2 Samuel 10 (Part 1) Bible Study (David Defeats Ammon and Syria) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Amen. You can do a lot with technology today, can't you? You know, this time of the year, people like to put, if they don't have a real fireplace, they like to put one on their TV. Right? They project it on their TV, and it some of that stuff is so realistic.

And, it adds a little bit of of an atmosphere in into the house. But, if you have a real fireplace or you've been before a real fireplace, it doesn't compare. Because what a real fireplace offers is something that a four k I don't even know what the update is with the latest, screens these days, kind of fireplace that you project on your screen can bring, and that is warmth. And someone used that as a wonderful illustration of the gathering of the saints. No matter what kind of services we offer, no matter how blessed you may be from watching the services online, you don't know the warmth until you get there and be with the people and be in the presence of God's people who have the Holy Spirit living inside of them.

So I am blessed to be with you here on a Friday night as always, and we are in second Samuel chapter 10 together in our study. Second Samuel chapter 10. And as you're turning there, I'm gonna ask a simple question for those who were here last week. And the question is, what was the dominant theme that permeated the previous chapter? Anybody remember?

Mercy. Another word for mercy? The kindness of God. The kindness of God. And the kindness of God was on display through king David who extended a really remarkable level of kindness to an undeserving house, the house of Saul.

And that was such a countercultural thing to do for any king, a newly established king who, would deal ruthlessly with the family of their predecessor. Lest there be any future threat or rebellion or takeover, he would annihilate those that, belong to the preceding kingdom and dynasty, but David did the opposite. He embraced the grandson of Saul. He brought him close, and such an act of mercy was so filled with purity and compassion that it reminded us of what? The love of Christ for humanity.

The love of Jesus poured out for all of us. And if we thought that David's campaign for kindness ended with Mephibosheth, we're wrong. Because his kindness is only gonna overflow into this chapter. It's gonna spill into the verses of of this chapter that is before us tonight. And what's interesting about this is David here is seemingly on a conquest, and the conquest is not for more land.

It's for more hearts. He just seems to be on this ambition to really extend, benevolence and care and and love and mercy. And I think that's telling. We're gonna read the first few verses in a moment here, but let me remind you that friendliness, that a considerate spirit, being generous, being thoughtful is something that every believer should have flowing out of them to everyone around them. Kindness is not an optional attitude.

It's not like there's some people who are more prone to that kind of disposition, and we can excuse ourselves because kindness is a personality trait. Do you remember who David was? He was a warrior. He was a man who went to through many battles. There was much bloodshed.

He was he was just a military machine, and yet he can sit on top of his success and his heart be stirred to extend practical kindness to those who are undeserving of it. How much more us were indwelt with the holy spirit? How much more us? And so I think that's important to understand because when we come to chapter nine and chapter 10, what we are going to see is practical illustrations of Christ like kindness. In fact, look at verse one and two quickly at verse of chapter 10.

After this, the king of the Ammonites died, and Hanun, his son, reigned in his place. And David said, I will deal loyally with Hanun, the son of Nahash, as his father dealt loyally with me. Who here doesn't have the ESV? Instead of loyally, what your word is used? Kindness.

Right? We'll get to the reason why the ESV I believe the ESV used loyally. But does the first two verses of chapter 10 remind you of a recent study? Hint, just last Friday. What was chapter nine?

How did the first verse of chapter nine read? David wanting to and he expressed his desire to show kindness to the house of Saul. So we see in the first verse of chapter nine, David wants to extend kindness to Mephibosheth. Now we see in the first two verses of chapter 10 that he wants to do the same, but for somebody completely different. Somebody who isn't even a Jew, who isn't even belonging to the the line of Abraham, somebody who's a gentile.

And so we see this theme of kindness continuing, but what I so appreciate beyond the truths of practical kindness that we're gonna pick up along the way is the reality of kindness. Meaning what? Though the chapters begin the same way, they play out much differently. They do. In the case of chapter nine, there was a bond created.

In the case of chapter 10, a war is gonna be caused. And I believe the holy spirit placed these texts together for many reasons, and one of those reasons is to inform the child of god that it is greatly possible that you will not receive reciprocal kindness or favor, though you are extending an attribute of Jesus to others. In other words, you will inherit evil for good. And if you haven't yet, this Bible study is gonna prepare you. If you have already, in your service to the Lord, in your ministry, in your family, in your marriage, in your friendships, this Bible study is going to encourage you.

It's going to encourage you because because you're gonna see that this is something that happens to the greatest men of God. And these neighboring chapters, as I just said, are gonna read differently. And if we have our gospel lenses in our hands, and from time to time we put them on as we read these verses, we're we're gonna see another thing, something that we saw in chapter nine. We're gonna view it in the lens of the kindness of God with the gospel. And in the same way that you and I will experience different reactions to our love and service to people, Christ experienced it all the time.

In some cases like Mephibosheth, and I hope you responded like him, people will bow in humbleness before the throne of God and just alarmed at the reality that he's willing to be a friend to an enemy. And there will be others, unfortunately a majority, who will respond to the gospel like Hanun, which is what? To scornfully reject the kindness of the king and is more willing to go to war with him than to submit to him. And so are you ready? I was studying this and I thought, yes.

We'll be able to do what we did with chapter nine and complete all of it in one study, and no. It's not gonna happen. And what we're gonna do is just look at the first five verses. We're gonna do what we usually do, and that is what? Thank you for that.

We're gonna do this. I'm gonna read it. If you haven't been here before, you're gonna not gonna doze off. You're not gonna check your Instagram. Right?

