In this chapter we have an analysis of the strategy of the adversaries of God's people. We note that immediately the narrative refers to these people as, ‘the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin.
But these things are written for our learning (Romans 15:4). The history being recorded for us, and this is how it works. This is all about the family of Abraham, the history of the descendants of Abraham. Who are they? They are the Jewish people whom God set aside, because through them he would reveal his truth. Revelation began with them. The Scriptures were delivered through them. They were given a preliminary form of worship, pointing to the need for forgiveness of sin and a coming sacrifice that would have to be made to atone for sin, pointing to the Messiah, the coming of Christ and what he would do to accomplish the reconciliation of fallen men and women with the living God. But the family of Abraham typify the church of the New Testament. Everything that happened to them, although it is literal history, also contained lessons for the ongoing Jewish Gentile Church of Christ. God blessed them when they were faithful, and punished them when they were unfaithful. He dealt with them in physical terms in a way that corresponds to how he deals with the church in spiritual terms. There is a purpose then in everything that is recorded, and so it is here. These Jews constitute the typical church. By no means were they all saved, even the 42,000 plus keen ones who returned to Jerusalem. By no means did all of them have a personal relationship with God, but, nevertheless, in those days God dealt with them. Because they represented the church of Christ, we are always looking for the application of these passages to ourselves, and to our faith