1 Chronicles 11 Devotional
By Pastor Lawrence

One of the primary themes found in the book of Chronicles is loyalty to the true king of Israel as a sign of one’s loyalty unto God. So unlike in the book of Kings, the Chronicler omits most of the material surrounding the reign of King Saul which was rescinded by the Lord due to his own disloyalty to God. He also skips over the ensuing civil war that took place when many of the tribes of Israel stood against David’s kingship due to their own unfaithfulness to God. The Chronicler overlooks these past sins and failures to encourage his own generation to put their trust in God and his anointed king, the Son of David, just as that earlier generation did when they finally came to their senses and stood behind the man of God’s own choosing.

This chapter focuses on David’s covenant calling, his primary conquest and consolidation of power as well as the conquests of his closest companions. First, David is identified as the true king of Israel by his calling from God. In vv.1-3 Israel recognizes that even when Saul was king over Israel it was really David who was acting as their true shepherd leading out and bringing in God’s people as a good shepherd. And this stems from God’s own calling that he would be the anointed ruler and shepherd over all of Israel. Thus when Israel then made a covenant with David to submit to his rule and anointed him with oil, they were merely acknowledging and confirming God’s own choice that this was the man after God’s own heart. Later on, the descendants of Israel were told to look for this same type of figure, a messianic figure, or one anointed by God, to rule over them by God’s precepts and according to God’s heart. There were a few kings who seemed to follow in the pattern of David such as Hezekiah and Josiah, but eventually, they too would fail to live up to God’s standards causing God’s people to continue to be on the lookout for a messiah who would truly shepherd them and even lay down his own life for their sake.

In vv.4-9 we see one of David’s greatest conquests, the conquest of the mountain fortress of Jebus, the subjugation of the Jebusites and the building of Jerusalem. What his forefathers would not and could not accomplish even in the days of Joshua in terms of casting out the original inhabitants of the land in the region of Judah, David did with great strength and zeal. In the very heart of Israel, Jebus stood as a bastion of evil and a proud gathering of men who stood against the Lord and his anointed one. And just as David routed the blasphemous boasting giant Goliath, so he would overthrow the haughty Jebusites and turn their proud fortress into a showcase of God’s glory through the building of the capital city of Jerusalem and ultimately the holy temple of God. As John would later record in Revelation 11:15, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” Just as David had power to destroy the fortress of Jebus, so Christ will destroy all those strongholds and lofty opinions raised against the knowledge of God in this world. And we are called to join in this spiritual battle with him.

Then, in vv.10-25, the Chronicler focuses on the closest company of the king, sharing some of the details of his mighty men, of the three and then of the thirty who were willing to lay down their own lives for the sake of the king. These men proved their loyalty and their love fighting for David even when he was an outcast in the land of Israel being pursued like a dog by King Saul prior to his ascendancy to the throne. In these verses, we learn something of their great faith in their king, their willingness to die for his kingdom and even to put their own lives on the line for his refreshment. Clearly, these men were all loyal to their king and in so doing expressed their loyalty unto God.

As we consider these verses and the passages that we will read about in the next few chapters, we must keep in mind how they are all meant to point us ultimately to Christ in order that we might see his own covenant and calling by God to be our ruler and shepherd, to see how he has conquered sin and death in our place and has set up a new throne in our hearts even in the presence of our enemies that we might offer to God right sacrifices in his name. And these verses show us that these sacrifices are not given begrudgingly, but with great zeal and love for our true king who loved us and gave his life for us.