In 2 Sam 10 the king of the Ammonites, Nahash died and his son, Hanun (hey nun), ruled in his place.
• David wanted to show kindness to the new King, so he sent a delegation to express his condolences to Hanun for the loss of his father.
• Unfortunately, this good gesture was suspected. Hanun was swayed by his princes into thinking that David's intention wasn’t good.
• “The delegates did not come out of sympathy but to spy on the land.” Wrong assumption!
Reminded me of another similar situation when a King listened to wrong counsel - King Rehoboam (Solomon’s son) in 1 Kings 12:6-11.
• Solomon died and the people appealed to the new King to lighten the harsh labour and the heavy burden that they were carrying.
• 6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. "How would you advise me to answer these people?" he asked.
• 7 They replied, "If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants."
• 8 But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. 9 He asked them, "What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, `Lighten the yoke your father put on us'?"
• 10 The young men who had grown up with him replied, "Tell these people who have said to you, `Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter'-tell them, `My little finger is thicker than my father's waist. 11 My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.'"
That decision split the Kingdom into two.
• If we do not consult God today, we are left with guesses. We suspect one another’s intention, we are suspicious of one another’s motives.
• The devil will be happy to be a part of all these misunderstandings and to divide the body of Christ.
WHO ARE YOU LISTENING TO?
Maybe your answer is YOURSELF. Don’t. Prov 3:5-6 says, don’t lean on your own understanding.
• Do you know that you can be leaning on your own understanding and yet not know that you are leaning on it. That’s what we call in one word, PREJUDICE.
• We are called to “trust in the LORD with ALL your heart and to acknowledge God in ALL our ways”, only then will God make our paths straight – show you what is right.
King Hanun believed what his nobles say and acted upon it. He mocked and humiliated the delegates.
• Obviously David was very angry when he got to know what happened.
• Knowing that they had offended David, the Ammonites called for support from Syria (the Arameans) and prepared an offensive.
• They gathered thousands of soldiers from Beth Rehob, Zobah, Maacah and Tob (10:6).
All this sounded foolish to me, considering the fact that it started with a presumption.
• David meant well. He wanted to show kindness. It could well be a good and cordial meeting.
• But whatever that got into the minds of the nobles, and the King, destroyed all possible good.
Prov 18:15 “The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge; the ears of the wise seek it out.” The discerning and wise SEEK the TRUTH.
• Don’t let anyone fool us. Don’t let Satan deceives us. Get to the Word and understand the truth.
• In all situations, seek to understand the truth. Don’t assume. Don’t presume.
• Don’t be fooled by what WE THINK. Be led by what God says, the truth.
David was forced to defend himself. He did not pick a fight; that fight came to him.
• When he learnt of the military build-up, he has no choice but to prepare his army.
• He sent his commander JOAB (his nephew) and all the mighty men against the Ammonites and their allies.
As it developed, when Joab reached the site, he found the Ammonites stationed at the city gate to protect it, and the rest of the Syrians troops gathered in the open field.
• The Israelites were sandwiched in the middle, and so Joab decided to divide his army into two forces.
• One led by himself against the Syrians and the other led by his brother ABISHAI against the Ammonites.
This was what JOAB said - 2 Sam 10:11-12
“If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you are to come to my rescue; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come to rescue you. 12Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The LORD will do what is good in His sight.”
“If my enemy is too strong for me, you must come to my rescue.”
• Joab wasn’t overly confident, did not think of himself as infallible. He might just need help.
“If the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will come and rescue you.”
• He understands teamwork. We are in this together. We are not fighting separate battles. We are going to win this together.
• Joab cannot says to Abishai, “I’ve no need of you.” Neither can Abishai says that to Joab. They need each other.
• Sounds familiar? This is what the Body of Christ ought to be, according to 1 Cor 12.
“Be strong and let us fight bravely…” He encourages his brother and the men. We are defending “our people and the cities of our GOD.”
• In the need of the moment, Joab has to make a strategic, military decision.
• And this is the right decision, based on his good sense and wisdom. And then he said…
“The LORD will do what is good in His sight.”
• Joab did not know how it would turn out. He had no special revelation from God.
• He made the decision according to the best of his understanding and abilities, and leave the results to God.
We do our best and leave the results to God. We must do our best and then trust God TO DO WHAT IS GOOD IN HIS SIGHT.
• The problem today is we don’t do anything and we leave everything to God. We do nothing and then we say we leave the “rest” to God.
I want to share with you these two other similar situations in the Bible.
Esther was put in a very similar situation in Esther 4. One of the Persian princes, Haman threatened to exterminate the Jewish race.
• Queen Esther has to come before the King Ahasuerus to save her people, but it was a great risk. Without permission, she could be put to death for this.
• Esther 4:15-16 - Esther sent this message to Mordecai her uncle: “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.”
Esther did not know what the outcome would be. She had no special revelation from God on this issue.
• She made the decision based on good sense and wisdom, and for the love of her people.
• She did what she possibly can and left the result to God. "If I perish, I perish."
Consider DANIEL’S THREE FRIENDS in Daniel 3.
• The Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar set up an image of gold and commands all people are to bow down and worship it when the trumpet sounds.
• But Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not do it. They chose to worship only the true God of Israel.
• 3:15 Nebuchadnezzar threatens them and says that if they do not worship the image, they will be thrown into the fiery furnace. 3:16–18 give their answer:
• Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up."
Again, they did not know what would be the outcome.
• They said virtually the same thing Esther said, "If we perish, we perish."
• They handed the outcome to God, the same way Joab did: "The Lord will do what is good in His sight."
We do what is right and leave the rest to God. Doing what is right will COST us – time, energy, persecution, mockery…
• We will still do what is right and leave God to do what is right in His sight.
• We trust Him. We submit to His way. He will surely do what is good in HIS SIGHT, not our sight.
Back to 2 Samuel 10, what happened here?
• Both the Arameans and the Ammonites fled before the Israelites.
• The Israelites returned to Jerusalem, and we thought that would be the end.
• David appeared willing to leave it at that, but the Syrians did not learn their lesson.
10:15-16 tells us they regrouped, and brought in more Arameans from “beyond the river”.
• They gathered in Helam and were determined to fight a rematch.
When David learnt that they were regrouping and planning another attack, he crossed the Jordan with his army and fought them.
• This time their defeat was even greater than before.
• 10:18 - 7000 charioteers and 40,000 horsemen perished. Shobach, the commander of the Syrian army also died.
They finally got the point. It does not pay to attack the Israelites, God’s people and to fight against God’s King.
• They made peace with Israel (10:19). This is the GOOD that God has done for them!
GOD WILL DO WHAT IS GOOD IN HIS SIGHT. Trust Him!
