19
📚Now it happened after this that Nahash, the king of the children of Ammon, died, and his son reigned in his place. 2 📚And David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun, the son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me”. And David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. So the servants of David came to the land of the children of Ammon to Hanun, to comfort him. 3 📚But the leaders of the children of Ammon said to Hanun, “Do you think that David is honouring your father, by sending comforters to you? Have not his servants come to you to explore and to overthrow and to spy out the land?” 4 📚Therefore Hanun took David’s servants and shaved them, and cut off their garments in the middle at the hips, and sent them away.
5 📚Then someone went and told David how the men had been treated. And he sent men to meet them, for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, “Stay at Jericho until your beards are grown, and then return”. 6 📚And when the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves odious to David, Hanun and the children of Ammon sent a thousand talents 📖 of silver to hire chariots and horsemen for themselves from Mesopotamia and from Syria Maachah and from Zobah.
19:6 Chariots and charioteers came from those places. Foot soldiers came from Beth Rehob and Tob (2 Sam 10:6). All the places mentioned were in the same region north of Israel.⚜
7 📚So they hired thirty-two thousand chariots, and the king of Maachah and his people. They came and camped before Medeba. And the children of Ammon gathered together from their cities and came to battle.
8 📚And when David heard of it, he sent Joab and the whole army of the mighty men. 9 📚And the children of Ammon came out and drew up battle lines before the gate of the city, and the kings who had come were by themselves in the field.
10 📚Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him in front and in the rear, he selected men from all the choice soldiers of Israel, and set them in array against the Syrians. 11 📚And the rest of the people he entrusted into the hands of his brother Abishai, and they set themselves in array against the children of Ammon. 12 📚And he said, “If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you help me; but if the children of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will help you. 13 📚Be courageous, and let us conduct ourselves valiantly for our people, and for the cities of our God. And let the LORD do what is good in his sight”.
14 📚So Joab and the people who were with him drew near in front of the Syrians to the battle; and they fled before him. 15 📚And when the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians had fled, they likewise fled before his brother Abishai, and entered the city. Then Joab came to Jerusalem.
16 📚And when the Syrians saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they sent messengers and brought out the Syrians who were beyond the river 📖; and Shophach, the commander of the army of Hadarezer, marched before them.
17 📚And it was told David; and he gathered all Israel and crossed the Jordan, and came on them and drew up the battle lines against them. So when David drew up the battle lines against the Syrians, they fought with him. 18 📚But the Syrians fled before Israel, and David killed seven thousand of the Syrians who fought in chariots, and forty thousand foot soldiers, and killed Shophach, the commander of the army.
19 📚And when the servants of Hadarezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and became his subjects; nor would the Syrians help the children of Ammon any more.
19:1-19 2 Sam 10:1-19. See notes there. One foolish act can (and in this case did) result in much bloodshed.⚜