2 Samuel 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).