Sunday School | David - 2 Samuel 10

So this is continuing the study of David that Tim's been taking us through. I did get to see a few postings on Instagram that his son, Silas, put that looks like they're having a good time in the Aegean Islands and Greece. So a well deserved vacation for them. We've been studying in his class the life of David, and today we're gonna be studying chapter 10. And I gotta admit when I read through chapter 10 the first time, I said that's battles with the Ammonites. Where's the meat? Where's the practical application? So we're gonna do our best to find some nuggets in there. Tim always says there's treasure in there and you can find it. So we're gonna find it together hopefully.

This is kind of the culmination of the golden era, if you could call it that, for David. And that's because the next chapter we're going to see that downward slope that he's going to be going down when he deals with Uriah the Hittite and Bathsheba. But that's kind of why I call this the vista before the valley. But there's also some valiant acts and some villainous acts. And so that's kind of the other title here: heroes and villains.

This chapter looks backward in a couple ways. It looks back at chapter eight when David was consolidating his kingdom, beating the Philistines and the Edomites and the Moabites and so forth. But it also looks back at chapter nine because David is demonstrating that word we looked at—that chesed with Mephibosheth—but he also does it here in chapter 10. We'll see that again. It also looks forward though because the next two chapters, eleven and twelve, are gonna have a lot to do with the Ammonites, to include what happens with Uriah the Hittite. He's actually killed in the battles with the Ammonites. So I don't wanna get too much into that because I know Tim's gonna be covering that the next couple weeks.

So with that, let's go ahead and jump in. If you got your bibles, we're gonna be in chapter 10. I try and put the verses up here on the screen as we go.

After this, the king of the Ammonites died and Hanun his son reigned in his place. — 2 Samuel 10:1

Right off the bat, we have to ask the question: okay, I've heard of the Ammonites. They're one of those "ites" out there. But just who are they? So here's a map to kind of get our bearings. Right there is where the Ammonites live, the kingdom of the Ammonites. The Philistines were here, the Edomites. Anybody remember where the Edomites came from? Esau. Exactly. And the Moabites and the Ammonites are actually first cousins, if you could say that, because the Moabites and the Ammonites both come from Lot through his two daughters in Genesis 19.

It's interesting that both the Edomites and the Moabites—or excuse me, the Moabites and the Ammonites—they were specifically not in the list of the peoples or the countries that the children of Israel were supposed to stay away from. They were not supposed to take their land from them because Lot had been promised that and that was his inheritance. And so they weren't supposed to take them when they came into the promised land. But we'll see what happens with David here in a little bit.

Just as a side note, looking ahead, it's interesting. Solomon—what was probably Solomon's biggest downfall? How many wives did he have? Well, he had a lot of wives. But some of his wives came from Ammon and Moab. And in fact, Rehoboam, who's the king that takes Solomon's place, his mother was an Ammonite. So in effect, the next king after Solomon's a half Ammonite.

And then this feature right here—it's kind of important. This is called the King's Highway, and it ran from basically all the way down here in Egypt out and around on the east side of the Jordan River, then up to what's called the Fertile Crescent—the Euphrates River, the Tigris River—down all the way into Babylon. And what made it important was there were lots of rivers that crossed here. So you had a water supply in this arid land. And whoever controlled the King's Highway brought in a lot of revenue. It was a big moneymaker. And David actually takes that over in the course of the rest of this chapter.

So let's go ahead and look at the next verse.

And David said, I will deal loyally with Hanun, the son of Nahash, as his father dealt loyally with me. So David sent by his servants to console him concerning his father. And David's servants came into the land of the Ammonites. — 2 Samuel 10:2

I think you can see I've highlighted those two words there. You wanna guess what that word is? That's that Hebrew word we looked at last week. I think you might recognize it there. Chesed—that covenantal love and mercy that was so prevalent.

It almost seems that the author of Second Samuel has wanted to give us a double dose of David's hesed. It's almost like he wants to offset what is happening in chapters nine and ten as a foil against what's going to happen in eleven and twelve.

