Tuesday, October 20, 2015

II Samuel 10: It Doesn't Pay To Go Against Israel

The Ammonites make a major miscalculation in how they treat King David, and end up dragging another nation (the Arameans) down with them.

The king of the Ammonites, a friend of David's, died.  Showing respect, David sent a delegation to the Ammonites and their new king, Hanun, to pay his respects.  Unfortunately, this gesture of kindness was misinterpreted by Hanun's advisers, who told him that David had sent the men as spies, not mourners.  Hanun gravely insulted the men by shaving off half their beards and cutting off half their clothes.  Then he sent them back to Israel in disgrace.

Realizing that they had just offended David, the Ammonites call for help.  They recruit mercenaries from the Arameans.  When General Joab arrives with Israel's army to respond to the Ammonites' insult, he faces a two-front battle (vs. 9).  He divides his forces with his brother, Abishai.  Joab will attack the Arameans and Abishai will attack the Ammonites.  Whichever one gets in trouble, the other will come to his aid.  As it turns out, however, the Arameans flee before Joab's men which causes the Ammonites to withdraw from Abishai's forces.  The Israelites win both battles!

When the Arameans regroup, they come at Israel again.  David's response is to come at the Arameans with everything he has (vs. 17).  Israel is victorious, killing 40,000 foot soldiers of the Arameans and 700 of their charioteers (vs. 18).  After this impressive victory, the Bible says that many of those kingdoms who had been subjected by the Arameans instead switched their loyalty to Israel.  Thus, "the Arameans were afraid to to help the Ammonites anymore" (vs. 19).

No comments:

Post a Comment