2 Samuel 10:13

_AND WHEN DAVID HEARD OF IT, HE SENT JOAB, AND ALL THE HOST OF THE MIGHTY MEN._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

6-14 They that are at war with the Son of David, not only give the provocation, but begin the war. God has forces to send against those that set his wrath at defiance, Isaiah 5:19, which will convince them that none ever hardened his heart against God, and prospered. Christ's soldiers should strengthen one another's hands in their spiritual warfare. Let nothing be wanting in us, whatever the success be. When we make conscience of doing our duty, we may, with satisfaction, leave the event with God, assuredly hoping for his salvation in his own way and time....

EXPOSITION 2 SAMUEL 10:1 THE KING OF THE CHILDREN OF AMMON DIED. This war is very briefly referred to in 2 Samuel 8:12; but we have now entered upon a narrative, the interest of which is altogether unlike all that has gone before. There we saw David crowned with earthly glory, and made the monarch of a vast empire; he is also a prophet, and, as such, not only restores, but enriches and enlarges, the worship of the sanctuary; and, as prophet and king, he becomes not only the type, but the ancestor of the Messiah. In this narrative he is a sinner, punished with terrible, though merited, severity, and must henceforth walk humbly and sorrowfully as a penitent before God. From...

AND JOAB DREW NIGH, AND THE PEOPLE THAT WERE WITH HIM, UNTO THE BATTLE AGAINST THE SYRIANS,.... Fell upon them; attacked them first, began the battle with them; rightly judging, that if they, being hired soldiers, were closely pressed, they would give way, which would discourage the Ammonites, who depended much upon them; and the fight, according to Josephus x, lasted some little time, who says, that Joab killed many of them, and obliged the rest to turn their backs and flee, as follows: AND THEY FLED BEFORE HIM: the Syriac and Arabic versions in this verse, and in all others in this chapter where the word "Syrians" is used, have "Edomites", reading "Edom" instead of "Aram", the letters ר "R" and ד "D" in the Hebrew tongue being very similar. x Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 6. sect. 2.)...

7. THE WAR WITH AMMON AND THE SYRIANS CHAPTER 10 _ 1. David and Hanun (2 Samuel 10:1)_ 2. Ammon and the Syrians smitten (2 Samuel 10:6) The chapter with the war against Ammon and the Syrians is the prelude to the great sin of David. While Joab is carrying on the siege of Rabbah, the last city of the Ammonites, David, no doubt flushed with the great victory and prosperity, remained in his house and committed his awful sin. The war with Ammon originated through the insults which Hanun the King of Ammon had heaped upon David's ambassadors. David wanted to show kindness also to Hanun as his father Nahash had shown kindness to David. We have no record of this kindness. In this endeavour David did certainly not follow the right course, for Ammon was an enemy, and while Nahash

2 SAMUEL 10. WAR WITH THE AMMONITES AND THE SYRIANS (J). 2 Samuel 10:1. The king of Ammon insults David's ambassadors. [J. G. Frazer (_Taboo and the Perils of the Soul,_ p. 273) connects Hanun's action with the well-known belief that to get possession of the hair of a person is to have him in one's power. He supposes that Hanun, distrusting David's designs and desirous to have some guarantee of peace, thought he secured this by retaining half the beards and garments He quotes as a parallel the treatment of a traitor by two Moabite Arabs who shaved completely one side of his head and his moustache on the other, and set him at liberty. A. S. P.] 2 SAMUEL 10:6. The Ammonites hire mercenaries from the Syrian states; Joab takes command of the general levy of Israel and the standi

Defeat of the Ammonites and their Syrian allies 6. _that they stank_ Lit. _that they had made themselves stink_: had brought themselves into evil odour, or, made themselves odious. Ancient history records many wars undertaken to avenge insults offered to ambassadors, whose persons have always been considered sacred by the law of nations: e.g. the war between Rome and Tarentum which led to the invasion of Italy by Pyrrhus. See also Cicero, _pro lege Manil._c. 5. _hired_ For a thousand talents of silver according to 1 Chronicles 19:6, a sum variously estimated at from £250,000 to £500,000. For other instances of the employment of mercenary troops see 2 Kings 7:6; 2 Chronicles 25:6

_David's Army Divided Into Two Companies._ 2 Samuel 10:6-19 6 And when the children of Ammon saw that they stank before David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth-rehob, and the Syrians of Zoba, twenty thousand footmen, and of king Maacah a thousand men, and of Ishtob twelve thousand men. 7 And when David heard of _it,_ he sent Joab, and all the host of the mighty men. 8 And the children of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the entering in of the gate: and the Syrians of Zoba, and of Rehob, and Ishtob, and Maacah, _were_ by themselves in the field. 9 When Joab saw that the front of the battle was against him before and behind, he chose of all the choice _men_ of Israel, and put _them_ in array against the Syrians: 10 And the rest of the people he delivered into the hand of Abishai his brother, that he mi

THE WAR WITH AMMON AND SYRIA 2. His father shewed kindness unto me] Occasion not stated....

DAVID, THE GREAT KING OF ISRAEL 2 SAMUEL _HELEN POCOCK_ CHAPTER 10 DAVID DEFEATS THE *AMMONITES V1 Some time later, Nahash, the king of the *Ammonites, died. His son Hanun became king. V2 David thought, ‘I will be kind to Hanun because his father Nahash was kind to me.’ So, David sent some of his servants to Hanun. David wanted to show sympathy to Hanun after his father’s death. David’s men came to the country called Ammon. V3 The leaders in Ammon said to the king, ‘Do not imagine that David really feels sympathy for you. He does not really want to give honour to your father. No! David has sent his servants to explore our city. They will see everything. Then David’s army will be able to