 Today we're in 2 Samuel. We're going to look at chapter 10. I chose to entitle this installment of our verse by verse study of 2 Samuel. Kindness rejected. You're going to see that in action in just a moment. But we're going to be looking at 2 Samuel chapter 10 together. And so let's begin reading here in 2 Samuel 10 at verse 1. I'll read verses 1 and 2 and we'll get into our study. 2 Samuel chapter 10 verses 1 and 2. It happened after this that the king of the people of Ammon died and Hanun, his son, reigned in his place. Then David said, I will show kindness to Hanun, the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness to me. So David sent by the hand of his servants to comfort him concerning his father. And David's servants came into the land of the people of Ammon. Now as we've been going through 2 Samuel, remember with me that we were in chapter 8 and when we were in chapter 8 of 2 Samuel, we spent some time looking at how David had consolidated his kingdom by subjugating various nations. What we have here in chapter 10 is more detail concerning how that occurred. Now as we look at verses 1 and 2, those verses inform us that the king of Ammon has died. His name was Nahash. Now we may have already encountered Nahash all the way back in 1 Samuel in chapter 11 because way back then, which was about 40 years before, Nahash had contacted a particular village called Agilead, and had stated to them that he was going to basically overthrow them. And they said, we want to make a covenant with you. And so Nahash had said to them, no problem. These are the terms of the covenant that you allow me to put out your right eyes of all the males in your city. Well obviously they weren't wanting to do that so they said, let us consider this for a while and they sought help. And as we saw when we studied 1 Samuel chapter 11, King Saul was outraged by this and came and actually defeated Nahash, king of the Ammonites. And so what we have now is David who hears about this particular man dying and wanting to send comforters. Now notice in verse 2 what he says. He says, I will show kindness to Hanun, the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness to me. Now it's possible that when Nahash had heard that Saul was after David, that he began to consider David with kindness because as that old saying is, the enemy is my friend, it may be that he showed him kindness based on the fact that Saul was in opposition to him. Whatever the case may be, at this time this man has died Nahash and David is now wanting to show some kindness to his son Hanun. Now the name Nahash may be actually a title. It means a serpent. And so it may have been a title that the rulers of the Ammonites wore. It's on the seal of their monarchy. And so a serpent was a representation of Ammon. So he may be by title Nahash or it may be his name. Whatever the case may be, he's died. His son Hanun has taken his place. David wants to show kindness to him. Now these are ambassadors who are coming. And the ambassadors as they're coming are basically coming to do two things. One is there to bring a word of comfort from David because the man's father has died. And secondly, they're going to be congratulating him on his ascension to the throne. Now as they arrive, as these ambassadors arrive, notice what happens. Verse 3, the princes of the people of Ammon said to Hanun their Lord, do you think that David really honors your father because he has sent comforters to you? Has David not rather sent his servants to you to search the city to spy it out and to overthrow it? Therefore, Hanun took David's servants, shaped off half of their beards, cut off their garments in the middle at their buttocks and sent them away. And so what you have here is you have the princes of the people of Hanun not understanding the intent of David. They don't believe that genuine compassion is occurring. Therefore they look at it with suspicion. They believe that the purpose of this visit is to spy out the city looking for weaknesses. And so they give advice to the king and they say, you need to look at this with suspicion and that's what prompts his action. Now I want to make an application even as we look at this. The application obviously is that leaders can make poor decisions based on poor information and poor advice. In this case, Hanun believes that his counselors are telling him the truth and makes a very bad decision and so the obvious lesson is be careful who you let advise you. Be careful who you allow to fill your mind with advice. Be very careful who you allow to give you counsel. You see, as Christians we have access to the Word of God and we have access to the things of the Lord and are being led by his spirit. So when you read God's Word and you meditate on it, when you memorize it, when you trust its instructions, it equips us for works of service. It actually provides for us a new way of thinking. It replaces our worldly inclinations and so we as believers can go to the Word of God. We can go to prayer. We can seek God to lead us by his spirit. We have godly counselors that we can ask for advice from and we can combine those things and as we do we can be led to make proper decisions. And the world doesn't do that. The world just basically looks on the outside and just moves upon whatever they feel concerning what should be done under these circumstances in this occasion. But we, the believers, we people who follow Jesus Christ, we have instructions from the Lord, the Word of God. Psalm 25 verses 4 and 5 says, Show me your ways, O Lord. Teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me for you are the God of my salvation on you. I wait all the day. You see, people sometimes make quick decisions based on their flesh. The psalmist is saying, I wait on you until you lead me. I'm going to wait for you to move me. And so prayer and waiting on the Lord gives to us the ability to sense the leading of his spirit. That's