Context & Key Themes
2 Samuel 10 is a chapter about the catastrophic consequences of misreading a gesture. David sends envoys to comfort Hanun, king of the Ammonites, on the death of his father — a simple act of diplomatic courtesy, the extension of the same hesed David has been showing throughout his reign. Hanun’s advisors convince him that David’s men are spies. Hanun humiliates them, shaving half their beards and cutting their garments to their waists. The insult to David’s envoys is an insult to David himself. What follows is war — a war no one needed, triggered entirely by suspicion reading cruelty into kindness.
Key Verse
“Be of good courage, and let us be courageous for our people and for the cities of our God, and may the Lord do what seems good to him.”
— 2 Samuel 10:12
Summary
The king of the Ammonites dies and David sends a delegation to express condolence to his son Hanun, because Hanun’s father showed kindness to David. Hanun’s princes say: do you think David is honoring your father? Has he not sent his servants to search the city and spy it out and overthrow it? Hanun seizes David’s servants, shaves half their beards, cuts their garments at the hips, and sends them away. David is told and he sends men to meet them — they are deeply shamed — and tells them to stay at Jericho until their beards grow back.
The Ammonites see they have made themselves offensive to David and hire Syrian mercenaries — twenty thousand foot soldiers plus additional forces. Joab sees the battle is against him both front and rear, splits his forces, giving the elite troops to himself for the Syrians and the rest to his brother Abishai for the Ammonites. He tells Abishai: if the Syrians are too strong for me, save me; if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will save you. Be of good courage. He fights the Syrians and they flee. The Ammonites flee when the Syrians flee and Joab returns to Jerusalem. The Syrians regroup and Hadadezer sends more from the other side of the Euphrates. David goes out himself with all Israel and defeats them at Helam. The Syrians fear to help Ammon anymore.
Reflection
The disaster in this chapter originates entirely in the minds of Hanun’s counselors. David’s gesture was genuine — Hanun’s father had shown him kindness and David was reciprocating it. There is no evidence in the text of any ulterior motive. But suspicion does not need evidence. It reads the worst possible meaning into the most innocent actions, and once Hanun’s court has decided that David’s kindness was espionage, the path to war becomes almost inevitable.
Joab’s speech to Abishai before the battle is one of the few moments in the book where Joab’s character shows its best side. Be of good courage, and let us be courageous for our people and for the cities of our God, and may the Lord do what seems good to him. It is the posture of a soldier who does his part and leaves the outcome to God. Joab is not always a man one wants to admire, but here he is right, and the words he speaks are ones David himself might have said in the valley of Elah. The Lord do what seems good. That is the only posture that makes sense when the battle is joined and the outcome is not yours to determine.