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1 Chronicles 14:1-2 records Hiram king of Tyre sending messengers, cedar trees, masons, and carpenters to build David a house, and David's realization that the LORD had established him as king over Israel and that his kingdom was highly exalted for the sake of His people Israel.
1 Chronicles 14:3-7 lists the growth of David's family at Jerusalem—more wives, more sons and daughters—and names the thirteen children born to him there: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet, Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Beeliada, and Eliphelet.
1 Chronicles 14:8-9 reports that when the Philistines heard David had been anointed king over all Israel, all the Philistines went up in search of David, raiding the valley of Rephaim, and David heard of it and went out against them.
1 Chronicles 14:10-12 records David inquiring of God whether to go up against the Philistines, God's promise to give them into his hand, the victory at Baal-perazim where God broke through David's enemies like a breakthrough of waters, and the burning of the abandoned Philistine gods at David's order.
1 Chronicles 14:13-16 recounts the second Philistine raid in the valley, David inquiring again of God, the new instructions to circle behind them and wait for the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, and the obedience that struck down the Philistine army from Gibeon to Gezer.
1 Chronicles 14:17 concludes the chapter with the fame of David going out into all the lands and the LORD bringing the fear of him on all the nations.
1 Chronicles Chapter 14 parallels 2 Samuel 5:11-25 nearly line for line, but the two books deliver the material differently. Samuel narrates Hiram's embassy, the Jerusalem sons, and the Rephaim battles before the ark ever moves; here, the chronicler sets them between the failed procession of chapter 13 and the successful one of chapter 15. Samuel's order suggests these events came earlier in the reign, so the chronicler's placement is a deliberate arrangement: the three-month pause at Obed-edom's house is bracketed with proof that God was still blessing David. The outburst at Perez-uzza was discipline within God's favor, and the interval became a season of building, family, and victory.
The chapter also reaches backward and forward inside Chronicles. The sons born in Jerusalem (vv 3-7) restate the family record of 1 Chronicles 3:5-9, where the same thirteen names appear. The Philistine wars answer chapter 10, where Philistines dismembered Saul on Gilboa; the same enemy now breaks against Saul's successor. And verse 2—a kingdom "highly exalted, for the sake of His people Israel"—prepares for chapter 17, where God covenants to build David a house and to settle his throne forever (1 Chronicles 17:11-14; 2 Samuel 7:12-16). A king established by God, for the good of God's people, becomes the shape of the promise from which Messiah comes.
Two details tie this chapter to the ark story that surrounds it. The verb behind Baal-perazim—paratz, "to break through"—is the same verb behind Perez-uzza (1 Chronicles 13:11) and behind David's confession that "the LORD our God made an outburst on us" (1 Chronicles 15:13). Breaking-through power runs through all three chapters; chapter 14 shows it aimed at God's enemies. And the word for David's kingdom being "highly exalted" (v 2) comes from nasa', to lift or carry—the very verb for carrying the ark that chapter 15 will restore to the Levites. The God who lifts the king also defines who may lift His throne.
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