not something that's easily explained because those who don't have a relationship with the Lord, those who aren't Christians, those who are not the temple of the Spirit of God don't have an understanding. They think that we're foolish. They think that we're weak. They think that we're intellectual hillbillies that were just unequipped for this world's life system. And they mock us. And that's true. Paul, when he was speaking to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14, said it like this. He said, The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can they know them for they're spiritually discerned. So he is saying the natural man or the unregenerate person, the person without the Spirit of God, the person who hasn't been born again, that natural man doesn't receive the things of the Spirit of God. That word received means to welcome the natural. The unregenerate man does not welcome the things of the Spirit of God. And he gives the explanation as to why. Because he says it's foolishness to them. That word foolish means imbecilic, moronic, makes no sense. The things of the Spirit of God to the natural man make no sense. But he says, But they are spiritually discerned. So the reason you and I can sense the leading of the Spirit, search the Word of God, ask for a counsel and take counsel from godly people and all of that, the reason that we can do that is because we've been born again and we see the wisdom of doing that. And so as we do, so as we seek the Lord, God can direct our footsteps. Now of course it takes time for us to grow. And it takes time for us to learn to hear the voice of the Lord and to grow into maturity. But ultimately what happens is we begin to understand that we need God's help and we need God's leading in our life. We understand that. It's like Jeremiah chapter 10 verse 23 says where it says, Oh Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps. That I know I need your help and I know I need your direction. I know that it's not my natural inclinations that are going to lead me to truth. It's going to be you leading me and you do so by your spirit. You do so by your word. You do so Lord and I can trust you. You see God has promised to lead us through this life by his word, by his spirit. In Ezekiel in chapter 36 verse 27 God said, I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them. In Romans 8 14 Paul said as many as are led by the spirit of God these are sons of God. And so I trust the Lord to write his word on the tablet of my heart. I trust God's Holy Spirit to lead me as I pray and seek God. But the world is not that way. The world doesn't do that. These men don't have the spirit of God. They rely on their personal experience and that's how they end up counseling this king and they say to him don't trust David. He's not a man of compassion. He's coming to spy out and to look for weaknesses in order that he might come and take us. And so notice how he responds. In Romans verse 4 Hanun took David's servants, shaved off half their beards, cut off their garments in the middle at their buttocks and sent them away. And so what happens here is they respond to the kindness with this evil. It's like what David said in Psalm 109 verse 5 when he said they've rewarded me evil for good and hatred for my love. Now this is one of the most shameful things they could have done to these ambassadors. You need to remember that these ambassadors were people who represented another nation. It's interesting how the Bible speaks of us in 2 Corinthians 5 as being ambassadors. We are ambassadors of Christ. We represent another kingdom. And though we may enter into this land that we live in where simply pilgrims were strangers or sojourners because we're representing a different kingdom, the kingdom of God. And in the old time the ambassador was a very dignified man, a very wise man, a very well respected individual. The ambassadors represented another nation and were looked at by the people of that nation with great respect. And so when you see what they did to these ambassadors, they shaved off half of their beards. It causes us to see that they were treated with great contempt and were humiliated in a terrible way. You see during this time the beard, when men would grow their beard, the beard was a mark of being a free man. So a free man, one who was not a slave to another, a free man would have a full beard. So what the king is doing here in shaving off half of their beard is not only an act of humiliation, but it's also a declaration that you have become my slaves. And secondly, when it says here that they cut off their garments in the middle at their buttocks, that was a great act of shaming these men. You see, only the priests were undergarments. The general population of men were a robe without undergarments, and so what they did is they humiliated them in the most terrible way that they could. And the king was saying this. The king was saying, these ambassadors of yours, David, are now my slaves and I will treat them as I will and therefore I humiliate them even as I will humiliate you. In essence what this is is a declaration of war against David. And David reads it properly. So in verse five it says, when they told David, he sent to meet them because the men were greatly ashamed. The king said, wait at Jericho until your beards have grown and then return. Now these men have been greatly shamed and therefore instead of increasing their shame, he covers it by allowing them to wait before they return to the city. David was much like the Lord in this because in the covering of these men's shame, it was an expression of his love. It reminds me of 1 Peter chapter four, verse eight, which says, have fervent love for one another for love will cover a multitude of sins. God's love covers us and even so David was showing them great respect by saying, remain in Jericho until your beard has grown and then return and you won't return