Year One, September 12

Wait for the LORD1

David waited seven years and more before he came to the throne of Israel. However, during that time he reigned with great wisdom and fairness over that part of the land over which he did have influence. His conduct earned him the general respect of the people. It was far better to be preparing for the crown than to be plotting to take it by force.

  

2 Samuel 5:1-3

1Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and flesh. 2In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the LORD said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.’” 3So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD, and they anointed David king over Israel.

The crown came to David by the popular consent of the Israelites. He never stooped to a violent takeover attempt. When the Lord has ripened a blessing for us, it will drop into our lap like an apple from the tree. We must not reach out an unholy hand to take it before the proper time. David’s exemplary past and the fact that he was chosen by the Lord could not be overlooked forever. People have bad memories, but in due time they must and will remember the credit deserved by those who have acted heroically. All the tribes of Israel were pleased to place the crown on the man who had proven himself so worthy to wear it.

  

1 Chronicles 12:39-40

39And they were there with David for three days, eating and drinking, for their brothers had made preparation for them. 40And also their relatives, from as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, came bringing food on donkeys and on camels and on mules and on oxen, abundant provisions of flour, cakes of figs, clusters of raisins, and wine and oil, oxen and sheep, for there was joy in Israel. (Those who lived closest to Hebron provided the feast, because they did not have the cost of the long journey others took. Those who can best afford it should do the most for the honor of our Lord’s kingdom.)

  

2 Samuel 5:4-9

4David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. 5At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.

David had already been anointed king. He was now eager to prove he really was a king by getting rid of his country’s enemies who still remained in Israel. Therefore he decided to remove the Jebusites from their fortress on Mount Zion.

6And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off”-- thinking, “David cannot come in here.” (Most likely, this means that David had called their gods both blind and lame, and now they responded by saying that their blind and lame gods were more than enough to keep him out of their stronghold.) 7Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David. 8And David said on that day, “Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack ‘the lame and the blind,’ who are hated by David’s soul.” (Joab led the troops in this horrific fight. Fort after fort was captured and the gigantic fortifications were attacked. Israel’s warriors climbed over the walls and defeated their enemies in hand-to-hand combat.) Therefore it is said, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.”

That is to say, it became a proverb that Israel would not depend on lame and blind gods or set them up in their houses as protection, because they had proven to be worthless defenders.

 9And David lived in the stronghold and called it the city of David. And David built the city all around from the Millo inward. (In this way the sacred mount of Zion was taken out of the hands of enemies and became the site of King David’s palace. Likewise, the church has been saved from all her enemies and is the place her King, Jesus, calls home.)

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¹ Psalm 27:14