How Defeated Is The Enemy?

When God defeats our enemies, He takes away their ability to harm us.   #daybydaylw   Interested in learning more about becoming a devoted follower of Christ? Go to follow.lifeword.org!   ~~~   Notice that in 2 Samuel 8:1, David defeats the Philistines, subdues them, and “took Metheg-ammah” out of the hand of the Philistines. Over in 1 Chronicles 18, this same passage is repeated, but there, instead of Metheg-Ammah being used, it gives the name of the city “Gath.” So what gives? Why did the author of 2 Samuel use this more obscure name of the city? Well, Metheg-ammah is a combination of two words. Metheg means bridle or bit, and “Ammah” means mother. The phrase meteg hāʾammâ would then mean “the authority of the mother-city/metropolis” (BDB, 52; ASV; Driver, 277; cf. 20:19, which refers to a “city that is a mother [ʾēm] in Israel”). Most commentators agree that this meaning conveys the general sense of the phrase and note that the parallel in 1 Chronicles 18:1 interprets it to refer to “Gath and its its daughters”). The summary of Kirkpatrick (Second Book of Samuel, 105) is typical: The most probable explanation of this obscure expression is that David took the bridle of the metropolis out of the hand of the Philistines, i.e. wrested from them the control of their chief city.1 So David, and the Israelite army, didn’t just defeat the Philistines and subdue them or calm them down, they broke Philistine reign and started controlling them. The Philistines had long been the great enemies of Israel, and now they are broken down, and you do not hear from them much any more causing harm to the Israelites. This is but a small reminder that God doesn’t just defeat enemies, he de-claws them, de-fangs them. Did you know that the enemy is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour? But that the enemy cannot ultimately or completely defeat you. The follower of Christ has the resurrected life of Christ living in Him, and His resurrection cannot be undone. 1 Youngblood, R. F. (2009). 1, 2 Samuel. In T. Longman III & D. E. Garland (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: 1 Samuel–2 Kings (Revised Edition) (Vol. 3, p. 401). Zondervan.