Amen. You're gonna look at the verses, and you're gonna see what stands out to you because we wanna train you on how to read your Bible effectively. Not just to say you checked off my list. You want to leave with something in your morning devotions or your night devotions to chew on and digest and get into your soul. So we read from verse one.

I'm reading from the ESV. So one word will read differently. There'll be different, verbiage, but that's okay. The the the thought is still the same. Verse one down to verse five.

Are you with me? Amen. You're with me. After this, the king of the Ammonites died, and Hanun his son reigned in his place. And David said, I will deal loyally or kindly with Hanun the son of Nahash.

As his father dealt loyally with me. So David sent by his servants to console him concerning his father. And David's servants came into the land of the Ammonites. But the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun their lord, do you think because David has sent comforters to you that he is honoring your father? Has not David sent his servants to you to search the city and to spy it out and to overthrow it?

So Hanun took David's servants and shaved half shaved off half the beard of each and cut off their garments in the middle at their hips and sent them away. When it was told David, he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, remain at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return. Interesting piece of holy writ. More valuable than a historical analysis of one of the most successful dynasties in Israel's history.

What do you see? What do you see? Yes, Joshua. Yeah. So the NIV is a little bit more So, like, the flood explicit.

Right. Yes. Very good observation. And I think that's important. You know why?

Because it's more embarrassing than to see and to read it as at the hip. There's something exposed, and it's very, very shameful, especially in this culture. Any other observations? We can be thankful to the NIV for that. Yeah.

Very good. So he initiated it. Right? Just like chapter nine, David initiated this campaign of kindness. There's a foreshadowing here again of Jesus.

We're gonna see Christ in these verses as well as we did in chapter nine. Any other observations? So the princes, the advisory board of the king of the Ammonites, were the ones who sowed deception or misjudgment in the heart of the king, and it caused trouble. Yes? Yeah.

So we're gonna look at why he asked him to do this. So that's a good observation. You know, they remain at Jericho, and and I think there's something there for us to understand. Yes. You had something too.

Yeah. So there is gonna be a war that's gonna come from this, but it's not gonna be instigated by David. It's gonna be it's gonna be it's gonna be aroused by the Ammonites. And David, look at his tenderness. He wants to ensure that the honor of his men is restored.

I mean, there's something there so profound and powerful even in our relationship with Christ. We'll we'll get to that in the concluding moments of our study. Great observations. Yes. Yeah.

They're Gentiles. It is different here. It's going beyond the borders, beyond the expectation of what we would think is required of our kindness. Yes. Sure.

Yeah. That's a very good point. I mean, look. Can you blame this this group? Right?

The Ammonites. You have these foreign entities. You have these ambassadors coming into your world, and they are not necessarily allies. And so is their suspicion legitimate? And we can say, yes.

It it is legitimate, but there is a there is a fine line between being discerning and being cruel. Right? And so I think you made the right observation, a good observation at least to say they took it too far, though the idea of contemplating whether this is friend or foe is is understandable. Anything else? Yes, Kinga.

Yeah. So there so, again, you kinda just just emphasizing on what he's saying, elaborating more in that. This this kindness that's coming from the nation of Israel, not only are they formed, but their act of grace and mercy and consideration is also foreign. So the only conclusion, the only equation in their minds is they they have to be spies. Why would they do such a thing?

And I think, again, there's debate about whether or not these men are intentionally being malicious or if they're they're trying to be wise advisers to the king. Great. Maybe a couple more and then we'll continue for the sake of time. Yes, Eliza. Yes.

When he met his own men after they were humiliated again, the kindness of David is just overflowing in so many different ways. Absolutely. Wonderful. Maybe one more, and then we can continue. Does anybody have one last observation before we unpack these verses?

Yeah. Sure. Yeah. It's it's it's played on much more aggression than we would think. And it didn't sit them down nicely nicely and put some kind of protection around their neck so the hair doesn't fall on their garments.

They didn't give them a trim. And if you think it was halfway this way where they they brought their beards a little shorter than what it was, that's not how it happened. It would be like shaving the right side of my face while leaving the left side untouched. That's just embarrassing in any culture. Right?

But it's even more embarrassing and humiliating for a Jew, and we'll find out why. Yes. Brian, and then we're gonna have to move on. Sorry, guys. Yeah.

That's there's something there's something there. These advisors seem awfully familiar. Awfully familiar, don't they? And we'll get to that. Why?

I'm you know what? I said we'll continue, but there's two more. We'll do two more, and then I gotta stop. I'm sorry. Andrew, go ahead.

And then would did you have your hand up as well? No. You didn't. Do you wanna say something anyway? I'm joking.

Go ahead. That's a great observation. In other words, can we say the observation was when it came to Nabal and him being insulted by Nabal in first Samuel 25, there was a quick reaction from David. Now we come, and many years has passed since then, chapter 10 of second Samuel, and you have a much more calm and resolved David. I wonder if he's matured.

Interesting thought. Wonderful. Can we pray together before we unpack these verses? Lord, we thank you for this Bible study. We thank you for this room that love your word, the people here who desire you, who who say, I wanna spend my Friday night under God's word.

Now, Lord, may we be blessed as we feast with the scriptures. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. After this, verse one, the king of the Ammonites died, and Hanun his son reigned in his place. David said, I will deal loyally with Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father dealt loyally with me.

ESV says loyally, and it's an interesting choice of words because you heard that different translations that are faithful to the original text use the word kindness, and it's because the original word is the word kindness, the same word that we saw in the previous chapter numerous times. And I believe the reason why the ESV chose the word loyally is because in the Old Testament, in many contexts, the word kindness in the original is often connected now pay attention to this. Is often connected to one's desire to implement a covenant with someone or to honor an already established covenant with someone. And so let me let me just read to you one example, and you don't have to turn there, But it's in first Samuel 20, and this is when David and Jonathan are are ready to depart from one another. In verse eight, we read, therefore, first Samuel 20, deal kindly with your servant.

