Chapter 6.
HOW THE WAR WAS WAGED AGAINST THE AMMONITES AND HAPPILY CONCLUDED.FJAJ 7.30
1. THIS were the honors that such as were left of Saul's and Jonathan's
lineage received from David
About this time died Nahash, the king of the
Ammonites, who was a friend of David's; and when his son had succeeded
his father in the kingdom, David sent ambassadors to him to comfort him;
and exhorted him to take his father's death patiently, and to expect that
he would continue the same kindness to himself which he had shown to his
father
But the princes of the Ammonites took this message in evil part,
and not as David's kind dispositions gave reason to take it; and they excited
the king to resent it; and said that David had sent men to spy out the
country, and what strength it had, under the pretense of humanity and kindness.
They further advised him to have a care, and not to give heed to David's
words, lest he should be deluded by him, and so fall into an inconsolable
calamity
Accordingly Nahash's [son], the king of the Ammonites, thought
these princes spake what was more probable than the truth would admit,
and so abused the ambassadors after a very harsh manner; for he shaved
the one half of their beards, and cut off one half of their garments, and
sent his answer, not in words, but in deeds
When the king of Israel saw
this, he had indignation at it, and showed openly that he would not overlook
this injurious and contumelious treatment, but would make war with the
Ammonites, and would avenge this wicked treatment of his ambassadors on
their king
So that king's intimate friends and commanders, understanding
that they had violated their league, and were liable to be punished for
the same, made preparations for war; they also sent a thousand talents
to the Syrian king of Mesopotamia, and endeavored to prevail with him to
assist them for that pay, and Shobach
Now these kings had twenty thousand
footmen
They also hired the king of the country called Maacah, and a fourth
king, by name Ishtob; which last had twelve thousand armed men.FJAJ 7.31
2. But David was under no consternation at this confederacy, nor at
the forces of the Ammonites; and putting his trust in God, because he was
going to war in a just cause, on account of the injurious treatment he
had met with, he immediately sent Joab, the captain of his host, against
them, and gave him the flower of his army, who pitched his camp by Rabbah,
the metropolis of the Ammonites; whereupon the enemy came out, and set
themselves in array, not all of them together, but in two bodies; for the
auxiliaries were set in array in the plain by themselves, but the army
of the Ammonites at the gates over against the Hebrews
When Joab saw this,
he opposed one stratagem against another, and chose out the most hardy
part of his men, and set them in opposition to the king of Syria, and the
kings that were with him, and gave the other part to his brother Abishai,
and bid him set them in opposition to the Ammonites; and said to him, that
in case he should see that the Syrians distressed him, and were too hard
for him, he should order his troops to turn about and assist him; and he
said that he himself would do the same to him, if he saw him in the like
distress from the Ammonites
So he sent his brother before, and encouraged
him to do every thing courageously and with alacrity, which would teach
them to be afraid of disgrace, and to fight manfully; and so he dismissed
him to fight with the Ammonites, while he fell upon the Syrians
And though
they made a strong opposition for a while, Joab slew many of them, but
compelled the rest to betake themselves to flight; which, when the Ammonites
saw, and were withal afraid of Abishai and his army, they staid
no longer, but imitated their auxiliaries, and fled to the city
So Joab,
when he had thus overcome the enemy, returned with great joy to Jerusalem
to the king.FJAJ 7.32
3. This defeat did not still induce the Ammonites to be quiet, nor to
own those that were superior to them to be so, and be still, but they sent
to Chalaman, the king of the Syrians, beyond Euphrates, and hired him for
an auxiliary
He had Shobach for the captain of his host, with eighty thousand
footmen, and ten thousand horsemen
Now when the king of the Hebrews understood
that the Ammonites had again gathered so great an army together, he determined
to make war with them no longer by his generals, but he passed over the
river Jordan himself with all his army; and when he met them he joined
battle with them, and overcame them, and slew forty thousand of their footmen,
and seven thousand of their horsemen
He also wounded Shobach, the general
of Chalaman's forces, who died of that stroke; but the people of Mesopotamia,
upon such a conclusion of the battle, delivered themselves up to David,
and sent him presents, who at winter time returned to Jerusalem
But at
the beginning of the spring he sent Joab, the captain of his host, to fight
against the Ammonites, who overran all their country, and laid it waste,
and shut them up in their metropolis Rabbah, and besieged them therein.FJAJ 7.33