Show Notes
2 Samuel 10
Pastor Christopher Chelpka
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we do thank you for your word, and we ask that it would do all that you intend for it to do. We are thankful that you never speak without accomplishing all that you promised to do and desire to do. And so we ask that you would speak to us today and that you would be work in our hearts and in our church. We also pray, Lord, for other churches throughout our city, throughout the world as your gospel is proclaimed.
[00:00:30] We ask that the dead would be brought to life, that the brokenhearted would be healed, that we would be strengthened, and that shame would be removed. We ask, Lord, that you would give us ears to hear what you say, to understand why you say it and how it applies to our lives.
[00:00:50] We pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:00:56] Let's be seated and turn to Second Samuel, Chapter 10.
[00:01:43] So in this passage God continues to reveal to us things about the nature of the kingdom of God as it is ruled and reigned by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, a reign that has begun.
[00:01:59] He sits on the throne now, as we confess, and a reign that will be consummated and brought to its glorious and conclusion, eternal conclusion when he comes again.
[00:02:14] These things are foreshadowed, and we learn about them when we hear about God's reign through an earlier Messiah, an earlier anointed one, King David, to whom he promised that a son would be born who would establish his kingship and kingdom forever, which is of course Jesus in 2nd Samuel 10.
[00:02:37] And we hear about David's victories over the Ammonites and over the Syrians at this time.
[00:02:44] And in it we come to learn some new things about the Lord's reign for us. So let's give our attention to 2nd Samuel 10, the whole chapter 1 through 19.
[00:03:00] After this the king of the Ammonites died, and Hanun the son, his son reigned in his place.
[00:03:06] And David said, I will deal loyally with Hanun the son of Nahish, and his as his father dealt loyally with me.
[00:03:13] 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?
[00:03:31] Has not David sent his servants to you to search the city and to spy it out and to overthrow it?
[00:03:39] So Hanun took David's servants and shaved off half the beard of each, and cut off their garments in the middle at their hips, and sent them away when it was told David he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly ashamed.
[00:03:57] And the king said, remain at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return.
[00:04:03] When the Ammonites saw that they had become a stench to David, the Ammonites sent and hired the Syrians of Beth Rehob and the syrians of Zobah, 20,000 foot soldiers, and the king of Maacah with a thousand men, and the men of Tob, 12,000 men.
[00:04:17] And when David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the host of the mighty men.
[00:04:23] And the Ammonites came out and drew up in a battle array at the entrance of the gate. And the Syrians of Zobah and of Rahab and the men of Tob and Maacah were by themselves in the open country.
[00:04:34] When Joab saw that the battle was set against him both in the front and in the rear, he chose some of the best men of Israel and arrayed them against the Syrians.
[00:04:42] The rest of his men he put in charge of Abishai, his brother. He arrayed them against the Ammonites. And he said, if the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me. But if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come and help you.
[00:04:57] Be of good courage, and let us be courageous for our people and for the cities of our God. And may the Lord do what seems good to him.
[00:05:06] So Joab and the people who were with him drew near to the battle against the Syrians, and they fled before him. And when the Ammonites saw that the Syrians had fled, they likewise fled before Abishai and entered the city.
[00:05:19] Then Joab returned from fighting against the Ammonites and came to Jerusalem.
[00:05:24] But when the Syrians saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they gathered themselves together, and Hadadezer sent and brought out the Syrians who were beyond the Euphrates. They came to Helam with Shobach, the commander of the army of Hadadezer, at their head. And when it was told David, he gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan and came to Helam.
[00:05:44] The Syrians arrayed themselves against David and fought with him, or fought and fought with him. And the Syrians fled before Israel. And David killed of the Syrians the men of 700 chariots and 40,000 horsemen, and wounded Shobach, the commander of their army, so that he died there.
[00:06:02] And when all the kings who were servants of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became subject to them. So the Syrians were afraid to save the Ammonites anymore.
[00:06:16] God bless his word to us.
[00:06:23] Well, here in our passage, we see yet one more example of the extent of David's power.
[00:06:31] It's an amazing moment that reminds us both of the power of God through his chosen king, and also of certain.
[00:06:42] Certain details about that power, its extent, as well as the grace which is present in it as well.
