Our Bible characters don’t always experience success: Joshua’s leading the people into the Promised Land and Nehemiah’s wall are notable exceptions. They succeeded, and so did David early in his reign. Here’s how 2 Samuel 8 starts:
In the days that followed, David struck hard at the Philistines—brought them to their knees and took control of the countryside. He also fought and defeated Moab. He chose two-thirds of them randomly and executed them. The other third he spared. So the Moabites fell under David’s rule and were forced to bring tribute. On his way to restore his sovereignty at the River Euphrates, David next defeated Hadadezer son of Rehob the king of Zobah. (2 Samuel 8.1 – 3, MSG)
He took out several other tribes because…
God gave victory to David wherever he marched. (2 Samuel 8.14, MSG)
Success continues into chapter 10, which opens with the Ammonites mistreating David’s emissaries and hiring the Arameans to help them. (2 Samuel 10.1 – 7) David’s general, Joab, goes out, divides the army between himself and his brother Abishai, and defeats both.
But when Joab and his soldiers moved in to fight the Arameans, they ran off in full retreat. Then the Ammonites, seeing the Arameans run for dear life, took to their heels from Abishai and went into the city. So Joab left off fighting the Ammonites and returned to Jerusalem. (2 Samuel 10.13, 14, MSG)
The Arameans regroup, and David takes them out:
David mustered Israel, crossed the Jordan, and came to Helam. The Arameans went into battle formation, ready for David, and the fight was on. But the Arameans again scattered before Israel. David killed seven hundred chariot drivers and forty thousand cavalry. And he mortally wounded Shobach, the army commander, who died on the battlefield. When all the kings who were vassals of Hadadezer saw that they had been routed by Israel, they made peace and became Israel’s vassals. The Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites ever again. (2 Samuel 10.17 – 19, MSG)
Success! But the very next sentence is one of the saddest in the Bible, kicking off a series of catastrophes for David:
In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab…But David remained at Jerusalem. (2 Samuel 11.1, ESV)
As my friend and former Air Force Academy Football Coach Fisher DeBerry used to say:
You’re only as good as your last play.
Stay tuned. We’ll see that contrary to 2 Samuel 8.14, quoted above, God gave David victory “wherever he marched.” David does NOT get victory when he stays home instead of engaging the enemy in battle.