Wait at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return: David didn’t use these men as political tools to whip up anger against the Ammonites. Jesus reminded His disciples: If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. The same principle is true with King Jesus and His ambassadors. It was just as if they had done this to David himself. To insult the ambassador is to insult the king. “That the shame of their nakedness might appear, and especially that of their circumcision, so derided by the heathen.” (Trapp) To cut off their garments in the middle was also an obvious insult and humiliation. Nothing can be more secure than a pledge of this kind its owner will redeem it at the hazard of his life.” (Clarke) “The beard is held in high respect in the East: the possessor considers it his greatest ornament often swears by it and, in matters of great importance, pledges it. “With the value universally set upon the beard by the Hebrews and other Oriental nations, as being man’s greatest ornament, the cutting off of one-half of it was the greatest insult that could have been offered to the ambassadors, and through them to David their king.” (Keil and Delitzsch) This was because a clean-shaven face was the mark of a slave and free men wore beards. In that culture, many men would rather die than have their beards shaved off. Hanun took David’s servants, shaved off half of their beards, cut off their garments in the middle…and sent them away: This was a disgraceful insult to these ambassadors from Israel. It is common for liars to suspect others of lying.ī. It’s possible that they genuinely suspected David, or they perhaps used this as a way to appear wise and cunning to King Hanun. Do you think that David really honors your father because he has sent comforters to you? It’s hard to explain why these advisers to Hanun said this to the king of Ammon. And the king said, “Wait at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return.”Ī. When they told David, he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed. (3-5) Hanun, the new king of the Ammonites, treats Israel’s ambassadors shamefully.Īnd the princes of the people of Ammon said to Hanun their lord, “Do you think that David really honors your father because he has sent comforters to you? Has David not rather sent his servants to you to search the city, to spy it out, and to overthrow it?” Therefore Hanun took David’s servants, shaved off half of their beards, cut off their garments in the middle, at their buttocks, and sent them away. He did something to bring the grieving man comfort. So David sent by the hand of his servants to comfort him: David wasn’t content to feel kindness towards Hanun. Here he showed kindness towards a pagan king because he sympathized with the loss of his father.ī. I will show kindness: David’s kindness to Mephibosheth in the previous chapter didn’t end his kind works. And David’s servants came into the land of the people of Ammon.Ī. Then David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent by the hand of his servants to comfort him concerning his father. It happened after this that the king of the people of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his place. (1-2) David sends ambassadors to the Ammonites at the passing of their king.
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