The same word kind. Deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you. But if there is guilt in me, kill me yourself, or why should you bring me to your father? This is David speaking to Jonathan. Deal kindly with me because we have a covenant.

So So you see there's always a there's often, not always, a close connection between kindness and covenant, and that could be a clue. It could be a clue to the type of kindness that David wants to extend to Hanun. It's a deep loyal kindness, and it could be that he is ready to do what he is doing here because there is already a previous covenant made with his father, Nahash, and so he wants to honor that covenant, or he simply wants to he wants to create a covenant with his son who now is reigning in his father's place. We are not sure. It's not entirely clear.

You know what is clear? The motives, the desires for why he wants to be kind to Hanun. Ephesians tells us, believers, be kind to one another. That is a command. Again, it's not something optional or we can excuse as personality trait or lack thereof.

It is something that we should all be wearing. And so look at these things, these observations in terms of David's kindness. His plan to reach out to this man was because of a kind act that was done to him in previous years. There is no scriptural reference to what Hanun's dad, Nahash, did for David. In fact, it's even a strange thing that there's even a relationship here.

Who remembers the last time we heard the name Nahash? It was all the way back to first Samuel chapter 11 when Saul was freshly anointed to be king, and Nahash made a deal with some of those of Israel saying, hey. Listen. Gouge out your right eye. Essentially, he's he's he's he just has this cruel kind of deal with him.

You know? Surrender to me, and he gives all these ultimatums that are just absolutely absurd. Saul comes to the rescue. That's the only reference we have to Nahash. And we have David here wanting to be kind to his son.

We have no reason to know why because there's no scriptural reason, but we can assume that something happened during David's exile when he was fleeing from Saul. And he might have found some kind of refuge, some kind of sanctuary, some kind of provision, some kind of shelter with the king of the Ammonites while he was in exile, while he was hiding from the king of Israel. And so David here remembers that when he was in his younger years now years have have gone by, but he he could not forget that's so important. He could not forget the series of deeds or even that one great act of kindness that was delivered unto him, and it encouraged him to say, now I must be kind to you. And I thought about that, and I and I and I think, you know, there's something there in terms of our relationship with the Lord.

Oftentimes, our lack of faithfulness to the Lord today is because of our forgetfulness of his kindness yesterday. We forget. I like to call it spiritual amnesia. How we so quickly fail to remember things that we even testified about, things that just brought jolts of joy, occasions when God's kindness was made manifest in your life. It just evaporates, and we lose touch and lose sight of God's kindness, and that is a gateway to many problems in our Christian walk, including slothful service.

We drag our feet. We forget of God's kindness, and then we we fall into this weird state where we feel like we're doing God a favor now. Or we can fall into a murmuring spirit or fearful spirit because we fail to remember God's kindness, and now here we are trying to navigate through his mysterious ways, and we begin to panic because we forgot. And that's why David, in many occasions, the Bible tells us, including this man in his Psalms, I'll give you one, Psalm 103 verse two. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not his benefits.

Forget not, implying what? He's preaching to himself. You are prone to forgetting. You are prone to forgetting. And so David as a spiritual man, you know what he did?

He disciplined himself to remember. He disciplined himself to rehearse the kindness of God, the deeds of the Lord, the wonders of God, the interventions of the Lord, because he realized that that act of remembrance was essential to fueling future faithfulness and future fervency for the Lord in the days to come. Remembering has this great ability of sustaining you, sustaining your affection, sustaining your strength, sustaining your attendance among God's people to serve them and love God. And great trouble comes to your life and mind when we forget. David here did not forget.

He could've easily forgotten. He got busy. He became a king. He's just an enemy. He's somebody distant.

He doesn't he could not shake it off. He did something for me. I must do something back to him. Now the spiritual amnesia is not just vertical. It's horizontal.

It's horizontal. Meaning let me explain. Our forgetfulness of our relationship with the Lord, not that we forget we're in relationship with Him, but what He's done in that relationship happens all the time among brothers and sisters in Christ. One of the there's I wouldn't trade being in the ministry for the world, but with great joys in the ministry, there are great pains. Personal pains, yes, not enough to kick me to the curb by the grace of God, but enough to make your heart sorrowful.

One of the one of the sorrows of ministry is how over the years you observe how brothers and sisters in Christ can so turn on each other, even after serving the Lord together for many, many years. It's incredible how people's attitudes towards others who they are in covenant with can alter drastically, and it's painful. It's painful to see. It's like seeing your own immune system attack itself. Right?

There are diseases where your own body that's supposed to nourish you and protect you and shield you now turns on itself. And the physical pain and the hopelessness of that can be translated spiritually when you see members of the body of Christ, now a hand fighting your own face and and your foot kicking the other leg. It's just such a strange sight to see, But because we don't see it physically, we're not as affected by it. But if you have eyes to see in the spirit, it's a really disturbing sight. You have you have people all the time, and and it's it's it's shown in many ways.

There are some Christians who develop a critical spirit to local ministries and churches, and they can so easily dismiss all the blessings that they've enjoyed with that spiritual family, and they love to magnify imperfections and point out areas that are not intentionally wrong, intentionally sinful, but just need to be mature and time needs to occur for that to happen. You see people who are able to just because of one unintentional offense by another brother or sister, hold on to that and disregard all the good that that person who offended you also offered you. People just kick those relationships off to the curb, and they just move on because of their passions or because of their offenses. Spiritual amnesia, forgetfulness, And unfortunately, there are very few like David who can retain a perspective of gratitude and commitment and appreciation for those that also love Christ as time goes on. You know, the apostle Paul knew that pain.

