Ammonite Humiliation
As we
hear the stories of how David dealt with the nations around him, we turn to the
Ammonites. The king of the Ammonites
died, and David sent a delegation. The
king who was now dead had never dealt David any problems, so David decides to
send a delegation of peace. David was
hoping to set the tone of peace with the prince to become king of the
Amonnites. The young prince and his
advisors decide that David must be spying upon the land through the appearance
of genuine concern. The delegation is
shaved and forced to return to their land with their garments cut to a very
immodest length. This delegation of
genuine peace was sent home in shame.
It’s nice
to see a story from which we can learn so much so easily. First of all, it would seem that this story
can teach us that no good deed ever goes unpunished. David is simply trying to be nice. Okay, perhaps he is trying to do a little
more than that. David is trying to ensure
good relationships between his country and the Ammonites. After all, why fight a war that doesn’t need
to be fought because diplomacy can keep peace?
Unfortunately, the young prince doesn’t see it that way. The young Ammonite prince decides to test his
mettle against the proven leader in David.
Even when we try and do something that is good we occasionally get it pushed
back in our face and need to deal with consequences that we didn’t intend.
Second,
we can also learn about the brashness of youth.
Youth tend to be impulsive. Youth
tend to see the world through a singular lens: their own. Don’t get me wrong. Youth bring many good qualities to the table:
energy, passion, inspiration, hope for the future, and many other
qualities. But there are some things
that most youth don’t possess and wisdom is usually among them. This young prince doesn’t see the benefit of
keeping peace between the Hebrew people and the Ammonites. Because of this impetuous desire to see the
world through his own eyes, the young Ammonite insults David and his men.
This
leads us to yet another conclusion. We
need to ensure that young people – especially leaders – have support around
them. Young people need good
advisors. Young people need trustworthy
mentors to help them avoid mistakes but yet let them try their own ideas in a
safe environment. Young people bring
great qualities to teams and projects, but those qualities must also be
tempered with a means to allow those qualities to grow in an environment geared
for success.
Battle
The young
Ammonite prince realizes the gravity of his mistake too late. However, notice that rather than try and make
reparations with David he instead hires thugs with which he intends to go to
war. Again we see the folly of
youth. Rather than try to diffuse the
situation and minimize the damage done, the impetuous young leader is bent on
increasing the damage. Now the Syrians
will be drawn into the folly of the young Ammonite.
Joab is
called to the battle with his men. He
sees that he is outnumbered and outflanked by the Ammonites and the Syrians. However, Joab is a smart general. Unlike the young Ammonite prince, Joab has
wisdom and cunning and experience. Joab
divides his army and plans to hold off each of the invading forces.
When the
Syrians realize that the Hebrew people are led by an intelligent general who is
well equipped for battle, they flee. So
much for the hired help, right! Money
can buy many things, but it cannot buy true friendship and it cannot buy guaranteed
victory. The Syrians flee in the face of
the underpowered but intelligent Hebrew general.
When the
Ammonites see that the Syrians flee, they lose faith as well. The Ammonites flee to their home city and
they don’t have the wisdom of the experience of the generals to keep the morale
of the troops high. They flee, and the
Hebrew people once more focus on the Syrians who have now been cut off from
returning home. The Hebrew people fight
the Syrians and defeat them soundly.
The
effect of all of this activity is profound.
The Syrians now realize the folly of the earlier decisions. They sue David for peace. David accepts. In one major military move, David makes the
Syrians a vassal state. They are no
longer a threat to the Hebrew people.
Once more we see that God is prospering David’s leadership.
What we
can learn from this account is two-fold.
First, I’ve already made the case about youth, leadership, and their need
for good mentoring. Second, we can see a
need to trust in the Lord. It is God who
prospers David. It is God who has surrounded him with such good
leadership. It is good to have spiritual
people around us upon whom we can rely and trust that they will pursue the will
of God as Joab did here in this story.
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