Second Samuel chapter 10. Things are going well, in Israel. God's appointed anointed king is on the throne. He has in part continued a revival in Israel that was started by Samuel who anointed him to be the king of Israel. He sought to honor the Lord in in many aspects of his life.

He he led the people in the the fear of the Lord, the Bible says. He sought to build a temple for the Lord and God said, no, not not at this time. I'll let your son do that. I'm more interested in building a house for you, of you, as David's descendants became the rulers of Israel and Judah. And one day, the descendant of David will sit on the throne of David forever and ever, and that being Jesus Christ.

God bless them in bringing them safety in the land and and conquest over their enemies. Over time, David conquered almost all the land that was promised to Abraham during his reign. And either he directly ruled it or he had made peace with these other lands, which had basically become in many ways vassals to David and paid tribute to Israel. So we're gonna see one of those this evening in second Samuel chapter 10. And an unfortunate incident that occurred and how David handled that that that incident and whether he was justified in the way he handled it or not and so we're going to consider that this evening from second Samuel chapter 10.

It came to pass. We'll read the first five verses. After this, that the king of the children of Ammon died, the king did, and Hunan or Hanan, Hunan, it's Hanan. Hanan, his son, reigned in his stead. So we're going to stop there for just a moment.

So Ammon, where is Ammon? Well, Ammon is on the Western Side of the Jordan River. So you have you have the Mediterranean, and then you have Israel, and then you have the Sea Of Galilee and the Jordan River. And then if you go further west on the other side of the Jordan River, kind of not to the south and not to the north, kind of right in the middle there, above the Dead Sea is a place that was inhabited by the Ammonites and the Moabites. K?

To the south of them around the Dead Sea were the Edomites. Now, the Edomites are descendants of who? Esau. Okay? The Edomites are descendants of Esau.

They inhabited around the Dead Sea area. And then north of them, as you go up on the Western side of the Jordan River, you have Ammon and Moab. And then as you come north of there, you have a place called Gilead, which Gilead was basically composed of the two and a half tribes that settled on the Western side that received land on the Western side of the Sea Of Galilee and the Jordan River. And so you can imagine there was a bit of friction between the Moabites, the Ammonites, and Israel to the East Of Jordan and the tribes that were to the north of them on the Western Side. Now who were the Ammonites and the Moabites?

Well, like the Edomites, they were related to the Israelites. The Ammonites and the Moabites were the descendants of Lot. Okay? Lot had two illegitimate sons. Those sons fathered these two nations that were to the West of the Jordan River.

When Israel came up from slavery from being freed from slavery in Egypt, they came up at one point after their forty years of wandering on the Western Side of the Jordan River and we're going to go into Canaan that way and thought that Edom and Ammon and Moabites would help them. But did they help them? No. They wouldn't even allow them free passage into the land. They stood in their way.

In some cases, they had to fight their way through just to get to the promised land because of the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites. So, that was a little bit of the history there. And during the time of the judges, the Moabites and Ammonites were thorn in Israel's side and from time to time continued to be a thorn in Israel's side. And so that that gives you a bit of bit of history here. Okay?

Now the king of Ammon had passed away and his son had begun to reign in his place. Verse two, then said David, I will show kindness unto Hanan, the son of Nahash. Nahash was the previous king. As his father showed kindness unto me. We're not exactly sure exactly specifically what kindness David was talking about but it may be that during the years that David was a fugitive and on the run from Saul that Nahas had shown some kindness to David and David sent to comfort him, the the son, by the hand of his servants for his father and David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon.

So, they were sent from Jerusalem which is not too far east of the Jordan River, just a few miles. You have Jerusalem and then you come to Jericho and then there's the Jordan River. So, they they left Jerusalem. They went across the Jordan to come to Ammon. Verse three, the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanan their Lord, thinkest thou that David doth honor thy father that he has sent comforters unto thee?

Hath not David rather sent his servants unto thee to search the city and to spy it out and overthrow it. So they told this new king, you don't think they're really here to comfort you and to to console you, do you? They sent spies over here to spy on you. And they're gonna come in here and attack you once they get their information. Wherefore Hanan took David's servants, shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle onto their buttocks and sent them away.

In other words, utterly humiliated them and sent them back to Israel. When they told it unto David, he sent to meet them because the men were greatly ashamed and the king said, tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown and then return. They didn't want to be seen in public with their to to have your beard half shaven off was one of the most humiliating things in that day for them. And so he said, just wait in Jericho till your beard grows back. And and then you can return back to Jerusalem.

So so that's the first five verses and that's that's what happens. So we have, first of all, David's good intentions. Ammon, while still having a sovereign ruler, were to some degree subject to David or in the least at peace with him. There were several surrounding nations which had at the time of David's inauguration as king had become serious threats to Israel's security. First of all, what's the big one that had become a threat to Israel?