The Apostle Paul knew the pain of the fickleness of those who were once faithful to him in ministry, in the prayers, in service. Can I show you one? Do you want to know? Sometimes we read things and we just wanna look for doctrine, and that's okay, that's good, but it's it's important to remember that you gotta you gotta read between the lines and realize that though these are authors that were inspired by the Holy Spirit, they are people still, and these are real relationships. These are not pretend scenarios.

The epistles are not pretend scenarios so that we can glean truth for churches today. They're real person to person, church from ministry leaders kind of dynamics. I thought about this. When I thought about this idea of spiritual amnesia and how we're willing to just change, right, it's almost like the spiritual bipolarism kinda thing. Galatians four, Paul expresses this pain when he dealt with this church, when he when he was hearing about what was happening to them in terms of their belief in the gospel.

But more than that, it was affecting how they were treating him as as a spiritual father. And in Galatians four thirteen, if you wanna turn there to read it, you can. If you wanna just listen, just listen. He writes to this church, and he says in chapter four verse 13, you know, it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first. I always love that verse.

You know why? Because Paul was apparently sick in the region of Galatia. He couldn't move forward. And because of his sickness, he stopped in this region, and it was through that sickness that he met these Galatians, and he preached them, and they got saved. You know what that tells me?

Even when I have a cold, it's under the sovereign control of God. I'm not saying it was just a cold. I think Paul would plow through a cold, but that's just a wonderful insight. He goes, it was through a bodily ailment that I I met you, and I preached the gospel to you. And verse 14, and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.

Can you imagine how profound that is? You treated me as though I was Christ. You loved me, you served me, you you attended to my needs as though I was Jesus himself. That's an astounding statement to make. And then in verse 15, what then has become of your blessedness?

For I testify to you that if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. Look at verse 16. This is so heart wrenching. Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? Because what happened to you?

We had sweet fellowship together. Now you're suspiciously separating from me. You're criticizing me. You think I'm an enemy now because I I preach the truth, and there's false teachers now telling you things about the wrong gospel, and because it's a different gospel that I preach, now you're turning on me. And and do you remember how God providentially brought us together?

I mean, this is what I'm talking about, spiritual amnesia. We forget, and then because we forget, we begin to treat each other, failing to realize how precious our fellowship is, how wonderful our gifts are to one another. Paul is like, you loved me like as though I was Jesus. I preached the gospel to you. I brought you to the Lord.

God used me to see your eyes open to His truth, And now as time goes on and as different things occur, I'm now your enemy. How did that happen? Well, I'm telling you it happens. It happens then, happened with David, happens in churches today. And so don't lose hope.

Don't be discouraged. Don't think as though you're the only person that this has ever happened to. It happens all the time. It's happened with great men of God. And if you're ever discouraged to say, how is it remember, I was speaking to those who who want to be kind and who are kind, and I'm so overjoyed to know that this is a kind church.

It's a very kind church. And you've probably struggled with the idea or the experience, why is not this kindness that I'm showing mutual? And all it takes is just one, two, three people, even just one person for you to know the sting of that. And if you ever are tempted to fall into despondency because of it, just think about what God goes through with his kindness. If you wanna escape depression, my friend, just think about God's kindness and how it is received and or rejected, more rejected than received.

You know that famous verse in Romans two four, right? That it is the kindness of God that does what? It leads people to what? Repentance. It's God's kindness that leads people to repentance.

You know what that tells me? His kindness is targeted to those who have not repented. In other words, his enemies. God's kindness is not reserved for those who have done something for him first or have proven their worth to be showered with his kindness. No.

His kindness extends to those who have not even repented yet. In fact, that is the motivation for them to repent. Here's my question. Do all repent? A holy and just God who has every right to flare his nostrils and breathe out fire and consume his enemies instead extends kindness upon kindness in so many ways, and yet at the end of it all, like Hanun, they just wanna go to war with him still.

And this is important because there's another observation I had when I considered David's kindness here. I was meditating on it. Right? What was the reason for his kindness? Because Hanun's father did something for him in the past.

In other words, David's really just giving back. You did something for me, so now I'm gonna do something for you. That makes sense. That seems like that's actually what's expected of you. What happens when you have nothing to work with, Christian?

That's an important thought. What do I do if in my world, though scripture tells me in Ephesians four thirty two and other instances and other places, to be kind with Christ like kindness. What if there is nothing to work with? There's nothing to work with with my spouse. It's very difficult to do with my family.

I'm not really giving back anything to my church because I'm not really getting much from them, speaking of hypothetical scenarios. Are we off the hook then? Because David seems to only be extending kindness because of something that was initiated early on. I'm sorry to disappoint you. We're not off the hook.

We're not. Because when you go back to the first verse of chapter nine, David has another example that fits that scenario perfectly. Why did David show kindness to Mephibosheth? For whose sake? Mephibosheth did nothing.

Mephibosheth could do nothing. He couldn't even walk himself to his field to work to feed his son and his family. And David still says, because of Jonathan, I will be the initiator of kindness to you. And here's the point. In the same way, you and I have a motivation.

His name isn't Jonathan Doe.

Jesus.

David showed practical and merciful kindness to Mephibosheth because David was motivated by his honor for Jonathan. And in the same way, you and I will have to learn how to draw from our relationship with Christ to now offer mercy to those that don't deserve it. For Jesus' sake, for Jesus' sake, I will be kind. For Jesus' sake, I will smile at those who frown at me. For Jesus' sake, I I will plan and execute small acts, but meaningful kindness to my stubborn spouse.

