At the same time as David was contemplating building projects in Jerusalem, he was also extending his kingdom into an empire. In the past three chapters, he has directed his army against enemies in every direction. As 1 Chronicles 20 begins, Joab is finishing off the Ammonites (v 1), who lived east of Gad and had been troubling Israel since Saul’s day (1 Samuel 11:1-3, 11). When the final victory is achieved, David receives the valuable crown of Ammon for his own house (v 2). This image contributes to the implicit messianic message of the book, since the line of David will produce One who will rule the Gentiles. According to the Bible’s last book, all crowns will one day be removed before the true and better David. And all kinds of royalty will participate in the worship of Christ in the new Jerusalem. As the book of Revelation foresees, “The kings of the earth will bring their glory into it… They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.” This particular record of David’s military victories began with his defeat of the Philistines (18:1), and it comes full circle in the final paragraph of this chapter, where even the Philistine giants are finally overcome “by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants” (20:8). Though the Chronicler has chosen not to include the story of David’s heroic victory over Goliath, this was the most famous battle of them all. Neither he nor his readers were unfamiliar with that classic encounter which took place many years prior (1 Samuel 17). But here he simply records that “Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite” was among the Philistines struck down by King David’s army. And yes, he confirms: it’s the same Goliath, “the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam” (v 5). So the Philistines were still jeering Israel, as in previous days, bringing their giants with them as a means of intimidation and display of brute power. But every foe was vanquished under David’s royal banner. All these Old Testament war accounts can be difficult to understand and apply, but they are not meant to teach us how we must live in this world now. Rather, they remind us of the battle that our God wages on our behalf—ultimately through Christ—as He defeats all His and our spiritual foes. Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the strife will not be long; This day the noise of battle, the next, the victor's song. To him that overcometh a crown of life shall be; He with the King of glory shall reign eternally. For further meditation: