Fighting Together

Context: Misunderstandings Lead To Conflict

I love to look at the stories of scripture. They are great at capturing my attention and letting my imagination paint a picture of what is going on. Our primary text today is out of 2 Samuel 10 where David’s kingdom is established, but not everything is running perfectly smooth. Some of the international relationships were on rocky ground, particularly as political leaders changed… hmmm… let me know if this is starting to hit a little too close to home for comfort.

Anyway, David had a good relationship with the king of the Ammonites who had recently died and wanted to express his sympathy towards the son who succeeded him to the throne. Good desires to keep relationships going well. However, the new king had some advisors who were not trusting of David or his intentions and thus advised the new king to do something that would start an international incident.

2 Samuel 10:1–5 NASB95

Now it happened afterwards that the king of the Ammonites died, and Hanun his son became king in his place. Then David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent some of his servants to console him concerning his father. But when David’s servants came to the land of the Ammonites, the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun their lord, “Do you think that David is honoring your father because he has sent consolers to you? Has David not sent his servants to you in order to search the city, to spy it out and overthrow it?” So Hanun took David’s servants and shaved off half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle as far as their hips, and sent them away. When they told it to David, he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly humiliated. And the king said, “Stay at Jericho until your beards grow, and then return.”

It’s funny how little things can turn into big things and misunderstandings fan into flame greater conflicts than there needs to be. There is are many cultural things we could point out here, but for the sake of time, let’s keep moving forward.

Battle Lines are Drawn

2 Samuel 10:6–8 NASB95

Now when the sons of Ammon saw that they had become odious to David, the sons of Ammon sent and hired the Arameans of Beth-rehob and the Arameans of Zobah, 20,000 foot soldiers, and the king of Maacah with 1,000 men, and the men of Tob with 12,000 men. When David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the army, the mighty men. The sons of Ammon came out and drew up in battle array at the entrance of the city, while the Arameans of Zobah and of Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah were by themselves in the field.

Not much to say here except to point out the alliances being drawn amongst Israel’s enemies. The picture that is painted for us seems to indicate that there is a substantial force gathering against David and his armies. David rallies Joab, the commander of his armies to prepare for battle. The opposing armies divide their forces to fight against Israel from two separate directions. This had the potential to be completely demoralizing for the people of the city as they saw what was set against them.

Working Together/Fighting Separate Battles

2 Samuel 10:9–11 NASB95

Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him in front and in the rear, he selected from all the choice men of Israel, and arrayed them against the Arameans. But the remainder of the people he placed in the hand of Abishai his brother, and he arrayed them against the sons of Ammon. He said, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you shall help me, but if the sons of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come to help you.

Here is where we see Joab’s tactics. He rallies the troops and divides them into two companies. He recruits his brother, Abishai to lead one of the groups. Abishai and his men array against the sons of Ammon while Joab and his men face up against the Arameans.

It is here that I find inspiration for why it matters that we are part of a larger organization than just this church. It is essential that Christians work together. In doing so, we are better equipped to handle the challenges thrown our way. This might not be something we think about often. It’s really easy to come to church here and to think that it’s all well and good and not think beyond what we experience Sunday morning. But what we pray about with regards to our sister-churches is important. Together, we can send missionaries around the world. Together, we can build new churches and equip church planters. Together, we can train one another, encourage one another, equip one another and accomplish great things for our God. We’ll talk more about this in a little while.

Trusting in God/Winning the Battle

2 Samuel 10:12–14 NASB95

“Be strong, and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may the Lord do what is good in His sight.” So Joab and the people who were with him drew near to the battle against the Arameans, and they fled before him. When the sons of Ammon saw that the Arameans fled, they also fled before Abishai and entered the city. Then Joab returned from fighting against the sons of Ammon and came to Jerusalem.

Joab’s rallying cry here is significant. I like how one commentary puts it:

1, 2 Samuel (11) David Conquers an Ammonite-Led Coalition (10:1–19)

Joab’s plan was risky at best, and all involved knew it. Nevertheless, it seemed to be the best way to cope with the nasty surprise that had greeted Israel east of the Jordan. Accordingly Joab encouraged the troops to do three things: first, to “be strong” (v. 12)—that is, to utilize every personal resource at their disposal. Second, he urged them to “fight bravely for our people”—that is, to remember that their efforts on the battlefield would directly impact their families and the rest of Israel. Third, he encouraged them to fight bravely for “the cities of our God”—that is, to fight in defense of the Lord’s possessions, in this case the Promised Land and its cities.

