14:1-2 The ancient Phoenician king Hiram extended kindness to king David. For David, the respect of foreign nations was further evidence of God's advocacy. King of Tyre sent messengers, cedar trees, masons and carpenters to David in order that he could built a house. Support, recognition and acceptance of Israel's permanence was orchestrated and generated by God. David began to settle, soundly into the reality that God had chosen and established him as king of His people Israel.
David understood that the particular care God gave to the quality of the kingdom was for the "sake of His people Israel." After David, arrogance would pervade the kingship of both Israel and Judah. But David knew that God's attention to detail was meant to benefit the whole rather than the throne. Frequently throughout scripture and life, obedient individuals serve as instruments through which God brings justice and reform. God's intention is always to reach the majority; through one He gathers many.
What is extraordinary about David is that he lived, essentially, in stew that could have easily precipitated self-importance. Unlikely, extraordinary skill, strength, bravery and success in battle won David acclaim of the entire nation, 1 Samuel 18. Under David's leadership, Israel began to metamorphose into a nation more prominent than ever before. David, the giant-killer youth made king over the sovereign Lord's people! That was the image the people had of David. But the image David had for himself? Servant of God; grateful recipient of His love and direction.
God pumps blessing through an individual in an effort for those blessings to abound into others' lives. An individual who does not have any intention of sharing their blessings receives a limited supply. It's simple Supply and Demand: if you are not going to do much, you do not need much. David received much because he understood that it was to be distributed to the people.
14:3-7 In Genesis 1:28 God encouraged humanity to be fruitful and multiply. David had been fruitful: he yielded good fruit, Matthew 7:17, by living both a righteous and obedient lifestyle. His energetic influence and consciousness leadership produced the well-being of the people and the deepening of their faith. David is as equally emphatic about multiplying as he is about being fruitful.
David began to procure multiple wives, and many children were born to them. Though David got so much right in life, this is an area where he did not excel. Polygamy is not what God meant when He told us to multiply; Deuteronomy 17:17 tells us us so. But this is not suddenly a character-attack on David, not even slightly. David's imperfection juxtaposed his greatness is what relates him to us. There were areas in his life he still needed work on; there was discipline he still needed from God. There were still ways for him to grow, things for him to learn. David accomplished wonders despite his imperfection; eventually became better because of them.
Eventually David's deleterious desire for women would culminate in tragedy: the death of an innocent man. David would shock even himself with his own actions, once he finally acknowledged them for what they were. As of this chapter, none of that had yet occurred but it is interesting to compare the highest point of David's life with the lowest. It helps us to understand the benefit of allowing God to do construction on our character even as we seem to be thriving. Had David denied his impulses in the beginning, Uriah might not have met such an unjust end, 2 Samuel 11. But David did not deny (thus control) his impulses, just as we sometimes do not keep tight enough a leash on ours. By David's example we learn to squash in the beginning what we do not wish to be squashed by in the end.
14:8-10 Israel still had enemies; at the news of his anointing, the Philistines initiate an effort against David. David learns that he is once again hunted by an enemy and begins a defense plan. David lived a life of almost constant action; under such pressure, David learned to bring his fears, uncertainties and anxieties to God.
David asks God, effectively: "Is this a battle I have a responsibility to engage in? Is this a battle I can win?" These are questions we also can ask God when faced with challenges in our lives. It is wise and humble of David to, rather than shrink with fear or puff up with machismo at instigation from his enemies, to first determine if he should give any reaction at all. Sometimes in life, certain people or circumstances inflame our emotions and provoke us to hasty decisions and responses.
God responds to David: Yes to both questions. If God answers yes to the first, the second is an automatic, unquestionable yes as well. If you stumble upon or find yourself in a turmoil and God gives you permission to proceed, proceed and succeed you will. David receives the go-ahead to battle the Philistines because the nature of the battle fits into the framework of God's ultimate purpose on earth: crushing evil and taking names (no really, He has a list; Revelation 3:5). If your battle, in some form, aligns with God's ultimate purpose to bring justice to the earth, yes to both questions! As your right and responsibility as a child of God, yes to going against evil and a solid yes to your inevitable success.
14:11 Take inspiration from how this battle turned out for David: "God has broken through my enemies by my hand like a breakthrough of water." What a simile to describe the deft and powerful Hand of God!
14:12 Standing in the midst of the soundly defeated Philistine army, David, the irrefutable victor, says burn it all to a pile of the enemy's false gods. David was perhaps never as confident in God's power and presence as he was as he stood, exerted and breathing heavily, in the immediate moments at the end of a successful battle. It was likely never more apparent to him, the uselessness of idol worship, than it was when he saw their worshipers laying dead and scattered among them.
This foreshadows humanity's culmination on earth: the righteous breathing heavily and exerted from an ages-long battle against evil; and the evil laying dead and scattered among the wealth it valued but can no longer use, the vanity it paraded but can no longer possess, rendered powerless as its supposed strength meets the power of God.
14:13 These battles are as constant for us as they were for David. Evil is persistent. The power of the righteous is their dogged determination to be more persistent than evil is. To rise that extra day.
14:14 David asks God again: Is this my battle? David is persistence in his effort and consistent in his faith. He is willing to rise again against the Philistines, against evil, but only at God's command.
14:15 And it makes all the difference that David did take the time to ask, because God had a different tactic, an alternate response with which to defeat the Philistines: instead of charging at them, encircle them; and when you hear them marching, know that I have already entered that camp and ensured your victory.
God has an intricate strategy to ensure our success in battle, too. Ask, listen to and trust the plan. When you recruit God and name Him commander of your personal army, He goes into enemy territory before you, Deuteronomy 31:8. He scouts, analyzes, strategies the enemy, the situation and the victory before you even take a step. And be assured, when you do take a step, He is stepping with you, Joshua 1:9.
14:16-17 So David did as God commanded him, and because of that strict adherence to God's will, everything went according to plan. The Philistines were driven back so profoundly that David's renown began to permeate even all the nations outside of his own. God ensured that each of them knew, to challenge Israel was to provoke the an undefeatable God.
As you live as an obedient and righteous child of God, God's protection over your life will soon be apparent to the people around you, too. Evil will think twice about antagonizing you; and when they decide to attack you anyway (because they will, even Jesus met resistance), they will run full-on into the concrete wall and ferocious fire of God's protection upon you, behind you, before you, Psalm 139:5.
