Peace in the Palace

Peace in the Palace
Words of Faith 1-31-25
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2025
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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2 Samuel 10:1-19
[1] In the course of time, the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun succeeded him as king. [2] David thought, "I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me." So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father. When David's men came to the land of the Ammonites, [3] the Ammonite nobles said to Hanun their lord, "Do you think David is honoring your father by sending men to you to express sympathy? Hasn't David sent them to you to explore the city and spy it out and overthrow it?" [4] So Hanun seized David's men, shaved off half of each man's beard, cut off their garments in the middle at the buttocks, and sent them away. [5] When David was told about this, he sent messengers to meet the men, for they were greatly humiliated. The king said, "Stay at Jericho till your beards have grown, and then come back." [6] When the Ammonites realized that they had become a stench in David's nostrils, they hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth Rehob and Zobah, as well as the king of Maacah with a thousand men, and also twelve thousand men from Tob. [7] On hearing this, David sent Joab out with the entire army of fighting men. [8] The Ammonites came out and drew up in battle formation at the entrance to their city gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah were by themselves in the open country. [9] Joab saw that there were battle lines in front of him and behind him; so he selected some of the best troops in Israel and deployed them against the Arameans. [10] He put the rest of the men under the command of Abishai his brother and deployed them against the Ammonites. [11] Joab said, "If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you are to come to my rescue; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come to rescue you. [12] Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The LORD will do what is good in his sight." [13] Then Joab and the troops with him advanced to fight the Arameans, and they fled before him. [14] When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans were fleeing, they fled before Abishai and went inside the city. So Joab returned from fighting the Ammonites and came to Jerusalem. [15] After the Arameans saw that they had been routed by Israel, they regrouped. [16] Hadadezer had Arameans brought from beyond the River; they went to Helam, with Shobach the commander of Hadadezer's army leading them. [17] When David was told of this, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan and went to Helam. The Arameans formed their battle lines to meet David and fought against him. [18] But they fled before Israel, and David killed seven hundred of their charioteers and forty thousand of their foot soldiers. He also struck down Shobach the commander of their army, and he died there. [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.

Okay. If you got through all that, you are either a military history buff or an extra diligent student of the Bible. So, let's get to the gist of it because all this is leading somewhere.
David had brought many of the surrounding nations under tribute to Israel, including Ammon, a kingdom directly east of the Jordan River (Think of Amman Jordan). The king of Ammon died and was succeeded by his son Hanun, so David sent an envoy to express sympathy and gain a friendly ally.
Well, as the saying goes, "no good deed goes unpunished." Hanun's advisers counseled him not to accept David's overtures but rather to view the Israelites as espionage agents. David's messengers were not only turned back, but their beards were half shaved off, and their garments cut away to an immodest length. Like so many wars, the initial spark is often petty and prideful.
The insult was not just to the men but also to David himself and constituted a declaration of war. The Ammonites quickly enlisted the help of the Arameans to fight against Israel. In a complex battle that involved mercenaries on the side of the Ammonites and careful strategy on the part of David, Israel finally triumphed.
The Arameans were humiliated, and they determined to avenge the disaster by massing troops to attack Israel. David also met them, and again, the Lord gave Israel the victory. This broke the back of Aramean resistance and brought the Arameans under Israel's domination. Never again did they side with Ammon against the people of Israel.
This was a time of victory and success for David. He was feeling the heady swell of success, enjoying political and military victories, expanding his territories, and getting used to the lifestyle of being king. Palace life was nice, but all of this was leading up to one of the most tragic and memorable episodes in David's life. If you peek ahead to chapter 11, you will see.
Palace life can be nice, but it has its dangers. Living in the palace with relatively few problems can make one think that they deserve all this… or perhaps that they are "entitled." Entitlement is not a good posture when trying to live in a faithful relationship with God.
What we discover here is that living in the palace can cause us to lose our connection to the Lord and dependence upon Him. We will see that the palace was a dangerous place for David to hang out.

Lord, let me find my home and refuge in You alone. Bring me close to You that I may be under Your care. Keep me safe in the fortress of Your protection. When there are times of blessing, help me to look toward You all the more as my source and focus on generosity as the mark of my relationship with You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2025
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2025 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.