For Jesus' sake, I will serve alongside with somebody who has an issue with me, though it is it is unjust. For Jesus' sake. Can I tell you something? Relational miracles can take place if every party of every sphere of every relationship did what they did, reacted and acted for Jesus' sake. It would be incredible what we would see.

And that's why for those in here who are looking for a spouse, let me tell you something. Look for somebody who loves Christ more than you. Because in life, when things get difficult and you give them zero reasons because of your own flesh, God forbid, to have them love you, they're gonna have to draw from something else to continue loving you, and it's gonna have to be Jesus' sake. If you really just have your eyes on Him, if you just lift your head up and look to Him, and you say, Lord, for your sake, oh, the power of that, the death to self that can come, the wonders, the miracles. I am fully aware that kindness, niceness, gentleness, patience, all these other things that are connected to kindness is not easy, And God is honest enough to tell us it's not easy.

And so you know what he says? He informs us in Galatians five that it's a fruit of the spirit. Not gonna come from your strength. It's not gonna come from your own ability. It's not gonna come from you sitting alone in a dark room and trying to convince yourself that you're gonna be this way because of for whatever reason, in your own power or in your own wisdom or your own strategy.

It's the fruit of the Holy Spirit who is who can now bring this into reality. Do you do it for Jesus' sake? I can't forgive. Well, there's a lot of problems with that. Why I can't continue well, there's a lot of problems with that.

Where are you drawing your motivation from? Well, because because I'm hurt and I'm offended and and well, don't do it for your sake. Do it for Jesus' sake. See how everything changes there? We would have a lot less counseling sessions if we if we did that.

Really. A lot of things would be thinned out. A lot of problems would just disappear if every Christian really took this to heart and said, you know, I'm gonna do it for Christ's sake. I'm gonna do it for Christ's sake. It's so simple, isn't it?

We want deep truths. We want to understand mysteries and explain and debate. Just do it for Jesus' sake. Let's get back to basic Christianity here. Let's not complicate our walk with the Lord.

Let's not fill our heads, but our our hearts are shrunk and shriveled up because we don't know how to do simple things like this. And God provides us illustrations like in David's life. Okay. We're still in the first verse. I don't know how we're gonna continue here at this pace.

I noticed something else. It's very brief. There's a second motivation to why David went out to Hanun with kindness. It's because of the news of death. Nahashu died.

And while his son was wallowing in his sorrow, David was stirred to reach out his hand and to build a relationship with him. Beyond the fact that there's an obvious call for us to mourn with those who mourn, I see a gospel truth tucked in this verse, and it is that Christ was also sent to us as a servant, not only to rescue us from the pains of death, but to deliver us from the penalty of death. The loyal love of Jesus entered into our world, and part of that reason is because death came into our world. And Hebrews two tells us that he wants to deliver us from the fear of death. He wants to deliver us from the pangs of death.

And if Christ is a if if David is a picture of Christ here, I think that there's something wonderful there as we look to Jesus. You know, when death entered into Hanun's world, David sent consolation. But when death entered into our world, you know what the son of David did? He sent salvation to rescue. David initiates it.

We we we praise his actions for being so consistent. It wasn't just a one off show. It wasn't just chapter nine. It's chapter 10. We praise it from a distance, but do all appreciate it?

We're about to find out. Because look at the response to David's comfort being sent through his ambassadors. Verse three, but the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun the Lord, do do you think because David has sent comforters to you that he is honoring your father? Has not David sent his servants to you to search the city and to spy it out and to overthrow it? So I don't know how it happened.

The ambassadors came in. Maybe they were dismissed for a moment. Maybe they were told to wait out into the hall. And the advisers come to Hanun, and they say, this is this is fake. This is a joke.

And they begin to now sow lies and to plant ideas that are not true. Does that remind you of anybody? The enemy of our souls. Do you know what this kindness is reacted with? Slanderous accusation.

Slanderous accusation. And if this reminds you if this picture reminds you of of what the devil would do to a vulnerable mind, then you're not far off. You know, in first Timothy three eleven, we're told there that the wives of deacons should not be slanderers. Does anybody know the original word for slanderers? You might remember if you were in our study of first Sam first Timothy years ago.

You ready for this? Diabolos. Diabolos. Just imagine how that would read in the Greek. The wives of deacons should not be Diaboloses.

I don't know the plural of it. I'm not fluent in Greek. That's that's that's pretty insightful because it tells you the nature of being mischievous and of intentionally saying something untrue about someone or something else. It's satanic. That's the origin of it.

That's the life source of it. That's the fragrance of it. And you have these men that are saying things that are untrue to Hanun about David and his intentions and his motivations. And I looked at this and I thought, how can this be? It's yet another reminder for those who wanna be actively righteous.

You wanna serve God, you wanna obey him in every and with every faculty of who you are, get this, I just wanna prepare you, my brother, my sister, I wanna prepare you. Your goodness, in the name of Jesus Christ, will not always be received with gratitude. At times, it will come with questionable and unjust payback. And when it does, don't lose hope. I'll tell you why in a moment.

But I notice here, as somebody mentioned, that it was the princes of the Ammonites. It wasn't it wasn't a Hanun who had these thoughts to himself. It was an outside source that infiltrated his judgment, and I think that is so important in light of the context. Was Hanun an old king or a fleshly freshly established king? Brand new king, budding as a leader, and oftentimes, in the infancy of a position or new responsibility, there is the need for maturity.