Well, that's the little plot of land that today we call the Gaza Strip, which in that day were was inhabited by the Philistines who had won a big battle over Saul, killed Saul just before David became king in Judah. And so the Philistines have been a big big thorn in the side for Israel. But also you had Ammon and Moab on the West and Edom to the South and Syria to the North, Amalekites to the South. All of these had been had been trouble for Israel and David had to take care of that when he came into office. So, as a result, David did engage these nations in battle, sometimes preemptively in order to secure the safety of his people and to secure some degree of authority over the land which God had assigned to Israel via Abraham.

So, David took on these nations one at a time and defeated them. He pushed the Philistines back out of the land of Israel, back into Philistia, and he had victories over the Ammonites and the Moabites and the the Syrians, Arameans to the north, and he began to take back the land of Israel and to take over the land that God had promised to Abraham. If you remember when they came into the land, they were to to to get rid of all the Canaanites that were in the land. They were either be killed or or gone. They were not to reside with them for fear that they would pull them into idolatry.

They were not to be intermarrying with the pagans, peoples around them. God did make exceptions. For instance, Rahab the harlot. And why was there an exception made for Rahab the harlot? Well, it had to do with her what?

Her faith. Her faith. She demonstrated great faith in the God of Israel and hid the spies, and God rewarded her faith with grace. He made a exception for for Ruth who was a Moabite. Earlier when Israel came into the land, God punished Israel for intermarrying Moabites, but they weren't Moabites that had put their faith in God and converted.

There were Moabites who were still what? Idolaters. But God made an exception for Ruth. Why? Because of her her faith.

Your God, thy God will be what? My God, she said to Naomi. And she married Boa married Rahab's son, Boaz, and then they had a son named Obed, who was the grandfather of the guy we're reading about here, and that would be David. So but but God had given this land to Israel and David pushed the enemies out and secured his people. In several cases, rather than deposing their national governments, usually monarchies, David allowed them to continue to rule their people as vassals of David as long as they paid tribute to David and posed no threat to his people.

The people of Ammon were one such group. There are several of these nations that still remain to keep their national government, so to speak, intact, but they paid tribute to who? They paid tribute to David, and that kind of kept them under under David's thumb. When their king died, David sent a contingent of representatives to Ammon to communicate David's condolences which were mistaken for what? Spies.

Now, maybe some within the government of Ammon seen an opportunity to rebel against David's authority convinced the new king that they were spies when they knew they likely were not. And I I see that. It's it's not necessarily stated or declared in the text but but I I can see that happening. Here's a new king, doesn't exactly know what he's doing. He's got these these counselors and these counselors are pushing him to do something because they don't like being under the thumb of who?

They don't like being under the thumb of David, and so they're trying to convince him of something that they may have known not to be the case. That's that's one possibility. Or maybe they simply could not imagine David's genuine respect to be real. That was not the norm among kingdoms in that day. And so David just David was just showing love and concern for his what?

His neighbor. Love your neighbor as your self. And David was genuinely just showing love toward his his neighbors. He wasn't thinking of them as enemies at the time. He was thinking of them as as neighbors.

And maybe they just couldn't bring themselves. They just you know, people just love conspiracy theories. K? Now not all so called conspiracy theories are conspiracy theories. Some of them are true.

Okay? But some of them are not and people love a juicy conspiracy theory and this was one of those probably. So, however, it caused trouble, Caused trouble and particularly things that are not true do tend to cause what? Trouble for everybody. That's why we talked in the message this morning, know the what?

Know the the truth and the truth will set you free for making major errors and boy did Ammon make a major error based upon their conspiracy theory. Thus, David's good intentions were met with unfounded hostility setting off a conflict. So we begin reading in verse six. When the children of Ammon saw that they stank before David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Bethreb Rehab and the Syrians of Zobah, 20,000 footmen, and of king Maaka, a thousand men, and of Ishtab, 12,000 men. And when David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the host of the mighty men.

So what happened? Well, when the king figured out that he had made a big what? A big blunder, a big error, he feared that David was going to seek what? Vengeance. He had disrespected the most powerful king in that part of the world, unnecessarily.

And fearing that there would be repercussions, he immediately started amassing an army. He didn't just he didn't just amass his army. He went and actually paid mercenaries to come from the area to the North, Syria, which were the enemies of David and to amass an army against against David. And, of course, David saw that. So now, there is this army, not only of Ammonites but of Syrians that are amassing, near the Jordan River appearing to gather to attack to attack Israel.

