1 Chronicles 19:1-19

The Book of 1 Chronicles

God rules History

1 Chronicles

Ian Mackervoy

Chapter 19

Defeat of the nation called Ammon – 1 Chronicles 19:1-20

Chapter 19 v1 Later King Nahash of Ammon died, and his son (Hanun) became king. v2 And David said, ‘I will be kind to Hanun, the son of Nahash. His father was kind to me.’ So, David sent some men to comfort him because of his father’s death.

And the servants of David came to the country called Ammon. They went to Hanun in order to comfort him. v3 But the leaders of Ammon spoke to Hanun. ‘David has sent men to comfort you. But do not imagine that David is giving honour to your father. David has sent his men to search our land. Then he can come and defeat our nation.’ v4 So, Hanun seized David’s men and shaved them. He cut off their clothes from the middle down. Then he sent them away.

v5 Someone went and told David about the men. He sent other men to meet them because they were so ashamed. And the king said, ‘Remain in Jericho. When your beards have grown again then return home.’

v6 The people in Ammon knew that they had insulted David. They had made him their enemy. So, Hanun and the nation called Ammon paid 1000 *talents of silver to hire *chariots and soldiers on horses. These came from Mesopotamia, Aram Maacah, and Zobah. v7 They hired 32 000 *chariots and the king of Maacah with his army. They came and they camped near the town called Medeba. Also, the men who lived in Ammon came out of their towns. And they prepared for battle.

v8 When David heard about this, he sent Joab with the whole army. v9 The army of Ammon came out and prepared for battle at the city gate. The kings who had come to help them were out in the open country by themselves.

v10 Joab saw that there were enemies both in front of him and behind him. So, he chose some of the best soldiers from *Israel. And he sent them out to fight the army of Aram. v11 Joab put the rest of the army under the command of Abishai, his brother. Then they went out to fight the army of Ammon. v12 Joab spoke to Abishai. ‘If the army of Aram is too strong for me, you must help me. But if the army of Ammon is too strong for you, I will help you. v13 Be strong. We must be brave. We must fight for our people and for the cities of our God. And the *LORD will do what is right.’

v14 Then Joab and the army with him went to attack the army from Aram. And the army of Aram ran away. v15 The army of Ammon saw that the men from Aram were running away. So, they too ran away from Joab’s brother Abishai and they went back into their city. Then Joab went back to Jerusalem.

v16 The army of Aram saw that *Israel had defeated them. So they requested that more soldiers from Aram would come from beyond the Euphrates river. Shophach, the leader of Hadadezer’s army, led them.

v17 When David heard about this, he gathered all the *Israelites. They crossed over the Jordan river. David brought his men towards the army from Aram. And he arranged his army ready to fight them. And the army of Aram fought against him. v18 But they ran away from the *Israelites. David’s army killed 7000 men on the *chariots and 40 000 other soldiers. Also, he killed Shophach, the commander of their army.

v19 People in several countries served Hadadezer. They saw that the *Israelites had defeated them. Then they made peace with David and they served him. So, the nation called Aram refused to help the nation called Ammon again.

Chapter 20 v1 Kings usually went to war in the spring. In the spring, Joab led out the army of *Israel. They destroyed the country called Ammon. They came to the city called Rabbah and they camped round it. But David stayed in Jerusalem. Then Joab attacked Rabbah and he destroyed it. v2 David took the crown from the head of their king. The weight of the crown was a *talent of gold. There were precious stones in the crown. Then David placed that crown on his head. And David took many valuable things from the city. v3 He brought out the people that were there. And he forced them to work with saws, iron tools, and axes. David did this to all the towns in Ammon. Then David and all his army returned to Jerusalem.

Verses 1-5 Ammon was a country to the east of *Israel. It was on the other side of the Jordan river. Saul had defeated Ammon’s army (1 Samuel chapter 11). But later King Nahash was loyal to David. Their friendship may have started when David had to hide from Saul.

King Nahash died and David sent men to comfort his son Hanun. But the leaders of Ammon did not trust David. They thought that David wanted to find out about the defences of the city called Rabbah. They thought that then David would attack them.

So, Hanun shaved off half of each man’s beard (2 Samuel 10:4). Men who lived at that time would consider that an extreme insult. Also, Hanun cut off their clothes so that their private parts were naked. This was the most terrible shame for these *Israelite men. Then Hanun sent the men away.

When David heard about this, he told the men to wait in Jericho. When their beards had grown again, then they could come home.

Verses 6-9 Hanun knew that David would not accept that insult. And he knew that the army of Ammon could not defeat David. So, he hired armies from other countries to help him. It cost him 1000 *talents of silver.

‘Mesopotamia’ means ‘between the rivers’. Soldiers came from the countries that were between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. Aram Maacah was to the north of the *Israelite *tribes on the east of the Jordan river. Zobah was to the north east of Damascus.