You can see the comparisons between these two chapters. On the left, chapters nine and ten—he's controlled by his love, his covenants, his memories. But in chapters eleven and twelve, he's going to be controlled by his passions and his secrets. He's going to be actively acting kindly and loyally on the left, and throwing all love and hesed right out the window on the other one.

In nine and ten, he spares life and mourns death. And in eleven and twelve, he actually tramples and destroys life and causes death.

The Backstory with Nahash

We don't know much about Nahash. There's a Nahash mentioned earlier on who's a king of the Ammonites, and most of the scholars—there's not consensus whether it's the same one here or whether it was a father or grandfather. But remember back, Saul's great victory early on is because this king Nahash was saying to the people at Jabesh Gilead, "You gotta surrender and if you do, I'll scrape out your right eye." I mean, it sounds like a fair deal, right? Surrender and I'll scoop out your right eye. And then Saul came to the rescue.

But because Saul was the enemy of this Nahash, something happened—and we don't know what it is—but it allowed David, because David was basically Saul's enemy and Nahash was Saul's enemy, to connect with Nahash. Somehow, Nahash evidently helped David at one point, and David saw that as an act of loyalty. So you kinda can catch the irony here. David is actually helping both Saul's family in chapter nine, and in chapter ten, he's helping his enemy.

Hanun's Fatal Mistake

Look at verse three:

But the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun their lord, "Do you think because David has sent comforters to you that he's honoring your father? Has not David sent his servants to you to search the city and to spy it out and to overthrow it?" — 2 Samuel 10:3

We don't know if Hanun's princes really believed that David was being a spy or if there was something else sinister going on. As a matter of fact, David had just defeated their cousins, the Moabites to the south. So they might have legitimately been saying, "We don't know what's going on here."

But does that line of reasoning sound familiar? Does that kind of sound like something we've heard before? There was an individual who specifically used this angle—the idea that someone might be spying. The answer is here in Second Samuel, and it's Joab.

Remember? Joab went to the king and said, "What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you. Why is it that you have sent him away so that he's gone? You know that Abner, the son of Ner, came to deceive you and to know your going out and your coming in and to know all that you are doing." — 2 Samuel 3

It seems pretty ironic that Joab uses this logic against David when he kills Abner, and then now it's going to be Joab who's going to be responsible to deal with this same line of logic that the Ammonites are using.

This suspicion generated by these advisers causes this new young king to do something regrettable.

So Hanun took David's servants and shaved off half the beard of each and cut off their garments in the middle at their hips and sent them away. When it was told David, he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, "Remain at Jericho until your beards have grown and then return." — 2 Samuel 10:4-5

We kind of have a tendency sometimes to chuckle when we read the story about shaving half a beard and cutting off their clothes. But this is much worse than just bad haircuts and wardrobe malfunction. It's actually pretty significant. They really could not have done something that was more shameful for them.

Some scholars say that the Israelites may have even felt they were violating the Torah, which they really weren't. But there are a couple passages in the law that specifically tell the Israelite men how to cut or how not to cut their beard. What often happens is when you're trying to obey the law and you're not sure what the right answer is, you kind of go to the extreme. And so Israelite men almost never shave. Maybe for a ritual ceremony or some kind of promise they were keeping, but almost never would they shave their beard. So for them to have their beards cut in half like that was a big deal.

But also, it was a direct assault on David's integrity in the nation of Israel. It was basically a declaration of war. Whatever treaty the Ammonites did have with Israel was thrown out the window.

Let's look at verse six. When the Ammonites saw that they'd become a stench to David. The word "stench" here—we always think of kind of an odor, something that smells bad. The Hebrew word is Baaash and it can mean two things. It can actually mean a bad smell. If you think back to Exodus and the first plague, the Nile River is turned to blood, all the fish die and it says there was a stench from the river. It stunk. It really did smell bad.

