has completely removed our sin, cast it away. In Isaiah 38:17 we are told that God has cast all our sins behind His back. And in Isaiah 43:25 we read, "I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins." That should be a great comfort to us, for we all will blow it, make a mistake, but God has forgiven us and will not hold it against us, for all our sins are covered by the blood of Christ. But also understand that many times we do suffer the consequences of our sin, even though God has forgiven us. David saw the result of his sin and how it effected his own family with incest and murder and-so-on.

4. Also, think about it this way. My kids I love, but they are not perfect. And yet when I do talk about them I speak of their good qualities and not their failures. That is what God does with us, and He is doing with David here. We have already seen what this sin has done in David's life in our study in II Samuel, and now, from God's vantage point, he does not hold it against David.

5. Joab was a mighty warrior and commander of David's army. And Joab was victorious in this battle, but he does not want to take the credit for the victory, and so he is going to let David get the credit for the victory. He did not want the people to be drawn to him and hold him in high esteem, but he wanted his king to get the credit and to have the people look to their king as the hero.

VERSES 2-3

1. David comes onto the scene, after the battle is over, and he gets the credit for the victory.

2. In verse 3, where it speaks of the enemy and it says that David "put them to work with saws, with iron picks, and axes." in the Hebrew it speaks of David cutting them with saws and picks and axes. Much more harsh a statement than is expressed in the New King James version. Could it be the guilt that David had that caused him to respond as wickedly as he did against the enemy? We know that God's convection was heavy upon David for in Psalm 32:3-4 we read "When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer."

VERSES 4-8

1. Here we see the descendants of Goliath killed by David's men. I truly believe that these giants were part of the offspring we read of in Genesis chapter 6, the Nephilim or the fallen ones. These, I believe were the satanic offspring of fallen angels who co-habitated with women, or the daughters of men. And what Satan was trying to do was contaminate the human race so that the Messiah could not be born from the seed of the woman. And he did such a great job that only Noah and his family were not contaminated. We read of Noah that he was perfect, or without contamination. Thus, it is through his offspring that the Messiah would come, and the rest of mankind was killed in the flood. But don't think that stopped Satan from his work for it says in Genesis 6:4 "There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown."

2. Also, we can glean from this section in I Chronicles, that David killed the giant, and now his men have become giant killers. Now the Son of David, Jesus Christ, has defeated the giant, Satan, at the cross of Calvary, and as His men and women we too can be giant killers and take back what the enemy has hold of.