Stirring Up Strife
Bible Text: 2 Samuel 10 | Preacher: Alan Conner | Series: 2 Samuel, 2001
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Sept. 2, 2001
2 Sam. 10
Stirring up Strife
INTRO
DAVID’S WAR WITH THE AMMONITE-LED COALITION (10:1-19)
David shows hesed to Hanun (vv. 1-2).
Hanun responds with evil (vv. 3-4).
1) Hanun and his princes were suspicious.
2) The character of Ammonites.
a) The Ammonites were the descendents of the incestuous relationship between _______________________________ (Gen. 19:38).
b) The Ammonites were a ____________ people.
1 Sam. 11:1 –
Amos 1:13 –
3) The insult to David’s servants.
a) Shaved off half their _____________. Hanun could hardly have inflicted a more shameful insult. The Jewish man’s beard was the essence of his manliness. It was his mark of manhood and male maturity. It was his glory. Among all the semitic peoples of the ancient Near East it was a sign of maturity.
(1) In most of the languages the word for ______________ is a cognate of the word “beard”. So in Hebrew, “the elders of the children of Israel” (Exod. 4:29) comes from a derivative of “beard”.
(2) Beards were so associated with maturity and honor that even some of the ancient monuments and paintings of certain royal ___________ of Egypt show them wearing false beards on state occasions.
(3) In the OT the Israelites were commanded not to trim the edges of their beards (Lev. 19:27). Only in a time of great mourning would it be done intentionally.
b) Cut off their _____________ all the way up to their hips.
c) Ran them out of town
The war between Israel and the Ammonite coalition (vv. 6-19). The result was that they created a _____________, literally, see v. 6, “the sons of Ammon saw that they had made themselves stink with David.”
1) The first war. Hanun brought in reinforcements from the Arameans at Beth-rohob, Zobah, Maach, Tob, totaling 33,000 men. Hanun paid them 1,000 talents of silver (approx. 75,000 pounds) acc. to 1 Chron. 19:6. Israel won.
2) The second war. Between Hadadezer the Aramean who regrouped and also enlisted the help of other Arameans beyong the river Euphrates. Israel won this battle too and the Arameans became subject to David after many losses.
GLEANINGS FROM THE BATTLEFIELD.
The kingdom of God advances. The advancement of the kingdom of God in its OT form encourages us with a principle that God will defend and advance His kingdom acc. to His sovereign will. And though there is continual opposition, “the gates of hell will not prevail against Christ’s church.”
Christ shall have dominion over land and sea
earth’s remotest regions shall His empire be.
This also means that the work of grace cannot be defeated in the believer’s heart (Phil. 1:6).
Amidst all the opposition to Christ today, and the gospel, remember and never forget God will advance His kingdom acc. to His will and purpose. Therefore be kind to pagans. It is one of God’s ways of advancing the kingdom by slaying their sin and bringing under the reign of Christ.
Beware of bad counsel. Hanun’s counsellors cost him dearly. Following bad advice will cost us as well.
Seek godly counsel.
“Bad company corrupts good morals.” 1 Cor. 15:33
Bad counsel (from others or from our own hearts) will cause you to be:
1) ______________. Hanun acted foolishly toward David because he misunderstood David’s motives. A fool is prone to attribute evil motives to innocent actions. Nobody knows the motives of the heart but God ( 1 Cor. 4:5).
2) ________________. Bad counsel can cause you to stir up strife unnecessarily. The deeds of the flesh in Gal. 5 include: enmities, strife, disputes, dissensions, factions, outbursts of anger, etc. Prov. 26:17
Don’t be cruel to others. Hanun was cruel to David’s servants. We may not cut off half the beard or their clothes to be cruel and to shame others but we do things similar with our tongues.
James 3:6 –
James 3:8 –
A godly response to unjust suffering. The kingdom today is not advanced by a sword of steel but by the sword of the Spirit.
Learn to live courageously in the shadow of God’s sovereignty (10:9-12; 15:25-26).
CONCLUSION