2 Samuel 10 - David Defeats the Ammonites | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to 2 Samuel Chapter 10, read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer.

In 2 Samuel Chapter 10 is the account of the battle with the Ammonites, but is actually the backdrop for The next chapter, which is the start of the “bad part” of David's story, that of Bath-sheba. Apparently David already had some treaty with Ammon (according to Coffman) but the new king was looking to be free of it.

So when David sent messengers, they were treated badly, having their beards forcibly shaved and being sent back half naked. Both things that happened were humiliating. We may only relate to being naked, but having no beards was probably more humiliating for these men, and harder to fix. Jericho was the closest Israelite town to where this happened, and David sent them there.

They could find new clothes and wait for their beards to regrow. Up to this point David had not been in the battle, and Joab was fighting without him, as described in the next chapter. During these events David was committing adultery with Bath-sheba and arranging the death of Uriah the Hittite. His sin was grievous. Yet even while David had sinned, the Lord gave him a great victory.

And when God made promises to David in chapter 7 he knew this was ahead. This is a picture of grace at work. All of us live in grace of this type. When Christ died for our sin, all of it was in the future. We tend to think of Christ’s sacrifice as being only good for those who come after Christ, but his sacrifice was good for all sin, of all time, both before and after.

After this event, David’s empire now extended up into Mesopotamia - the area where Abraham and Jacob had come from. It is worth noting that Ammon in the Bible is where we get the capital of Jordan today, Amman.