with shame. But notice what happens. Verse six, when the people of Ammon saw that they had made themselves repulsive to David, the people of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Bethlehem and the Syrians of Zovah, 20,000 foot soldiers, and from the king of Barqa, 1,000 men and from Ishtub, 12,000 men. So what they do here is they recognize that they have done something that has infuriated David. David has already shown that he doesn't take kindly to this kind of thing. Remember with me that when the Jebusites had mocked David, David took the city of Jerusalem. It just wasn't wise to anger the king. Proverbs 14.35 says, the king's favor is toward a wise servant but his wrath is against him who causes shame. So these people have seen that they made themselves repulsive to David and therefore they hire out some troops. Now we already saw this in chapter 8, but they had an army that was made up of various places and it numbered around 33,000. Now according to 1 Chronicles 19, verse 7, it costs them 1,000 talents of silver, which today would be around $15 million. And so they hired some soldiers to come. Now in verse 7, when David heard of it, he sent Yoab and all the army of the mighty men. Now these men who go with Yoab, one we need to remember who Yoab or Joab is. Joab is a commander over David's military forces and was a mighty warrior. And so, Yoab is sent as his commander, if you will, over his forces to go and deal with these who have declared war against him. And what he does is he brings with him his mighty men. Now when you read the term mighty men as it is related to David, often you'll see David and his mighty men. There are actually two categories. One, mighty men would be his chief elite fighting forces, commandos, if you will, but this time it's speaking concerning his army that is made up of seasoned war veterans. And so these are people who include the elite of his army, but these are basically military men with experience. And David doesn't waste any time. He knows what's before him and he moves quickly. Now as he does so, notice verse 8, the people of Ammon came out and put themselves in battle array at the entrance of the gate. And the Syrians of Zavah, Beth Rehab, were by themselves in the field. When Job saw that the battle line was against him before and behind, he chose some of Israel's best and put them in battle array against the Syrians. And the rest of the people he put under the command of Abishai, his brother, that he might set them in battle array against the people of Ammon. And then he said, if the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me. But if the people of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come and help you. Be of good courage. Let us be strong for our people, for the cities of our God. And may the Lord do what is good in his sight. In 1 Chronicles 19.7, we're told that they set themselves in front of a small town by the name of Medeba. You'll have sees that they're taking strategic positions. He responds quickly. He takes his most seasoned veterans and puts them in a position against the Syrians. And what he's doing is he's dividing the Syrians and the Ammonites before they can join forces. Now notice verse 10, the rest of the people he puts under the command of his brother, Abishai. Now, David's sister, Zeruia, gave birth to both Joab and Abishai, making them David's nephews. Both of them were mighty men, mighty warriors. When you look at Abishai in 1 Chronicles 11 verse 20, it says Abishai, the brother of Joab, lifted up his spear against 300 men, killed them and won a name among these three. What you have here is you have strategy and two great commanders who are going to go against armies that are attempting to destroy them. And you have one man, a brother, speaking to the other brother, who said, I think we should spend some time looking at because I think they have application for us to date. Because he says again in verse 12, be of good courage and let us be strong for our people and for the cities of our God and may the Lord do what is good in his sight. I want you to see this with me. I want you to see what he says. He has an exhortation. He says, be courageous and let your courage be seen by your actions. There are people that are called paper tigers. They're very strong on paper, but face to face, they don't know how to deal with issues. They're very courageous when they're by themselves and no enemies are surrounding them. They speak very boldly and very, very, very faithfully, but the real mark of courage isn't what you do when you're safe. It's what you do when danger is in front of you. And that's what he's saying here. Joab is saying, you need to be strong. You need to be courageous. The strength that you have within has to be shown by the deeds that you do. You have to be somebody who stands up. You have to be somebody who's willing to fight. You have to let your courage be seen by your actions. And we need to be strong, he's saying. We need to be strong for our people and we need to be strong for our God. He's basically saying, win or lose, we will do all that we can and we will trust God for the results. That's what happens and that's how it's supposed to be. This reminds me of Joshua chapter one verses six through nine. Moses is already out of the picture and Joshua, his second in command, is now becoming the leader of the nation of Israel. And the Lord God has given instructions to Joshua in chapter one and he says to him, be strong and of good courage. For to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you. And do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left that you may prosper wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid nor be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Be courageous, be strong, know his words, stand and fight. That's what Joab is basically saying here. Now when Joab is speaking to him and I want you to see