Thinkest thou that David doth
honor 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 one half of their beards, and cut
off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent
them away, trying to completely humiliate them. And when they
told it unto David, he sent to meet them because the men were
greatly ashamed. And David 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 Bethrebob
and the Syrians of Zoba, 20,000 footmen, and of King Mekah, 1,000
men, and of Ishtab, 12,000 men. They hired a bunch of mercenaries.
And when David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the host of
the mighty men. And the children of Ammon came
out and put the battle in array at the entering end of the gate.
And the Syrians of Zobah and of Rehob and Ishtab and Makah
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 array against
the Syrians. And the rest of the people he delivered into
the hands 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. But if the children
of Ammon be too strong for thee, then I shall 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 into the battle against the Syrians, and they
fled before him. And when the children of Ammon
saw that the Syrians were 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 Hadiazar sent and brought out of the Syrians that were
beyond the river, and they came to Helam. And Shobak, the captain
of the host of Hadiazar, 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 of the men 700
chariots of the Syrians and 40,000 horsemen and smote Shobak, the
captain of their host, who died there. There was a complete annihilation.
And all the kings that were servants of Hattiezer 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.
anymore. Let's pray together. Lord, we come into your presence
in the name of thy son. And Lord, how grateful we are
for him. And the salvation that's in him.
Lord, we pray for your spirit that we might be enabled to understand
your word. We ask that your gospel might
be preached that we might be giving hearing ears and receptive
hearts and that Christ might be glorified and that we might
be enabled to sit at his feet and hear his word. Lord, we pray
for your continued blessing upon this assembly. We pray that we
might be allowed to see you save many by your grace. We ask that
you would open up doors for us to preach your gospel. We ask
that you would bless the TV, the radio, wherever your gospel
goes out. Lord, we pray for our country.
Lord, how we need your guidance. We're so thankful that you're
in control. We pray for our leaders, that you'd enable them to make
decisions that enable us to live a quiet and peaceable life in
all godliness and honesty. Lord, we ask that you would give
us grace to love you more. To love one another more. Lord,
we pray for the forgiveness and cleansing of our sins for Christ's
sake. We pray for all your people, wherever they meet together in
Christ's name, we pray. Amen. Verse one, and it came to pass
after these things that the king of the children of Ammon died.
And Hanun, his son, reigned in his stead, then said to David,
then said, David, I will show kindness unto Hanun, the son
of Nahash, as his father showed kindness to 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."
Now this Nahash was the enemy of Saul, if you can remember
what he did to Saul. But here he comes as he did something
good for David. And David wants to repay this
kindness that this man who died showed to him. So he sent to
his son to comfort him over the death of his father. And you
know, anytime someone shows us any kindness, we ought to repay
with kindness, shouldn't we? Just like David did. We admire him for this. But David's motives are questioned.
Look in verse three. And the prince of the children
of Ammon said unto Hanun their lord, Thinkest thou that David
doth honor thy father, that he has 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? David's motives
are questioned. Wherefore, Hanun took David's
servants that had come to repay this kindness and to show respect
for this king that had died. What they did, wherefore, Hanun
took David's servants and shaved off one half of their beards,
and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks,
and sent them away. Now this was the ultimate act
of contempt and disrespect. They wanted these men to be exposed.
They wanted these men to be humiliated. They wanted these men to be shamed. This was the ultimate act of
disrespect and contempt. Cutting their robes off to their
buttocks. Shaving off half their beards.