So what does David do? Well, when David heard it, he sent Joab and all the hosts of the mighty men. He assembled his own army. And the children of Ammon came out and put the battle in array, we're in verse eight, at the entering end of the gate. And the Syrians of Zobah and Rehob and Ishtab and Maaqa were by themselves in the field.

So the army of the that was fighting against Israel, they gathered themselves together for battle, half of them in front of the city gate, the city there, the capital, and then the other group in a field nearby. There were two fronts that they were preparing to fight on, and so that's what the army of Joab saw as they came up to Ammon. When Joab, verse nine, saw the front of the battle was against him before and behind, that's a dangerous position to be in. He chose of all the choice men of Israel and put them array against the Syrians. And the rest of the people he delivered into the hand of Abishai, his brother, that he might put them in array against the children of Ammon.

So he divided his army. Their army was divided against him, probably trying to pin him in, and so he divided up his army. He he gathered the best fighters to attack the Syrians. Why? Well, the Syrians were known to be mercenaries.

They were the the really good warriors, and so he got his best warriors to fight against the Syrians. He put the rest of the army under the charge of his brother, Abishai, to go up against the Ammonites. And he said, if the Syrians be he's speaking to Abishai. If the Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shalt help me. But if the children of Ammon be strong too strong for thee, then I will come and help thee.

Okay? So we see the strategy of Joab. Joab divided up his army. Since the Syrians were more practiced in war, mercenaries, Joab picked only his best to face the Syrians. The rest he left under the command of his brother to face the Ammonites.

His plan was whichever side of the battle begins to cave, then we'll send more of our men over to that side to bolster bolster that regiment of soldiers in the battle. And that way, we can adjust to the situation and make sure that that we win the battle. Seems to be a fairly shrewd strategy on the part of Joab who was a very experienced soldier and commander. By this point in time, Israel had fought many battles to push the enemies back and to take control over the lands around them. And Johab had been David's top commander in all of those battles.

And so a shrewd shrewd strategy brought by Joab. Verse 12. Look if you would in verse 12. So verse 12. This is Joab again.

He says to his brother, be of good cheer and let us play the men for our people and for the cities of our God. And the Lord do that which seemeth him good. It's an interesting verse. Sometimes when you're reading through the Bible, you read through these chapters and you kind of just, okay, it's another battle thing. We'll just okay, David won.

Okay, we'll go on. And we go on to the next chapter, we get the next chapter and somebody called Bathsheba shows up. And we get all drawn into that drama that's going on, begins in chapter 11, but we we don't ponder too much what's going on in chapter 10. So we see the strategy of Joab in verses six through 11, and we see the faith of Joab declared in verse 12. Despite being a bit underhanded at times, and if you read through all of the chapters of concerning Joab.

He wasn't always on the right side of everything. Sometimes his counsel was good, sometimes not so much. But despite that, Joab demonstrates faith and trust in the Lord here in verse 12. He said to his brother, they were they were outgunned. The Ammonites had brought in this vast army of mercenaries from Syria, which was a greater power to the north than the Ammonites and the Moabites than any of them were.

And they were outgunned. But Joab says, okay, we are here to defend our God, to defend our cities, to defend our people, and we have a job to do. So this is the way we're going to do it, and then we're going to trust who? We're going trust God to do the rest. Trust God to do as he deems best.

I think it's interesting. Joab didn't assume that they were always going to win, but he did assume that who was going to be in control? God was. And the battle didn't just belong to the strategy and the might of Joab and Abishai, but the God whom they served and the people that God had promised to protect in Israel and the battles that they had won many times against their enemies. And so Joab declares his faith here, encourages his brother to do the same as they weighed in the battle.

Reminds me of Esther in Esther four sixteen. Mordecai said to Esther, you got to go and talk to the king. Haman just got a law passed that says they're gonna kill all of your people. And Esther said, yeah, but but if I just walk into the throne room, he's gonna kill me. And he she meant I mean, literally, if you went in unannounced, the immediate result of going in before the king unannounced was execution.

Unless the king decided to raise his scepter and pardon you. And you've heard about pardons in the news a little bit bit lately. So the king, she didn't know if the king would do that or not. And at first, was resistant. But then finally, she said to Mordecai, okay.

Have the people fast for three days. I'll go in before the king. And if I perish, I perish. What was she doing? Well, she was asking Mordecai to have the people, the the Jews in Shushan, Susa, to pray and to seek whose help, to seek God's help.

And then she left it in whose hands. She said, I'll leave it in God's hands. If he pardons me, he pardons me. If I perish, I perish. Reminds me of a verse in Philippians where Paul writes, for me to live is Christ and to die is what?

Die is gain. Paul said, I can't lose. For me to live is to continue to serve Christ. For me to die is to go to heaven. So I'm not not all that worried about it.

