And it came to pass after this that the king of the children of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his stead.
One line of news arrives from a neighbouring kingdom. Ammon's king is dead, and his son Hanun now rules. It comes straight after David's kindness to Mephibosheth. So what will Israel's king do with a foreign ruler whose people had long fought God's people?
One writer reads what follows as David reaching past Israel's borders with the same grace.
David's grace does not only address the Jewish remnant. In 2 Samuel 10 he extends it toward rebellious Gentiles. Moab and Ammon, Lot's descendants, for all practical purposes formed a single people. They had always been allies of each other, and of Israel's other enemies, trying to harm the people of God… "No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the LORD forever" (Deut. 23:3)… Israel ought never to seek their peace nor their prosperity. Still, even if he cannot win this nation as a whole, David wants at least to win the heart of their ruler by his grace. So he sends to comfort him.
The father who dies here is not a neutral figure. Commentators identify him with the Nahash of Saul's early reign.
We have no reason to think that this Nahash is anyone other than the man we meet in 1 Samuel 11. His pride and fury had wanted the satisfaction of putting out the right eye of every inhabitant of the town of Jabesh-Gilead, to put Israel to shame. God delivered them by Saul's hand. But we see plainly that this wicked, blood-thirsty man was the enemy of God's people.
Scripture never records what Nahash did for David. One writer draws a wider lesson from that.
The world, or a man in the world who is hostile to the people of God, may do something for Christ. He may be willing to offer some help to those who represent the Lord Jesus here on earth. This man may forget his act. The world may forget it as well. It is nowhere recorded. But the Lord does not forget. Such a man receives no reward in heaven, but the eyes, heart and thoughts of the Lord Jesus are drawn to him. He will not stay in debt to someone who has done something for Him, even though that man is at heart an enemy.
Commentators differ here. One reads David's move as grace reaching out; another says David should have asked the Lord first.
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 David certainly did not follow the right course, for Ammon was an enemy. Nahash did show some kindness to David during his exile. But he had also reproached Israel, and he was ready to thrust out the right eyes of the men of Jabesh-gilead… Had David asked the Lord, the messengers would have been spared these insults.
What follows the funeral in Ammon is war. One writer draws from it a settled rule of how this king's reign works.
We pass over the details of 2 Samuel 10. The chapter sets out the general principle of the king's rule in Zion. When those who are shown grace despise it, the king's judgment follows. Opposition and rebellion only establish his authority in the very place where people try to resist. It is useless to strive against the power of God's chosen king.
One writer sets Hanun beside Mephibosheth, and makes the two a mirror for every hearer of the gospel.
In the following chapter we hear David again proposing to show kindness. The king of Ammon died, and David sent messages of sympathy to Hanun, his successor. But this time his kindness was rejected… Every man who has Christ presented to his attention must play the part either of Mephibosheth or of Hanun. The one valued "the kindness of God," shown to him by David. The other refused it, and it was his ruin… The man who cannot value the love of the divine heart must yet feel the severity of the divine hand.
- Occasion — A king dies in Ammon, his son takes the throne, and David's kindness crosses a border.
- Memory — David repays a kindness no record keeps. The world forgets what it does for Christ; the Lord does not.
- Reach — The kindness first shown to Mephibosheth inside Israel now reaches a people the law had shut out forever.
- Dispute — Commentators differ: was this kindness grace reaching out, or a step David took without asking the Lord?
- Result — Kindness refused does not weaken the king. Rejection only fixes his authority where it met resistance. Each hearer answers as Mephibosheth or as Hanun.
And David said, I will shew kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father shewed kindness to 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.
David's opening words in this chapter reach out to the son of a foreign king who had once done him a favour. Commentators split over it: was this a picture of grace, or a step David should never have taken?
David names a debt he owes Hanun's father. One writer looks for that favour in Scripture and cannot find it.
"His father showed kindness to me." The Word says nothing about this in the story of David's wanderings, and the First Book of Chronicles does not mention it either. In short, history does not record this kindness. But David, a picture of Christ, remembers a kind act from a man who must have hated him as the future king of Israel. At a time when the Lord's anointed was rejected, this Nahash had shown him good will. And in any case, God was above everything Nahash did.
(The writer follows an older translation here; the ESV reads, "as his father dealt loyally with me.")
The point reaches further than Nahash.
Sometimes the world, or a man of the world who is hostile to the people of God, does something for Christ. He may be willing to give some kind of help to those who represent the Lord Jesus here on earth. That man may forget what he did. The world may forget it too. It is nowhere recorded. But the Lord does not forget.
David's men carry comfort to a son mourning his father.
