1 Chronicles

War Against the Ammonites

Afterwards, Nahash, king of the Ammonites, died, and his son Hanun became king.

David thought: “I will show kindness to Hanun, son of Nahash, since his father was kind to me.” And David sent messengers with his condolences on his father’s death. But when David’s servants reached Hanun in the land of the Ammonites to present these condolences,

the Ammonite leaders said to Hanun: “Do you think David means to honor your father when he sends you messengers of sympathy? On the contrary, he has sent them here as spies to explore the land so that he can conquer it.”

Hanun had David’s servants seized, shaved their beards, cut their clothes halfway up to the hips, and sent them away.

David was told what had happened to these men, so he sent someone to meet them, for they were too ashamed to return home. And he said: “Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown again, and come back then.”

The Ammonites saw that they had made David their enemy. So Hanun and the Ammonites sent a thousand talents of silver to hire chariots and charioteers from the Aramaeans of Upper Mesopotamia, Maacah, and Zobah.

They hired thirty-two thousand chariots and the king of Maacah with his army. These came and encamped before Medeba, while the Ammonites came out from all their cities and got ready to fight.

David sent Joab with the entire army and the warriors when he heard this.

The Ammonites marched out and took up their positions at the entrance to the town, but the kings who had come remained in the open country.

Joab, seeing that he had to fight on two fronts, to his front and his rear, chose the best fighters of the Israelites and drew them up in a line facing the Aramaeans.

He placed the rest of the troops under the command of his brother Abishai, to face the Ammonites. He told him,

“If the Aramaeans prove too strong for me, you shall come to my help. If the Ammonites prove too strong for you, I will come to yours.

Take courage and fight hard for the sake of our people and the towns of our God. And may the Lord do as he thinks right.”

Joab and his forces advanced to attack the Aramaeans, who fled before him.

When the Ammonites saw that the Aramaeans were running away, they fled before Abishai, Joab’s brother, and withdrew into their town. Then Joab came back to Jerusalem.

Seeing that Israel had defeated them, the Aramaeans sent messengers and mobilized the Aramaeans from beyond the river, with Shophach, commander of Hadadezer’s army, at their head.

This news was brought to David, who gathered the Israelite troops, crossed the Jordan, and met them. David drew up his line of battle facing the Aramaeans, and the fighting began.

But the Aramaeans fled before Israel, and David killed seven thousand of their chariot teams and forty thousand foot soldiers. He also killed Shophach, their general.

When the kings subject to Hadadezer saw that Israel had defeated them, they made peace with David and became subject to him. After this, the Aramaeans refused to help the Ammonites.