They hired 32 000 *chariots which included riders and horses. These came from Mesopotamia, Aram Maacah and from Zobah. There were a further 1000 soldiers who came with the king of Maacah. These soldiers were from the nation called Aram.

This very large army prepared for war near the town called Medeba. Medeba was a town to the south of Rabbah. It was in the area that had belonged to the *tribe of Reuben. It was to the east of the Dead Sea.

David did not go to fight against Hanun. He sent Joab with the whole army of *Israel.

Verses 10-15 There were two armies that were fighting against the *Israelites. The army of Ammon was in front of the city and the army of Aram was in the country. Joab came towards the army of Ammon. Then he saw that the army of Aram was behind him. So, enemies had surrounded the army of Joab.

Joab selected his best soldiers to go with him. He led them to fight the larger army from Aram. He put the rest of the *Israelites under the command of his brother Abishai. Abishai led these men to fight the army of Ammon.

Before they went into battle, Joab spoke with his brother. He gave his plan to Abishai. If the army of Aram was too strong for Joab then Abishai must come to help him. But if the army of Ammon was too strong for Abishai then Joab would come to help him. But Joab trusted the *LORD for the result of the battle.

The *Israelites must be brave. They must be strong. They must fight for God and their country. But they must trust the *LORD for the result.

The army of Aram ran away and the army of Ammon went back into the city. The *Israelites went back to Jerusalem.

Verses 16-19 It seems that this battle was before the battles in Chapter s 18:3-8 and 20:1-3.

Joab’s success did not end the war. The nation called Aram sent more soldiers from the other side of the Euphrates river to help them. This time David led the army of *Israel to meet them.

Again, the soldiers from Aram ran away from the *Israelite army. David defeated them and he killed their leader Shophach.

These soldiers from Aram belonged to various countries that had served Hadadezer. Now those countries made peace with David. They had to agree with his demands. So, they became his servants. They would not help the nation called Ammon again. Actually, they were afraid to help the nation called Ammon (2 Samuel 10:19).

Verses 20:1-3 Spring was at the end of the rainy season. In the rainy season, it was not practical to fight with *chariots. When the spring came, the kings could go to war again. So, in the spring Joab led the army to fight in the country called Ammon.

The army had success all through the country. Then they came to Rabbah, the capital city of Ammon. They camped round the city.

While Joab was leading Israel’s army against Rabbah, David stayed in Jerusalem. At this time, he saw Bathsheba. Although she was a married woman, David had sex with her. Afterwards, she was expecting a baby by David. He arranged for her husband Uriah to come home to her. The idea was that Uriah would have sex with her. Then he would think that the baby was his own child. But Uriah refused to have sex with his wife while the army was at war. So, David arranged for his death at Rabbah. This was a very serious *sin (2 Samuel chapter 11).

The battle for Rabbah took a long time. In the end, Joab broke into the city. He took one part of it, the lower town. Then he was able to cut off their supply of water from the Jabbok river. He knew that the castle and the city could not last much longer. Then he asked David to come so that David could lead the final battle to defeat the city.

David took the crown from the king and he put it on his own head. It was a gold crown. Its weight was a *talent, which was very heavy. A king would not usually wear such a heavy crown. The heavy crown of a king would hang with chains above his *throne.

David took away all the valuable things from the city. He forced the people from Rabbah and other towns to do hard work. Then David and his army returned to Jerusalem.

talent ~ measurement of weight equal to 75 pounds or 34 kilograms. But some students say that a talent was sometimes twice as heavy as that.
kilogram ~ measurement of weight; also called a kilo. It is slightly over 2 pounds.
chariot ~ a kind of cart that soldiers use to fight. Horses pull it.
Israel ~ Israel is the special name that God gave to Jacob. His descendants were called Israel after him. So, Israel is the nation whose ancestors were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The country in which they live is called Israel.
descendant ~ a future member of a family or nation.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
lord ~ someone with authority such as the king.
Lord ~ a title for God, to show that he is over all people and things.
LORD ~ ‘LORD’ is the special name that God gave to himself. The name probably means: ‘He is always God.’ This name has a relationship with God’s special promises to his people.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
tribe ~ The Israelites originally consisted of the 12 large families of the sons of Jacob. These families became the 12 tribes of Israel.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Israel ~ Israel is the special name that God gave to Jacob. His descendants were called Israel after him. So, Israel is the nation whose ancestors were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The country in which they live is called Israel.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
descendant ~ a future member of a family or nation.
sin ~ Sin is the wrong things that we do. To sin is to do wrong, bad or evil deeds and not to obey God. People are called sinners because they are guilty of sin.
throne ~ the special chair for the king.