II Samuel Chapter 10
Please read: II Samuel 10 –
Nahash the king of the Ammonites had died. This was the same king we read about in I Samuel 11. In that chapter we learned that the Ammonites were going to either kill the men of Jabesh-Gilead or make them slaves and they would gouge out the right eye of all of them. Saul was king of Israel at the time and when messengers sought help for the men of Jabesh-Gilead, Saul had sent men to attack the Ammonites. There were only a few Ammonites who escaped with their lives. Perhaps the kindness that Nahash had shown to David was that he had not attacked Israel since David took the throne. Or perhaps there had been some other act of kindness he had shown. The act of kindness was not recorded for us, but David wanted to show kindness back to him by sending comforters to his son Hanun at the death of his father.
David’s kindness and generosity was misconstrued and what follows is a huge war. The Ammonites called on the Syrians to help them fight against Israel. We learn of yet another occasion where God protected the armies of Israel and gave them the victory. God was doing exactly as He had promised. He was preserving the kingdom of David.
Let's Reflect
1. What did Hanun’s men assume was the real motivation behind David sending messengers of comfort to Hanun?
2. What did the men do to the messengers?
3. When David heard about how his messengers had been so disgraced, he personally went out to meet them and console them at a time of humiliation. What did David suggest the men do to keep from being humiliated further?
4. The Ammonites didn’t just ask the Syrians to join forces with them against Israel. The Bible says they did what to get the Syrians to fight with them?
5. David sent the general of his army, Joab, out to fight the opposing armies. Joab wisely split the army between himself and his brother Abishai. According to verse 12 what else did Joab wisely do?
6. The Syrians saw that they were being defeated and so they called on more Syrians who lived across the Euphrates River to come and fight. David had not been fighting in these battles, but now knew he needed to get involved when he heard about the Syrians across the Euphrates being mustered. David, and the rest of the army he took with him, had a great victory. The numbers are astounding! The Israelites took out 700 chariots and 40,000 men on horseback. That was a great victory! All these kings of Syria realized they were no match for the God of Israel. What became of the surviving Syrians at this time?