[00:06:52] To summarize the passage and make sure that we understand it, because there's a lot of people and places and things like that, let's take a moment and walk through it and make sure that we. We all know what's going on here.
[00:07:05] The details will help us to see things about God's work.
[00:07:10] So the first thing that happens in the passage is we are told that something has happened in another kingdom, right? So the Ammonites are not a part of Israel, they're another people and even an enemy of Israel.
[00:07:24] The king of the Ammonites had died, and Hanun, his son, reigned in his place.
[00:07:30] Now David makes a choice at this moment, and he makes a choice to bring consolation to the son whose father had died. He decides to create peace with him. And he has a reason for it. It's because his father, the father of Hanun, had treated him well.
[00:07:47] So basically, these two previous kings, kings of Israel and kings of the Ammonites, were friends or had peace, we can say.
[00:07:57] And David wanted to continue that in this transition of power. And so he makes this decision. He extends. He doesn't go take advantage of this moment to destroy Ammonites. Instead, he sends messengers to extend peace and bring consolation.
[00:08:15] Well, Hanun hears from his servants a different kind of message, right, than one David intends. So David intends to do this nice thing, right? He's sending his servants to go bring messages of peace and comfort and consolation. Hanun's servants do what they say.
[00:08:35] These aren't why these guys are here.
[00:08:38] These guys are here to spy out the city and to overthrow it. David is sending spies in to figure out our weak points, to figure out how many men we have, to figure out our security and to then overthrow the city. So what does Hanun do?
[00:08:54] Well, instead of receiving the messengers with joy, thank you for coming, send messages back to David. We appreciate all that you've done for us. You. He cuts their beards in half and he cuts their clothes in half.
[00:09:08] And he does this to shame them, and they were ashamed.
[00:09:16] The men return. David hears of this, which is an expression of his power, by the way, he's getting the word back about these Events before the men return. That's kind of an amazing thing.
[00:09:29] Before the men return. He hears of what this happens. He has a good, strong information network at his disposal. And so he tells the men, remain at Jericho.
[00:09:41] Let your beards grow, and we'll deal with this later.
[00:09:46] Well, we don't see the transition happen, but the Ammonites see it, and they see that they have become a stench to David, and we know why.
[00:09:57] And so what do they do?
[00:09:59] Do they apologize?
[00:10:01] Do they say, we really messed this up, we're so sorry? Do they come and they say, you extended us this gift of grace, this gift of peace, and we ruined it. We took it all wrong, and we want to fix this?
[00:10:16] No. They hire mercenaries.
[00:10:19] They go to the Syrians and they say, help us. We're about to be in big trouble and we need to fight back.
[00:10:28] So instead of apologizing, instead of repenting, instead of figuring out how to have peace with David, they amplify the whole conduct and get into this war.
[00:10:39] So they get Syrians from different places, different kings. All these people come together in this alliance to fight against David.
[00:10:49] Now, David hasn't sent an army out yet, but now he does.
[00:10:53] Now he does. With thousands of men arrayed against him. He takes Joab and the mighty men. So not everyone yet. That will come later. But he sends this certain, you know, select, powerful group of people, large, but not everyone, to go fight.
[00:11:12] And so Joab and his brother Abishai, with Joab in the lead, they come up with this plan, right? Because they have their. So they have people in front of them and behind them. Joab says, I'll take this group, you take that group. We'll communicate with each other, and if somebody needs help, we'll go help the others. Well, the battle is successful. The Syrians and Ammonites. The Syrians go on the run. And then when the Ammonites see the Syrians on the run, the Ammonites say, we're out, and they run, too.
[00:11:47] Well, after some time, they gather themselves together. The Syrians gather themselves together under Hadadezer and this commander, Shobach.
[00:11:57] Well, this is now an even greater threat, right? So the war is. And these battles are expanding, and.
[00:12:05] And so David then decides to send out all Israel. He says, now, one thing that's important to note, that helps us understand what's going on is the geography of all of this. This is all happening on the east side of The Jordan, about 42 miles from the.
