David, “I come in peace.”
2 Samuel 10:1-19
Vs. 1-7 Rejection of kindness
Vs. 8-19 I’ve got your back.
Intro.
The 9th chapter served as a wonderful illustration of the heart of God to mankind who, like Mephibosheth, have been dropped (2 Sam. 4:4) by life, and the resulting fall has left them unable to walk. Yet it is these very people that our Lord searches out that He may invite to sit with Him forever at His table as one of His children. Now in the 10th chapter, David’s desire to distribute the goodness of God this time will lead to war and not peace, as his act of kindness is misunderstood and leaves David needing to defend the honor of others and the honor of God. This too serves as an illustration of what some chose to do with the goodness of God as they misunderstand or fail to appropriate the kindness of God towards them and how we who are called to be His ambassadors should handle it.
Rejection of kindness
Vs. 1-2 Here in these two verses we are given the reason for the war between Ammon and Israel, and it was not as one might expect. You see the battle happened because Hanun listened to his advisers, who clearly misunderstood David’s intentions (perhaps deliberately). Man, does that not ever ring true today, as many relationships have been severed based upon someone misunderstanding the intentions of another?
You might recognize the name Ammon as it is the capital of Jordan, so that will give you a geographical idea of where Ammon was (neighboring Moab). At any rate, in verse 2, when Nahash (snake) died,, who had been friendly towards Israel David decided to send some folks to console the people and Hanun his son (gracious). Ammon and Nahash had history with Israel as Saul’s first military victory was over Nahash when they attacked Jabesh Gilead (1 Sam. 11). But in spite of this bad history, David had developed a relationship with a king to whom at one time they had been at war.
Brothers and sisters, we too need to have a heart to develop and encourage relationships with people outside of our circle of friends, even if at one time they were against us. If our hearts have been touched by the goodness of God as we extend God’s kindness towards those who may have a beef with us. Notice as well that David didn’t just talk about it; he backed it up by sending an envoy to help and to grieve with the nation.
David is extending “kindness” to those that Saul and the nation had battled. Hey saint, it is important that having been invited to the king’s table that we be personally involved in the invitation process ourselves. David was seeking peace with those who previously the nation had been at war with. May I make this suggestion to you and me? You have heard it said, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” Perhaps we can add to this and find something nice to say about those who, for whatever reason, can’t say something nice about us.
Vs. 3-5 We cannot be sure what motivated Hanun’s (gracious) counselors to suggest this of David’s motives; it could be that they generally suspected him or that they wanted to appear wise to the new king, but it was a bad decision. Hanun did two things to embarrass David’s servants:
- “Shaved off half of their beards”: According to the Torah (first five books of the Bible), the beard is a sign of masculinity, so this was a great humiliation. The beard was seen as man’s greatest ornament, and cutting off half of it was a greatest insult, especially to an ambassador of a king. A person would often swear or make a pledge by way of their beard: “I swear by the hair of my chinny chin, chin.” Further, a beard was a sign of being a free man, while clean-shaven was a sign of a slave, so shaving off half and leaving the other half was a great insult.
- “Cut off their garments in the middle”: Again, this was an act of great insult and humiliation as it would expose a person’s nakedness, and with the Israelites, the fact that they were circumcised and other nations were not brought about even more ridicule.
To insult the ambassador of a king was to insult the king; it was an act that was just as if they had done so to David. Based upon Isa. 20:3-4, the act of Hanun was the way you would treat a prisoner of war, so this would have been viewed as a declaration of war. The truth is there was great racial hatred, and David’s recent attack upon their close neighbors, the Moabites, furthered this hatred. In the case of Hanun, immaturity and arrogance triumph over wisdom and humility. As they thought that this was espionage and that this act of kindness was for the purpose of future invasion, and as it was the immaturity and insecurity of the new king, this led to paranoia, and his response was more or less a declaration of war as he shaved off½ their beards and cut off half of their robes.
Hey saint, Jesus told His disciples in John 15:18, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.” Our Lord takes it personal when folks mess with His friends and brothers. But notice that David cared more for the men than he did to use them to motivate hatred towards the Ammonites as he told them to remain in Jericho until their beards had grown out. David’s heart was to conceal the embarrassment of his friends, man. That is a good word for us to conceal the hurt and heartaches of those of the body of Christ.
