When God's people are Misunderstood - 2 Samuel 10
Prayer: God we thank you for being our defender in a world that sometimes finds our very existence offensive. We thank you that your love isn't based on what people think of us, but on your very nature instead. Help us Lord to be willing to be uncomfortable for your name's sake. Amen!
Quickly Form Groups:
1. Briefly have each person share something about their lives that their non-believing friends don't "get", pray for each.
David is a good king, he's shown himself to be honorable & to be a man who keeps his promises - like we saw last time when he kept his promise to Jonathan to show kindness to Jonathan's family. David was also the kind of king that wasn't ruthless to the other nations around him, he didn't go looking for a fight; in fact, he had good relations with the king of at least one of the surrounding nations - and that's where our passage begins.
2 Samuel 10:1-2a - We start with some sad news, a friend & ally of King David has died - someone who had shown kindness to King David. David makes up his mind to show kindness to King Nahash's son & successor Hanun, so he sends a delegation to Hanun to express his sympathy. This delegation was likely people from within David's royal court, trusted friends & advisors, and they most likely came bearing gifts. This action on David's part shows his compassion but also his wisdom, he wants to keep peace with this neighboring nation, and that nation has a new king.
2 Samuel 10:2b-4 - What a shame, David's actions which were spurred on by his compassion are completely misunderstood. The Ammonites have not been wise, surely there was a better way to guard themselves against a perceived threat, they could have simply turned the delegation away, instead they seem to be inviting trouble. Let's take a look at what they did to David's men:
- They shaved off half of each man's beard - Leviticus 19:27; Isaiah 7:20 - The beard of an Israelite man was symbolic of his relationship with God, their particular type of beard set them apart as God's chosen in a visible way. In most Eastern cultures of that day a beard was only shaved off during times of deep mourning. For the Jew, a beard being shaved or pulled off at someone else's hand was sometimes used a symbol of God's displeasure - showing that the people weren't really being God's people. It could also be a sign of being cut off from God - Isaiah 50:6 - this prophecy was fulfilled by Christ, his own people rejected him as one of them & took away a symbol of him being a Jew - thus symbolically cutting him off; in addition, it was also symbolic of him being "cut off" from fellowship with the Father at the crucifixion.
- They cut off their garments mid-buttock & sent them away like that - Wow, I can't imagine the humiliation this caused. Being uncovered in this way is humiliating to anyone, but not only would it humiliate them they would be exposed as "different" since all Jewish males were circumcised (not practiced by any other cultures at this time). This was a customary way, in that place & time, to treat prisoners of war...
2 Samuel 10:5 - How does David respond? He sends messengers to greet his delegation & help them recover. I'm guessing his messengers would have been sent with fresh garments for the delegation, though we don't know. What we do know is that David set aside time for his men to recover, and a place for them to recover that had them hidden away - Jericho was still in ruins in David's day per the Lord's direction. David showed compassion and did what he could to help them regain their dignity - remember these were members of David's royal court & likely also some of his dearest friends. What I find equally interesting is what David doesn't do, he doesn't get ticked off and start a war, perhaps he considered that Hanun's grief may have blurred his judgement - just a thought, we really don't know. David didn't retaliate - Roman's 12:19 which quotes Deuteronomy 32:35 - he let the offense go, leaving their fate in God's hands.
2 Samuel 10:6 - At this point the Ammonites realize that what they've done is going to cause problems in their relations with Israel - now that they've had some time to think through their actions. I wonder if David's inaction, his lack of retaliation, is what caught their attention? But they go from one foolish decision to another, instead of reaching out to broker peace they automatically assume that David is hatching some sort of big plan to do them in, and this new wrong assumption on their part leads them to start a war. The Ammonites must have feared the strength of David's army, because they're not content to fight alone, they hire in additional forces to assist them: 20,000 Foot Soldiers (Aramean from Beth Rehob & Zobah), King Maacah & 1,000 of his men, 12,000 men from Tob - totaling 33,000 additional troops.