The Lord forgets nothing. When even an otherwise evil man shows Him a kindness, He sends back something that may encourage him. He sends comfort to a soul weighed down by the sorrow that sin has brought into the world. David knew what Hanun's heart needed. He knew how to replace sorrow with kindness and joy. He does not send him gifts, or riches, or honours. He sends something far better: comfort. And he sends it by the hand of his servants. To receive those servants was to receive David himself.
The same trait runs through David's whole life, and it points past him to someone greater.
Grace always marks David. Grace — not to mention his sufferings and troubles — makes him a striking picture of the Lord Jesus... David has only good to say about his enemies. He forgets their hatred and their insults. His large and noble heart rises above every personal thought, and he sees his enemies only in the pure light of grace. This is how Jesus sends the message of salvation to His worst enemies!
Not everyone reads this as pure grace. Some see a well-meant move that ignored what God had already said about Ammon.
To receive gifts and honour from the king of Hamath was in keeping with God's mind, but to keep up a friendship with the Ammonite went against His word. In the first case a Gentile — a non-Israelite — brings gifts. In the second, David is trying to comfort a natural enemy; he is not receiving honour but offering friendship. God steps in for the sake of His own name. Hanun and his princes grow suspicious and reject David's friendly offer, and that becomes the occasion for God to carry out His judgment on Israel's enemies.
Another writer weighs David's move against Nahash's own record.
We have no record of this kindness. In this attempt David did not take the right course, for Ammon was an enemy. Nahash showed some kindness to David during his exile, but he had also insulted Israel... Hanun treated David's peaceful messengers shamefully, and that showed he was a wicked man like his father, not worthy of David's kindness. If David had asked the Lord, the messengers would have been spared this disgrace.
Mephibosheth welcomed David's kindness; Hanun refused it. One writer sees every hearer of the message in that pair.
Everyone who has Christ set before him must play the part either of Mephibosheth or of Hanun. The one valued "the kindness of God" that David showed him. The other refused it, and it ruined him. It is a wonderful thing to hear the Saviour's name, and to hear of the precious blood that alone could reconcile sinners to God. But it is a serious thing to reject that message from heaven. The man who cannot value the love of God's heart must still feel the severity of God's hand.
- Remembered. History records no trace of Nahash's kindness, yet David remembers it — and the Lord forgets nothing done for Him.
- Given. David returns comfort, not riches or honours. He sends it by servants, so to receive them was to receive David himself.
- Reaching. The kindness travels to an enemy nation, as Jesus sends His message of salvation to His worst enemies.
- Disputed. Commentators differ. Some see pure grace and a picture of Christ. Others see a friendship that went against God's word and ended in God's judgment on Israel's enemies.
- Answered. Every hearer answers like Mephibosheth or like Hanun: kindness welcomed, or kindness refused.
And the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun their lord, Is it, in thine eyes, to honour thy father that David has sent comforters to thee? Is it not to search the city and to spy it out, and to overthrow it, that David has sent his servants to thee?
David sent men to Ammon with a message of sympathy. Before the young king Hanun could answer, his advisers gave him another reading of the visit: the comforters are really spies, sent to map the city for an attack. So the verse turns on one question. How did a real act of kindness come to sound like a threat?
David's men carried only sympathy. Ammon's court still read a hostile motive into it.
This was completely misunderstood. The Ammonites could not appreciate the grace in David's heart. They only suspected mischief, as wicked people naturally do.
One writer traces the suspicion back to the men who held it.
The princes of Ammon were suspicious. People of false religions are suspicious in just the same way about the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. False doctrines never give honest credit to the grace of God. They stress instead the legal principle of man's self-righteousness. Their motives are selfish, so they suspect the same selfish motives in others.
Hanun did not raise the objection himself. His advisers put it into his mouth. One writer notes how close he came to escaping it.
Hanun is not receptive. Had he been alone, his heart might have been touched. He does not drive the messengers away at once. But he is badly advised. The princes of the Ammonites stir up his distrust: "Has not David sent his servants to you to search the city and to spy it out and to overthrow it?" How easily such suggestions succeed when Jesus is not known! These men, they say, are hypocrites; their purpose is to make war against us.
The same writer measures how quickly the mood in that room moved from doubt to violence.
The world has more confidence in the opinion of its counselors than in the message of Christ. These counselors will do anything to turn their followers away from the gospel, as soon as any of them show the least sign of receiving it. The distance between distrust and insult is shorter than we might suspect.
David was repaying kindness, and what he sent was not treasure. The messengers stood in his own place.
The Lord forgets nothing. In exchange for an act of kindness shown to Him, even by an otherwise evil man, He sends something that may encourage that man. David knew the needs of Hanun's heart. He knew how to replace sorrow with feelings of kindness and joy. He does not send him presents, or riches, or honors. He sends what is infinitely better: comfort. And he sends it by the hand of his servants. To receive these servants was to receive David himself.
Commentators differ here. Some read David's message as pure grace, like the gospel offered to enemies. Others say the friendship itself was a wrong step, and God used the insult that followed.
