2 Samuel 10:1

AMMONITES AND SYRIANS MAKE WAR AGAINST DAVID

Some scholars classify this chapter as belonging to the "Good Days" of David's reign, beginning the "Bad Days" with the following chapter; but Payne and Keil both identified this chapter as a record of the background occasion for David's adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of her husband Uriah before the walls of Rabbah. "The campaign against Rabbah not only gave David his opportunity for his adultery but provided the means by which he accomplished the death of Uriah."[1] Keil elaborated the same opinion more fully:

"The successes of all David's undertakings, and the strength of his government, which increased year by year, had made him feel so secure, that in the excitement of undisturbed prosperity, he allowed himself to be carried away by evil lusts, so as to stain his soul, not only with adultery, but also with murder; and he fell all the deeper because of the heights to which God had exalted him."[2]

That tragic sin of David took place during the war against the Ammonites, particularly, during Joab's siege against Rabbah (reported in 2 Samuel 10:11), and during which David had remained in ease at Jerusalem (2 Samuel 11:1). Some of the terrible consequence of David's transgressions will be noted in the next chapter. Some scholars have supposed that Psalms 44 and Psalms 60 have some reference to what is written here; but this is very uncertain.

There are four paragraphs in this chapter:

(1) David tried to comfort Hanun the king of Ammon following the death of his father; but his messengers of good will were rejected and insulted (2 Samuel 10:1-5).

(2) David accepted Hanun's challenge for war (2 Samuel 10:6-8).

(3) The Ammonites and their mercenaries were defeated by Joab (2 Samuel 10:9-14).

(4) Hadadezer rallies all Mesopotamia to continue the war against David, but he again suffered defeat (2 Samuel 10:15-19).

HANUN'S INSULTING TREATMENT OF DAVID'S MEN

"After this the king of the Ammonites died, and Hanun his son reigned in his stead. And David said, "I will deal loyally with Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father dealt loyally with me." So David sent by his servants to console him concerning his father. And David's servants came into the land of the Ammonites. But the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun their lord, "Do you think, because David has sent comforters to you, that he is honoring your father? Has not David sent his servants to you to search the city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it"? So Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off half the beard of each, and cut off their garments in the middle of their hips, and sent them away. When it was told David, he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, "Remain at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return."

"I will deal loyally with Hanun the son of Nahash" (2 Samuel 10:2). It is not known exactly what kindness or assistance that Nahash had bestowed upon David; but many scholars assume that, since Nahash was a bitter enemy of Saul (1 Samuel 11:1-11), that Nahash, during David's long flight from Saul, had treated David kindly as a means of opposing Saul.

"The warfare that resulted from this episode is one of the few conquests of David concerning which we know the cause."[3]

"David's servants came into the land of the Ammonites" (2 Samuel 10:2). "The place to which they went is undoubtedly Rabbah, the capital of the Ammonites; which is the modern Amman on the north bank of the Jabbok River about twenty-three miles due east of Jericho."[4]

"Has not David sent his servants to you to search the city, to spy it out, and to overthrow it?" (2 Samuel 10:3). The mistrust of Hanun's princes of David's intentions is not hard to understand. "It was founded upon national hatred and enmity, which had probably been increased by David's slaughter of two thirds of the Moabites."[5] The Moabites and the Ammonites were kinsfolk, both groups having descended from Lot (Genesis 19). Also, "It might have originated in their knowledge of the denunciations against them in God's law (Deuteronomy 23:3-6)."[6]

"So Hanun ... shaved off half the beard of each, and cut off their garments in the middle" (2 Samuel 10:4). Either of these actions constituted a gross insult to David. The double nature of this insult made it extremely unlikely that David would ignore it. Keil tells us that, "The Israelites wore no trousers,"[7] and that the cutting off of their garments in the middle left the lower half of the body quite exposed. Of course, such an action, in ancient times, was considered as an infliction of shame upon those so treated. Isaiah stated that, "The king of Assyria would lead away Egyptian captives ... with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt." (Isaiah 20:4).

Regarding the shaving of half the beard, this was the greater of the two insults; and therefore David instructed his messengers to remain in Jericho until their beard grew out again. There was an ancient superstition that gaining control of the hair of an enemy gave the possessor control over him. "Hanun, distrusting David's designs and desirous of having some guarantee of peace, thought that he secured this by retaining half the beards and garments of David's men."[8]

Before leaving this paragraph, we wonder just why David commanded his men to wait in Jericho until their beards grew again. Keil thought that David simply, "Did not wish to set his eyes upon the evidence of this insult they had received."[9] Whatever his reason, the men probably had to stay in Jericho for quite a while.