2 Samuel 8 – 10 part 6
Now chapter 8 is one those chapters that says very little yet a lot of things happen within it. It talks about all these different people that David has fought an defeated and most of us when we come to a chapter like this will just scan through it and yep David defeated a lot of people. Well tonight I want to begin by taking a closer look at who was fighting and showing you on a map when possible the area he was fighting in. Now this might be a little bit teateaus but I think it worth exploring. Now before we begin I just mention that the parallel account of this chapter is also found 1 Chron. 18.
2 Samuel 8:1 After this it came to pass that
David attacked the Philistines and subdued them. And David took Metheg Ammah (meth-eg-am-uh) from the hand of the Philistines.
Here have in this one little sentence that briefly
talks about this great battle that took place between David and the
Philistines. But what in the world does it mean when it says that David took
Metheg Ammah from the hand of the Philistines? What is Metheg Ammah?
Well one thing we can do to solve this mystery is
by looking at a different version of the Bible to see if they give a different
word here. However when you look you find that just about every version uses this
same word except for the ASV and NAS. Please note what the ASV offers us,
ASV
…David took the bridle of the mother city out of the hand of the Philistines.
NASV
…and David took control of the chief city from the hand of the Philistines.
So now we have more to go on. First of all we can
now determine that Metheg Ammah is the mother city or the chief city. Also I
like how the ASV gives a visual illustration of how David took control of this
chief city. Taking the bridle symbolizes wresting control from the former rider
and gaining submission of the horse by the new rider. Now we also have to
understand that it was common for someone to call a major city a mother and
then to call the smaller cities which relied upon it its daughters. But now the
question becomes what was this mother city? Well our answer can be found in,
1 Chronicles 18:1 After this it came to pass that
David attacked the Philistines, subdued them, and took
So now we know that
2 Samuel 8:2 Then he defeated
Well the first thing I want to point out is where
2 Samuel 8:3 David also defeated Hadadezer (had-uh-dee-zur) the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his territory at
the River
The first thing I want to show you is where this is on the map. First of this is
roughly where Zobah was located which was about 200 miles as the crow flies
from
2 Samuel 8:7 And David took the shields of gold
that had belonged to the servants of Hadadezer, (had-uh-dee-zur) and brought them to
So as you can see David we very successful when it
came to battles and the reason why was found in that last verse where it said
that the Lord preserved David wherever he went. Now the last few verses of this
chapter are a summary of David’s administration.
15 So
David reigned over all
Only thing I want to point out here is that the
Cherethites (ker-ih-thites) and Pelethites
made up part of David’s body guards. Now let move on to chapter 9. This chapter
is pretty straight forward and will require little comment from me.
2 Samuel 9:1 Now David said, "Is there
still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for
Jonathan's sake?" 2 And there
was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba (zie –bah).
So when they had called him to David, the king said to him, "Are you
Ziba?" And he said, "At your service!" 3 Then the king said, "Is there
not still someone of the house of Saul, to whom I may show the kindness of
God?" And Ziba said to the king, "There is still a son of Jonathan who
is lame in his feet." 4
So the king said to him, "Where is he?" And Ziba said to the
king, "Indeed he is in the house of Machir (may-kir) the son of Ammiel, (am-ih-ell) in Lo Debar."
As you can see on our map Lo Debar was located
somewhere in general vicinity. Now we
need to remember that back 1 Sam. 20 David had made an oath with Jonathan that
he would show kindness to his household forever and we see that David wants to
make good on his covenant. He finds out from Ziba that Jonathans son is still
alive.
2 Samuel 9:5 Then King David sent and brought
him out of the house of Machir (may-kir) the
son of Ammiel, (am-ih-ell) from Lo Debar.
6 Now when Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul,
had come to David, he fell on his face and prostrated himself. Then David said,
"Mephibosheth?" And he answered, "Here is your
servant!" 7 So David
said to him, "Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for
Jonathan your father's sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your
grandfather; and you shall eat bread at my table continually." 8 Then he bowed himself, and said,
"What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as
I?"
Now we need to remember that Mephibossheth was
lame in feet because his nurse was running because she had heard of Saul death
and she dropped him when he was 5 years old. You can also imagine how scared
the man was when he had to face King David who had the power to put him to
death. We also see that Mephibosheth had a very humble attitude and he didn’t
feel that he deserved the kindness that David was showing him.