Inexperience. Inexperience here. And I think Hanun is proving his inexperience by the fact that he is so quick to act upon what he is being told. He's so quick to react to what he is being informed with. And without pausing and examining the implications of acting upon this or investigating the claims that were brought before him, he just eats it up.

Here's something I've said many times before, and I'll say it again. Social naivete and spiritual immaturity can be proven in many ways, and one of those ways is gullibility. You know what gullibility means? To be persuaded to believe something to be true without much effort. Now gullibility might be cute with your group of friends when you like to pull pranks on each other, but it's a curse in the real world.

It's a curse in the real world. Especially in this case because, listen, this presumption is gonna lead to a bloody war. It's all gonna come from misinformation. An all out war where thousands are gonna be slain, and husbands won't be going back to their homes with their wives and their children is all gonna stem from thoughts that were untrue, but was believed and acted upon as though they were. Dangerous, man.

Dangerous. Absolutely dangerous. And when I look at this, I thought, there's another lesson here when you look at it from Hanun's perspective. You wanna know that what that lesson is? The absolute necessity to ensure that the counsel that you and I receive in life comes from respectable and reputable God fearing sources.

It's not enough in life to seek guidance. You've got to go more than that. You've got to get the right guidance. The right guidance. Wisdom is proven in you seeking counsel, and I seeking counsel, but we gotta take it a step further than that.

It has to be the the right counsel. I'm reminded of another king who reduced his kingdom from 12 tribes down to two because of wrong council. Do you remember his name? Rehoboam. Remember him?

The son of Solomon? The son of Solomon was brought with a problem, and he sought counsel to know how to deal with it as a new king. And what happened with him? He got bad counsel. He acted on that counsel, and for generations, the nation of Israel will not look the same.

Does anybody remember what happened? Well, turn to first Kings 12 verse eight. I wanna I want you to see it for yourself. Because here's one way you and I can open our lives to wrong advice that can be critical to our futures and our testimony for the lord Jesus. First Kings twelve eight.

Look at verse eight very briefly. And you can get bad bad counsel in many ways. You can get it from wrong books. You can get it from wrong podcasts. You can get it from wrong preachers.

But I think the most common way is with the wrong people in your life that you have direct connections to. First Kings twelve eight, but he being Rehoboam abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. What stands out to you from that verse? It's important to know the context just a little bit beyond it. That helps.

But for those who are familiar with this, this, what is very concerning about the way that this king is handling the wisdom that he was receiving from two different parties? Okay. So there's an element of familiarity. The young men grew up with him. The old men were a little bit more distant in his life.

I think there's something there. But realize that he he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him, and he went with the counsel that the young it was immediate rejection and immediate reception from the the young men. What does that tell you? This king was not really looking for advice. He was looking for people to validate what he already decided in his heart.

People look for advice that way. People go to multiple others before making an important decision with that kind of frame of mind. I'm not looking for the best option, the most righteous way. I'm looking for you to ease my disturbed conscience so I can do what I wanna do more comfortably. That's what he's doing.

And this can be done in many ways. Listen to this. It can be done with theological issues as well. Let me prove it to you. If you want to believe something that is clearly wrong in the bible, but fits your interpretation, you will be able to find others, including theologians who will agree with that interpretation.

If you really wanna believe something, if you really wanna do something, if you really wanna act something, if you really wanna plan something, you can find a misapplied verse or verses to support you. Isn't that a frightening reality? And so the best way for you and I to avoid disaster in our life is to not look for people who think like us, is to look for people who think like God, It's to look for people who are willing to correct you in love. You know what? Look at look at the language here.

You're still in first Kings 12. Right? Look at verse six. Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men who stood who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, how do you advise what's the next word? How do you advise me to answer this people?

Keep that in mind now. So this is what he asked when he spoke with the old men. How do you advise me? Now scroll down to verse nine. This is when he speaks to the young men.

And he said to them, what do you advise that what's the next word? We. What do you advise that we answer, this people, who have said to me, lighten the yoke that your father put on us? How do you advise me in comparison to how do you advise that we? A mark of a fool is someone who intentionally surrounds himself with people who will agree with you no matter what.

A mark of a wise man is someone who has counsel in their lives, of people who really walk with God, and will look at you and say, thus says the Lord. Thus says the Lord. And if you and I are not watchful of ourselves, we can make critical decisions in life like Rehoboam did by searching for illegitimate comfort in the validation of others as a way to soothe us in our own deception. Your flesh and mine is very clever. It's very clever in finding ways to deceive.

And I want to show you the root of how people deceive themselves in this way. So we're still in first king. There's let's look at another king. So we looked already at king Hanun. We looked at king who?

Rehoboam. Let's go to king Ahab. So go to chapter 22 of first Kings, and here's king Aba. He wants to go to war with the Syrians. He wants to go to war with the Syrians.

And so he asked Jehoshaphat, will you go to war with me? Why is he asking another king? Well, remember, because of Rehoboam, we have a divided kingdom. You have the Northern Kingdom Of Israel. You have the Southern Kingdom.

King Ahab is part of the Northern. Jehoshaphat is part of the Southern. He wants to come into alliance so that they can go to war with the Syrians. And Jehoshaphat already made the mistake to agree with him, but he had a little bit of discernment left in his container. He had enough discernment to ask for a prophetic confirmation.

And so we read here in verse five of chapter 22. And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, inquire first for the word of the Lord. Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about 400 men, and said to them, shall I go to battle against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain? And they said, go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king. It seems like Ahab listened to Jehoshaphat.

It seemed like he agreed with them. Seemed like he was doing the right thing. But there's a problem, and the problem is indicated by verse seven. But Jehoshaphat said, is there not here another prophet of the Lord of whom we may inquire? So here's Jehoshaphat.

Looks like king Ahab. He says, look. I'm willing, but we need some prophetic confirmation. Can we get a prophet? King Ahaz says, I won't get you one.

I'll get you 400. So he gets 400 to come into his courts, and he asks them, shall we go to war with? Or shall I refrain? And 400, I can just imagine it, and just they're just talking over each other. Go up.

Go up. Yes. Do it. Do it. You'll succeed.

Go for it. Go for it. And here's Ahab smiling with his big grin. Right? And Jehoshaphat is looking, and he's nervous because he recognizes something about these prophets.

They're not prophets of Yahweh. They're not legitimate. They're not one who abide by the word of God, who walk in the fear of the Lord. So he looks at Ahab. He goes, look.

I know 400 people in unison seems convincing. Do we have a real prophet though? And let me tell you this. If you have 400 people who say the same thing, but what they say is against the word of God, they're all wrong. I don't care how convincing, I don't care what it sounds like as a concert, if it is against the word of God, God's word trumps over 400 or 400,000.

And this tells me something else too. Just because they had the title prophet doesn't mean they're right. Ready for a shocker? Just because the man has a church doesn't mean he's always right. Just because the guy has a PhD doesn't mean he's gonna interpret the Bible faithfully.

Just because they have a grand ministry with hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube means what they're saying is accurate or faithful to the word of God. Be careful. There's a difference between a pastor and a pastor who fears God. There's a difference between a church and a church that abides by the word of God. Is there not a prophet of Yahweh?

Now look at, this is, like, unbelievable. Look at Ahab's response in verse eight. And what he says exposes the attitude that leads to self destruction in this life and eternally. Verse eight. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, there is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah, the son of Imlah, but I hate him.

Why do you hate him, Ahad? For he never prophesies good concerning me but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, let not the king say so. He's, like, trying to mildly rebuke him. He's like, no.

I think it'll be okay. He never prophesies good concerning who? Me. Me. When it's all about you, deception is at your door.

How frightening is this? Micaiah, the prophet that he is alluding to, will prove himself in this chapter to be a true servant of God who speaks what God tells him to speak, and yet in the eyes of Ahab, his word is evil. His word is evil. Now that's interesting. His word is evil because it didn't benefit him, it didn't empower him, it didn't satisfy him, it didn't agree with him.

And because that is his worldview, a very humanistic worldview, a a a worldview where you are the center of the universe, because of that, he can take the message of a true man of God and say it is wicked. It is absolutely vile. Because for one reason, it doesn't profit me. If you want God's guidance in your life, if you want safety, fruition, blessing, one easy way, ensure that your life is not about you. And be consumed with the glory of God, and be sure that whatever you seek, in terms of advice or counsel, that as long as it is the truth, you will obey it no matter what it costs you, and you will know wonders in this life.

Unfortunately, Ahab is gonna pay a hefty price for saying this message is evil, and I'm gonna go with these 400 prophets. Hanun would pay a price. So we come now to the final two verses of our study. Verse four of chapter 10 of second Samuel. So Hanun took David's servants and shaved off half their beard, the beard of each, and cut off their garments in the middle, and our wonderful associate, Joshua, reminded us that it was the split by the buttocks, at their hips, and sent them away.

Now if you thought that the misjudgment of the motives of David was was bad enough, Hanun takes it to another level. Because, hearing something about someone isn't just gonna make you think differently about them. Eventually, if you're not careful, it'll it'll cause you to treat them differently. And that's exactly what is happening here. He takes it to a whole another level, and he humiliates these ambassadors.

He humiliates them by, as we just read, shaving half the beard and mangling their garments, sending them away with such disgrace back to Jerusalem. Now this is you you don't need, like, a cultural insight to know why this is disturbing because anybody who would do that today, if the ambassadors of the nation of America sent people to whatever nation and they did that and flew them back, you might cause a war. And that's what's gonna happen here. But why is this particularly disturbing for David's men? It actually pertains to a law, a law in the Old Testament that deals with the appearance of Israel's men.

Any light bulbs go off? Yes? Very good. Very good, Ryan. Did you hear the answer?

Let me tell it to you from Leviticus nineteen twenty seven. Here is what would seem a strange instruction to us today. You shall not round off the hair of your temples or mar the edges of your beard. In the old covenant, this is just one of the codes of many codes for holiness to make the nation of Israel distinct from their neighboring, foreign, false god worshiping counterparts. And what Hanun does here is is far greater than insulting the manhood of David's ambassadors.

They are essentially attacking the holiness of God in a very discreet way, in a way that you and I would not know unless we knew these specific instructions. So you can imagine the embarrassment that these men felt for the obvious reasons, but also because their hearts let's assume that they love God, and they had great joy in going to gentiles and extending the kindness of their king, which is a reflection of the kindness of God. And here they are instead harshly treated. And here's the theme of here's really just the theme that's just hammering us tonight. If you are faithful, even kind and faithful, do not be surprised at the harshness of this world when you try to reach out to it.

Do not be surprised by the ruthlessness of those that you try to serve or if you've served for years. It it can come, and it can come in a fierce manner. These men had their beards shaved. What happened to Christ's beard? They plucked it, and they spat in it, and they blindfolded them, and they punched them in the face, and they said, prophesy to us.

Who didn't? And when I look at this, I can say so much more. But you and I have to end on a hopeful note, and there is a hopeful note at the end here because if we hear this over and over as you did tonight, you might live faithfully, but you're gonna flinch throughout your journey. Just always being suspicious of people, always wondering their motives, and then and then now here you are. You can be crippled to actually continue in kindness because you're thinking, is it really worth it?