2 Samuel 10:7 - David now is forced into a war, why? Because he wanted to show compassion to the son of a friend that died. Have you ever been misunderstood? I have been, I've been accused of some terrible things by people who didn't understand that I was acting out of kindness, care, or compassion - and it cuts deeply. I've had people I thought were friends turn their backs on me, and undermine me (start a war of a different sort), because they were upset about something I'd done with good intentions. Though times like these are painful, as believers we should expect this is we are openly living out our faith in front of our unbelieving friends - Luke 6:22.
2 Samuel 10:8-12 - The Ammonite troops formed lines in one area, near the entrance to their city, while their hired troops (Arameans) were in open country nearby. I'm guessing the groups would have been relatively evenly split, if so the Ammonites would have been around 30,000-40,000 men strong. The forces of Israel under Joab were right in the middle, not a good strategic position; however, Joab divides the forces between himself and his brother Abishai. Joab took the more skilled troops with him, presumably to tackle the more skilled forces of the Arameans. Abishai took the greater number of troops, though not as highly skilled, against the Ammonites. The brothers agreed that if either struggled the other would come to help, but they knew that God was the one in control of their battle - their service under David had taught them well.
2 Samuel 10:13-14 - From our study of 2 Samuel 5 last Spring I told you that conservative estimates of the size of David's combined army (with the former army of Saul) would have been about 350,000 men at the time he became king over all Israel. I'm guessing that these forces hadn't dwindled, but they may not have all been called out into this battle. Needless to say, when the smaller group of David's forces head toward the Arameans they flee - likely they knew it would be a slaughter if they stayed put. Once the Ammonites see their hired warriors have fled they also flee & take refuge in their city. At that point Joab simply leads the troops back to Jerusalem, the conflict appears to have been settled - or has it?
2 Samuel 10:15-16 - Apparently the Arameans had their reputations in danger because they had fled from a battle that they'd been hired to fight. The first time there had been 33,000 of the Aramean forces and that wasn't enough, so this time they brought a bunch of their countrymen from further away (from the other side of the Euphrates) to join their fight.
2 Samuel 10:17-19 & 1 Chronicles 19:18 - I don't like mosquitos, I'm allergic to them & get terrible hives when bitten, but even if it weren't for that I think they're pesky critters. I really dislike them when they buzz my ears or fly into my eyes, I find this behavior downright obnoxious! I think that's how David was feeling about these Arameans, he'd swatted at them already trying to shoo them away, but they just aren't getting the message.
This time David is responding in person, he leads the troops into battle & Israel is the victor (hmm, this was predictable). David's men killed 7000 charioteers (the 700 in 2 Samuel is believed to be an ancient copyists error - 1 Chronicles is believed to have the correct number), as well as 40,000 foot soldiers. Ok, do the math, that's 47,000 killed - and the first time they'd only come with 33,000 troops!
The Arameans got the picture, they weren't going to defeat David, so they brokered peace with Israel. They also got wise about the Ammonites & wouldn't act as their hired guns anymore. I'm guessing the Ammonites decided to just keep to themselves after this... my mental picture is of them cowering inside their city walls afraid to upset the neighboring kingdoms - after all they didn't want their beards cut off & their buttocks exposed.
Closing Prayer: God we thank you that you are the defender of your people. We know that when people come against us because of you that you are standing with us and for us, that is such a comfort. We thank you for your word that shows us your faithfulness toward your people, a faithfulness that is seen by looking at how you have worked for the sake of your name's sake throughout history. We thank you that you choose to work through us to continue to do your will in this world, help us to lean on you for the strength & courage to do what you ask. Amen!
Quickly Form Groups Again:
2. Share about a time when someone lashed out at you because they were suspicious of your intentions. How did that impact you? Have you specifically forgiven them?
3. Share about a time when you felt God was fighting your battle on your behalf, giving you victory. What did you learn from that? How can you use your story to encourage others?
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