John Kitto Morning Bible Devotions: September 19

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John Kitto Morning Bible Devotions: September 19


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The Shaven Ambassadors

2 Samuel 10

The reader will not have forgotten Nahash, king of the Ammonites, and his intended barbarities upon the men of Jabesh-Gilead. This man had, however, been friendly to David in the time of his troubles. How, we know not; but the wilderness history of David must have had many more incidents than the few which have been recorded. When, therefore, he heard that Nahash was dead, and that his son Hanun had mounted the throne of Ammon, he sent an honorable embassage of condolence and congratulation. This is not the first instance of an embassy in Scripture, but it is the first for such a purpose. There was that of the king of Tyre to David on his accession to the throne of Israel; that which king Toi of Hamath sent to congratulate him on his victories; and earlier still, that sent by Moses to the kings of Edom, and to other kings, to ask a passage for Israel through their territories; that sent by the king of Moab to Balaam; that of the Gibeonites to Joshua, pretending to have come from a far country; and that sent by Jephthah to the king of Ammon, remonstrating against his aggressions upon Israel. These instances illustrate nearly all the various occasions out of which embassies could arise. All of them, and indeed all ancient embassies, were what we call embassies extraordinary, that is, embassies sent on particular and extraordinary occasions; embassies in ordinary, or resident embassies at foreign courts, being altogether a modern European invention, not more than two hundred and fifty years old.

The rights of ambassadors—the peculiar privileges belonging to their office, as representing the power from whom they came, and as being still under its protection in a foreign land, were already however well understood. They were then, as now, invested with a sacred character, which protected them from any offensive action in a foreign land, whatever might be their conduct. They were not amenable in any respect to the king or laws of the country to which they went. If they gave cause of complaint, the king might refuse to receive them, or might send them away, or request the power from whom they came to recall them; but to subject them to molestation, or injury of any kind, was an affront as severely resented in ancient as in modern times. We may therefore conceive the indignation of David when he heard that his ambassadors—men of rank and station—had been treated with the most gross indignity by the king of Ammon, under the pretence that they had come to spy the nakedness of the land. The courtiers of Rabbah persuaded Hanun to believe this; and although we have no doubt that the suspicion was sincerely entertained, and may admit that it may have been in some measure justified by the recent subjugation of the neighboring and kindred nations, nothing can excuse or justify the gross indignity with which the ambassadors were treated. They might have been sent away; but this was not enough for the Ammonites. They sent them not away till they had shaved off half their beards, and cut off the skirts of their robes, so as to leave half of their persons bare. The object was clearly to make them ridiculous and contemptible. To shave off one side of the beard only, was even more ignominious than to remove it altogether, although that among the ancient and modern eastern nations that cultivate the beard, was an offence not to be named without horror. It is very difficult to us to realize the intense appreciation of, and respect for, the beard, which is entertained among the Persians, Arabians, and other bearded nations. This is truly to them the seat of honor. They treat their own beards with respect, suffering no defilement to come near them, and handling them with deliberate care. They bury with solicitude any stray hairs that come from it; to lose it by accident were worse than the loss of the head itself, which would, in their esteem, become ridiculous and useless without this essential appendage. For any one else to touch a man’s beard irreverently, to speak of it lightly, to cast a reproach upon it, were an offence never to be forgotten or forgiven; but to cut or remove it by violence or stealth, were an affront, a disgrace, a horror, which scarcely the heart’s blood of the offender can expiate.

All these notions respecting the beard doubtless had their origin in its being the grand mark of distinction between the male and the female face, whence it became the symbol of manly dignity and strength, and the want of it the sign of weakness and effeminacy. Conceive the ecstasies of mirthful derision which attended the progress of David’s unfortunate ambassadors through the country in their way home, with half their faces shaven, and their garments cut far too short for decency or comfort. In smiling at the idea of the awkward figure these illustrious and worthy persons presented, one cannot help feeling indignant that it should be in the power of foolish men, by anything they can do, to render ridiculous and contemptible the persons of men entitled to veneration or respect. It is really in their power; for, let us say what we will, few of us would be able to repress a laugh at beholding even a great and good man in a ridiculous position; nor must we be too confident that we should have been able to keep our countenances, had the disfigured ambassadors presented themselves to our view. Truly, the sense of the ridiculous, which seems peculiar to man, is often a very great misfortune.