The forces arrayed against them were strong and the collaboration between nations to fight against Israel on two fronts would have been worrisome at best. Joab’s quick thinking and incredible tactical sense, along with the hand of God protecting and delivering the people, would win an incredible victory. On the battlefield, it saw the Aramean forces flee before Joab. The Ammonites saw their allies defeated and they too ran away and Abishai won the victory on the second front.

But one battle does not win a war. What would happen in the subsequent verses would continue to display God’s deliverance.

Bigger Victories

2 Samuel 10:15–19 NASB95

When the Arameans saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they gathered themselves together. And Hadadezer sent and brought out the Arameans who were beyond the River, and they came to Helam; and Shobach the commander of the army of Hadadezer led them. Now when it was told David, he gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan, and came to Helam. And the Arameans arrayed themselves to meet David and fought against him. But the Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed 700 charioteers of the Arameans and 40,000 horsemen and struck down Shobach the commander of their army, and he died there. When all the kings, servants of Hadadezer, saw that they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them. So the Arameans feared to help the sons of Ammon anymore.

In this portion of scripture, we see that more battles are waged against Israel, but the alliances drawn between her enemies are beginning to crumble. By the end of the chapter we see that the Arameans are no longer willing to help the Ammonites any more. The ultimate victory had been won and the nation of Israel was starting to find peace in the Promised Land, although when conflicts with foreign armies ceased, internal conflicts would arise, but that is a story for another sermon.

So What?

What does all of this mean for us? Despite being a story to ignite the imagination, what lessons can we learn for our daily lives? Before we go there, let’s try to walk an intentional path from the events through history to our own situations.

The first thing we need to ask is why was this story recorded? Of all the battles and of all the victories that Israel won, why did the historians record this one?

Obviously, the story is exciting and demonstrates not only David’s kingdom’s capabilities on the battlefield, but it displays the tactical prowess of Joab and his brother Abishai. This would have been very motivating for the armies of Israel as the story was recounted for them. Try to imagine yourselves training for battle alongside the soldiers of Israel… to hear stories of such incredible victory would increase your trust in the command structure and it would also hopefully (from a theological viewpoint) increase your trust in God’s deliverance for a faithful nation.

The second thing we need to ask is how does this passage point us to Jesus?

All scripture is the story of Jesus coming to earth, but you need to look a little closer here. We know that Jesus is biologically descended from David and this of course is a story of his army defending Jerusalem. Jerusalem would of course play a pivotal role in the life and ministry of Jesus, particularly His death and resurrection. Victory over the enemies might also be a form of foreshadowing God’s victory won through what Christ would accomplish in that very city… a victory over two fronts, one physical (with the Pharisees and religious leaders), and one spiritual (with the devil and spiritual forces of evil).

And the final step in our journey from the text to our lives is to consider how all of this might point in our direction and teach us about God’s purposes for our lives.

Joab and Abishai’s victory also help illustrate God’s ability to deliver despite concerning circumstances. Their ability to work together, even on separate battlefields demonstrates that the church too needs to work together in order to be the most effective it can be. If we don’t partner with other churches, we limit our capabilities. Through the relationships built within the greater body of Christ, we are better able to send Missionaries to bring the Word of God to the world; we are better able to impact our neighborhoods and communities because each church is uniquely gifted and equipped to handle different circumstances and to reach different people. While I value the idea that there should only be one Church (which would be reflective of those we will see in heaven), the individual churches are uniquely positioned to impact the world in a far greater way than one church could do all on its own even if it had all the believers in the region under the one roof.

I have valued the relationships within the North American Baptist Conference at three different churches in three different provinces, and I can honestly say that working with sister churches is the greatest way to increase the impact we can have collectively in the areas that we are called to serve. We draw strength from one another, through prayer, relationships, through common para-church organizations such as camp and care homes. Working together is how we will accomplish greater things in the Kingdom of God! So, be intentional about connecting with other believers from other churches, particularly sister churches. When the prayer requests come in the bulletin don’t skip over them, pray for them. Mourn with those who mourn and celebrate with those who celebrate. Together we bring a taste of the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth and maybe, just maybe, our friends, family and neighbors will come to faith and become a part of the family of God too through our efforts together.