These chapters record the fulfillment of God's promised victory over David's enemies as part of the Davidic Covenant (17:8). David was successful because God helped him (18:6, 13; cf. 19:19).63Human kings only defeat themselves when they oppose the Lord and His anointed (cf. Ps. 2:1-2). The evidence that God gave David victory bolsters confidence that He will do the same to David's great Son, Messiah.
The Chronicler recorded David's victories over the Philistines (18:1), the Moabites (18:2), the Arameans (18:3-11), the Edomites (18:12-13), and the Ammonites (19:1-20:3). He also noted his defeat of the giants who came from the home of David's first great adversary, Goliath (20:4-8). David's wars were both aggressive and defensive (cf. ch. 19).64
The writer portrayed David as having acted decisively to rid his kingdom of internal and external threats. He set up garrisons in Israel's neighbor states by which he extended his influence beyond his own borders (18:6, 13). God's blessing of Israel paralleled His blessing of David. Both nation and king had begun in humility with lowly origins but had expanded because of God's grace and David's appropriate trust and obedience to that grace (cf. 17:7).
These chapters also help explain why David did not build the temple himself. He was a man of war who had shed much blood, and his reign was not a period of "rest,"which was necessary for the establishment of a central sanctuary. Also these chapters show the economic prosperity that would have been needed for temple building.65
