“Metheg-ammah”

David smote the Philistines, and subdued them: and David took Metheg–ammah out of the hand of the Philistines. —2 Samuel 8:1

David strings together five successive victories over Israel’s enemies in 2 Samuel 8. We can learn some spiritual lessons from David’s strategy in fighting battles for God.  A good example is David’s conquest of Metheg-ammah.  Metheg-ammah was the key city of Philistia, called Gath in 1 Chronicles 18:1.

The first lesson is David took out the biggest and strongest first. Metheg-ammah literally means “bridle of the mother city.”  As a bridle is used to control a horse, this city controlled the entire area of the Philistia. David figured if he could take out the Philistine capital, the rest of the cities would be no problem.

Second, David took out one enemy at a time—David did not use a “shotgun” approach—He used the snipper approach and picked off each city individually, starting with the main one.

The spiritual lesson we can learn is to confront the most difficult sin in our life first. Hebrews 12:1 says, “…let us lay aside every weight, and THE SIN which doth so easily beset us.” Notice, “THE SIN,” singular. There is some sin in each of our lives that is stronger than the rest.  It EASILY trips us up.  It is “THE SIN” that leads to more of our spiritual defeats than any other. It is “the Metheg-ammah” sin that causes most of our problems.   It is like a “bridle” that controls many other areas of our life.  That sin could be an action… an attitude… or even another person.

If we can conquer that “Metheg-ammah” sin in our lives, other problem areas of our life will be more easily overcome.

What is the Metheg-ammah in your life?  Focus on removing that “bridle” sin first.  Once that enemy is subdued, station a garrison in that area of your life lest the enemy come and retake that ground (see 2 Sam. 6:6, 14).