The Plunder of a Holy War Text: 1 Chronicles 18:5-8
Introduction: The Economics of Kingdom Come
We live in an age that is deeply embarrassed by the Old Testament. Our soft-handed, therapeutic generation wants a God who is a celestial guidance counselor, not a divine warrior. They want a Jesus who gives out affirming hugs, not one who fashions a whip of cords. And so, when they come to passages like this one, a bloody account of David's military conquests, they either skip it, allegorize it into a bland moralism about our "personal battles," or they dismiss it as the primitive behavior of a tribal war-god we have since outgrown. But in doing so, they miss the entire point. They miss the muscular, robust, world-conquering gospel that is being laid out right here in the dirt and dust of David's wars.
This chapter is not an embarrassing relative we have to hide when company comes over. This is the grammar of the kingdom. This is how God builds His house. We must understand the logic of redemptive history. In the previous chapter, God made a covenant with David, promising him a house, a kingdom, and a throne that would last forever. That is the promise. But promises from God are not ethereal wishes; they are declarations of what He is about to do in space and time. Chapter 18 is the down payment on that promise. It is the bloody work of securing the borders, of establishing the kingdom, of pushing back the chaos so that a place of true worship can be established.
You cannot have Solomon's temple without David's wars. You cannot have the Prince of Peace until the man of war has done his work. This is a pattern that runs straight through Scripture. First the conflict, then the rest. First the battle, then the spoils. First the cross, then the crown. And so what we have here is not just a military report. It is a theological statement about how the kingdom of God advances in the world. It advances through conflict, it is funded by the plunder of its enemies, and it is all done under the absolute, sovereign decree of God Himself. This is the economics of kingdom come.
The Text
Then the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah. And David struck down 22,000 men of the Arameans. Then David placed garrisons among the Arameans of Damascus; and the Arameans became servants to David, bringing tribute. And Yahweh granted salvation to David wherever he went. And David took the small shields of gold which were carried by the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. Also from Tibhath and from Cun, cities of Hadadezer, David took a very large amount of bronze, with which Solomon made the bronze sea and the pillars and the bronze utensils.
(1 Chronicles 18:5-8 LSB)
The Futility of God's Enemies (v. 5)
We begin with the intervention of the Arameans, and their swift end.
"Then the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah. And David struck down 22,000 men of the Arameans." (1 Chronicles 18:5)
Here we see a principle that is as true today as it was then: when you ally yourself with those whom God is judging, you place yourself under that same judgment. Hadadezer was in God's crosshairs. The Arameans of Damascus saw David's advance, and instead of recognizing the hand of God, they decided to prop up a failing regime. They hitched their wagon to a doomed cause. The result was catastrophic. Twenty-two thousand of them fell.
This is a picture of the second Psalm. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against Yahweh and against His Anointed. They think their political alliances, their military pacts, their combined strength can thwart the purposes of God. But what is God's response? "He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision." Their resistance is not a threat; it is an absurdity. David is God's anointed king, a type of the great Anointed One to come, Jesus Christ. To fight against David was to fight against God's kingdom project. And that is a fight you will always lose. The Arameans learned this the hard way. Their attempt to help was utterly futile, and only served to widen the scope of David's God-given victory.
The Purpose of Conquest: Servanthood and Salvation (v. 6)
Next, we see the result of this victory, and the summary statement that explains all of it.
"Then David placed garrisons among the Arameans of Damascus; and the Arameans became servants to David, bringing tribute. And Yahweh granted salvation to David wherever he went." (1 Chronicles 18:6)
The victory does not lead to annihilation, but to subjugation. David places garrisons, military outposts, to secure the peace and enforce the new reality. The Arameans, who came to fight, now become servants who pay tribute. This is not simple revenge. This is the establishment of order. God's purpose for Israel was not to be an isolated, holy enclave, but to be a blessing to the nations. And sometimes, that blessing comes through conquest. The nations are brought into submission to God's king, and their wealth, their "tribute," is redirected from pagan temples and pointless wars to the service of the true God.
