Read 2 Samuel 10:1-19
In Chapter 9 we saw David, the Lord’s anointed king, acting in a ‘God-like’ way towards Mephibosheth, the surviving son of Jonathan and a symbol of the old regime. He didn’t have to protect Mephibosheth but he chose to do so because he wanted to reflect God’s grace towards himself by showing grace to others. In this Chapter David wanted to continue in the same vein by expressing sympathy to the Ammonites when their king, Nahash, once an ally of David, died. And so David sent a diplomatic mission to Ammon, to the new King, Hanun, to express David’s sympathy at the loss of his father. We think that David is becoming a class act now, treating people with thoughtfulness and grace. And he does this in imitation of God – God has been gracious to him, his reaction is to be gracious to others. But, spoiler alert! Things will change as soon as the next chapter!
So David has acted in all faithfulness sending this diplomatic mission to the Ammonites. However, the Ammonites did not receive them in the spirit that was intended. They read this as a scouting mission by David so that he could assess the city’s strength and its defences and thus prepare an attack. And so they sent the diplomats back in a most humiliating way – cutting off half their beards and cutting their clothes off from the waist down.
This provoked a full-scale diplomatic incident. David prepared for war. The Ammonites prepared for war, and recognising David’s successful military history, they hired twenty thousand Aramean mercenaries to help. David’s general, Joab recognised that the odds were against him. He devised a strategy with his fellow general, Abishai, that divided the Israelite troops but with flexibility that if one half of the army was struggling the other would come to its aid. But some of David’s faith had rubbed off on General Joab. His military strategy was not simply about deployment of troops; ‘let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of God. The Lord will do what is good in his sight’ (v12). Like David, Joab recognised that it was God who was in charge of the affairs of mankind.
The battle is described quite briefly but it may have gone on for a while with various defeats and regroupings. And it seems that Chapter 11 is set against the backdrop of this conflict between Israel and the Ammonites. But it is clear that the Lord gave victory to the Israelites and the Ammonites were no longer a threat to them.
At the heart of this story is grace. Throughout David’s life God has shown grace towards him. Throughout their history, God showed grace towards Israel, despite their shortcomings – this is the outworking of the covenant God had made with them, that he would be their God and would be gracious to them. David showed grace towards Mephibosheth, an Israelite, but a potential enemy. David showed grace towards the king of Ammon, an enemy, and that grace was rejected. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount urges us to be like David here: ‘You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbour and hate your enemy” but I tell you; Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’ (Matthew 5:44).