Good morning! Happy Sabbath!
Question of the day: What is your favorite comfort food and why?
Today's lesson is an interesting story. I started off at a loss for where this story would take us, but I am so excited about the beauty of what we find. Enjoy! I wish I was there with you and many thanks to Chris for stepping in and teaching!
READ: 2 Samuel 10
David Defeats the Ammonites
10 Some time after this, King Nahash[a] of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun became king. 2 David said, “I am going to show loyalty to Hanun just as his father, Nahash, was always loyal to me.” So David sent ambassadors to express sympathy to Hanun about his father’s death.
But when David’s ambassadors arrived in the land of Ammon,3 the Ammonite commanders said to Hanun, their master, “Do you really think these men are coming here to honor your father? No! David has sent them to spy out the city so they can come in and conquer it!” 4 So Hanun seized David’s ambassadors and shaved off half of each man’s beard, cut off their robes at the buttocks, and sent them back to David in shame.
5 When David heard what had happened, he sent messengers to tell the men, “Stay at Jericho until your beards grow out, and then come back.” For they felt deep shame because of their appearance.
6 When the people of Ammon realized how seriously they had angered David, they sent and hired 20,000 Aramean foot soldiers from the lands of Beth-rehob and Zobah, 1,000 from the king of Maacah, and 12,000 from the land of Tob. 7 When David heard about this, he sent Joab and all his warriors to fight them. 8 The Ammonite troops came out and drew up their battle lines at the entrance of the city gate, while the Arameans from Zobah and Rehob and the men from Tob and Maacah positioned themselves to fight in the open fields.
9 When Joab saw that he would have to fight on both the front and the rear, he chose some of Israel’s elite troops and placed them under his personal command to fight the Arameans in the fields. 10 He left the rest of the army under the command of his brother Abishai, who was to attack the Ammonites. 11 “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then come over and help me,” Joab told his brother. “And if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will come and help you. 12 Be courageous! Let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. May the Lord’s will be done.”
13 When Joab and his troops attacked, the Arameans began to run away. 14 And when the Ammonites saw the Arameans running, they ran from Abishai and retreated into the city. After the battle was over, Joab returned to Jerusalem.
15 The Arameans now realized that they were no match for Israel. So when they regrouped, 16 they were joined by additional Aramean troops summoned by Hadadezer from the other side of the Euphrates River.[b] These troops arrived at Helam under the command of Shobach, the commander of Hadadezer’s forces.
17 When David heard what was happening, he mobilized all Israel, crossed the Jordan River, and led the army to Helam. The Arameans positioned themselves in battle formation and fought against David. 18 But again the Arameans fled from the Israelites. This time David’s forces killed 700 charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers,[c] including Shobach, the commander of their army.19 When all the kings allied with Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they surrendered to Israel and became their subjects. After that, the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites.
Well there it is. An interesting story for sure!
Why was David wanting to show kindness and express his sympathies to Hanun?
What were the men that David sent called?
What does being an ambassador mean?
Today what privileges are ambassadors given?
It was no different then. This is important to note because when Hanun treated them as he did, what would he expect David to do?
He knew what he was asking for!
In Patriarchs and Prophets, Ellen White writes about the commanders of Hanun, "When Satan controls the minds of men he will excite envy and suspicion which will misconstrue the very best intentions."
How dangerous is it to try to guess people's motives?
How many times do we let suspicion misconstrue someone's intentions?
Have you ever done that?
Does the spirit of God ever take us there?
Who in your life are you suspicious of?
I want to challenge each of us to let go of suspicion and be open to the possibility of kindness. Why?
In Beth Moore's book, "A Heart Like His", she reminds us that God sent Jesus to show the incredible kindness of God and to bring a message of compassion and comfort to a hurting world and yet there were those who were suspicious of him - the Pharisees.
Are we going to be suspicious of God's compassion?
Are we going to be suspicious of all those around us? Or are we going to let it go, trust our safety in all ways to our heavenly Father and let go of trying to figure it all out.
Many years ago now I found myself in a vicious cycle of mistrust. I would have a bad dream about someone hurting me, and I would start obsessing in real life. That spirit is not something that comes from God.
I have been known to question peoples motives.... not a peaceful place to be. We need to STOP!
What did Hanun do to the ambassadors?
What did David do for his men?
This is a beautiful example of how our Savior treats us! Over and over again we saw Jesus here on earth treating people with dignity! He doesn't shame. Writing the sins in the sand is just one of the many stories of Christ not shaming. That is not part of the character of God.
David did whatever he could to spare them humiliation and protect their dignity. This not only speaks to the character of David but also reminds us of how our Lord deals with us.
What happens next is perhaps the best part of this story!
What does happen next?
What is the significance?
In Patriarchs and Prophets page 716 Ellen Writes, "The kingdom of Israel had now reached in extent the fulfillment of the promise given to Abraham, and afterward repeated to Moses: "Unto the seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates." Genesis 15:18.
Israel had become a mighty nation, respected and feared by surrounding peoples. In his own realm, David's power had become very great. He commanded, as few sovereigns in any age have been able to command, the affections and allegiance of his people. He had honored God and God was now honoring him."
Israel had become a mighty nation, respected and feared by surrounding peoples. In his own realm, David's power had become very great. He commanded, as few sovereigns in any age have been able to command, the affections and allegiance of his people. He had honored God and God was now honoring him."
David stepped out to show kindness and compassion to someone who had once shown him kindness and it was met will suspicion and shame. The outcome...was the fulfillment of a promise that had been out there for a long time. I am sure the Israelites questioned whether the promise would ever come true.
David did the right thing, it wasn't received well, his compassion was rejected, his efforts mocked, but God honored David doing the right thing by fulfilling His promise!
When we trust God with the outcome, and boldly serve Him, ultimately He will be glorified. The world may try to shame us, to strip us of our dignity, but our God will not only restore our dignity, but he will win the war! He already has!
He always longs to show us compassion!
He always restores our dignity!
God always fulfills His promises!
We have seen so much of the strength and Christ-like character of David but next week we see the very human side of David.
Comments
Post a Comment