2 Samuel chapter 10 and reading
from verse 1. And it came to pass after this
that the king of the children of Ammon died, and Hanun his
son reigned in his stead. Then said David, I will show
kindness unto Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed
kindness unto me. And David sent to comfort him
by the hand of his servants for his father. And David's servants
came into the land of the children of Ammon. And the princes of
the children of Ammon said unto Hanun their lord, Thinkest thou
that David doth honour thy father, that he hath sent comforters
unto thee? Hath not David rather sent his
servants unto thee to search the city? and to spy it out,
and to overthrow it. Wherefore Hanun took David's
servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and
cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks,
and sent them away. When they told it unto David,
he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed.
And the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown, and
then return. And when the children of Ammon
saw that they stank before David, the children of Ammon sent and
hired the Syrians of Bethrehob, and the Syrians of Zobah twenty
thousand footmen, and of King Macca a thousand men, and of
Ishtob twelve thousand men. And when David heard of it, he
sent Joab and all the host of the mighty men. The children
of Ammon came out and put the battle in a ray at the entering
inn of the gate. And the Syrians of Zobah and
of Rehob and Ishtob and Macca were by themselves in the field. When Joab saw that the front
of the battle was against him before and behind, he chose of
all the choice men of Israel and put them in a ray against
the Syrians. And the rest of the people he
delivered into the hand of Abishai, his brother, that he might put
them in array against the children of Ammon. And he said, If the
Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shalt help me. And
if the children of Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will
come and help thee. Be of good courage, and let us
play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God.
And the Lord do that which seemeth him good. And Joab drew nigh,
and the people that were with him, unto the battle against
the Syrians, and they fled before him. And when the children of
Ammon saw that the Syrians were fled, they fled, then fled they
also before Abishai, and entered into the city. So Joab returned
from the children of Ammon, and came to Jerusalem. And when the
Syrians saw that they were smitten before Israel, they gathered
themselves together, And Hadarazor sent and brought out the Syrians,
which were beyond the river, and they came to Helam, and Shobach,
the captain of the host of Hadarazor, went before them. And when it
was told David, he gathered all Israel together and passed over
Jordan and came to Helam. And the Syrians set themselves
in array against David and fought with him. and the Syrians fled
before Israel, and David slew the men of 700 chariots of the
Syrians and 40,000 horsemen, and Smote Shobach, the captain
of their host, who died there. And when all the kings that were
servants of Hadarazor saw that they were smitten before Israel,
they made peace with Israel and served them. So the Syrians feared
to help the children of Ammon any more. Amen. May the Lord
bless to us this reading from his word. Well today's verses tell us of
yet more battles fought by David and his armies. Though here it
seems that David was provoked into conflict by the rudeness
and the insults of a young king of the Ammonites who'd recently
ascended to the throne of his country. Ammon had never been
a friend to Israel. and Nahash the Ammonite had been
a vicious adversary of King Saul. Do you remember we spoke about
this, oh it's quite a long time ago, about the man who came and
said that he would put the eyes of all the villagers out unless
they could get help in a short period of time and Saul brought
his army and fought against that king. Well that was Nahash the
Ammonite and it is now this man who in the reign of David has
died. And there's something that we
don't know about here because David had, in some way, benefited
from an act of kindness from Nahash, despite the brutality
and the fierceness of that man's reputation. Perhaps Nahash was
some wily old politician as well as a brutal foe. And what kindness
it was that he had shown to David is not stated in the Bible. But it's likely that Nahash had
in some way protected David in order to spite Saul, who had
defeated him in battle. In any event, there was an uneasy
peace between David and Nahash, Israel and the Ammonites. And upon Nahash's death, David
sought to foster better relations and sent ambassadors to Hanun
with condolences concerning his father's death and no doubt also
congratulations on his rise to the throne of the nation. Now perhaps it was Hanun's youth
and naivety that encouraged him to listen to poor advice. The princes of the Ammonites
gave Hanun bad advice. And for whatever reason, Hannan
took David's emissaries and he treated them shamefully by cutting
their beards in half, so I guess he cut off half their beard and
left the other half on, and by cutting their clothes in half
so that it was right up to their buttocks, we're told, which was
most embarrassing, and he sent them back to walk through the
streets in that partially naked way back to David. It was a terrible act of shame
that he imposed upon these men. Of course, this was not simply
to affront them as individuals. It was an insult and it was a
provocation against David the King. As if to say, this is what
we think of your greeting. This is what we think of your
condolences. And the offence did not go unnoticed. and realising that David would
respond angrily, Hanun prepared for battle by hiring mercenaries
from the Syrian region. Now there had previously been
defeats of Syrian enemies, but what still remained of the defeated
armies of the Syrians now joined this man Hanun in a confederacy. and over the course of several
battles David and his general Joab gained victories over the
combined armies which resulted effectively in David subduing
the whole region. Now we don't need to go into
too much detail about the battles themselves, but what we do see
is that Joab again proved himself to be a fine military leader,
a fine general, using his forces wisely and motivating them so
as to defeat both the Ammonites and the Syrian mercenaries. And David himself also fought,
and by defeating a large Syrian army, subdued all the land that
God had promised to Abraham, way back in Genesis chapter 15
and verse 18. I'm gonna read it in a moment,
but remember this land that David is now in, the land of Israel,
