The Wars: 1 Chronicles 18-20

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1 Chronicles 18-20
Just as with chapter 17, a few comments will suffice as to these chapters whose contents we have considered in detail in our Meditations on the Second Book of Samuel.
In the first place we find joined together here in a connected account David's wars and exploits just as they are narrated in 2 Sam. 8:1; 12:26-31; 10-11; and 21:18-22. The text is identical except for a few small details where the account in Chronicles augments that of Samuel.
Thus, these chapters present the warrior king, whereas the rest of the book unrolls before our eyes the peaceful portion of David's reign, completely occupied with the service of the ark and the preparations for the erection of the temple. Still, the military apparatus that fills David's reign in 2 Samuel cannot be passed over in silence in this book, for Chronicles treats of the kingship established, its relationship to the ark, then to the temple, and of the order of worship. Moreover, the account of David's victories is necessary in order to show us the manner in which the kingdom could be instituted, Israel delivered from their enemies, and peace, righteousness, and rule over the nations inaugurated by Solomon. These things could only be brought about through a conquering and triumphant king whose victories are presented to us in a block so as not to have to come back to them again, since they are not the subject of the book. Christ's dominion will be introduced in this same way at the end.
In the second place, Chronicles passes over the history of Mephibosheth recounted in 2 Sam. 9 in silence, and also Saul's crime in putting the Gibeonites to death (2 Sam. 21:1-14). These omissions are characteristic of the thought of our book. Everything that has to do with Saul and his house has come to an end at the beginning of our account. The natural man and his genealogy, the natural king, Saul, and his posterity, are mentioned first in order immediately to be forgotten, as we have seen. Such is the history of the old man and all that belongs to him. God cannot draw out His family from him. The new man alone, who follows as second in order, and the family of faith, are the objects of God's counsels. This new man begins with Christ, the First-born from among the dead, and ends with Christ, the heir of all things. When, as here, it is a matter of the royal race, Christ is the root and the offspring of David. The king according to nature, Saul, is dead and is no longer in question here—neither he nor his family—for in Chronicles death is pronounced from the onset on the old man.
In the books of Samuel and Kings, which instead of pronouncing this summary judgment follow man's history in responsibility until his final ruin, this history still does not in any way exclude the intervention of grace. Mephibosheth is a striking example of this, but that does not belong to the subject of Chronicles. There Saul is passed over and all that concerns his house is omitted. Even the tribe of Benjamin cannot rally to David except by first detaching themselves from Saul (1 Chron. 12:1-17).
Thirdly, these chapters pass over David's crime in complete silence: the story of Bathsheba and Uriah, and the terrible consequences of corruption and revolt that these events brought to the king's house (2 Sam. 11:2; 12:25; 13-20). Nothing is better suited to help us discern the Spirit of God's purpose in Chronicles. How can the king according to God's counsels, this David who represents Christ (though Chronicles is careful to show us on two occasions, by his failures, that he is but a feeble sketch of the divine portrait), be portrayed to us as a murderer?
On the other hand 2 Samuel, which presents us with a responsible David, in spite of that—and let us rather say on account of that—shows him to us as an object of God's inexhaustible grace. This same book, in order to depict the Savior in His humiliation and rejection, is compelled to record the faults which led David to be rejected by his people and dethroned by the usurper. Finally, this book employs these same circumstances to paint the picture of the precious favors which have been occasioned by the rejection of the Savior.