Title: “The Good of Unity”
Text: 2 Samuel 10:1-19
Introduction:
You know David was a very friendly person even though he was a warrior with the blood on his hands from the deaths of many enemies. As we begin this chapter we begin with the recognition of a friendship that existed between David and a resent King of Ammon, however this friend of David’s is dead now. However, David wants to do something in memory of his friend. This is one of many interesting stories found within the bible, one that doesn’t get a lot of attention and recognition. The lesson we’re going to learn by the time we get to the end of this chapter is the good that comes from God when good people hang tightly together. In vs. 1-5, we have David’s servants “ill-treated” by the Ammonites. In vs. 6-14, the Ammonites were defeated because they underestimated the ability and the courage and the determination of David’s men to hang together. And then finally, vs.15-19, the Israelites defeated another enemy, the Syrians, because they joined forces against God’s people. Truly, this wasn’t a good move to make because the bible says, “One man and God makes a majority.” right? In other words “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Gain with me some spiritual strength from these chosen passages of scripture.
· Psalm 3:6 – “I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side.” Tens of thousands folks! We’re not just talking about a few enemies. Our God when he goes to battle for us has great power.
· Psalm 5:10 – “Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you.” You see what he’s saying here? God, get them! And get them good!
Illustration – While watching high school girls team play volleyball at the state volleyball tournament this weekend against a very good prepared Mead girl’s team, I watched the Mead girl’s closely and I perceived that they were laughing at our girl’s team play. I said, “God, this isn’t right! Our girls are playing ready hard to win. They deserve to win! So, I said, “Please God, prove your power through their weakness.” And amazingly the team play immediately got better, but then the opposing team started taking control of the game again. And it’s kind of like the drama behind the war where as long as Moses kept his hands in the air the Israelites were winning, but Moses became tired and he had to put his hands down and so Israel started to lose. I looked around me in the stands at the audience at seem like we had already conceded to the opposing team. Even the audience had not prepared themselves for such a battle that afternoon. They had their arms crossed in disappointment and stopped cheering. We didn’t prepare well enough to play this caliber of a team.
Well, one more scripture to set the tempo for this chapter.
· Psalm 18:48 – “He delivers me from my enemies; yea, you lift me up above those who rise up against me; you have delivered me from the violent man.”
Transition:
These three verses surely ought to set the tempo because we’re about to engage in a war.
Look at vs. 1-5. First of all, we have David’s messengers being “ill treated” by the King of Ammon. And this “ill-treatment” I think might have sparked a war.
DAVID’S MESSENGERS ARE ILL- TREATED BY THE KING OF AMMON (VS. 1-5)
INTERPRETATION
On September, 1st, 1939 a German battleship opened fire on the Polish garrison of the Westerplatte Fort, in Danzig, which is now called Gdansk. (Point it out on the map) This plan of attack is what started World War II. At the exact same moment this fort was being fired upon from waters of the North Sea, simultaneously, 62 German divisions supported by 1,300 aircraft commenced with an invasion of Poland coming from the other direction. To this day they say the decision of Hitler to invade Poland was a gamble. Why? Well, because the German army wasn’t at full strength and the German economy was still locked into peacetime production. So, Hitler’s generals urged him to be cautious because they needed more time to complete the defenses of the West Wall. You see, they expected to be attacked by the British and the French along this border (Show the picture of the Western Wall) At this point of the war, Germany was already heavily engaged in war in the east against Russia. Well, you can imagine what Hitler said to his generals. He dismissed their concerns of being unprotected from the west and he demanded complete loyalty. He was absolutely convinced that the invasion of Poland would result in a short victorious war for two reasons. First, he was convinced that the deployment of the world’s first armored tank unit would swiftly defeat the Polish armed forces. And he was right! Secondly, he judged the British and French to be weak and indecisive and certainly opt for a peace settlement rather than war. This time Hitler was wrong! He found out that Winston Churchill was more than he bargained for. He was like the energy bunny! He just didn’t give up. He continually pulled his troops together by saying, “We can win this war.” “We must win this war.”
APPLICATION
Well, in our text, the King of Ammon, I think it’s possible that perhaps he judged David to be indecisive. Here’s the situation. We have one king of the Ammon that’ died. He’s the father and his son had now taken over as king of the Ammonites. Well, David wants to extend kindness towards this deceased king’s son who is in the process of grieving. So, he sent servants to console him, but as king, he was overly suspicious of David’s intentions and so he became convinced that David’s servants were disguised as comforters. Have you ever been in that situation where your sincere gesture of kindness was grossly misinterpreted? You did something kind, but it was misinterpreted? Then you know what it’s like to be David at this moment. Sometimes people’s gross misinterpretations can go a little bit too far as the King of Ammon is going to find out. Sometimes we consider it just to be a practical joke, but that other person might consider what you’ve done to be very offensive. Do you realize that some of the jesters we make in everyday life here in America, those same jesters might be considered to be offensive in a foreign land? You know what I mean? Just scratching your nose in public could get you in trouble. You just never know what can happen.
