Hanun

Now, here in 2 Samuel chapter number 10, we began last week, or sorry, last study, and we talked about how David is preparing himself for battle, and Ammon has prepared itself for war against David.

David had tried to reach out, sort of an olive branch, a kind gesture to Hanun, the king of Ammon, and he got counsel from his men that David was tricking him, trying to spy out the land, which wasn't true, but because of that, they took the messengers of David and shaved half their beard off, and they ripped their garments, and remember that? Brought shame to them, and so now David is going to go to battle against these people, We began to read about that in the last study.

We got down to verse number 12.

In verse number 12, there's a charge given, and I love the statement, be of good courage and let us play the men for our people and for the cities of our God.

Now, here in 2 Samuel 10, let's begin reading in verse number one.

It says, "And it came to pass after this, that the king of the children of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his stead.

Then said David, 'I will show kindness unto Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness unto me.' And David sent to comfort him by the hand of his servants for his father.

And David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon.

And the princes of the children of Ammon said unto Hanun their lord, 'Thinkest thou that David doth honor thy father, that he hath sent comforters unto thee? Hath not David rather sent his servants unto thee to search the city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it?'" Now, the Bible tells us the context and tells us the, uh, legitimate, uh, sense of the story, uh, not what's being read into by these that we'll talk about in a moment.

But really right at the outset, it tells us David wants to show kindness unto Hanun, the son of Nahash, and that has kept character with what David's been doing as we've been reading.

He showed kindness to Mephibosheth as well, and David's showing kindness now to this individual, at least he wants to, uh, beginning here in chapter number 10.

And you can also read about this in 1 Chronicles 19 as well, uh, if you want to.

Isn't that interesting that even our mistakes can shine the perfection of God? Not because we were without error, but God is very good at taking our imperfections when they're responded to properly and leveraging them to His glory.

So there's another way, uh, to walk as a king, and Hanun, the proud king, is a great illustration of that.

2 Samuel 10: "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.'" Oh, what a nice thing of David to do.

He's gonna show kindness to Hanun.

"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.

And 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 search the city, to spy it out, and to overthrow it?'" Whatever that voice is, that counselor voice that sneaks into our life and that turns us against the good King Jesus and t- actually causes us to look askance at what God is doing and we end up allying against Him instead of with Him.

This is a deep cut.

Nahash dies and his son Hanun becomes the king.

All right.

So David sends some of his servants to comfort Hanun over the death of his father.

So while they're there, Hanun's advisors convince him that David's men aren't really there to comfort him.

They, they think they're spies, right? So Hanun humiliates all of them.

He shaves off all their hair, their beards, cuts their hair and their garments and sends them on their way, which is a pretty aggressive response to a condolence visit.

So David hears about it.

In chapter 10 in Perek Yod and Shmuel Beis, the Nevi tells us that the king of Ammon, a man by the name of Nachash, passed away and his son Hanun was anointed in order to succeed him.

So the Nevi tells us that David sent a delegation to Nechum HaBevim for consolation of mourners, just as a sign of respect for the passing of Nachash.

Rashi points out, as Pasek points out, because Nahash had done chesed with David's family, that at one point when David's family was on the run, Nahash had offered them safe refuge.

But it's very striking that here, David HaMelech was just trying to do something nice, right? He was just trying to send a delegation to go out and do Nechama Veilem, And then what happened? It backfired so badly.

Now, at the end of the day, it turned out for the best for Klaude Sram.

But it's fascinating, two lessons.

So first of all, of course, in general, what looked like such a terrible situation, now this whole incident, you know, evolved into a major regional conflict.

Again, the result was good, because Baruch Hashem, Chal Yisrael, gained regional superiority.

2 Samuel 10 starts with a kind deed and ends with 40,000 deaths because cynics interpreted kindness as spying.

It says this in 2 Samuel 10.1. Now it happened afterwards that the king of the Ammonites died and Hanun, his son, became king in his place.

Then David said, I will show kindness to Hanun, the son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.

So David sent some of his servants to console him concerning his father.

But when David's servants came to the land of the Ammonites, the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun, their Lord, do you think that David is honoring your father because he has sent consolers to you? Has David not sent his servants to you in order to search the city, to spy it out, and to overthrow it? Paul Miller said cynicism begins with a wry assurance that everyone has an angle.

Behind every silver lining is a dark cloud.

The cynic is always observing, critiquing, but never engaging, loving, and hoping.

The princes of the land become like the Holy Spirit.

That's the faith of other people.

In order for you to have a true, genuine encounter and really following Jesus, you need to have that personal encounter with Jesus.

Confession has to start with the word, I. I believe.

And you have to proclaim that as your own proclamation.

You are now my child.

And that has to be the start of our own faith journey as well.

It has to be a personal encounter with Jesus.

Let me ask you this question.

Samuel.

After this the king of the Ammonites died, and Hanun his son reigned in his place.

And David said, I will deal loyally with Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father dealt loyally with me.

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? Has not David sent his servants to you to search the city and to spy it out and to overthrow it? 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.

And the king said, Remain at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return.