![\"3.png\"](\"https:\/\/faithloop.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3-9aVDmdf5GBtL.png\")
<\/a> <\/p>This time, people from all the tribes of Israel came to Hebron to find David.<\/p>\n
They said to David:<\/p>\n
\u201cKing, when you get right down to it, we\u2019re all family. We\u2019re your own flesh and blood.<\/p>\n
Back when Saul was king, wasn\u2019t it you who led our people of Israel in and out, fighting battles and taking care of things?<\/p>\n
And besides, the LORD told you a long time ago, \u2018You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will be ruler over Israel.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Well, that made things pretty clear.<\/p>\n
Before this, everybody had been split into two groups. But now, everyone could see it\u2014David was the king God had chosen.<\/p>\n
So all the elders of Israel came to Hebron to meet David.<\/p>\n
There, before the LORD, David made a covenant with them.<\/p>\n
Then the Israelites anointed David and officially made him king over the whole nation of Israel.<\/p>\n
David was thirty years old when he became king.<\/p>\n
He ruled for forty years in all.<\/p>\n
First, he ruled Judah from Hebron for seven and a half years. Then he ruled both Israel and Judah from Jerusalem for another thirty-three years.<\/p>\n
So yeah, David\u2019s time on the throne was no quick little thing.<\/p>\n
David Wants to Take Jerusalem<\/p>\n
After becoming king over the whole nation, David and his men went to Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
But at that time, Jerusalem was still controlled by the Jebusites.<\/p>\n
David wanted to take the city.<\/p>\n
But the Jebusites were pretty full of themselves. They basically thought:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you think you\u2019re gonna do, David? Even if the blind and the lame are defending this place, you still won\u2019t get in!\u201d<\/p>\n
In other words:<\/p>\n
\u201cDavid, quit dreaming. You\u2019re not taking this city.\u201d<\/p>\n
They didn\u2019t take David seriously at all.<\/p>\n
But David wasn\u2019t the kind of guy who just sat there worrying when trouble showed up.<\/p>\n
He attacked the stronghold of the Jebusites\u2014and sure enough, he took it!<\/p>\n
That place became known as Zion, the City of David.<\/p>\n
David lived in the stronghold and built up the city\u2019s defenses, starting at the Millo and building the wall around it.<\/p>\n
And let me tell you, David was getting stronger and stronger.<\/p>\n
But the Bible makes one thing very clear:<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t because David was so tough on his own.<\/p>\n
It was because\u2014<\/p>\n
the LORD God of armies was with him.<\/p>\n
That was the real reason David was strong.<\/p>\n
A Foreign King Comes to Help Build David\u2019s Palace<\/p>\n
About this time, King Hiram of Tyre heard that David had become king over Israel.<\/p>\n
So he sent messengers to David. He also sent cedar logs, along with carpenters and stonemasons.<\/p>\n
What were they doing?<\/p>\n
They were building David a palace!<\/p>\n
And David understood something important:<\/p>\n
\u201cMan, I couldn\u2019t have pulled all this off by myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
He realized:<\/p>\n
It was the LORD who had established him as king over Israel, and it was the LORD who was making Israel strong for the sake of His people.<\/p>\n
David also took more wives and concubines in Jerusalem, and he had more sons and daughters.<\/p>\n
The Philistines Hear That David Is King<\/p>\n
But just when David was getting settled, the Philistines heard the news:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat? David is now king over all Israel?\u201d<\/p>\n
Well, they weren\u2019t about to just sit around and watch that happen.<\/p>\n
They quickly marched out to find David.<\/p>\n
David heard about it and thought:<\/p>\n
\u201cOh man, they\u2019re coming right to my door.\u201d<\/p>\n
So he went down to the stronghold.<\/p>\n
The Philistines had already spread out and formed their battle line in the Valley of Rephaim.<\/p>\n
Now here\u2019s the important part.<\/p>\n
David didn\u2019t say:<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m the king now. What have I got to be afraid of?\u201d<\/p>\n
And he didn\u2019t say:<\/p>\n
\u201cAlright, boys, grab your weapons. Let\u2019s go!\u201d<\/p>\n
Nope.<\/p>\n
He did something much more important first:<\/p>\n
He asked the LORD for guidance.<\/p>\n
David asked:<\/p>\n
\u201cLORD, should I go up and fight the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?\u201d<\/p>\n
The LORD answered:<\/p>\n
\u201cYes. Go up. I will certainly give the Philistines into your hands.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now David knew what to do.<\/p>\n
He went into battle and defeated the Philistines at Baal Perazim.<\/p>\n
After the victory, David said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe LORD has broken through my enemies in front of me, like a flood breaking through!\u201d<\/p>\n
So that place was called Baal Perazim, meaning a place where the LORD broke through against the enemy.<\/p>\n
When the Philistines ran away, they even left their idols behind.<\/p>\n
David and his men carried them away.<\/p>\n
But the Philistines Came Back<\/p>\n
You\u2019d think that would be the end of it, right?<\/p>\n
Nope.<\/p>\n
The Philistines came back again.<\/p>\n
And once again, they spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.<\/p>\n
But David was still David.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t think:<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I won last time, so I know exactly what to do. Let\u2019s just do the same thing again!\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, he went back and asked the LORD again.<\/p>\n
This time, the LORD gave him a different battle plan.<\/p>\n
The LORD said:<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t go straight up against them this time.<\/p>\n
Go around behind them and attack from across the mulberry trees.<\/p>\n
When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, move quickly.<\/p>\n
That will be the sign that I have already gone ahead of you to strike the Philistine army.\u201d<\/p>\n
See, this is where it gets interesting.<\/p>\n
The first time, God told David to attack directly.<\/p>\n
The second time, God told David to use a different strategy.<\/p>\n
So the lesson is pretty simple:<\/p>\n
You can\u2019t just assume that because something worked yesterday, you should do exactly the same thing today. You need to seek God\u2019s guidance each time.<\/p>\n
David didn\u2019t argue with God.<\/p>\n
He did exactly what the LORD commanded.<\/p>\n
And sure enough, David defeated the Philistines and chased them all the way from Geba to Gezer.<\/p>\n
David Finally Becomes King Over All Israel<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s how David finally became firmly established as king over the whole nation of Israel.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sarah This time, people from all the tribes of Israel came to Hebron to find David. They said to David: \u201cKing, when you get right down to it, we\u2019re all family. We\u2019re your own flesh and blood. Back when Saul was king, wasn\u2019t it you who led our people of Israel in and out, fighting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible-reflection"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithloop.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithloop.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithloop.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithloop.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithloop.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10181"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/faithloop.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10182,"href":"https:\/\/faithloop.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10181\/revisions\/10182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithloop.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithloop.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithloop.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithloop.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}