19:1 Later King Nahash of the Ammonites died and his son succeeded him.
The Ammonites were the descendants of Ammon. Ammon was one of the two daughters of Lot. Lot and his two daughters escaped the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Ammon received her education in Sodom. After Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed, then she and her sister intoxicated their father. They seduced him into an incestuous relationship. Their children became the descendants of the Ammonites and Moabites. They were educated with a mixture of Jewish and Sodomite culture.
During the reign of King Nahash, the Ammonites and Israel were friendly neighbors towards each other. Nahash reigned over the Ammonites for over fifty years. Though Nahash had fought against Saul, he had apparently befriended David.
19:2 David said, “I will express my loyalty to Hanun son of Nahash, for his father was loyal to me.” So David sent messengers to express his sympathy over his father’s death. When David’s servants entered Ammonite territory to visit Hanun and express the king’s sympathy,
Israel was forbidden to enter into treaties with foreign nations. God is not pleased when believers join with unbelievers in spiritual partnerships. The Ammonites were involved in a demonic religion which practiced human sacrifice. David should have left the nation alone. Israel was not to take the gospel to the people. Israel was to be such a good example to other nations, that other nations would come to them to hear the gospel.
19:3 the Ammonite officials said to Hanun, “Do you really think David is trying to honor your father by sending these messengers to express his sympathy? No, his servants have come to you so they can get information and spy out the land!”
David only wanted to be friendly to his cousin nation. The Ammonites did not want peace. They were into satanism. They developed a hatred for Israel.
19:4 So Hanun seized David’s servants and shaved their beards off. He cut off the lower part of their robes so that their buttocks were exposed and then sent them away.
King Hanun insulted Israel by shaming their ambassadors. Cutting off the beard and public nudity were not acceptable social customs in Israel. Only debased societies who hate the Word of God accept public nudity.
19:5 Messengers came and told David what had happened to the men, so he summoned them, for the men were thoroughly humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Jericho until your beards grow again; then you may come back.”
David protected the dignity of his ambassadors.
19:6 When the Ammonites realized that David was disgusted with them, Hanun and the Ammonites sent 1,000 talents of silver to hire chariots and charioteers from Aram Naharaim, Aram Maacah, and Zobah.
Aram is another name for Syria. The Ammonites hired Syrian mercenary soldiers to fight against Israel.
19:7 They hired 32,000 chariots, along with the king of Maacah and his army, who came and camped in front of Medeba. The Ammonites also assembled from their cities and marched out to do battle.
Ammon and Syria joined together so that they would greatly outnumbered David’s forces.
19:8 When David heard the news, he sent Joab and the entire army to meet them.
General Joab was David’s nephew. Joab was trained by David himself. Joab was a dangerous man both politically and militarily, but he was very loyal to his uncle David.
19:9 The Ammonites marched out and were deployed for battle at the entrance to the city, while the kings who had come were by themselves in the field.
The Ammonites were on one side of Israel while the Syrians were on the other side of Israel.
19:10 When Joab saw that the battle would be fought on two fronts, he chose some of Israel’s best men and deployed them against the Arameans.
General Joab placed his best soldiers against the Syrians.
19:11 He put his brother Abishai in charge of the rest of the army and they were deployed against the Ammonites.
Abishai was the brother of Joab, the nephew of David, and one of the mighty men of David. He was another dangerous Israelite soldier who was well-trained by either David or Joab.
19:12 Joab said, “If the Arameans start to overpower me, you come to my rescue. If the Ammonites start to overpower you, I will come to your rescue.
This strategy was the same strategy which was used in the American Civil War.
19:13 Be strong! Let’s fight bravely for the sake of our people and the cities of our God! The Lord will do what he decides is best!”
General Joab counted on Jehovah to win the battle for Israel.
19:14 So Joab and his men marched toward the Arameans to do battle, and they fled before him.
The Syrians ran away, leaving the Ammonites alone.
19:15 When the Ammonites saw the Arameans flee, they fled before Joab’s brother Abishai and withdrew into the city. Joab went back to Jerusalem.
The Ammonites saw their support run away, so they ran away as well.
19:16 When the Arameans realized they had been defeated by Israel, they sent for reinforcements from beyond the Euphrates River, led by Shophach the commanding general of Hadadezer’s army.
The Syrians lived in Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia means “between the rivers.” Mesopotamia was the fertile crescent which lay between the Tigris and Euphrates River. It is currently the location of modern Iran and Iraq. The Syrians sent messengers back to the Euphrates River and asked for more reinforcements.
19:17 When David was informed, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan River, and marched against them. David deployed his army against the Arameans for battle and they fought against him.
King David crossed the Jordan Rive and pursued the Syrians.
19:18 The Arameans fled before Israel. David killed 7,000 Aramean charioteers and 40,000 infantrymen; he also killed Shophach the commanding general.
David never lost a battle. He wiped out the Syrians. The reason David's long string of undefeated victories was that he always contacted the Lord before the battle and followed His instructions.
19:19 When Hadadezer’s subjects saw they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and became his subjects. The Arameans were no longer willing to help the Ammonites.
The Ammonites surrendered and became subjects to David. The Syrians refused to help the Ammonites.
It is interesting to note that David never wanted to go to war. He just wanted to live peacefully with his satanic neighbors. However, Satan will not allow the nations under his control to live at peace as long as Israel exists as a nation. Satan must exterminate every Jew on the earth, so that there will be none alive to call for their Messiah.
When David did go out to war, he went out to win. He did not spare the enemy. He taught other enemy nations that if they mess with Israel, then they were sticking their finger in God’s eyes. David was the instrument in which God used to bring down evil nations.
Many skeptics say that God is a bloody God. God is a master of turning evil into good. God used the total depravity and violent nature of men to save lives. The way to save lives is to exterminate the enemy so ruthlessly, that they would never want to raise the sword in God’s territory again.
Many modern nations are living in a dangerous day of permissiveness. Praise of God has been replaced by profanity. Honesty has been replaced by trickery. Integrity has been replaced by dishonesty. Humility has been replaced by pride in one’s accomplishments. Sincerity has been replaced by hypocrisy. Everyone puts on an act, making it look as though they are righteous. Inside, they are carnal, because they are devoid of bible doctrine. This lack of bible doctrine leads to pride, making them think that they are pleasing to God. Anyone who has not studied the entire counsel of the Word of God is fragmented and unpleasing to God.
Believers live in a world of sin. Laws should be enforced and criminals should be punished. If not, then murderers, rapists, and thieves will walk the streets, eyeing innocent children as their next victims. Man believes in rehabilitation, but man is too totally depraved and evil to be rehabilitated. If a murderer kills a person made in God’s image, then God commands capital punishment. The murderers walk on death row may be the only thing which causes them to turn to God. This teaching is not very popular with the human viewpoint of the satanic world system, but it is God’s divine viewpoint.