[00:12:23] From Jerusalem. So if you imagined sort of, you know, the distance between Tucson And Benson is about a little more than that. You've got this land and you have this river though, that goes in between the two. And that's important because there are these tribes, part of God's people. The cities of God, as they're identified by Joab, are on the east side of the Jordan. And there's always a little bit of tension here. You know, are those people, do they really belong to the rest of Israel? And the answer is yes. And there's all kinds of things that have been established in God's law and God's practices to remind us that yes, they do belong.
[00:13:04] And so here we have an expression of, of. In David's power, of the unity that is happening of his power.
[00:13:14] In other words, he's not neglecting these cities east of the Jordan. He's not saying, well, they're on the other side. We don't need to worry about them. The Syrians can take them whatever. His power is extending to all the places it needs to extend and will extend even beyond. As we see, he defeats the Ammonites, he defeats the Syrians.
[00:13:36] Not only does he defeat them, but we read in verse 19, when all the kings who were servants of Hadadezer, right, so you have the big king, Hadadezer, with all the little kings underneath, vassal kingdoms serving the bigger king. He has a kind of mini empire. Basically.
[00:13:56] When all those kings saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became subject to them.
[00:14:07] So for the Ammonites perspective, everything has changed, right? Instead of having the power of the Syrians on their side, by the end of this story, all the Syrians are now on Israel's side.
[00:14:21] Instead of Syria being Syria, having this great king with all of these lesser kingdoms sort of independent and friends of the Ammonites fighting against Israel, at the end of the story, they are all vassal kings of Israel.
[00:14:38] The Israelite empire, we can say in a way has expanded as not only is David now ruling over Israel, but he has these vassal kingdoms and these vassal kings under him. Even outside the expansion of peace, the expansion of his power, the expansion of his reign is all happening. And why does it happen?
[00:15:01] It happens through the Lord God's anointed king.
[00:15:06] David is reigning and he's reigning through righteousness. Even, even when there is rebellion against that reign, God is triumphing over it.
[00:15:19] And this is the doctrine that's important for us to remember, especially when we think about Christ. When God rules through his king, that rule is not dependent on human support.
[00:15:31] It's not dependent on human agreement. It isn't threatened by human rebellion, by other kings and kingdoms. He is supreme and will reign supreme.
[00:15:45] When we forget this, as the Ammonites did, we get ourselves into all kinds of problems.
[00:15:53] We work against the reality of God's power against and his glory and the grace that is offered in it as well. One of the things that we do, like we see with the Ammonites, is we become suspicious of God. When we are enemies of his and we refuse to acknowledge his rightful reign over our lives, we become suspicious of even good things.
[00:16:19] David offers consolation and comfort and help and service to Hanan, and he takes it totally the wrong way. Have you ever experienced this before? Perhaps on the giver side of things, Maybe you've tried to do something nice for a brother or sister or a friend or a family member, and then they take it the wrong way. How does that feel?
[00:16:42] Right? When you offer something good and then they get mad at you, you're expecting a thank you, you're expecting appreciation, and.
[00:16:53] And then when they act in this bad way, it doesn't make you very happy.
[00:17:00] What if. Have you ever been on the other side of that, though, where somebody did something nice for you and then you took it the wrong way and you reacted poorly and you lashed out? Maybe it's just a word thing, a kind of a point of communication.
[00:17:15] Somebody says, are you ready for dinner? And you take it as an accusation all of a sudden that you're not moving fast enough, like, no, I'm just trying to get dinner ready for you. Right? These things happen all the time.
[00:17:27] This happens between us and God.
[00:17:30] When we are suspicious of God, when we are not trusting of God, when we are not understanding what he's offering to us in Christ, we react wrongly against all kinds of good things that he does for us.
[00:17:45] There's an example of this in Romans chapter two. If you'd turn there with me.
[00:17:57] Yeah. Romans chapter two, in verse four.
[00:18:09] Let's start in verse 2, Romans 2:2, the apostle Paul writes, we know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Sins, various sins, he's mentioned. Then he says, do you suppose, O man, that you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God?
[00:18:31] That's an important point by itself. So, sidebar.
[00:18:36] If we know how to condemn other people for doing bad things, do we think that we will escape God's condemnation for doing the same stuff?
[00:18:47] So the answer is no.
