Insulting an Alligator

Reflections on 2 Samuel 10:1-14 and 1 Chronicles 19:1-15

Never insult an alligator until you've crossed the river.
-- Cordell Hull

The Ammonites lived just north and east of the Dead Sea. Like the Moabites, they were descendants of Lot. The king of Ammon had been Nahash (perhaps the son of the king who had threatened the town of Jabesh in Gilead during Saul's reign - 1 Samuel 11:1 ff.). His son, Hanun, became king some time after David had established himself in Jerusalem. The two young kings were polar opposites.

FIDELITY VS SUSPICION. When King Nahash died, David sent emissaries to express kindness to his son Hanun. "Kindness" in the NIV is translated "loyalty" in the ESV, and it refers to covenant loyalty (Smith, 2000, p. 413). In other words, David wanted to maintain the same friendly relations between himself and Hanun as he had had with Nahash, his father. Hanun's advisors, however, planted suspicions in his mind. "Perhaps," they said, "David is not really honoring your father but spying out our defenses. David intends to overthrow us just as he did the Moabites." Consequently, Hanun became skeptical of David's loyalty and motives, and he refused David's offer of sympathy.

INSULT VS EMPATHY. Hanun wanted to send an emphatic "No" to David's offer of friendship, so he chose to insult David's emissaries. He cut off their beards on one side of their faces, cut their garments off short enough to expose their buttocks, and sent them away. Not only did he humiliate the emissaries, but he also forced them to be in violation of God's Law (see Leviticus 19:27 and Numbers 15:38-39). When David was told what Hanun had done, he understood that the emissaries were humiliated and gave them permission to remain in Jericho until their beards had grown back. When Hanun insulted the emissaries, David understood how they felt and allowed them to save face rather than returning home immediately.

HIRELINGS VS HOMEOWNERS. After Hanun insulted David's messengers and rejected David's offer of friendship, he realized that he was not prepared for war. He had insulted the alligator before crossing the river. Accordingly, he hired an army of 33,000 Aramean soldiers with about 37 tons of silver. These Aramean soldiers, from the area east of the Sea of Galilee and northward, went to join the Ammonite army which had occupied Medeba (see 1 Chronicles 19:7), a town belonging to Reuben (Joshua 13:15-16) on the plateau southeast of Mt. Nebo. David heard this and sent Joab with his army to Medeba. When Joab arrived, he found himself trapped between the Ammonites in front of the city gate and the Arameans behind. Joab took the best troops to fight against the Arameans, and put Abishai over the rest who were to fight the Ammonites. Before the battle began, Joab encouraged his soldiers with these words:

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.
-- 2 Samuel 10:12

When David's men turned on the hireling Arameans behind them, they fled, and the Ammonites took refuge inside the city.

Joab did not pursue the battle with the Ammonites at the time. Perhaps he did not wish to besiege an occupied city such as Medeba because it contained many Reubenites. Rabbah, the capital of the Ammonites some 20 miles to the north, was so well defended that it was seldom besieged (George M. Landes, "The Material Civilization of the Ammonites," The Biblical Archaeologist Reader, 2, p. 76). Joab returned to Jerusalem while the Aramean returned home to plan their return.