King David was very well aware that his ambassadors would never again be able to face those who should once see them in this absurd and wretched plight. He therefore, with a tender consideration for their feelings, which they must have prized most highly, sent a messenger to meet them, releasing them from the duty of coming to the court, and permitting them to remain at the first town on this side the Jordan, at Jericho, until the growth of their beards should enable them again to appear in public.

Fully persuaded that David could not overlook this grievous insult, the Ammonites prepared for war. With the terrible result in view, it is well to note that David, although naturally quick tempered, was slow to move in this matter; or rather the Ammonites were so prompt in taking the initiative, that they appeared in the field against him before he manifested any disposition to move. They were most entirely and most unprovokedly the aggressors in this war. Reposing in conscious power, the king’s lion-like wrath was but slowly awakened, but when fairly aroused, it was irresistible and terrible.

There is a very noticeable circumstance that meets us here. The Ammonites, sensible that they were not able to encounter the might of David in their own strength, hired the aid of various Syrian princes, being the first recorded example of mercenary warfare. Under the circumstances, these powers were probably but too willing to join the coalition, and it speaks much for the wealth and influence to which the Ammonites had by this time attained, that they were able to organize this powerful confederacy, and to bear its expenses. The expense amounted to a thousand talents of silver, which would be of the present value of £360,000; but of much greater worth at that time, when silver seems to have borne a much higher value than it does now; but even at the present value, it would not be less than at the rate of a thousand pounds for each of the chariots employed during the campaign, with the horses and men belonging to it. The writer of the book of Chronicles states the number of chariots at 32,000, and it has been thought that this may be an error of transcription, as it is seen that the numbers of that book often differ from those of the books of Samuel and Kings, and are always in excess. One must be wrong, and in most cases the accounts in Chronicles are not preferred. In this case, however, there is no contradiction, as the numbers are not stated in Samuel. Such a force in chariots is certainly unparalleled. Yet the circumstances agree with it. The thousand talents would have been an incredibly exorbitant sum for any materially smaller number, and it is stated that the force of a large extent of country, in which chariot warfare prevailed, was engaged in this enterprise, and that the chariot forces of four kingdoms were brought together on this occasion.

David beheld not this confederacy with indifference. He called out the military force of Israel; and when he learned that the Syrians had marched to join the Ammonites, he dispatched Joab to take charge of the war. This great commander decided to prevent the intended junction. With the flower of the army he went himself to meet the Syrians, and gave to Abishai the easier task of engaging the Ammonites, with the understanding that the one should help the other in case either were distressed by his opponents. The words of Joab to his brother, before they separated to their respective tasks, were altogether worthy of the commander of the armies of Israel, and appear to indicate that, with all his faults, and even crimes, he possessed more real piety, and truer theocratic views, than he usually had credit for. “Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God; and the Lord do what seemeth him good.”

The result of an engagement, undertaken in this spirit, could not be doubtful. The hired army of chariots soon gave way before the steadfast front of Joab’s indomitable infantry; and when the Ammonites beheld this, and saw that Joab was coming to join his brother against them, they lost heart and fled. They shut themselves up in their strongholds, and labored to incite the Syrians again to take the field. They probably urged that they had not obtained the worth of their money; and although the lesser princes seem to have declined any further action—the greatest of them, Hadadezer of Zobah, who had had a sufficient case of his own against the Israelites, was effectually roused, and collected forces from every available source for another struggle. Even his troops beyond the Euphrates were brought over for this service. This force, worthy to decide the fate of an empire, took the field under a renowned general named Shobach; and David deemed the occasion of sufficient importance for him to command in person. The result was as before. The Syrians were beaten, and the power of Hadadezer so entirely broken, that he no more appears in history. The Syrian tributary princes, who had been obliged to join him, made their own terms with David, and left the Ammonites to their own resources.