The Kingdom · c. 995 BC
Chapter 10
Kindness and War
David said to him, “Don’t be afraid, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your father. You will eat bread at my table continually.”
For parents
This chapter tells of David’s wars, in which many thousands of soldiers are killed. After defeating Moab, David makes the Moabites lie on the ground, measures them with a cord and puts two cord-lengths of them to death (2 Samuel 8:2). He also hamstrings captured chariot horses (8:4). In 10:4 the Ammonite king shames David’s messengers by shaving off half of each man’s beard and cutting their clothes off up to their buttocks. It is told plainly, without detail.
After this, attacked the and brought them under his control. He took control of their chief city away from them. 1 Chronicles says he took and its towns from them.
He defeated too. He made the Moabites lie flat on the ground and used a cord to measure them. He put two cord-lengths of them to death and let one full length live. The Moabites had to serve David, and they brought him tribute, the payment a conquered people owed its ruler.
David also beat son of Rehob, the king of , as he went to win back his rule at the River. 1 Chronicles says this was out toward , and that he went to set up his rule by the River .
David captured seventeen hundred of Hadadezer’s horsemen and twenty thousand of his foot soldiers. 1 Chronicles counts a thousand chariots, twenty thousand foot soldiers and seven thousand horsemen. David the chariot horses, but he kept back enough of them for a hundred chariots.
When the of came to help Hadadezer, David struck down twenty-two thousand of their men. Then he posted troops among the Syrians of Damascus, and they had to serve David and bring him tribute. Wherever David went, the Lord gave him victory.
David took the gold shields from Hadadezer’s servants and brought them to .
From Betah and Berothai, two of Hadadezer’s cities, King David took a great deal of bronze. 1 Chronicles names the cities Tibhath and Cun. It says that later used this bronze to make the huge tank called the bronze Sea, and the pillars and bronze utensils too.
When , king of Hamath, heard that David had beaten Hadadezer’s whole army, he sent his son Joram to King David with greetings and congratulations. He did this because David had fought Hadadezer and won, and Hadadezer had been fighting wars against Toi. Joram brought with him all kinds of things made of silver, gold and bronze. 1 Chronicles calls the king Tou and his son Hadoram.
King David dedicated these to the Lord as well. He added them to the silver and gold he had dedicated from every nation he had brought under his rule: Syria, Moab, the , the Philistines and . He also added the plunder he had taken from Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah. 1 Chronicles lists the silver and gold he carried away from , Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines and Amalek.
David became well known when he came back from the Valley of Salt, where he had struck down eighteen thousand of the Syrians. He posted troops all through Edom, and all the Edomites had to serve David. Wherever David went, the Lord gave him victory. 1 Chronicles says that son of killed eighteen thousand of the Edomites there, in the Valley of Salt.
David reigned over all Israel, and he was just and fair to all his people.
These were his officials. son of Zeruiah commanded the army. Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud kept the royal records. The priests were son of Ahitub and son of , and the scribe was Seraiah. son of Jehoiada was in charge of the , the king’s bodyguard. And David’s sons were chief ministers. 1 Chronicles calls the priest Abimelech and the scribe Shavsha, and says David’s sons were the chief officials serving the king.
David asked, “Is there anyone still left from ’s family? I want to show him kindness for ’s sake.”
Years before, Jonathan had asked David, “While I’m still alive, show me the Lord’s loving kindness, so that I don’t die. And never stop being kind to my family, not even when the Lord has wiped out every one of David’s enemies from the earth.”
There was a servant from Saul’s household named , and he was called in to see David. “Are you Ziba?” the king asked.
“I am,” he said. “I’m your servant.”
The king asked, “Is there really no one left from Saul’s family? I want to show him the kindness of God.”
“Jonathan still has a son,” Ziba told the king. “He is lame in his feet.”
His name was . When word about Saul and Jonathan came from , he was five. His nurse, the woman who looked after him, picked him up and ran. As she hurried away, he fell, and he was lame from then on.
“Where is he?” the king asked.
“He’s at the house of Machir son of Ammiel, in Lo Debar,” said Ziba.