Vs. 6 Here David was doing a good thing, wanting to be a blessing, and the nation David thought was friendly towards him wanted to cut him off and embarrass him. Hey saints, I hate to say it, but we will all go through times like this where we want to be a blessing to someone and they want to cut us and expose us. How do we handle this? Man, I’ve got to say that it causes me to want to pull out and retreat, but that’s not what the Lord would have us do. Notice that David does four things:
Vs. 5b “Wait at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return.” David’s first response was towards those that were embarrassed, as he sought to protect them and defend them. He did not send them out to take vengeance upon those who had done so; no, he tells them to stay in Jericho until their beards have grown back. Now Jericho means “pleasant fragrance,” so David sent them to a place of sweetness. Hey, when we have been cut and exposed by someone we have tried to show kindness to, we need to head off to our “Rose of Sharon,” our fragrant place, and take some time for things to grow back. Not to worry, our wounded hearts, like these fellows’ beards, will grow back, and our hurt and embarrassment won’t be permanent.
. Vs. 6-7 The second thing I notice is that David didn’t immediately attack; he waited to see the intentions of those who had embarrassed his men. The problem with this action was that Hanun had not counted the cost of his actions and could not militarily back it up, so he hired mercenaries from Syria. So when he sees them gathering 33,000 Syrians to fight by paying them 2 million, he sends Joab to gather the mighty men. Far too often, when this sort of thing happens, we want to rush out and attack instead of waiting to see the heart of the person or persons involved.
This restraint is even more amazing when we realize that the people of Ammon had no one to blame for David’s reaction other than Hanun the king and his advisers. Why do I bring this up? Well, the tendency we have is to pick fights in reaction to those who have picked a fight with us, and all this does is make a bad situation worse. In Rom. 12:10–18, Paul gives seven things necessary to maintain a good reputation:
- “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor of giving preference to one another.”
- “Distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.”“
- “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.”
- “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.”
- “Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.”
- “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.”
- G. “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.”
Again, remember, to make matters worse, the people of Ammon hired the Syrians as mercenaries, and we are told in 1 Chronicles 19:6 that they paid the Syrians 1,000 talents of silver in today’s market that would be well over 2 million dollars.
This is the first time in scripture that the army of Israel is called “the army of the mighty men.” These were some of the same fellows who in 1 Sam. 22:2 came to David in the cave of Adullam when he was “stressed out, put out, and bummed out.” So what has happened to cause such a transformation? Well, in the corresponding book of 1 Chron. 19:13, we are told Joab’s words to the troops, “Be of good courage, and let us be strong for our people and for the cities of our God. And may the LORD do what is good in His sight. Men, let’s go for it and trust our mighty God!” Joab said. They were the army of mighty men because they trusted in their mighty God! That’s how we can face off against our enemy and be of good courage, strong for our people and the cities of our God—”the Lord will do what is good in His sight”!
Hey, consider a few of these fellows. One of them killed 800 men at one time, another killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day, and still another took on a huge Egyptian and killed him with his own spear. My point? God does not look for extraordinary people; no, He finds ordinary people who will simply trust an extraordinary God to do what is good in his sight! So maybe you have a fight coming up with 800, or a lion in a pit on a snowy day, or some big old Egyptian with a spear, trust in your extraordinary God!
I’ve got your back.
Vs. 8-12 Based upon 1 Chron. 19, they sought the Lord and then relied upon the Lord on how to overcome the situation. As Joab approached the battle, he noticed that they were surrounded, as in front of them were the Ammonites at the entrance of the gate and behind them were the Syrians. The mercenaries were the toughest ones, so Joab put the rest of the mighty men into the hands of Abishai, his brother, to face the weaker force of Ammon while he took the finest of the troops to face the Syrians, knowing that they were the stronger of the two. And then in verse l1, “If I can’t handle the Syrians, then you come and help me, but if the people of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come and help you.”