[00:18:49] All right then, verse four. Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to. To repentance, but because of your hard and impermanent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.
[00:19:18] So what Paul is saying is that in the course of the lives, of our lives and the lives of everyone, every single person that has ever lived, God is showing his kindness and his grace, his forbearance, in all kinds of ways.
[00:19:34] What's forbearance?
[00:19:36] Forbearance is not giving to someone something they deserve. Sort of waiting, withholding judgment, being gentle, pitying people, allowing them to continue on without immediate judgment.
[00:19:51] Has God ever done that for you? Have you ever seen that in the lives of. In your own life or in other people's lives where you do something, you know it's sinful, but you don't immediately fall dead?
[00:20:02] Has that ever happened to you?
[00:20:06] Like every day, constantly.
[00:20:11] So there are all these times in our lives where God does not immediately discipline us or judge us or bring us death as a result of our sins.
[00:20:21] And not just little ones, which themselves deserve punishment, but the big ones, the huge ones, the ones that embarrass us, the ones that we hide from, the ones that really wreck our hearts, even those God is patient and forbearing about now, not forever, right? God says that those who don't repent, those who don't turn him, don't turn to him, are storing up for themselves wrath, right? For the day of his righteous judgment. That is a bad thing. You do not want that.
[00:20:58] What are we supposed to do then?
[00:21:00] When God is patient with us, when God is forbearing with us, and by the way, all along the way showing kindness to us, what do we do? What kindnesses might we think of?
[00:21:14] Rain, sunshine, breaths, soft clothes, friendships, places to sit, cars to drive, sidewalks to walk on, flowers to look at, instruments to play. We can go on and on and on of God's kindnesses, His grace showered upon both the righteous and the unrighteous. What we call his common grace. All throughout the world, every day, all, all the time, God is pouring out so much kindness and on the flip side, holding back so much wrath.
[00:21:55] What is the reaction that we are supposed to have to that kind of grace and gentleness?
[00:22:02] Well, Paul tells us, he says these things are meant to lead us to repentance.
[00:22:11] That's what that's supposed to happen. That's how. That's what is supposed to happen. When we see this in our lives, when we see all the ways in which God is patient with us, all the gifts that he's pouring out on us, that is to make us. The proper response is to turn to him and say, lord, I am so sorry for all the ways I've sinned against you and continue to sin against you. Forgive me and uphold me by your grace.
[00:22:37] And not just the common grace that God gives to everyone in this life, but the special grace that comes to us in Jesus Christ and by the power of His Spirit that sets us free, as we were talking earlier, from the reign of sin and death.
[00:22:51] It's meant to lead us toward repentance.
[00:22:57] And for many, it does.
[00:22:59] For many of you, it has. You see these things in your lives, you cherish them, you treasure them. And every day you. You turn to the Lord over and over and over again. You say, thank you, Jesus, My hope is in you. Thank you, Jesus, my hope is in you.
[00:23:17] But some do not do that.
[00:23:20] Instead, some ignore those things, deny those things, and continue to push against God and His reign, like the Ammonites did.
[00:23:32] And the lesson here is that what happens when we push against God's forbearance and his kindness and his grace is his wrath.
[00:23:44] That's what happens to the Ammonites. That's what happens to the Syrians under the reign of God through His servant, when we band against God's grace, when we decide to rebel against him rather than bow for him, bow to him. We are storing up wrath for ourselves on the day of his righteous judgment.
[00:24:11] What we are called to do, instead of rejecting God's advances of grace, which we are experiencing every day, is in every day in our lives.
[00:24:18] We should receive them before this rebellion destroys us.
[00:24:25] It's a warning, isn't it?
[00:24:27] It's a warning not to be like the Ammonites, not to be rebellious, not to resist God's grace, not to resist his comforts, but instead to bow ourselves before Him.
[00:24:42] There's a lot of reasons to do this. One is the danger, as I've been talking about, the danger of resisting.
[00:24:49] When we resist God, we are resisting goodness, we are resisting grace, we are resisting forbearance, we are resisting hope, joy, love, peace, kindness.
[00:25:05] That's foolishness.
[00:25:07] And when we are resisting, we are bringing on ourselves a righteous judgment, a deserved judgment. We are making a decision to go to war against God.