2 Samuel 9:9 And the king called to Ziba, Saul's
servant, and said to him, "I have given to your master's son all that
belonged to Saul and to all his house. 10
"You therefore, and your sons and your servants, shall work the land for
him, and you shall bring in the harvest, that your master's son may have
food to eat. But Mephibosheth your master's son shall eat bread at my table
always." Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. 11 Then Ziba said to the king,
"According to all that my lord the king has commanded his servant, so will
your servant do." "As for Mephibosheth," said the king, "he
shall eat at my table like one of the king's sons." 12 Mephibosheth had a young son
whose name was Micha. (my-kuh) And all who dwelt in the house of Ziba were
servants of Mephibosheth. 13
So Mephibosheth dwelt in
So David keeps his word and shows kindness to
Jonathans’ household and he even allows the fruit that would normally go him to
be given to Mephibosheth as well. Now I cant help but point out that this is
another great characteristic for every Christian to have. We should all be
people who keeps their word. If we tell somebody that we are going to do
something then we should do it. It used to be that a persons word meant
something but today that not the case that is why everybody wants something in
writing and they want it to be witnessed so that they can be sure that the
agreement that was made will be valid. I think that if we as Christians keep
our word with those around us it will make an impression and influence those
around you. So let do our best to always keep our word.
Now before we move into chapter 10 I want to point
out that its parallel account is found in 1 Chron. 19.
2 Samuel 10:1 It happened after this that the
king of the people of Ammon died, and Hanun (hay-nuhn) his son reigned in his
place. 2 Then David said,
"I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed
kindness to me." So David sent by the hand of his servants to comfort him
concerning his father. And David's servants came into the land of the people of
Ammon.
In instances like these you really see David’s
sincere concern for others. Now we are not told what kindness this king had
shown to David but he wanted to return the kindness. One other thing I would
like to mention is that Ammonites came from Lots youngest daughter by incest as
well according to Gen. 19:38. So they to were related to the children of
2 Samuel 10:3 And the princes of the people of
Ammon said to Hanun (hay-nuhn) their lord, "Do you think that David
really honors your father because he has sent comforters to you? Has David not rather
sent his servants to you to search the city, to spy it out, and to
overthrow it?" 4
Therefore Hanun took David's servants, shaved off half of their beards, cut off
their garments in the middle, at their buttocks, and sent them away. 5 When they told David, he sent to
meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, "Wait
at
You and I know that David was just trying to show
his kindness but these Ammonites didn’t think so and they influenced their new
king into thinking that David was just spying on them so he does this horrible
degrading thing to his men. First he cut of half of their beards. To them back
them this was very humiliating because the only time they shaved their beards
was when they were mourning. Then he cuts their garment so that there rear end
was exposed for all to see. Again that was very humiliating. These men back
then actually had a sense of decency about them. However if this was done to
some today where they exposed their rear end it wouldn’t bother some people
because it seems that a growing number of people have no problems with exposing
their bodies to others. In many cases today there simply in no shame.
2 Samuel 10:6 When the people of Ammon saw that
they had made themselves repulsive to David, the people of Ammon sent and hired
the Syrians of Beth Rehob and the Syrians of Zoba, twenty thousand foot
soldiers; and from the king of Maacah (may-ah-kah) one thousand men, and
from Ish-Tob (ish-tahb) twelve
thousand men. 7 Now when
David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the army of the mighty men. 8 Then the people of Ammon came
out and put themselves in battle array at the entrance of the gate. And the
Syrians of Zoba, Beth Rehob, Ish-Tob, and Maacah (may-ah-kah) were
by themselves in the field. 9
When Joab saw that the battle line was against him before and behind, he chose
some of
Here we learn that people of Ammon prepare for war
and they recruit these Syrians. Now if you will look on the map I want to show
again where the places are. First of here is Ammon location and here are where
the Syrians were hired from. Now the only I don’t have listed here is Ish-Tob
and that because I couldn’t find a map that had is location however I did find
once vague reference that said it was east of the Jordan river. Now we find the
people of Ammon are in one place and these hired Syrians are in another so Joab
splits his men to battle both groups and he puts his trust in God hands.
2 Samuel 10:13 So Joab and the people who were with
him drew near for the battle against the Syrians, and they fled before
him. 14 When the people of
Ammon saw that the Syrians were fleeing, they also fled before Abishai, (a-bish-a-eye)
and entered the city. So Joab returned from the people of Ammon and went to
Apparently this was an easy win for the children
of Israel as their enemy fled before them but the Syrians were don’t yet as
continue on in.
2 Samuel 10:15 When the Syrians saw that they had
been defeated by
Now David had already defeated Hadadezer once but
I guess he didn’t learn his lesson the first time so now he call for more
troops. Now it when it says he called for those beyond the river this is
reference to the