Next in verse 12, Joab reminded the troops to “be of good courage, and let us be strong for our people and for the cities of our God. And may the LORD do what is good in His sight.” It does not seem to have occurred to him to surrender even though they were surrounded by the enemy; instead, he calls the army to have courage and faith and go for it. Perhaps you are thinking, Why does Joab have the courage to trust the Lord? Well, I think about it, what they needed was courageous trust, not trust in their courage! Notice as well that Joab reveals to the army that such a decision was a matter of choice and not a mere feeling; the soldiers need to make a courageous choice to trust God.
He also brought into perspective that a loss here meant that their families would lose as well; finally, Joab reminded them that behind them, in spite of their weakness and doubt, was a good God who was for them! Joab’s speech was not one word of the strength of the enemy they faced; he simply said, “Fellows, let’s roll!” Hey, saint, there is a great balance between inspiration and perspiration in our preparation to which our God calls us. “We may be trapped, but we will plan right, we will take care of each other, and most importantly, we will trust the results to the Lord.” Too much reliance on inspiration can cause us to do nothing and have a kickback attitude. Ah, but too much reliance upon perspiration can cause us to be doing things in our own strength and not in God’s.
Hey, a lot of the times when we have been betrayed, we feel as if we have been cut off and embarrassed, and the situation leaves us with a sense of being surrounded, doesn’t it? So how did they handle this? Well, they had each other’s backs. “Hey, I’ll take care of this, and you take care of that, and if I get into trouble, you help me, and if you get into trouble, I’ll come to help you.” Man, that’s a good word for you and me. When someone comes in to cut into us and expose us, let’s believe the best and come to their aid!
Vs. 13-19 The Syrians sought reinforcements and went after David, but he didn’t leave the battle to just “the mighty men.” No, he enlisted the nation. Here is what we glean from this: if we all come together when someone has been cut off and exposed, when they are feeling surrounded, then we will put the enemy to flight.
Joab and the army of mighty men never got to engage the Syrians in battle as the mercenary army of Syrians fled, seeing God was with them. Now this speaks to me about motivation. How so? Well, you can pay some people $2 million to go out and do your fighting, but in the end, a dead man can spend no money! Hey saint, it is why God spends so much time sending you and me to the school of trials to develop right hearts in our service towards Him because He hasn’t called us to be soldiers but servants, not warriors but worshippers! Now when the Ammonites saw the Syrians retreating, they retreated as well. 2 million didn’t buy courage for them either.
They gathered men from as far away as the Euphrates, and the defeat was that we were only given the deaths of the charioteers and horsemen but not the foot soldiers. After the defeat, the Syrians were not interested in the dollars to help the people of Ammon. You see, the Syrians realized that they had been defeated by Israel and thought, “Hey man, we aren’t going to get many more jobs as mercenaries if all we do is turn and run,” so they got back together.
Hey Christian, our enemy may turn and run when we trust our God and go forward, but you can bet he won’t quit after one defeat. David took this opportunity to gather some reinforcements, as in the rest of the army and not just the army of mighty men. There are far too many Christians who are quite content to let a few go to battle protecting them and their cities, but Christianity is a team, not just a few mighty men, so David wisely gets everyone into the battle.
Consider the difference between Mephibosheth and Hanun: When David had desired to show the kindness of God towards Mephibosheth, it was received because Mephibosheth was broken and humble, but the same desire to distribute the goodness of God to Hanun was rejected and even attacked. It all is a matter of the heart as to whether or not we will receive the goodness of God.
Finally, we need to take note that this battle took place in the fall, which will set up what happens in the 11th chapter, which happens in the spring. This was a great time for the nation, and David is a strong king, but as we shall see in the next lesson, Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 10:12–13, “Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” In the next lesson we will see that the Ammonites are still in their city of Rabbah (contentious), and in the spring David sends Joab and the army back out while he waits in Jerusalem, and it will be then that he falls into sin with Bathsheba.
What does this have to do with you and me? Well, God doesn’t call us to be spectators but participants! Someone once called professional football 50,000 people who desperately need exercise watching less than a dozen who desperately need a rest. Far too often this describes God’s church, and it ought not to be so, so let’s get busy, and at the very least it may keep us from falling into sin!