Fighting Impossible Battles: 2 Samuel 10:6-16
We shouldn’t overextend ourselves to fight battles God has not given into our hands to win. God will provide many victories for us through our lifetime, but those victories come because we stop and follow God’s lead. When He goes before us, we can never lose. When we go before Him, we risk failure.
David sends his military against the Ammonites as a show of force because of how the Ammonites treated his delegation. As a result, the Ammonites hire the Syrians as mercenaries. Hiring mercenaries was a common practice in the ancient world. David himself acted as a mercenary for the Philistines.
The fact that Hanun hired the Syrians, though, is evidence of his regime’s lack of preparedness. Hanun could have sent David’s delegation home saying “Thanks, but no thanks. The timing is bad.” That might have still sent a negative message, but it wouldn’t have inspired a war. By insulting the Hebrew delegation and attacking their relationship with their community and God, David felt compelled to respond.
Hanun blusters himself into a war he is unprepared to fight. Being a younger, more inexperience ruler, he puts on a show of more bravado than he can realistically defend. He gets himself into this scenario because he doesn’t know how to handle people with mercy and grace – even stern mercy and grace.
The text tells us Hanun loses the battle. Unknowingly, Hanun chooses a direct path to being a vassal possible. His father dies, and his first act offends a powerful neighbor. The neighbor responds, and the Ammonites become David’s vassals. It is quick and easy.
The Syrians also learn a lesson. They respond to the Ammonites, thinking only of the promised money and not the power of David’s army. They discount the power of God even more. The Syrians see the mercenary wage and join a battle they shouldn’t. They join a battle they are unable to win.
There is one more person who learns a lesson about battles in this story, but the lesson won’t be clear until the next chapter. While Joab is off fighting against the Ammonites in Rabbah, David encounters Bathsheba. David sends his army away and stays at home, thinking Joab can handle the war. He’s right; Joab can handle the war. Unfortunately, David cannot handle life without accountability. When David sends Joab away, he starts a different kind of battle he is unable to win. That’s why when the Syrians come again, David joins the battle.
We must learn to think far enough ahead to determine which struggles are worth fighting. We have a phrase for this in the English language: Choose your battles wisely. Jesus teaches a parable on this topic in Luke 14 about the person wanting to build a tower who sits down and counts the cost of building before starting the project. Life is hard enough on our own. We shouldn’t overextend ourselves to fight battles God has not given into our hands to win.
