Remember that every blessing is a burden, every skill a stewardship, every opportunity an obligation.
With David’s ever-expanding kingdom, the burden of administration grew. The man who began caring for “those few sheep in the wilderness” (1 Sam 17:28) soon advanced to supervising “everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented” (22:2), 400 men in all, who gathered to him at Adullam. Then he was anointed ruler over Judah, the southernmost tribal territory, with his administrative center in Hebron. Now he had not only consolidated the 12 tribes with its capital in Jerusalem, but had expanded Israel’s holdings southwest into Philistia, south against Amalek all the way to the Red Sea, eastward to Edom, Moab, and Ammon, and finally north through Syria right up to the Euphrates River. The land area of his kingdom was about six times larger than Saul’s, and perhaps five times larger than the boundaries of Israel today! This section (1 Chron 18:14-17) gives a few of those aides—army commander, recorder, priests, chief of security, and advisors—who assisted him in overseeing regions still inhabited by peoples who might otherwise be hostile, except that “the Lord preserved David wherever he went” (vv 6, 13). “So David reigned over all Israel, and administered judgment and justice to all his people” (v 14). He was responsible to set the standards and make sure justice was carried out. But he’d learned the secret of blessing, that life is at its best when our standards align with God’s. Quoting the Lord’s own words, he said, “He who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, like the tender grass springing out of the earth, by clear shining after rain” (2 Sam 23:3-4). How refreshing!