The text says the king of Ammon went too far. Because he believed they were enemies disguised as comforter, he had David’s servant’s beards half way cut off, plus the upper portion of there garments half taken. What is the big dead? The Hebrew people considered a man’s beard to be his symbol of manhood, freedom, and maturity. Here in America it’s not all that big of a deal. Some men grow them, some men don’t. Some men you wish they wouldn’t because they don’t look good in a beard. So, when David found out what had happened to his servants, he told them not to return to Jerusalem until their beards grew back.
TRANSITION
Well, let’s move on to vs. 4-16, the Ammonites were defeated.
THE AMMONITES WERE DEFEATED (VS. 6-14)
INTERPRETATION
Can you believe that something as insignificant as the cutting off a man’s beard, or cutting away at his garments could lead to war? There’s probably a whole lot more going on in the background than what I was able to find out, don’t you think?
APPLICAITON
Look at v.6-7 – Note, when the Ammonites realized they had become a stench in David’s nostrils, they took up immediate precautions. They hired 20,000 Aram foot soldiers. These people were descendents of Noah through the line of Shem. Today we would call them Syrians. Did you know that back in January of 2004, we knew that this war on terrorism would eventually spread to the Syrian nation? The senseless attacks of Hezbollah upon Israel can be traced to the Syrian nation? Aram means, “people of the two rivers,” the upper portion of the Euphrates River. They also added to their number 1,000 men from king Maacah, which was from the tribe of Manasseh. I can tell you that Manasseh was a real bad dude, a real bad person and his influence had been far reaching. He became king at the age of 12, and he did everything he could to accommodate the cults. He practiced human sacrifice while using his own son. And then there were 12,000 men from Tob. So, all of these men from the tribe of Manasseh and people of Tob were mercenary soldiers. If you don’t know what a mercenary soldier is, that’s a person hired to fight for another nation.
Today we might even call them terrorist. Fighting becomes their job, but they fight for money, or the booty that will be given to them if they win. And often they would change sides if the other side offered more money.
INSIGHT
Well, what I’m trying to help us is that we do battle against all types of enemy’s folks and the struggle is always there. It never seems to go away. Someone said, “We’re either fighting for something we believe in, or we are about to fight for something that we believe in.” The true soldiers of God don’t bury their heads in the sand and wait for things to get better, or change.” Some people fight for our nation like veterans of war. Some people fight for the unborn child. Some people fight against social injustice. Some people fight to change the ruling of judges. Some the battle is just to make it through college. Everybody’s fight is different, but every person is needed. Some battles are physical, some are spiritual, and sometimes the odds seem so over whelming
TRANSITION:
The last section of our text is to emphasize the fact that the Syrians were defeated, but it’s because of two things that are undeniable – God’s ability to bless, and the troops hanging together in a close net group.
THE SYRIANS WERE DEFEATED (VS. 15-19)
INTERPRETATION
There all fighting against David, but look what it says in (V.7) – “On hearing this, David sent Joab out with the entire army of fighting men.” Joab was like a Donald Rumsfield. Maybe that’s a bad comparison since he got the boot this week, but what I’m trying to say is that Joab was in charge of the all the fighting forces. What’s he going to find when he gets out there on the battle front? (V.8) “The Ammonites came out and drew up in battle formation at the entrance to their city gate, while the Aram soldiers and all these other mercenary soldiers were in the open country.” In other words, Joab had enemy forces in front of him and behind him. It’s kind of like watching that movie “Braveheart” as Mel Gibson said in so many words, “Let’s go get them” and he had enemy forces all around him. However, I hope I can bring to you a better ending than what was in that movie as I emphasize what our text is teaching us.
APPLICATION
Look at vs. 11-14. Joab is forced to divide his forces. Joab said, "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.” What did they say when they went out to do battle? Was it like this? Day by day we get better and better! Can’t be beat! Won’t be beat! Joab says, “Be 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." You know what else can you say? If God is for us than who can be against us? (13) “Then Joab and the troops with him advanced to fight the Arameans, and they fled before him. (V.14) – When the Ammonites saw that the Aramean soldiers had fled, and they were better fighting soldier than themselves, they fled.
INSIGHT
So, here’s the main insight we learned. This principle led Israel to victory and if we apply the same principle it will lead us to victory as well. Let us say to each other, “If my battles are too strong for me, you come help me! If you’re battles are to strong for you, I’ll come help you.” Never feel as though the battle is so great it can’t be won with God’s help and involvement. Joab says, “if my enemies are overpowering me than you come to my rescue. However, if your battles are to strong for you, I will help you.”
Conclusion:
My Christian friends, can you think of anybody today that’s in need of your assistance? This is war people! The enemy Satan is closing in on us on all sides. This week as I sat there in the audience watching my fellow neighbors and friends loose the interest to fight and cheer on our girls state team, I thought is this way the battle is suppose to end? Was it courage that forced all these mercenary soldiers to flee? Somewhat, but more importantly it was God. Let us never give up the battle to fight for our God and the good of all mankind.
Phil. 2:3-4 “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”
