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.
And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites, and they crushed and oppressed the children of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the people of Israel that were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. And the Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of E'phraim; so that Israel was sorely distressed.
Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites and said, "What have you against me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?" And the king of the Ammonites answered the messengers of Jephthah, "Because Israel on coming from Egypt took away my land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan; now therefore restore it peaceably." And Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the Ammonites and said to him, "Thus says Jephthah: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites, but when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh. Israel then sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, 'Let us pass, we pray, through your land'; but the king of Edom would not listen. And they sent also to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained at Kadesh. Then they journeyed through the wilderness, and went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and arrived on the east side of the land of Moab, and camped on the other side of the Arnon; but they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the boundary of Moab. Israel then sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, 'Let us pass, we pray, through your land to our country.' But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory; so Sihon gathered all his people together, and encamped at Jahaz, and fought with Israel. And the LORD, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them; so Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country. And they took possession of all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan. So then the LORD, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel; and are you to take possession of them? Will you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? And all that the LORD our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess. Now are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever go to war with them? While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aro'er and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time? I therefore have not sinned against you, and you do me wrong by making war on me; the LORD, the Judge, decide this day between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon." But the king of the Ammonites did not heed the message of Jephthah which he sent to him.
And Nahash the Ammonite came up and encamped against Jabesh-Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee. And Nahash the Ammonite said to them, On this [condition] will I treat with you, that I thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel. And the elders of Jabesh said to him, Allow us seven days, and we will send messengers into all the districts of Israel; and if there be no man to deliver us, we will come out to thee.
And it came to pass after this that Nahash king of the children of Ammon died, and his son reigned in his stead. And David said, I will shew kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father shewed kindness to me. And David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. And David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon to Hanun, to comfort him. And the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun, Is it, in thine eyes, to honour thy father that David has sent comforters to thee? Is it not to search and overthrow, and to spy out the land that his servants are come to thee? And Hanun took David's servants, and had them shaved, and their raiment cut off in the midst, as far as the hip, and sent them away. And [certain] went and told David concerning the men; and he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, Abide at Jericho until your beards be grown, and then return. And the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves odious to David; and Hanun and the children of Ammon sent a thousand talents of silver to hire them chariots and horsemen out of Mesopotamia, and from the Syrians of Maacah, and from Zobah. And they hired thirty-two thousand chariots, and the king of Maacah and his people; and they came and encamped before Medeba. And the children of Ammon gathered together from their cities, and came to battle. And David heard [of it], and he sent Joab, and all the host, the mighty men. And the children of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the entrance of the city; and the kings that had come were by themselves on the field. And Joab saw that the front of the battle was against him before and behind; and he chose out of all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians; and the rest of the people he gave into the hand of Abishai his brother, and they set themselves 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 help thee. Be strong, and let us shew ourselves valiant for our people, and for the cities of our God; and Jehovah will do what is good in his sight. And Joab and the people that were with him drew near in front of the Syrians to the battle; and they fled before him. And when the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians fled, they likewise fled before Abishai his brother, and entered into the city. And Joab came to Jerusalem. And when the Syrians saw that they were routed before Israel, they sent messengers, and drew forth the Syrians that were beyond the river; and Shophach the captain of the host of Hadarezer [went] before them. And it was told David; and he gathered all Israel, and passed over the Jordan, and came upon them, and set [the battle] in array against them. And David put the battle in array against the Syrians, and they fought with him. And the Syrians fled from before Israel; and David slew of the Syrians seven thousand [in] chariots, and forty thousand footmen, and slew Shophach the captain of the host. And the servants of Hadarezer saw that they were routed before Israel, and they made peace with David, and became his servants. And the Syrians would no more help the children of Ammon.
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Commentary on 2 Samuel 10 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 10
2Sa 10:1-5. David's Messengers, Sent to Comfort Hanun, Are Disgracefully Treated.
2. Then said David, I will show kindness unto Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness unto me—It is probable that this was the Nahash against whom Saul waged war at Jabesh-gilead (1Sa 11:11). David, on leaving Gath, where his life was exposed to danger, found an asylum with the king of Moab; and as Nahash, king of the Ammonites, was his nearest neighbor, it may be that during the feud between Saul and David, he, through enmity to the former, was kind and hospitable to David.
3. the princes of the children of Ammon said unto Hanun—Their suspicion was not warranted either by any overt act or by any cherished design of David: it must have originated in their knowledge of the denunciations of God's law against them (De 23:3-6), and of David's policy in steadfastly adhering to it.
4. Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards—From the long flowing dress of the Hebrews and other Orientals, the curtailment of their garments must have given them an aspect of gross indelicacy and ludicrousness. Besides, a knowledge of the extraordinary respect and value which has always been attached, and the gross insult that is implied in any indignity offered, to the beard in the East, will account for the shame which the deputies felt, and the determined spirit of revenge which burst out in all Israel on learning the outrage. Two instances are related in the modern history of Persia, of similar insults by kings of haughty and imperious temper, involving the nation in war; and we need not, therefore, be surprised that David vowed revenge for this wanton and public outrage.
5. Tarry at Jericho—or in the neighborhood, after crossing the fords of the Jordan.
2Sa 10:6-14. The Ammonites Overcome.
6-14. when the children of Ammon saw that they stank before David—To chastise those insolent and inhospitable Ammonites, who had violated the common law of nations, David sent a large army under the command of Joab, while they, informed of the impending attack, made energetic preparations to repel it by engaging the services of an immense number of Syrian mercenaries.
Beth-rehob—the capital of the low-lying region between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon.
Zoba—(see on 2Sa 8:3).
of king Maacah—His territories lay on the other side of Jordan, near Gilead (De 3:14).
Ish-tob—that is, "the men of Tob"—the place of Jephthah's marauding adventures (see also 1Ch 19:6; Ps 60:1, title). As the Israelite soldiers poured into the Ammonite territory, that people met them at the frontier town of Medeba (1Ch 19:7-9), the native troops covering the city, while the Syrian mercenaries lay at some distance encamped in the fields. In making the attack, Joab divided his forces into two separate detachments—the one of which, under the command of his brother, Abishai, was to concentrate its attack upon the city, while he himself marched against the overwhelming host of mercenary auxiliaries. It was a just and necessary war that had been forced on Israel, and they could hope for the blessing of God upon their arms. With great judgment the battle opened against the mercenaries, who could not stand against the furious onset of Joab, and not feeling the cause their own, consulted their safety by flight. The Ammonites, who had placed their chief dependence upon a foreign aid, then retreated to entrench themselves within the walls of the town.
14. So Joab returned and came to Jerusalem—Probably the season was too far advanced for entering on a siege.
2Sa 10:15-19. The Syrians Defeated.
16. Hadarezer sent and brought out the Syrians that were beyond the river—This prince had enjoyed a breathing time after his defeat (2Sa 8:3). But alarmed at the increasing power and greatness of David, as well as being an ally of the Ammonites, he levied a vast army not only in Syria, but in Mesopotamia, to invade the Hebrew kingdom. Shobach, his general, in pursuance of this design, had marched his troops as far as Kelam, a border town of eastern Manasseh, when David, crossing the Jordan by forced marches, suddenly surprised, defeated, and dispersed them. As a result of this great and decisive victory, all the petty kingdoms of Syria submitted and became his tributaries (see on 1Ch 19:1).