2 Samuel 10: The King of Ammon Who Had Not His Father’s Spirit
1 It happened after this that the king of the people of Ammon died, and Hanun 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. 3 And the princes of the people of Ammon said to Hanun 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?”
King Nahash had given aid to David when hunted by Saul. “It happened after this that the king of the people of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his place.” (1)“The son had inherited his father’s throne but not his spirit.” (F. B. Meyer) Then David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness to me.” (2a) After showing grace to Mephibosheth for Jonathan’s sake, he thinks of others who had helped him survive. “In the same way, the Lord Jesus does not forget anything of what has been done for Him even by those who have no connection with Him.” (G. de Koning) “‘So David sent by the hand of his servants to comfort him concerning his father.’ Note, It is a comfort to children, when their parents are dead, to find that their parents' friends are theirs, and that they intend to keep up an acquaintance with them. It is a comfort to mourners to find that there are those who mourn with them, are sensible of their loss and share with them in it. It is a comfort to those who are honouring the memory of their deceased relations to find there are others who likewise honour it and who had a value for those whom they valued. 'And David’s servants came into the land of the people of Ammon.'" (Matthew Henry)
“And the princes of the people of Ammon said to Hanun 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?’ (3) None of the princes of Ammon threw in their lot with Israel. “Individuals, like Ruth the Moabitess, had learned to recognize the claims of Israel’s God and the privileges of the covenant, but no entire nation had ever shown even an inclination to such a course. These neighbouring nations continued therefore to be fitting symbols of that world-power which has so generally been found in antagonism to the people of God. Israel while they continued faithful to God were like the lily among thorns; and Israel’s king, like Him whom he typified, was called to rule in the midst of his enemies.“ (The Expositor's Bible Commentary) The king listened to the wrong judgment of his princes and rejected the grace given. “Those who reject grace will be judged, just as Hanun will be judged.” (G. de Koning)
Like the Moabites who had been judged, the Ammonites were kinsfolk, descending from Lot— Abraham’s nephew. (Gen 19:38) The distrust “might have originated in their knowledge of the denunciations against them in God's law (Deut 23:3-6).” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown) Generations were cursed of God for not meeting Israel with food and water in the exodus from Egypt and hiring Balaam to curse them. Thus: “No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the LORD; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall ever enter the assembly of the LORD.” Moreover: the enmity was likely increased “by David's slaughter of two thirds of the Moabites.’(Keil & Delitzsch) That slaughter was based on righteous judgment and some were not killed (2 Sam 8:1-2 ) perhaps for Lot’s sake
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 Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return.”
Hanun turned their own Scriptures on Israel. The prophets speak the fate of the wicked: “In the same day the LORD will shave with a hired razor, with those from beyond the River, with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the legs, and will also remove the beard.” (Isa 7: 20) The “shaving them with a razor” was a prophecy to “utterly spoil and destroy, as shaving takes away all the hair, and leaves not any thing of it visible, as there is when the hair is only cut or polled.” (Matthew Poole) And to cut off their garments at the buttocks was to reveal their nakedness and demise. “Your nakedness will be exposed and your shame uncovered. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.” (Isa 47:10)
Hanun thus declared that day had arrived and it would come in Israel by his hand. “From head to foot, not sparing even the beard, to maltreat which was the last extreme of Oriental outrage, he and his kingdom should be laid bare and naked to his enemies. Possibly there may be an allusive reference to Leviticus 14:9. The nation, leprous in its guilt (Isaiah 1:6), needs the treatment which was prescribed for the leper.” (C. J. Ellicott)
After David’s men were disgraced, he instructed them, “Wait at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return.” (5) “Jericho had been destroyed on the first entrance of the Israelites into Canaan, and a solemn curse pronounced upon whoever ‘riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho.’ This curse fell upon Hiel, more than a century after the time of David (1 Kings 16:34).” (C. J. Ellicott) But: “As the hair on Samson’s shorn head ultimately grew back (Judges 16:22) and proved to be a bad omen for the Philistines, so also the regrowth of the beards of David’s men would portend disaster for the Ammonites." (Young)
“Ammon then formed an alliance with the Syrians, but Joab smote them. The greatest victory is recorded in verses 15-19. The king appeared himself to lead his hosts against the mighty foe and their overthrow followed. It foreshadows the day of final victory over the rebellious nations, led by the beast (Rev 19:19-20 ) when the true King comes to fight against those nations.” (Gaebelein) Ammon rather than Israel was found naked. “And when all the kings who were servants to Hadadezer saw that they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them. So the Syrians were afraid to help the people of Ammon anymore.” (19) David had been refused by Ammon, but “we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Rom 8:28)
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