2 Sa. 10: David Wins More Wars

2 Samuel 10:19 "When all the kings who were vassals of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with the Israelites and became subject to them. So the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore."

This is a chapter about more military victories for David against surrounding nations. Every time I read about a confrontation, I'm kind of waiting for some sort of screw up where the nation of Israel does something to screw up. But they must be in a groove right now. And I most wonder about their spiritual lives at this point, because whatever David does, God gives them the victory. Is God doing this for David, or the nation of Israel as a whole? I want to believe it's for David, because I can't imagine the nation of Israel having it all together for this long.

David's delegation of sympathy for a deceased Ammonite king Hanun's father is misread as spying, and David's people have their beards cut, and their clothes cut off in a revealing way. They almost immediately realize they've screwed up, so they do what they think is best, and assemble a huge Aramean army for what they assume will be massive blowback from David. And victory for David. David may not have had any intent to attack them until they assembled an army. This is interesting to me. They realized their mistake, and instead of admitting their error, they got all defensive and prepared for war. So David gave the Ammonites something to cry about, but kicking hiney. They tried to regroup, but David was right there, with his expert commanders, Joab and Abishai, and they tear it up.

They should have just apologized.