17 Dealings with Ammon and Syria

In the previous chapter, David had the desire to show kindness to a possible descendant of Saul, because of his great friendship with Saul’s late son Jonathan. Now, n chapter ten, he desired to show kindness to Hanun, the new king of Ammon, whose father had died. David had been treated well by the former king, thus he desired to offer his condolences to Hanun.

1 David’s Heart of Kindness

2 Samuel 10:1-2

While David and Jonathan had enjoyed great fellowship in the Lord, that hadn’t been the case between he and Hanun. Yet, we still see him desiring to reach out in kindness to the pagan king.

2 Hanun’s Unwise Response

While David was showing a willingness to be used of the Lord to reach out in kindness, Hanun was instead receiving unwise counsel:

2 Samuel 10:3-5

Hanun’s counselors suggested that David’s ambassadors were spies, whom David had sent in prelude the overthrow of the city.

Therefore, Hanun had David’s men shamefully treated, as their beards were shaved in half, and their garments were torn down the middle, exposing their buttocks. In doing so, Hanun was making the statement, that Ammon wasn’t afraid of Israel, nor did they desire an alliance with them.

When David received the word of how his men had been treated, his first reaction, was once again one of kindness, as not desiring that the men appear in such a shameful state in front of the people, showing compassion, David directed that they remain in the town of Jericho until their beards grew out.

3 Preparations for War

Despite Hanun’s actions, the Ammonites realized that they had become Israel’s enemies, and therefore they began to prepare for war, by reaching out to many of the Aramean city-states which Israel had recently defeated (2 Samuel 8).

The Ammonites and their confederates weren’t alone in preparing for war, as Israel did so as well:

2 Samuel 10:6-12

Hanun hired 33,000 mercenary troops from among the Syrian and Arameans, most of whom had recently fought against, and lost to Israel. All showing how these were indeed relentless enemies of Israel.

1 Chronicles 19, records that the armies gathered at the Moabite town of Medeba, which was located in an area of the tribe of Rueben,

Once Joab saw that Hanun had amassed such a large contingent of mercenaries, he then countered by choosing a large number of Israel’s best fighting men.

Joab however decided to divide Israel’s armies into two divisions, one which he oversaw, and which was intended to battle the Syrians and their allies, and the other overseen by his brother Abishai, which was to battle the Ammonites.

Joash had determined that whichever of the divisions would be winning their battle, would then be freed to assist if the other division was having difficulty.

Joab then encouraged the troops, much as David would have, by encouraging them in the Lord:

2 Samuel 10:12

Joab’s words were for the men to be of good courage and to be strong.

His words were much like those the Lord spoke to Joshua after he succeeded Moses as leader of God’s people:

Joshua 1:6

And then:

Joshua 1:9

4 Israel’s Victory

Despite Israel’s enemies enjoying overwhelming numbers and resources on both fronts, they fled before the Israelites:

2 Samuel 10:13-19

The Lord had provided Israel with an unimaginable victory, as they didn’t have to strike their enemies with a single blow. This was to show how God has unending means by which He can bless and deliver His people.

However, that was only the initial outcome, since the enemy would still seek an opportune time to attack. This pictures how Satan is always seeking ways to attack a believer, which is why the apostle Paul admonished the church to be aware of the enemies’ tactics:

2 Corinthians 2:11

Once the Syrians fully realized the humiliation of their defeat before Israel, they gathered once again for an attack. Hadadezer even brough confederates from the east, even beyond the Euphrates River.

Once David became aware of the enemy’s actions, he gathered the Israelite army, and crossed the Jordan, coming to Helam (also known as Peniel).

On this occasion, the Syrians did engage Israel in battle, but then again began to flee. However, David pursued and overtook them, killing seven hundred charioteers and forty thousand horsemen, in addition to all the mercenaries which had joined Hadadezer’s army.

The outcome was that those nations made peace with David, while Syrians were so fearful of Israel, that they determined to never again join with the Ammonites in battle.