Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Today we recounted a lot of David's military victories, and it's worth noting that all of these battles aren't necessarily happening back to back.

They're just grouped together here instead of spread out chronologically.

But this extensive list shows us how God was working to fulfill his covenant with David.

As I've mentioned before, and as I'm sure you've noticed,

some of the details are repeated in both Chronicles and in Second Samuel.

So if you're comparing things,

you'll probably notice that Chronicles

leaves out some of the more personal stories about David.

The primary function of Chronicles

seems to be to show the trajectory of the covenant fulfillment

more than David's personal growth and failure.

But Second Samuel gives us more of an insider's view into his life.

If it helps, you can imagine Chronicles as a

news story and Second Samuel as a docu-series. And if you forget which is which, just remember that the

names of the books should hint toward which one is more personal. David is a winning king for sure,

but one thing scripture drives home repeatedly is that his

victories are granted by God. Three times in our reading today, we saw that the Lord gave victory.

Victory is God's to give. David wins because of God's plan and favor, not because of David's

strength or ability. God is the hero of the story. Given David's circumstances,

it would be easy to forget where the praise belongs. After all, he rose to power as the war hero,

the guy who defeated the Philistines with one sling of a stone. But scripture continues to remind us

...