2 Samuel
Summary
David sends a mission of peace to comfort Hanun, the new king of the Ammonites, following the death of his father. However, the Ammonite princes convince Hanun that the messengers are spies, leading Hanun to disgrace them by shaving their beards and cutting their garments. This insult triggers a major war. The Ammonites hire Syrian mercenaries to assist them, but Joab and Abishai lead the Israeli forces to a dual victory. When the Syrians regroup for a second battle, David himself leads the army to a final, crushing defeat of the Syrian forces.
In the course of time, the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun succeeded him as king.
David thought, 'I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.' So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father. When David’s men arrived in the land of the Ammonites,
the Ammonite commanders said to Hanun their lord, 'Do you think David is honouring your father by sending envoys to you to express sympathy? Hasn't David sent them to you only to explore the city and spy it out and overthrow it?'
So Hanun seized David’s envoys, shaved off half of each man’s beard, cut off their garments at the buttocks, and sent them away.
When David was told about this, he sent messengers to meet the men, for they were greatly humiliated. The king said, 'Stay at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then come back.'
When the Ammonites realised that they had become a stench in David’s nostrils, they hired twenty thousand Syrian foot soldiers from Beth Rehob and Zobah, as well as the king of Maakah with a thousand men, and twelve thousand men from Tob.
On hearing this, David sent Joab out with the entire army of fighting men.
The Ammonites came out and drew up their battle lines at the entrance of their city gate, while the Syrians of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maakah were by themselves in the open country.
Joab saw that there were battle lines against him both in front and in back. So he selected some of the best troops in Israel and deployed them against the Syrians.
He put the rest of the men under the command of Abishai his brother and deployed them against the Ammonites.
Joab said, 'If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you are to come to my rescue; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come to rescue you.'
'Be strong, and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. the LORD will do what is good in his sight.'
Then Joab and the troops with him advanced to fight the Syrians, and they fled before him.
When the Ammonites saw that the Syrians were fleeing, they also fled before Abishai and went inside the city. So Joab returned from fighting the Ammonites and came to Jerusalem.
After the Syrians saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they regrouped.
Hadadezer had Syrians brought from beyond the Euphrates River; they went to Helam, with Shobak the commander of Hadadezer’s army leading them.
When David was told of this, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan and went to Helam. The Syrians formed their battle lines to meet David and fought against him.
But they fled before Israel, and David killed seven hundred of their charioteers and forty thousand of their horsemen. He also struck down Shobak the commander of their army, who died there.
When all the kings who were vassals of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with the Israelites and became subject to them. So the Syrians were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.