1 Chronicles 14

Hiram, the king of the city of Tyre, sent messengers to David. He also sent cedar logs, along with workers who cut stone and workers who built with wood, to build a palace for David.

1Now Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and timber of cedars, with masons and carpenters, to build him an house.

NoteTyre was a wealthy Phoenician port on the Mediterranean coast, north of Israel in what is now Lebanon. Its cedar timber was the prestige building material of the ancient Near East (tall, straight, fragrant and rot-resistant) and Israel had no comparable trees of its own. Sending craftsmen and materials was also a diplomatic act: a neighboring king was recognizing David as an equal worth trading with.

2David understood that the LORD had firmly made him king over Israel, and had raised his kingdom to a high place for the sake of God's people Israel.

2And David perceived that the LORD had confirmed him king over Israel, for his kingdom was lifted up on high, because of his people Israel.

Note"Raised his kingdom to a high place" is a figure of speech for public standing and power, not a physical location. The point of the second half is that David reads his own success as being for Israel's benefit rather than his own.

3In Jerusalem, David married more wives, and he had more sons and daughters.

3And David took more wives at Jerusalem: and David begat more sons and daughters.

NoteKings in this period took many wives, and marriages were often treaties: a wife could seal an alliance with a neighboring ruler or a powerful family inside the kingdom. A large royal household was itself a display of standing. The text reports the practice without comment.

4These are the names of the children born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,

4Now these are the names of his children which he had in Jerusalem; Shammua, and Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon,

NoteA version of this same list appears in 2 Samuel 5:14-16. The two lists differ slightly in the number and spelling of names, which is normal for records copied and recopied by hand over centuries.

5Ibhar, Elishua, Elpalet,

5And Ibhar, and Elishua, and Elpalet,

6Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia,

6And Nogah, and Nepheg, and Japhia,

7Elishama, Beeliada, and Eliphalet.

7And Elishama, and Beeliada, and Eliphalet.

Note"Beeliada" contains the divine name Baal, which at this early period could still be used simply as a title meaning "lord." The same son is called Eliada, "God knows", in 2 Samuel 5:16, apparently after the name Baal became firmly attached to the Canaanite god and was avoided.

8The Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, so all of them went out to hunt for him. David heard they were coming and marched out to meet them.

8And when the Philistines heard that David was anointed king over all Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David. And David heard of it, and went out against them.

NoteAnointing meant pouring oil over a man's head; it was the ceremony that made someone king, so "anointed" here effectively means "crowned." The Philistines were a people occupying five cities on the coastal plain to Israel's southwest, with superior weaponry and long-standing military dominance over the region. While David ruled only the southern tribe of Judah he was tolerable to them, even useful; a David ruling all Israel was a threat worth destroying at once.

9The Philistines came and spread out through the Valley of Rephaim.

9And the Philistines came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim.

NoteThe Valley of Rephaim is a broad fertile valley running southwest from Jerusalem, both a grain-growing area worth raiding and the natural invasion route up from Philistine territory toward the city.

10David asked God, "Should I go up and attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?" The LORD told him, "Go up, because I will hand them over to you."

10And David enquired of God, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? And wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the LORD said unto him, Go up; for I will deliver them into thine hand.

Note"Asked God" describes a formal procedure, not private prayer. A priest carried a vestment called an ephod containing the Urim and Thummim, objects used to obtain yes-or-no answers to questions put by the king before battle.

11So they went up to Baal-perazim, and David defeated the Philistines there. David said, "God has burst through my enemies by my hand, like a bursting flood of water." That is why the place was named Baal-perazim.

11So they came up to Baalperazim; and David smote them there. Then David said, God hath broken in upon mine enemies by mine hand like the breaking forth of waters: therefore they called the name of that place Baalperazim.

NoteBaal-perazim means roughly "the lord of breakings-through" or "the master of breaches." David's saying and the place name are the same word: the ground was named for what happened there.

12The Philistines left their idols behind there, and David gave the order that they be burned in the fire.

12And when they had left their gods there, David gave a commandment, and they were burned with fire.

NoteArmies carried images of their gods into battle as standards and as a claim of divine backing; abandoning them in flight was a total defeat. Burning captured idols rather than keeping them as trophies follows the instruction in Deuteronomy 7:5, 25. The parallel account in 2 Samuel 5:21 says only that David and his men carried them off.

13The Philistines spread out through the valley and raided it once again.

13And the Philistines yet again spread themselves abroad in the valley.

14So David asked God again, and God told him, "Do not go straight up after them. Turn away from them and come at them opposite the balsam trees.

14Therefore David enquired again of God; and God said unto him, Go not up after them; turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees.

NoteThe Hebrew tree is uncertain; "mulberry" in the King James is a guess, and modern translations usually say balsam or poplar. The maneuver described is a flanking move: instead of pursuing the Philistines head-on, David is to swing around and strike from a different direction.

15When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, go out and fight, because God has gone out ahead of you to strike down the Philistine army."

15And it shall be, when thou shalt hear a sound of going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt go out to battle: for God is gone forth before thee to smite the host of the Philistines.

NoteThe sound in the treetops is described in the same words used for an army on the march. The signal is that the attack has already begun ahead of David rather than that he is starting it.

16David did exactly what God told him to do, and they struck down the Philistine army all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.

16David therefore did as God commanded him: and they smote the host of the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gazer.

NoteGibeon lay a few miles northwest of Jerusalem and Gezer about twenty miles west, on the edge of the coastal plain. Naming both marks a running pursuit that drove the Philistines all the way back out of the hill country. 2 Samuel 5:25 has Geba rather than Gibeon.

17News about David spread into every land, and the LORD made all the nations afraid of him.

17And the fame of David went out into all lands; and the LORD brought the fear of him upon all nations.