This is a picture of the Great Commission. We are to make disciples of the nations. This is a form of spiritual conquest. When a nation turns to Christ, it becomes a servant of Christ, and its tribute, its resources, its culture, its art, its industry, are to be brought into submission to Him. The goal is not destruction, but transformation.
And the reason for all this success is stated plainly, lest we attribute it to David's military genius. "And Yahweh granted salvation to David wherever he went." The word for salvation here is yeshua. It means deliverance, victory, preservation. This is the engine driving the entire narrative. David goes, David fights, David wins, because Yahweh gives him the victory. It is not David's army, but God's sovereignty. This is the central confession of the Christian life. In our fight against sin, in our efforts to build faithful families and churches, in our engagement with a hostile culture, any victory we have is a gift. Yahweh grants the salvation. Our job is to show up for the fight, trusting that the outcome belongs to the Lord.
Redirecting the Wealth of the Wicked (v. 7-8)
The passage concludes by detailing the spoils of war and their ultimate purpose.
"And David took the small shields of gold which were carried by the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. Also from Tibhath and from Cun, cities of Hadadezer, David took a very large amount of bronze, with which Solomon made the bronze sea and the pillars and the bronze utensils." (1 Chronicles 18:7-8)
This is sanctified plunder. The wealth of these pagan nations, their gold and their bronze, is not kept by David for his own luxurious indulgence. It is consecrated. It is brought to Jerusalem, the city of God, and set aside for a holy purpose. The gold shields, symbols of pagan military pride, are repurposed. The "very large amount of bronze" is stockpiled. And the text explicitly tells us why. This bronze will be used by Solomon to build the instruments of worship in the temple. The bronze sea for the priests' cleansing, the massive pillars named Jachin and Boaz, the utensils for the sacrifices.
Do not miss the glorious logic here. The raw materials for the house of God were taken by force from the enemies of God. David, the man of war, does the dirty work of extraction. He fights the battles, he sheds the blood, he secures the plunder. He is preparing the way for Solomon, the man of peace, to do the clean work of construction. Solomon's glorious temple, a place of peace and worship, is literally built out of the ruins of pagan kingdoms. The wealth that once served idols will now be used to worship the true and living God.
This is a profound picture of the gospel's effect on the world. Christ, our great David, has won the decisive victory. He has defeated sin, death, and the devil. He has conquered the nations. And now, He is building His temple, the Church. And what is He building it with? He is building it with the redeemed plunder of fallen humanity. He takes sinners, who once used their strength, their minds, their resources, their artistic talents, their wealth, for rebellion, and He consecrates them. He repurposes them. The very things that were instruments of sin become instruments of righteousness. The wealth of the nations, which is prophesied to flow into the New Jerusalem, is not just their gold, but their redeemed people, their sanctified cultures, their consecrated skills, all brought into the service of the King.
Conclusion: From Warfare to Worship
This passage is a snapshot of God's postmillennial program in miniature. It is a story of how the kingdom of God grows. It does not grow by retreating into a holy huddle, waiting for the world to get worse and worse until Jesus comes to rescue us. It grows by faithful, courageous engagement. It grows through conflict. It advances as God's people, empowered by His Spirit, push back against the darkness in every sphere of life.
David's job was war, so that Solomon's job could be worship. Our great David, the Lord Jesus, has already won the war. He crushed the head of the serpent on the cross. He disarmed the principalities and powers. And because He has won, our task is now one of building. We are living in the age of Solomon. We are tasked with taking the spoils of Christ's victory, the gospel truth, and building His temple. We do this when we raise our children in the fear of the Lord, turning their natural paganism into consecrated service. We do this when we conduct our business faithfully, redirecting wealth toward kingdom purposes. We do this when we create art, music, and literature that is true, good, and beautiful, taking the raw materials of culture and shaping them into instruments of worship.
The world is not a lost cause we are meant to escape. It is a conquered territory that we are commanded to settle, to garrison, and to transform. Yahweh granted salvation to David wherever he went, and the same Lord grants victory to His church as we go out in His name. The gold and bronze of this world, its wealth, its knowledge, its culture, belongs to our King by right of conquest. Our job is to claim it, to consecrate it, and to build with it, until the day that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.