The Hebrews, their manliness and their thoughts were seen
in their beards. And they shaved them off and
they treated them with such disrespect. Now, whenever you see someone
who tries to treat someone in a disrespectful way, or if you're
ever like that, to expose somebody, or to humiliate somebody, or
to bring somebody into public contempt. That's evil. That's all I can say, that's
evil. May God give us grace never to be like that, to expose somebody
else, and to humiliate them, and to bring them into public
shame and contempt. And that's exactly what was taking
place here. And remember, when they did this
to the Israelites, what they were doing was doing this to
David. They were showing what they thought of David. Now, verse
five, when they told him to 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. He was concerned
about their humiliation. He didn't want them to experience
this. Verse six, And when the children of Ammon saw that they
stank before David, indeed they did, they did. This act of contempt and disrespect
and seeking to publicly humiliate these men, they were doing it
to David. The reason they did it was because
of their contempt of David. Now, this makes me think of the
greater David. Remember what the Lord Jesus
Christ said? He said, inasmuch as you did
it to the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me. It's not as if you did it to
me, you did it to me. This is talking about the union
of Christ and his people. Whatever you do to Christ's people,
you do to Christ himself because they're united. an eternal union. He said, inasmuch as you did
it not to the least of these, my brethren, you did it not to
me. So the children of Ammon at this time did, in fact, stink
before David. And he's very upset with what
took place. And when the children of Ammon saw that they stank
before David, the children of Ammon sent and hired a bunch
of mercenaries. The Syrians of Beth-Rabob and
the Syrians of Zobah, 20,000 footmen, king of Mecca, 1,000
men, and of Ishtab, 12,000 men. They were trying to protect themselves
because they knew they were in trouble. Now remember at this
time, David was the most powerful man in the world. You can read
about his conquest in chapter eight that put him in this position.
He was the most powerful man in the world. And so these men
knew, we're in trouble. Why did I, they should have thought
about this before they treated these men this way, but they
knew they were in trouble. So they hired a whole lot of mercenaries
to try to protect them. And when David heard of it, verse
seven, he sent Joab and all the host of the mighty men." Now,
this is the first time these men are called mighty men. They're
all mentioned in this 23rd chapter when he gives the list of all
the great exploits these mighty men had done, but these are the
same men that were with him in the cave of Adullam. Remember
all that were distressed and discontent and in debt, came
to David, and he became captain over them. And these men stayed
with him throughout all of his trials, the mighty men of David. And I love thinking about them
like this, but this is the first time they're called these mighty
men. He gets his mighty men, verse seven, and when David heard
of it, he sent Joab and all the host of the mighty men. And the
children of Ammon came out, these men who had hired mercenaries,
and they put the battle in array. They set themselves and postured
themselves at the entering end of the gate, and the Syrians
of Zobah and Rehob and Ishtob and Mecca were by themselves
in the field. And when Joab saw that the front
of the battle was against him, before and behind. I mean, he
was hedged up. He had Syrians in front of him,
behind him, surrounding him. He saw, they've got me hemmed
in. 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 array 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 that word
help is the word that's generally translated save. Thou shalt save
me. If they're too strong for me,
you shall save me. But if the children of Ammon
be too strong for thee, then I'll come and save thee. Now
I think it's interesting how Joab never even considered the
possibility of defeat. Now he recognized weakness. If
they're too strong for me, you come save me. If they're too
strong for you, I'll come save you. But he knew God was completely
in control of everything. And the thought about being defeated
didn't even come into his mind. He said, I'll save you. But I
think of the gospel. There's plenty of stuff too strong
for us, isn't there? Plenty. things too strong for
us, but we have the promise of God's grace. He'll come and save. Now, verse 12, 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. I've got written down
what Latimer said. This is what Latimer said to
Ridley when they were getting ready to be burned at the stake.
When the flames began, Latimer said, be of good courage, brother
Ridley, and play the man. For we shall this day light a
candle by God's grace in England as I trust shall never be put
out. Well, he's quoting from this
passage of scripture where they say, be of good courage and play
the man. Play the man. Now, how can you
be of good courage when you have all these armies surrounding
you? How can you be of good courage? Give me a reason to be of good
courage. Well, God's on the throne. in absolute sovereign control. Look what he says, and this is,
be of good courage and let us play the men for our people and
for the cities of our God, and let the Lord do that which seemeth
Him good. Now this is just an acknowledgement
of the absolute sovereignty of God. We're gonna do our part
and play the man by the grace of God, and the Lord's gonna
do what seemeth Him good. That's the same thing Eli said.
When Samuel said, God's gonna kill both your boys, Hophni and
Phinehas, and Eli replied, it's the Lord. Let him do what seemeth
him good. Now, as long as God is on the
throne, I have no reason for anything but to play the man.
Because I've got nothing to fear if he's on the throne. I may
be afraid in my flesh and so on, but I have nothing to fear.
God is on the throne. These armies are in His hand. He's the Lord both of the living
and the dead. Everybody is under His control. Everybody is under
His thumb. Everybody is doing His will.