this in verse 12 when he says be of good courage let us be strong for our people for the cities of our God may the Lord do what is good in his sight. He's speaking to him and he's saying that no matter what we need to stand we need to have courage and we need to trust the Lord to determine the outcome of what it is that we're about to engage in. In the early 1940s the British and their allies sent a force of around 350,000 men into the low countries of Europe to stem the tide of German advance into France, Belgium and Holland. Caught in a brilliant pincer movement by the invading German forces the beleaguered British expeditionary force was pushed back to the beaches of a small Belgian town of Dunkirk. To everyone's surprise the Germans halted their advance to regroup. King George VI said in a May 1940 radio broadcast the decisive struggle is now upon us let no one be mistaken it is no mere territorial conquest that our enemies are seeking it is the overthrow, complete and final of this empire and of everything for which it stands and after that the conquest of the world it is a life and death struggle for us all and if their will prevails they will bring to its accomplishment all the hatred and cruelty which they have already displayed but confidence alone is not enough it must be armed with courage and resolution with endurance and self-sacrifice keep your hearts proud and your resolve unshaken let us go forward to that task as one man, a smile on our lips our heads held high while this call went out from the royal palace a response from the leadership of those trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk was reported to have come back the reply contained only three words but if not the message galvanized the British people in a matter of hours thousands of boats of every description headed across the dangerous waters of the English Channel and at the risk of their own lives from enemy fire began the evacuation of the heroic but beleaguered army in what historians now refer to as the miracle of Dunkirk in all 338,226 soldiers were rescued from certain death it was these words and the words of King George VI that galvanized the people of Britain and saved the day what was it about these words that so galvanized the people I believe they spoke to shared values a shared frame of reference the people of Britain knew that the king's words were true and they also knew that those three words in response were equally true today under similar circumstances I suspect that the people of what we call western civilization would have little or no understanding of what they meant or why they were even important I can almost hear the question that people in my world in my time would be asking what on earth does that mean even today when these three words are spoken most have no idea where they came from but if not I ask you to search your memory for a moment if you recognize those three words but if not the British people understood the biblical import of the message it was a reference to the Old Testament book of Daniel where Daniel and his friends chose death rather than worship an image of the pagan king if it be so our God whom we serve he will deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and he will deliver us out of your hand, old king but if not let it be known to you, old king that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up if not, but if not even we as believers in the 21st century who pride ourselves to have the word of God and the capacity to read it on a daily basis many believers didn't even recognize where that phrase came from perhaps even in this room but if not isn't something familiar to some who are here who've been believers for many years and don't even know or recognize where that's from and that's due to the fact that many of us don't read our Bibles and so we're not even aware of the words of God that stirred an entire nation, galvanized the nation into one man if you will and they took boats and they took everything that they had the capacity of putting into water and they saved 338,000 of their boys that nation only needed to hear the words but if not they were a well-schooled nation they were aware of the word of God they knew that came from the book of Daniel they knew what that was all about all they needed to do is send that word but if not and they had an entire nation at its disposal and I believe very strongly that God is speaking to us to this day you see what we have here with Yoab when he's speaking here in verse 12 he's saying listen he's saying may the Lord do what is good in his sight God will give us victory but even if we don't have victory even if we go down we're going to go down in a right we're going to do the right thing at the right moment and that's what God has called us to do one as a nation and two as a people of God to do the right thing at that right moment to have courage and conviction to have strength and an ability to stand when others are falling that's what God has called us to do as believers to stand firm and strong and we're in battles there's no doubt about that not just as a nation but spiritually or in spiritual war we are in confrontation constantly and on a daily basis it feels sometimes like the waves and there are waves of conflict that hit our lives and sometimes they buffet us and sometimes they hurt us and sometimes they bloody us and sometimes the things that we go through discourage us but like Paul said I may be knocked down but I'm not knocked out and what we need to understand today is that we are under a spiritual conflict ourselves and we have to see the hand of God deliver us from these things we have to I have been bloodied many times but I also have this attitude I'm going to get up and fight why because I read the last page of the book of the Bible the book of Revelation and it says we win and therefore I am more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ and I will hold fast to him I exhort us as a church to do the same to be aware of the times that you're living in because indeed we're living in dark times battles aren't fun that's why they're called battles but in the Lord we will overcome in Romans chapter 8 verses 33 through 39 Paul said who shall bring a charge against God's elect it is God who justifies who is he who condemns it is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen who is even at the right hand of God who also makes intercession for us who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword as it is written for your sake we are killed all day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord you may be knocked down but you are not knocked out we win in the Lord Jesus Christ we need to understand that and we need to live in such a way even when the enemy does buffet us and indeed he does indeed he does and sometimes you are going to stand up and you are going to say I am going to do the best that I can and man I am telling you the minute you say to the Lord I want to give you my life I want to serve you with all that is within me the enemy looks at you and now he is no longer complacent on your behalf now he is your enemy and he will come against you I guarantee it and you know that you dedicate your children to Christ and they turn away from him you give your life to the Lord seek a job you are working and now you are fired there are things that go on in your life you gave your life to marriage commitment and now you are having a difficulty in your marriage and the enemy is buffeting and buffeting and buffeting and you are down but you are not out you are not out the Lord is there beside you he will give you victory he will work within you he will trust him and even if the things that we want don't come to pass away we wanted them we still will trust him though the Lord slay me yet will I trust him is what Job said and that is how it works that is how it works I have been a Christian next month 39 years and I can tell you I have had nothing but battles nothing but warfare for all these years I am down but I am not out because I stand in Jesus Christ I rise back and I put my foot on the neck of the enemy and then Christ I will stand and I encourage you to do the same stand don't be a quitter don't give up there are things worth fighting for and fight for them in the Lord he has equipped you to be victorious hold fast to the weapons God gave give up hold strong to him and when Job is speaking there he says we have reason to fight we will fight for our people we will fight for our God and if God wills we will be victorious and that is how it works those three young men in that fiery furnace says it doesn't matter whether we die in the flame or whether we are delivered we will not bow to your God that is the bottom line because if we get burned up with the Lord we cannot lose either way either he delivers us and we are out or he takes us home to be with him is that a loss? that is no loss to me that is what I live for for me to live is Christ and to die is gain and so if I lose what do I lose? I lose nothing I win at all by remaining faithful to Jesus Christ now what happens verse 13 Job and the people who were with him drew near for the battle against the Syrians and they fled before him when the people of Ammon saw that the Syrians were fleeing they also fled before Abishai and entered the city so Job returned from the people of Ammon and went to Jerusalem when the Syrians saw that they had been defeated by Israel they gathered together then Hadeser sent and brought the Syrians who are beyond the river beyond the river Euphrates and they came to Elam the commander of Hadeser's army went before them when it was told David he gathered all Israel crossed over the Jordan and came to Elam and the Syrians set themselves in battle against David and fought with him then the Syrians fled before Israel and David killed 700 charioteers and 40,000 horsemen of the Syrians struck Shabbat the commander of their army who died there and when all the kings were servants to Hadeser saw that they were defeated by Israel they made peace with Israel and served them so the Syrians were afraid to help the people of Ammon anymore David hears that they're assembling the regrouping even gathering more military and what did he do? He acted instantly he didn't sit down for a while asking what should I do he acted instantly he said we took out one now we'll take out the other and that's what he did this is a man as I look at the life of David this is a man who is what we used to call in less politically correct days this is a man's man this is the kind of man that men like me would follow where I would see this guy and say this guy's got a spine of steel this man's got a strength about him this man has something that I can admire this is a man that I can trust this is a man that I'll line up behind and fight behind this is a man that I can respect it's like my pastor Chuck that's how I feel about my pastor Chuck I'll line up behind him because I know he's going to fight the battle for the Lord and I want to be on the Lord's side and I want to be with a commander like that David was that kind of man and he sees that they're gathering together again and he says we'll take them out it's kind of like he was with Goliath when he picked up those five smooth stones he took one for Goliath and took the other for the rest of the family he was going to take them all out one at a time because he was a warrior and so we see things in the life of David that make men like me admire him but the next time we get together we're going to see something in the life of David that makes men like me become afraid to follow him in all that he did because the next time we gather together we're going to see his great sin the sin of his failure with a beautiful woman by the name of Bathsheba we'll see that next time we gather together