So King David sent for him and had him brought from Machir’s house in Lo Debar.
Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan and grandson of Saul, came to David and bowed with his face to the ground to show his respect. “Mephibosheth?” said David.
“Here I am, your servant,” he answered.
“Don’t be afraid,” David told him. “I will certainly be kind to you for your father Jonathan’s sake. I will give you back all your grandfather Saul’s land, and you will always eat at my table.”
Mephibosheth bowed down. “Who am I?” he said. “Why should you take any notice of a dead dog like me?”
Then the king called for Ziba, Saul’s servant. “I have given all that Saul and his whole family owned to your master’s grandson,” he said. “You, your sons and your servants will work the land for him. Bring in the harvest, so that your master’s grandson has food to eat. But Mephibosheth himself will always eat at my table.”
Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.
“I will do everything my lord the king commands,” Ziba told the king.
So Mephibosheth ate at the king’s table like one of the king’s sons.
Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica. Everyone who lived in Ziba’s house was a servant to Mephibosheth. So Mephibosheth made his home in Jerusalem, since he ate at the king’s table every day. He was lame in both his feet.
After this, the Ammonites’ king, , died, and his son became king after him.
David said, “I will be kind to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father was kind to me.” So David sent some of his officials to comfort Hanun over his father’s death, and they came into the land of the Ammonites.
But the Ammonite princes spoke to Hanun, their lord. “Does David really mean to honor your father,” they said, “by sending you men to comfort you? Hasn’t he sent his men to look over the city, spy it out and overthrow it?”
So Hanun took David’s men, shaved half the beard off each of them, cut their clothes off in the middle, up to their bottoms, and sent them away.
When David was told how the men had been treated, he sent people to meet them, because the men were deeply ashamed. The king said, “Stay at until your beards grow back, and then come home.”
The Ammonites saw that they had made themselves hateful to David. So they sent for Syrian soldiers and hired them: twenty thousand foot soldiers from the Syrians of and of Zobah, the king of Maacah with a thousand men, and twelve thousand men from .
1 Chronicles tells it this way. Hanun and the Ammonites paid a thousand of silver, about thirty tons, to hire chariots and horsemen from , Aram-maacah and Zobah. So they hired thirty-two thousand chariots. They also hired the king of Maacah and his people, who came and set up camp near Medeba. The Ammonites, too, gathered from their towns and came out to fight.
When David heard about it, he sent out Joab with the whole army of mighty warriors.
The Ammonites came out and lined up for battle in front of their city gate. The Syrians from Zobah and Rehob, with the men of Tob and Maacah, stood by themselves out in the open country.
Joab saw that he had enemies lined up for battle in front of him and behind him. So he picked some of the best men in Israel and lined them up to face the Syrians. He put his brother Abishai in charge of the rest of the army, and they were lined up to face the Ammonites.
“If the Syrians are stronger than me,” Joab said, “then you come and help me. But if the Ammonites are stronger than you, I’ll come and help you. Be brave, and let’s be strong for our people and for the cities of our God. And may the Lord do whatever he thinks best.”
So Joab and his men went forward to fight the Syrians, and the Syrians ran from him. When the Ammonites saw the Syrians running, they ran away from Abishai too and went back inside their city. Then Joab left the Ammonites and went back to Jerusalem.
When the Syrians saw that Israel had beaten them, they gathered their forces again. Hadadezer sent for the Syrians who lived beyond the River. They came to Helam, and Shobach, the commander of Hadadezer’s army, led them. 1 Chronicles says it was the Syrians who sent messengers to call them, and it spells the commander’s name Shophach.
When David was told, he called all Israel together, crossed the and came to Helam. The Syrians lined up for battle against David and fought him.
Then the Syrians ran from Israel. David killed seven hundred of their chariot drivers and forty thousand horsemen, and he struck down Shobach, their commander, who died there. 1 Chronicles counts seven thousand chariot drivers and forty thousand foot soldiers.
When all the kings who served Hadadezer saw that Israel had beaten them, they made peace with Israel and served them. So the Syrians no longer dared to help the Ammonites.