[00:25:21] Do not go to war against God.
[00:25:25] Doesn't matter how good your sins feel. It doesn't matter how much the culture says this is going to be nice for you and this will be helpful for you. It does not matter.
[00:25:35] You do not go to war against God, the One who made you, the One who made all of the world, the One who is perfectly righteous and good.
[00:25:48] And that's another reason.
[00:25:49] That's another reason to turn to the Lord. To turn to the Lord in faith and repentance, in that he is righteous.
[00:25:58] You see this in David's reign here at this moment. We will not see it next week in chapter 11 when we read about David and Bathsheba, but here we see David foreshadowing and showing us the kind of righteousness that Christ exists, exhibits in what ways?
[00:26:18] Well, we see it in his goodness and forbearance with the Ammonites.
[00:26:23] We see it in the loyalty that he has to his people, in protecting them in those cities east of the Jordan.
[00:26:32] We see it in his wisdom and care for the soldiers who were embarrassed and shamed. And he gives them space and gives them time in the way that he honors and the way that he thinks carefully about things, in the way of his wise plans.
[00:26:51] Brothers and sisters, these are examples of tiny examples of great things we see in the Lord Jesus Christ our Lord, in everything he does, in every decision, the giant macro decisions that affect, you know, great history and time and empires and these kinds of things, and the little tiny things he does in our lives, the very tiniest of things. They are all done perfectly according to his wisdom and his kindness and his forbearance and his grace and his loving discipline. All of these things.
[00:27:32] Whenever you see these things in David, whenever you see God exercising His rule through his anointed king in this way, let your hearts think about Jesus, the ways that David is reflecting these things of the One who rules over us today.
[00:27:54] When we think about God's righteousness, when we think about the power of his reign, we think about his goodness.
[00:28:01] We think about his forbearance. When we think about the gifts that he extends. The call for us is to not reject God's love, to not reject the kindnesses that he gives through His King that turns for us into disaster.
[00:28:18] But when we come under the protection of the Lord Jesus, when we come to see that he, he is offering to us forgiveness and comfort, when he is offering to us redemption and hope, those promises are true and those promises will not fail us.
[00:28:40] He's powerful.
[00:28:42] He is powerful to rescue. He's powerful to save.
[00:28:46] Don't misread God's mercy in your life. Don't resist his reign.
[00:28:52] Instead, receive the graces that he's giving to you turn to him in repentance and faith.
[00:28:59] Let's pray.
[00:29:01] Our Heavenly Father, we ask that you would continue to reveal to us the heart of Christ as we see his work and in his ministry, in his life, and in particular on the cross.
[00:29:13] Lord, we ask that you would open up our hearts so that we might not resist the goodness that is offered in him.
[00:29:21] Lord, what a marvelous thing it is that Jesus went, came into this world and died for us.
[00:29:28] That he underwent your wrath so that we might be spared from him. That at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly and that this victory was complete, that this victory was perfect in every way.
[00:29:46] As we think about his power, the extent of his reign, as we think about the righteousness of Jesus, his loyalty to his people and his many kindnesses, help us not to mistake his kindness for weakness or his forbearance for lack of caring. Instead, Lord, help us to see these things for what they are, mercies, graces that we don't deserve.
[00:30:15] And in seeing this, Lord, help us to receive the hope of eternal life that is offered in Christ.
[00:30:26] Lord, we ask that you would make us more aware of the mercy and grace that are extended to us each and every day through the Lord Jesus.
[00:30:37] Help us not to take for granted on these things, to take them as things that are simply owed to us, things that we simply deserve.
[00:30:46] Let us become more and more sensitive, as the people of God, to the work that you are doing in the world and in our lives, so that we might be filled constantly with gratitude and praise and thanksgiving.
[00:30:59] We also ask, Lord, that you would help us to show this to others, to help others see that the mercies of the Lord, the kindnesses and forbearance that you extend, are meant to lead us to repentance.
[00:31:17] Soften our hearts, Lord, for they can be so rebellious.
[00:31:21] Soften us and allow us to see and to believe and then to walk in that faith in every aspect of our lives. To your great glory, we pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