To receive presents and homage from the king of Hamath was according to God. But to keep up friendly relations with the Ammonite was against His word… God steps in for His own name's sake. Hanun and his princes reject David's friendly offers, and their suspicion becomes the occasion for God to carry out His judgment on Israel's enemies.
Another writer names David's reason for sending, and what could have prevented the insult:
David wanted to show kindness to Hanun, because his father Nahash had shown kindness to David. But in this David did not follow the right course, for Ammon was an enemy. Hanun treated David's peaceful messengers in a shameful way. This showed that he was a wicked man like his father, and not worthy of David's kindness. If he had asked the Lord first, the messengers would have escaped this shame.
One writer draws a general principle from the whole chapter.
2 Samuel 10… sets before us the general principle of the king's rule in Zion. When those who are shown grace despise it, the king's judgment follows. Opposition and rebellion only establish his authority in the very place where people resist.
In the chapter before, Mephibosheth welcomed the same kindness. One writer sets the two men side by side as a test every reader faces.
Everyone who has Christ set before him must play the part either of Mephibosheth or of Hanun. The one valued "the kindness of God," shown to him by David. The other refused it, and it ruined him… The man who cannot value the love of God's heart must still feel the severity of God's hand.
- Kindness sent. David sent a grieving king comfort, not wealth. To receive his messengers was to receive David himself.
- Kindness suspected. Ammon's court could not believe in grace. Selfish hearts suspect the same selfishness in everyone else.
- Kindness argued away. Alone, Hanun might have been moved. His advisers turned an act of comfort into an imagined plot.
- Kindness insulted. The step from distrust to open insult is shorter than anyone expects. Asking the Lord first would have stopped it.
- Kindness avenged. Despise the king's grace and his judgment follows. Resistance only makes his rule stronger in the place that resisted.
And Hanun took David's servants, and had the one half of their beards shaved off, and their raiment cut off in the midst, as far as their buttocks, and sent them away.
David sends a friendly embassy to a neighbouring king. The men come home half-shaved and half-stripped. Why did that count as such an outrage? And what does it say about people who cannot believe kindness is kindness?
The beard was not a matter of fashion in Israel. It was protected by law and tied to a man's honour, so tampering with it was an act of contempt.
The Israelites always grew the beard and prized it. The law forbade them to spoil the edges of their beards, Lev. 19:27, and a priest was not to shave off the corner of his beard as a sign of mourning. Lev. 21:5. King Hanun did a deep dishonour to David's ambassadors when he ruined their beards.
Hanun cut away half the beard and half the clothing on purpose. He did not kill the men. He made them a public spectacle and sent them home in that state.
No one could shame a king's ambassadors more than this. They had to cross Hanun's country in disgrace, half naked, mocked, and made a joke. Is it surprising that they were "greatly ashamed"?
The princes had no category for unearned goodwill, so they explained it by their own standards.
The princes of Ammon were suspicious, just as people in false religions are suspicious of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. False teaching never gives honest credit to the grace of God. It pushes instead the legal principle of man's self-righteousness. Its motives are selfish, so it suspects the same selfish motives in others.
Hanun did not think this up alone. His advisers pushed him into it. The slide from mistrust to open mockery was short.
The world has more confidence in the opinion of its counselors than in the message of Christ. These counselors will do anything to turn aside from the gospel those of their followers who show any inclination at all to receive it. The distance between distrust and insult is shorter than we might suspect.
Ambassadors in that world were not resident diplomats but personal representatives, so what was done to them was done to the one who sent them.
Such men stood in the place of the kings who sent them, and people normally treated them with proper respect, whatever the message. David deeply resented the insult done to the messengers he had sent in kindness to Hanun, king of the Ammonites. 2 Sam. 10:1-14. In 2 Samuel 9 the kindness of God found acceptance; here kindness met rejection. In the New Testament the apostles were ambassadors for Christ to a guilty world, urging their hearers to be reconciled to God.
David's first move is not war but shelter. He has the men wait at Jericho until they are fit to be seen again.
Hanun echoes his father's scorn in a milder form. He takes half the beards and half the clothes of David's ambassadors. At Jericho, the place of the world's judgment, they must wait until they have their dignity as men back. Then they return.
Commentators differ here. Some read David's move as pure grace, a last offer of kindness to a hostile neighbour. Others judge the mission itself unwise.
Here David did not take the right course. Ammon was an enemy. Nahash did show David some kindness while he was in exile, but he had also insulted Israel, and he was ready to gouge out the right eyes of the men of Jabesh-gilead. Hanun treated David's peaceful messengers in this shameful way. That showed he was a wicked man like his father, and not worthy of David's kindness.
Nothing in the chapter suggests Hanun knew what he was throwing away.