the land of Canaan. The promised land was called
the promised land because God had promised it to Abraham in
covenant back in the book of Genesis where he had said in
chapter 15 and verse 18, in the same day the Lord made a covenant
with Abraham saying, unto thy seat have I given this land from
the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates. So that this land now was all
under David's control and the various kings that were in different
parts of that area all gave allegiance David and paid tribute to him. So indeed David became very wealthy
and the nation of Israel prospered in this golden era where David
was king over Israel. Here are a few lessons that I
think we can glean from this quite wide-ranging passage that
is before us today. The first one I wanted to draw
your attention to was concerning David's ambassadors. These men
that were sent to Hanun, the Ammonite, and were treated so
badly, treated with abuse and with insults. But we noted that insulting the
king's representatives also involved insulting the king. And this
is something worth remembering by the Lord's people. When we,
who are the Lord's representatives here upon earth, are abused or
mocked for being Christians and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ,
it is really the Lord himself who is being insulted. It may be that it's our beards
and clothes that get chopped off. but it is Christ who is
being attacked and it is he who will note the offence and take
his revenge. The church, the Lord's people,
you and I personally, are never to take revenge on offences that
are caused to us. That's God's responsibility. And the ambassadors that had
been with David, they simply came back. They had been ashamed,
they had been insulted, and they returned to David. David said,
stay in Jericho until your beards grow, and then you can come back
to Jerusalem. such was the way that they felt
about what had been done to them. But it is the Lord Jesus who
will take stock of what happens to his church and people. And
that is something that is good for us to remember. We all, whether
we're older or younger, should be prepared to suffer for the
Lord as we seek to serve him. Ambassadors need to be brave
and they need to travel into the land of enemies and thus
expose themselves to personal risk, but they also need to remember
that they come in the name of their King. And we too come in
the name of our King, the Lord Jesus, when we witness for him,
when we preach for him, and when we work to serve him. David offered
a kindness to Hanun, which was rejected. And we too often feel
misunderstood in this world when we only wish to do good to those
around us for Christ's sake. And yet it is to be remembered
that this world is not at peace with Christ. Just as the Ammonites
hated the Israelites, it is opposed to him and hates him. Anything
of Christ and his goodness and glory will ultimately be abused
by this world in its fallen state and condition, including Christ's
church and people. Joab in the battle told the army
of Israel to be strong And the words are equally valid for ambassadors,
and they are valid for you and me today. Let us be strong in
the service of our great King, knowing that any attack on us
is an attack on him. And we may be sure of this, he
will protect his people, he will defend his cause, and he will
take revenge in due time. Another little lesson that comes
to us in these verses is concerning these battles. The battles that
were fought in this chapter also show how God's people must be
wise and brave and resourceful in the face of their enemies.
Joab and Abishai were commanders of David's army and David as
well went to war. Now today we do not fight with
chariots or using military weapons. The weapons of our warfare today
are spiritual. They are, Paul tells us nevertheless,
mighty through God to pulling down of strongholds. Paul tells
that to the Corinthians. And the true Church of Christ
is not found in the large denominations or the religious structures of
our day, but in those small groups and individuals, often few and
far between, who trust in the Lord for salvation, who possess
true faith in Jesus Christ, and believe that their acceptance
with God is to be found in trusting Jesus Christ, is
built upon the gift of God's own righteousness in Jesus Christ. And these, these believers, they
walk according to the gospel of peace. They live according
to the word of God. Paul says in Ephesians chapter
six, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities and against powers, against rulers, the rulers of
the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places. Nevertheless, it is warfare.
and our warfare requires us to be wise and brave and resourceful
as Joab and Abishai were. Wise and brave and resourceful. Wise in spiritual matters through
hearing and understanding and believing the gospel. Brave to
stand fast for the truth even when enemies of Christ endeavour
to dissuade us from following Him and try to prevent us. Resourceful to testify for the
Lord Jesus Christ when He gives us opportunity in whatever way
we can. If we truly are the Lord's people,
we shall encounter opposition sooner or later in our lives.
from without or within. We have spiritual battles to
fight and we have spiritual foes to face, but our Lord Jesus,
our saviour and our friend, will be with us as he was with David. And finally, David's victories
brought fulfilment of God's promises. God's promises that had been
given many, many years before to Abraham. And this is a reminder how the
promises of God will always be fulfilled, even if we must, with
patience, wait for a long time. The gifts of God are without
repentance. He doesn't give and take away. He doesn't give and then take
them back again. When the Lord saves a person,
he does so forever. When he gathers his church, he
does so and he keeps them. When he brings us into his family
by adopting grace, he will never let us go. And we can trust the
Lord. even when we are personally attacked
or abused or tempted, because the Lord will never let us down. We may have difficult experiences
in our Christian lives, we will have, We will face many doubts
and we will face many trials. It is a feature of our warfare
in this life. But the victory is secure because
it was won for us at the cross by the Saviour himself. Our God
does not bless us because of our faith, because of our success,
because of our bravery. but he blesses us for Christ's
sake. Because Christ has won the victory
through his blood, he shall have every prize for which he died. The Christian life may seem hard
at times, but we shall overcome because the battle is the Lord's
and the victory is certain. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us today. Amen.