But the other way the word was used is more of a stinky situation in the way somebody sees you. Two chapters earlier from Exodus seven, Moses has been talking to Pharaoh saying, "Hey, let my people go." The plagues haven't happened yet. And Pharaoh is already having a hard heart and a stiff neck and he says to his people who are over the Israelite slaves, "Take away their straw and they still have to produce the same amount." So these workers are rebuking Moses saying, "You've made us stink before Pharaoh." Now, obviously, they didn't smell that. Pharaoh's perception of them was that they—some of the translations are actually better than the ESV, which is kind of literal. But some of the other translations, I think, did a good job of conveying that point: obnoxious, odious, repulsive, loathsome, and utterly abhorrent. I think that gives you a better sense of what that verse is trying to show.

Continuing on with verse six:

When the Ammonites saw that they'd become a stench to David, the Ammonites sent and hired the Syrians of Zobah, 20,000 foot soldiers and the king of Makkah with a thousand men and the men of Tob 12,000 men. And when David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the host of the mighty men. And the Ammonites came out and drew up in battle array at the entrance of the gate. And the Syrians of Zobah and of Rehob and the men of Tob and Makkah were by themselves in the open country. — 2 Samuel 10:6

What has happened here is the Ammonites have stirred up the hornet's nest and they hire these mercenaries. That was a common practice in those days. The people that they hire is actually a pretty substantial, significant fighting force. They're from a group up here called Aram. The Arameans had been around in this area for some time. If you see the word Aramaic, you might recognize it. That's the language that the Arameans spoke. The Aramaic language is utilized throughout this whole area. In fact, at the time when Jesus was walking the earth, that was the language that people spoke in common practice on the street corners talking to each other—Aramaic. It lasted all the way up until almost the 700s. Once Mohammed and the victories that he did with Islam happened, then Arabic became the primary language. But Aramaic lasted for about a thousand years basically.

So these Arameans are the people up here. And just to show you where everyone is: the Ammonites are here, and then there's Beth Rehob, Aram, Zobah, Makkah, and Tob. This group right here is all assembling into a fighting force to fight here.

Let's go to verse nine:

When Joab saw that the battle was set against him both in the front and in the rear, he chose some of the best men of Israel and arrayed them against the Syrians. The rest of his men, he put in the charge of Abishai, his brother, and he arrayed them against the Ammonites. And he said, "If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me. But if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come and help you." — 2 Samuel 10:9-11

Joab is setting up a strategy here to divide the Israelite force so that they have the flexibility to surge to whichever part is the stronger of the two. So you've got the force coming down here and here, and he splits it right here. That typically is not the best strategy when you look at all the strategists and military strategy, but it does work sometimes. In this case, of course, it does work. When the Lord's on your side, it probably helps, but it definitely worked for them.

But even though it's a risky plan and it's ripe for failure, look at Joab's attitude here in verse 12:

Be of good courage and let us be courageous for our people and for the cities of our God and may the Lord do what seems good to him. — 2 Samuel 10:12

Joab is a pretty complex character. Throughout all of David's life, he's a prominent person in 2 Samuel. His name appears more than any other person in 2 Samuel except for David. So he's a main character throughout. He's David's nephew. His mother is Zariah, which is one of David's sisters. If you remember back when Joab kills Abner along with his brother Abishai, what does David say about the sons of Zeruiah? "They're too strong for me."

He basically says, "I can't deal with them because they're such a fighting force. They're fierce warriors." And they end up loyal to David until the very end of his life. But not all the way to the end, because what happens is David has decided he wants Solomon to be his heir. Joab aligns himself with another one of David's sons, and that actually costs him his life. Even though he had been loyal this whole time, David, almost on his deathbed, says to his son Solomon, "Remember what Joab did and handle it," and Solomon handles it.

But in the meantime, here in chapter 10, we're seeing that Joab is courageous. He encourages his men to be courageous for God's people and for the land. And he reminds everyone that the Lord's in control, that the battle is the Lord's.