Hanun refused the last message of grace — and how little he suspected that it was the last. The result is a terrible judgment. It begins in this chapter and runs on through the chapters that follow. It is a judgment without pity, brought on by anger at the insult done to grace.
In the chapter before, Mephibosheth welcomed David's kindness. Hanun does the opposite.
Everyone who has Christ set before him must play either the part of Mephibosheth or the part of Hanun. The first valued "the kindness of God" that David showed; the second refused it, and it ruined him... The man who will not value the love of God's heart must still feel the severity of God's hand.
- Kindness sent. David remembers an old favour and sends kindness, not demands. The offer costs Hanun nothing.
- Kindness suspected. Advisers who see selfish motives in everyone suspected the same in David. Distrust turned to insult fast.
- Kindness insulted. Half the beard, half the garment. It was public shame of the deepest kind, aimed through the messengers at their king.
- Shame covered. David keeps his shamed servants at Jericho until they have their dignity back. War comes later.
- Kindness avenged. The insult to grace brings the judgment. Whoever will not know the love of God's heart will feel the weight of His hand.
And they told [it] to David; and he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, Abide at Jericho until your beards be grown, and then return.
David sent messengers in kindness to a neighbouring king, and they came home shamed — half-shaved and half-stripped. This verse records what David did next, and it raises two questions: why did the insult cut so deep, and why did rejected kindness end in war?
The men were not travellers. They were official representatives, and in the ancient world that carried weight.
They were officials sent from one king to another with any important message, or to settle matters of shared interest... Such men represented the kings who sent them. Whatever the message, people normally treated them with proper respect. David deeply resented the insult done to the messengers he had sent in kindness to Hanun, king of the Ammonites.
The men stood for David. The insult to their bodies struck his name.
A beard was not a fashion choice in Israel. Law and custom guarded it, and cutting it spoke of mourning and disgrace.
The Israelites always grew the beard and prized it. The law forbade them to "mar the edges of their beards" (Leviticus 19:27), and a priest must not shave off the edge of his beard as a sign of mourning (Leviticus 21:5). King Hanun inflicted a deep insult when he cut the beards of David's ambassadors.
Hanun cut their clothes too, so the men travelled home exposed as well as disfigured.
No treatment could shame a king's ambassadors more than this. They had to travel through Hanun's land dishonoured, half naked, mocked, and made a laughing-stock. Is it surprising that they were "greatly ashamed"?
David's first move is not military. He deals with his men's shame before he deals with Ammon.
When David heard this he first gave the men a break at Jericho until their beards grew. We are not told how David himself answered this offensive insult aimed at him and at Israel. We are not told either of any move David made to attack Ammon before Ammon began preparing for battle.
One writer reads the stop at Jericho as a recovery of what Hanun tried to strip away:
Hanun shows a milder form of his father's scorn. He takes away half the beards and half the garments of David's ambassadors. At Jericho, the place of the world's judgement, they must wait until they have recovered their dignity as men: so they return.
The trouble started with Hanun's advisers. They told him that David's men had come to spy.
Hanun is not receptive. If he had been alone, his heart might have been touched. He does not drive the messengers away at once, but he is badly advised. The princes of the Ammonites stir up his distrust: "Is it not to search the city and to spy it out, and to overthrow it, that David has sent his servants to you?" How easily such suggestions succeed when Jesus is not known! These men, they say, are hypocrites; their purpose is to make war against us.
Another writer traces that suspicion to the character of the men who held it:
The Ammonites could not appreciate the grace of David's heart, but only suspected mischief, as the wicked naturally do.
One writer sets this chapter beside the one before it. Two offers of kindness, two opposite answers:
In 2 Samuel 9 the kindness of God was accepted; here kindness was rejected. In the New Testament the apostles were ambassadors for Christ to a guilty world, to urge their hearers to be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:20; Ephesians 6:20; and judgement will fall on those who do not obey the gospel. 2 Thessalonians 1:8; 1 Peter 4:17.
The waiting at Jericho has been taken as a picture of the pause before that judgement falls:
David told the men to wait at Jericho until their beards were grown. The Lord is now waiting until the appointed time, and His patience is salvation. But the judgement, severe and certain, is approaching.
- Kindness sent. David sent his messengers in kindness to Hanun, king of the Ammonites; commentators see in it the grace of David's heart.
- Kindness suspected. Bad advice turned that kindness into a suspected plot; Hanun's princes told him the messengers had come to spy.
- Kindness insulted. Shaving the beard and cutting the garments shamed an envoy as nothing else could. Law and custom made the beard a man's honour.
- Servants sheltered. Before any army moves, the king goes out to meet his shamed men and keeps them at Jericho until they recover their dignity as men.
- Sender avenged. An insult to the messenger is an insult to the one who sent him. Commentators see in the delay a picture of patience that has a limit.