A Journey Through The Old Testament - Elmer Towns

“kindness for Jonathan’s sake” (2 Sam. 9:1). When he learned of a lame son of Jonathan named
Mephibosheth living in Lo Debar, David invited him to Jerusalem to eat at the king’s table as
one of his sons. Some commentators see David’s actions toward Mephibosheth as a picture of
salvation by grace. The grace of David was extended to helpless Mephibosheth, brought him into
a position of blessedness, and sustained and kept him.
David’s desire to honor others was not always appreciated. When Nahash, the king of
Ammon, died, David sent a delegation to honor his son Hanun as he took the throne of his father.
David had appreciated the kindness shown him by Nahash and sought to extend the same to
Hanun. But the princes of Ammon were suspicious of David’s motives and assumed the
delegation had come as spies. “Therefore Hanun took David’s servants, and shaved off one half
of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, at their buttocks, and sent them away”
(10:4).
The actions of Hanun not only humiliated the men sent to honor the new king, but
insulted David and the nation of Israel. David responded by going to war against Ammon. When
the Ammonites realized they had provoked the wrath of David and were unable to defend
themselves, they hired 33,000 Syrian mercenaries to fight with them. But David so soundly
defeated the Syrians that they sought to make peace with Israel at any cost. “So the Syrians were
afraid to help the people of Ammon anymore” (v. 19).
PERSPECTIVE: THE VULNERABILITY OF
IMMINENT VICTORY
With the defeat of the Syrians, the cities of Ammon should have fallen with little or no
struggle. But the war raged on between Israel and Ammon not only weeks but years. It would be
three years before David would take the royal city of Rabbah (today’s city of Amman, Jordan)
and add the crown jewels of that city to his own treasury. But during that time, he would also
enter his darkest hour in an otherwise bright relationship with God.
THIRTY-EIGHT
DAVID:
The Latter Days
(2 Samuel 11:1-24:25; 1 Kings 1:1-2:11; Psalms 3; 7, 18; 72)
God elevated David from the humble task of caring for sheep to the majesty of ruling
Israel during a time of great national success and prosperity. But the prosperity of Israel during
his reign was not just a chance happening. It was the blessing of God on “the man after God’s
own heart.” David and his kingdom were honored by God because they honored God in all they
did. Generations later it would be affirmed, “David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord,
and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in
the matter of Uriah the Hittite” (1 Kings 15:5).
The darkest hour of David’s life began one sleepless night in Jerusalem. Israel was again
at war, and again Israel was winning. They were defeating the Ammonites and had laid siege to
the city of Rabbah. It was largely a waiting game now, and David had decided to wait it out in