So Joab and the people who were with him drew near to the battle against the Syrians and they fled before him. And when the Ammonites saw that the Syrians fled, they likewise fled before Abishai and entered the city. Then Joab returned from fighting against the Ammonites and came to Jerusalem. — 2 Samuel 10:13

The Syrians realize they're beaten and they flee back and retreat, heading back north. When the Ammonites see that the big boys have gotten beaten, they take off back into their fortified city, the capital of Rabbah. It appears this is the end of that battle, and so Joab heads back to Jerusalem. Though it doesn't say this, most people believe that while Joab went back to Jerusalem and took some of the men with him, his brother Abishai stayed with his troops because the city was being besieged. There are a couple reasons we'll see why that probably plays out that way.

But when the Syrians saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they gathered themselves together and Hadadezer sent and brought out the Syrians who are beyond the Euphrates. They came to Helam with Shobach, the commander of the army of Hadadezer at their head. And when it was told David, he gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan and came to Helam. The Syrians arrayed themselves against David and fought with him. — 2 Samuel 10:15-17

The Syrians are not going to let this stand. What they do is regroup, but they get some of the people who are either aligned with them or subject to them way up here above the Euphrates. This is where Assyria will eventually form its kingdom, but this is before they become a power. Right now, the Arameans control the area even up above there. So they put together all these people and they're coming down. This was such a significant battle that David himself is going to be leading the head of the Israelite army.

And the Syrians fled before Israel and David killed all the Syrians, the men of 700 chariots and 40,000 horsemen and wounded Shobach, the commander of their army so that he died there. And when all the kings who were servants of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became subject to them. So the Syrians were afraid to save the Ammonites anymore. — 2 Samuel 10:18-19

I kind of like that last one. It's like, "Yeah, you guys have to take care of yourself now. We're not going to." They've learned their lesson the hard way, and so they make peace with Israel.

The Unfinished Conflict

But as I said earlier, this conflict isn't really over because the relationship with the Ammonites is so interwoven in what we're going to see with David and Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite and the siege that's going on at the capital city of Rabbah. I don't want to get too much into chapter 11 because that's where Tim's going to be taking us next week, with David and Bathsheba, and then chapter 12 afterwards. But just to kind of close the battle story, if you will:

In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab and his servants with him and all of Israel and they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. — 2 Samuel 11:1

To find out the end of the story, we have to go all the way to the end of chapter 12 and see the outcome. And we also see another picture of Joab's loyalty to David:

Now Joab fought against Rabbah and the Ammonites and took the royal city. And Joab sent messengers to David and said, "I fought against Rabbah, moreover, I've taken the city of waters. Now then, gather the rest of the people together and encamp against the city and take it, lest I take the city and it be called by my name." So David gathered all the people together and went to Rabbah and fought against it and took it. — 2 Samuel 12:26-29

And he took the crown of their king from his head, the weight of it was a talent of gold and in it was a precious stone. And it was placed on David's head and he brought out the spoil of the city, a very great amount. And he brought out the people who were in it and set them to labor with saws and iron picks and iron axes and made them toil at the brick kilns and thus he did to all the cities of the Ammonites. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

So that kind of ends the story of the Ammonites. And we've been reading about David's life in first and second Samuel. And those stories tell pretty much the facts of what's going on with David. But I really believe in order to get a better full flavor of what's going on in David's life, to go from the facts to basically the heart of David, you kind of have to read the corresponding Psalms that go with the stories.

David's Life Through the Psalms

There's a pretty extensive list and I'm just going to do an abbreviated one, but I think it'll show how there are certain Psalms that specifically say in sometimes the introduction, this is what was happening when, and you go back there. First Samuel 19, Saul has surrounded David's house with his men with the intention of killing him. Remember his wife, Michal, lets him out the window. That Psalm is Psalm 59.

First Samuel 22 and 24, David's in a cave in both of these chapters of first Samuel. And there are actually two Psalms that correspond that say when David was in the cave. Now we don't know if it was chapter 22 or chapter 24, but in any case, there are two different Psalms, Psalms 57 and 142.

First Samuel 22:9–19, Doag the Edomite—remember who he was? He's the one that killed all the priests. Saul had said to his men, "Kill these priests," and they said, "No, we're not going to kill them." Then Doag the Edomite did it. And so in Psalm 52, David kind of pokes fun at Doag a little bit, calling him "mighty man" sarcastically. That's where you get the phrase "dirty dog" usually in the South.