Now, if we really believe that, we have no reason to fear, do
we? If God be for us, who can be against us? Now fear not,
even though these armies are before you and behind you, and
seemingly you can't defeat them, God's on the throne. Let him
do what seemeth him good. And isn't that exactly what the
Lord said too? Remember when he said, I thank thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because you've hid these things from
the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes, even so, Father,
for so it seemed good in thy sight. Now, if it's good in his
sight, it's good in our sight too, isn't it? Whatever he does
is right. I love to see their confidence
in the absolute sovereignty of God. I hope our belief in the
sovereignty of God translate into us saying the same thing
Joab said to Abshi, be of good courage, play the man. Play the
man. Notice this belief in God's sovereignty
didn't give them this fatalistic attitude that some people adopt. Well, God's in control. Therefore,
I'm not going to worry about anything. I'm just going to,
you know, just kind of a fatalistic, do-nothing attitude. It didn't
do that to them at all, did it? It made them want to play the
man for the cities of our God, for Christ's sake. Play the man. Play the man for Christ's sake.
God is on the throne. Verse 13, and Joab drew nigh,
and the people that were with him under the battle against
the Syrians, he was playing the man and being of good courage,
and they fled before him. I don't think there was even
a fight. They fled before them. They saw Joab coming, and they
started running away. They were scared to death. You
see, God's in control of everything. He's going to do that which seemeth
good in His sight. And everything that takes place
is that which seemeth good in his sight. And if it seems good
in his sight, it's good, isn't it? It's all good. And that's
exactly what took place. And so when they went, the Syrians
fled. They were scared to death. And
they fled. And I don't think there was even a battle at this
time. Verse 14, and when the children of Ammon saw that the
Syrians were fled, then fled they also before Abishai, and
entered into the city. There wasn't a fight here. Everybody
ran. 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.
I mean, there was a big getting together to try to get this accomplished,
all these men, thousands and thousands of men to come up against
David, King David, the great David. They thought, well, let's
fight him. Verse 15, and when the Syrians
saw that they were smitten before Israel, they gathered themselves
together. And Hadiezer sent and brought
out the Syrians that were beyond the river. And they came to Helam. And Shobak the captain of the
host of Hadiezer 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 what happened?
There was a complete annihilation. And the Syrians fled before Israel,
and David slew the men, 700 chariots of the Syrians and 40,000 horsemen,
and Smote Shobak, the captain of their host, who died there. There was a complete annihilation
because remember David at this time had been brought into such
a position of power that his enemies could not stand before
him. Now this was really his heights
right here. This was the apex of his power. You think of all the trials that
he had. leading up to this. And this is the time where everything
seems to be going well. He defeats all of his enemies. Verse 19, and when all the kings
that were servants of Ahazazar saw that they were smitten before
Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them. Now, when I see that I'm smitten
before God, that I can't When? That I'm smitten before him because
of my sin. They didn't make peace. They
asked, the way this should read is they asked for conditions
of peace. And when I see that I'm smitten before God, you know
what I do? Lord, I surrender. White flag. Be at peace with
me for Christ's sake. Be at peace with me because of
the gospel. When they saw they were smitten, They became servants
and they asked for the conditions of peace, which is the gospel.
So the Syrians feared to help the children of Ammon anymore. Now, I don't want us to forget
what verse one of chapter 11 says, because from this position
of power, when everything's going great, we come into the very
darkest time of his life. I hope the Lord impresses us
with that. When everything is going great, that's when he lets
his guard down and gets ready to come into the very darkest
time of his life. And this is, look in chapter
11 verse 1. And it came to pass, after the
year was expired, at the times when kings go forth to battle,
Then David sent to Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel.
And they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabah.
But David tarried still at Jerusalem." When he should have been out
doing what kings do. Now from this position of power,
he decides to take some time off. He decides to take some
time off. And this is when that dark sin
with Bathsheba and Uriah and the cover-up and the crime and
the wickedness that David commits. This is David, the man after
God's own heart. Yet you look in chapter 11. You say, can a believer commit
such sins? Cold-blooded premeditated murder,
adultery, cover-up and all those things. Perfect. Perfect. Well, that's a good way to close
this, I guess. But as the Lord enables you, read chapter 11
this week, because that's what we're going to come up on next
week. OK.