Is it really worth it? Well, for Jesus' sake, it is. For your own sake, maybe not. But for his sake, he is infinitely worthy. And what I see David doing as we as we mentioned in our initial conversation, what David is doing here is somewhat of a a just a hint of what our king will do for us.

We read here in verse five, when it was told David, the news came to David of what happened to his ambassadors. And he didn't just he didn't just hear it, he put it into account, and he was gonna do something about it. And what he did here was that he called to them to stay in Jericho and to wait until the other half of their beard came out. And I'm sure he sent for fresh garments so that when they would come back to Jerusalem, their honor would be restored. Here's what you have to understand.

In the same way politically, if this nation were to send ambassadors to another nation, and they were bullied, or they were harmed, or they were assassinated, whatever the case may be, politically speaking, whatever happens to the ambassador happens to the leader of the nation that they represent. You and I are ambassadors of Jesus Christ. That is our title in this world. We're, I like to tell people my citizenship people say, are you I'm a dual citizen. I have one in Canada, one here, but I'm I'm starting to train myself to say I have actually three citizenships.

I have one here, and one in Canada, and one in heaven. Talk about a conversation opener. They might look at you like you're crazy, but at least you get the gospel in. Our citizenship is in heaven. We're traveling through this world.

We're ambassadors. We're we have a message. We are representing our Christ. Whatever happens to us, happens to the apple of his eye. And as David took it into account, so will Christ.

And Christ has the ability that in this life to restore our honor. You know one of those examples in the Old Testament that I always love? It's when Joseph was falsely accused, remember, for rape, thrown into a prison for years. That that can anger somebody who's about true justice because you think, this is unfair. He was faithful to Potiphar.

How can this happen? And it's a subtle thing, but when you realize that he was promoted to be second in command, just under the authority of Pharaoh, something happens in that moment, in that celebratory moment. He gives them a chariot. They travel through Egypt, and the instruction was that all were to bow to Joseph. You know what I like to think?

That Potiphar and his wife had to bow to him. Can you imagine the sight? Potiphar I would I would pay to see her face in that moment. Now here's Joseph promoted, established, secure, honored. God's faithfulness proved to be true.

And as he's traveling there in his chariot to the right, you see Potiphar. I'm sure maybe he was embarrassed, bowing, and there's Potiphar's wife with a grin on her face having to bow her knee. God can do it in this life, but he doesn't have to. And even if he doesn't, I'm promised one thing. In the life to come, He will.

In the life to come, He will. And I want to end with this text. If I were to ask you, why is Jesus coming back? What will He do when He come back? We can list many things.

Perhaps you have not considered this. Second Thessalonians, chapter one. A couple of verses, and I'm gonna let you go. Second Thessalonians, chapter one, verse five. That chapter is about the second coming of Christ.

And in verse five of chapter one, what do we read? This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are also suffering. Now look at verse six. Since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us. When the lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, if you are enduring scorn, persecution, if things have been taken from you, if your reputation has been marred, if if you have received evil for kindness, Here's what the lord promises us who are faithful.

He finds it just to afflict those who have afflicted us. Here's if I if I take my eschatology and I have it in compartments, and I have one compartment that says reasons and what are what are some things the lord is gonna do when he returns. Here's one slot. Retribution and relief for the afflicted. Retribution and relief for the afflicted.

And if you have been afflicted, then this is what he will do for you. And I'll end by saying to those who have been afflicted or who are enduring affliction, you may have to be like those men who are told to remain in Jericho. What do I mean by that? You may have to wait a little bit. Actually live your whole life afflicted, humiliated, embarrassed, lied about.

You may have your whole life finding difficulty to find a job, to find favor, to know memories with your family who refuse to have any association with you because because you're an ambassador of Christ in this counter Christ culture, it may be painful to have a husband or a wife who does not love the Jesus that you love, or children who mock you for the Christ that you love, who will not take serving Jesus as seriously as you had hoped and prayed for for your children, but but take this example as an instruction for you. Just wait. Retribution will come. Relief will come. And God will be good to you for being good

to those who fail to be good to you. Let's pray.

Lord, we learned in the past two weeks that sometimes there is great reward for our Christ like kindness. But we learned tonight, sometimes there is reproach for it. Whether it is reward or reproach, help us to remain like Jesus. May we be comforted to know that you, like King David, are fully aware of the affliction and the shame that we endure. And Lord, when it gets more difficult to follow you in this world that is becoming darker and darker, may this Bible study revisit our hearts.

For those who go out and evangelize, and they seem to see no fruit, they're only cussed at and mocked and threatened. And like these ambassadors of David, only go home with their heads hanging low. Remember and help us, Lord, to remember that you will bring relief to us soon, and that you will deal with those who have harmed us. Lord, we rest tonight. We ask that you fill us with your Holy Spirit so that we would not suffer from spiritual amnesia, forget your kindness toward us, and lose our way down down the road, or lose sight of the preciousness of our relationship to one another and hold up offenses and cut off and sever members because we refuse to recall the blessing that our brothers and sisters really are, and that you have brought these people into our lives as gifts and as co laborers in Christ.

May this church be a kinder church than it already is. Lord, we worship you. Lord, our hearts ache. From the bottom of our hearts, we say, come, Lord Jesus. We groan with creation, and we say, we want you to just just come again.

Just come. We're we're weary. We're tired. And, Lord, we trust that your timing is perfect. So if it is not in our lifetime, it's if it's in the next lifetime or a hundred years from now or a thousand years from now, help us be faithful no matter what comes our way for it.

In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Can we worship the Lord together with the remaining strength that we have? Amen. Let's stand together.