Next, remember David, as often as the case, he's hiding from Saul and the Ziphites. They say, "Hey, Psst, Saul, he's over there." And so that's where you get Psalm 54.

And then, of course, next week and the week after, I'm guessing, we'll be covering chapters 11 and 12, which deals with Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite. And to me, I think we would all agree that the most famous, most popular psalm is the 23rd Psalm. I think everybody knows it. Many have memorized it. Personally, I think the greatest Psalm, especially if you're trying to understand who David is and what his heart is, is Psalm 51.

Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit in me. Cast me not away from your presence. Take not your holy spirit from me.

There's just so much in there that tells us who David is as a person. It's the kind of psalm I think we should probably read on a regular basis. I'm trying to remember—there's a time, is it Lent sometime? When do we read Psalm 51 almost every year? Is it Ash Wednesday or Good Friday?

It's Good Friday. I think it's the kind of Psalm we should not just read for one day of the year. It's the kind that we should make it our prayer because it truly shows the heart of David.

We say that David sometimes is a replication of a precursor of Jesus in an imperfect way, to be sure, and pointing to Jesus. And we see in Philippians 2, Tim's talked about the V-shaped Jesus on high giving up everything to come down and die a death even on the cross, and then he's highly exalted. David's king, but he doesn't do something honorable. What he does is he sins horribly and he's down here. And the only way he can make his way back up is in Psalm 51. He honestly repents. He knows he's done wrong. He doesn't make excuses. He doesn't play the king card. Right off the bat, Nathan hits him: "I've blown it. My sin is ever before me."

So just a plug for Psalm 51—it's worth spending some time in.

Second Samuel 15–17, David's son Absalom revolts. It breaks David's heart. That's captured in Psalm 3. And then Second Samuel 8, which Tim covered a few weeks back, the victory over the Trans Jordan and some of those countries that we mentioned, that's Psalm 60. Psalm 60 is a great Psalm too, and in fact, the last two verses of Psalm 60 are the kind that you could almost make a prayer for reading today:

Oh, grant us help against the foe, for vain is the salvation of man. With God, we shall do valiantly. It is he who will tread down our foes.

That's a great promise and a great reminder.

This victory over all enemies in chapter 10 that we just covered—now, chapter 2 of Psalms is a prophetic messianic Psalm. It's one of the great ones pointing to Jesus. But as Tim pointed out when he was covering chapter 7 of 2 Samuel and the Davidic covenant, when we read about the promise God makes that there will always be an heir on the throne, it's one of those things where you can look at the present because Solomon fits the bill in some ways, but it's actually looking forward all the way to Jesus. And Psalm 2 is actually the same way.

Let's read Psalm 2. I'll have it up on the screen here. As we're reading it, picture how this Psalm not only relates to David and what we just covered here in chapter 10, but also picture it as who Jesus is and what it means for Jesus then and now.

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying, Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in heaven laughs, the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury saying, As for me, I've set my king on Zion, my holy hill. I will tell of the decree. The Lord said to me, You are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Now therefore, oh kings, be wise, be warned oh rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the sun lest he be angry and you perish in the way for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. — Psalm 2

All those nations surrounding David were plotting against him and things were looking bleak, but God had said, "No, I've got my anointed one on my holy hill Zion in Jerusalem." But this is actually the glorious picture and reminder of who Jesus is, what he's done, and what we will see him do in the future.

Yes, the Ammonites had started it with that little thing they did with the ambassadors, and then David took care of them all with the help of the Lord.

Closing Prayer

Father God, we thank you for who you are, for your word, that you're in control. We see this world today and we can see how the nations are still raging, still plotting against you and against your son, Jesus, your anointed one. But we thank you for not just the victories of old, but the victory especially that Jesus did for us on the cross, over death, over the grave. So help us to walk victoriously with a joyous spirit so that we can serve you knowing that the battle has already been won and we are free in you because of your love for us. We love you in Jesus' name. Amen.