So I'm just going to keep doing this till God God decides it's all in what? It's all in his hands. Sad today how many people in our world today, Canada unfortunately is a pretty big example of it, are deciding for themselves and taking their own lives because they figure there just isn't any hope for them. And certain governments and others are are making it convenient. And that is not our prerogative.

That's whose. That's God's. That's God's product. So Joab said to Abishai, well, here we go. Here we go.

And we'll just trust the Lord. Whatever he whatever he wants, that's that's what will be. And so we see the result of this in the remainder of the chapter beginning in verse 13, Joab drew new drew nigh, and the people that were with him under the battle against the Syrians, and they fled before him. And when the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians were fed, then fled they also before Abishai and entered into the city. So Joab returned from the children of Ammon and came to Jerusalem.

So what happened when the Syrians fled and the Ammonites fled? Joab returned to where? Jerusalem. When the armies clashed and the enemies retreated, Joab went back to Jerusalem. He when the Syrians saw that they were smitten before Israel, they gathered themselves together and had had a razor sent and brought out the Syrians that were beyond the river and they came to Helam and show back the captain, the host of Het Erezer went before him and when it was told David, he gathered all Israel together and passed over Jordan and came to Helam And the Syrians set themselves in array against David and fought with him.

So what happened? Well, when the armies of the enemy retreated rather than going after them to kill them all, Joab took his army and went back to Jerusalem. So when the Syrian, when the Syrian leaders when the king heard that his his army had what? Fled, he demanded that they go back down there and they re amass and they go into Israel. So when David heard that, he gathered all Israel, all the army, passed over Jordan to Elam.

He set himself in a and the Syrians set themselves in array against David and fought with him. And the Syrians fled before Israel and David slew the men of 700 chariots of the Syrians and 40,000 horsemen and smote Shobach, the captain of their host who died there. When all the kings that were servants of Heterezer saw that they were smitten before Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them. So the Syrians feared to help the children of Ammon anymore. What was the result of the battle?

Well, first of all, Ammon and Syrians fled, and then after Joab pulled back, then they regathered themselves together. Again, the Syrians did. And so then David sent the army back in. And this time, they slaughtered many of the Syrian army until once again they fled and they surrendered before Israel. And then not only did Ammon surrender and seek peace with Israel, but so did the what?

So did the Syrian peoples to to the north. And you may have heard of Syria in the news recently as well. I don't know. But what's been happening in Syria? Well, Syria has been a mess for a very long time.

It still exists. Damascus, the capital city, still exists, but but there's a lot going on in Syria right now with civil war and all that kind of stuff going on up there. And Israel has made some campaigns into Lebanon and Syria by necessity as well because Syria and Lebanon pose a threat to who? Pose a threat to Israel. That's right.

As Gaza poses a threat to Israel in the South. So question, David does not turn the other cheek. Instead, David eventually soundly defeats the army of his enemy. It might be said that some that David, unlike Christ, refused to let this slide of his people go and used it as a reason for retaliation. Yet, I see something a bit different in this.

Matter of fact, in many ways, I see the very very opposite of that accusation. I think David did turn the other cheek. While David was a warrior and did not hesitate at times to take lives and to make use of deadly force many times, during his time as a fugitive and after becoming king, many of these were justifiable including this one. In regards to turning the other cheek, there are a few things to be observed. So, if you would, Matthew five thirty eight.

So this this came up in Sunday school. I was already had this sermon pretty much prepared before Sunday school and so I thought that was interesting. I actually preached part of my sermon in Sunday school this morning before tonight. But anyway but Matthew chapter five and verse 38. So let's read the passage about turning the other cheek.

What does it mean? Is it something David should have done more? Is there a difference between the old covenant and the new covenant? I think there is a bit of difference there as well, mainly because God was dealing with Israel, a nation and land in the Old Testament where in the New Testament, it's not a nation, it's not a specific plot of land. It is the property of the heart that God is after right now.

So, things have changed a bit in that regard. We need to keep that in mind but if you would, look in Matthew five thirty eight. It says, you have heard it hath been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but I say unto you that you resist not evil but whosoever shall smite thee on the thy right cheek, turn to him the other also and if any man will sue thee at law and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also and whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain which means if he compels you to go one mile, go with him two, give to him that asketh thee and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away. So here, Jesus is communicating a principle that should be present, an attitude of love for our neighbor that should be present in the heart of God's children. Okay?

Particularly as it relates to the redeemed in Christ Jesus who have the Holy Spirit living where? Here and has shed abroad the love of Christ in our in our hearts. This should be evident in our reactions to the world around us. And so he gives several illustrations here. Turn the somebody smites you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

He's not talking about somebody who is trying to kill you. Striking you on the cheek was more of a humiliating action than it was a threat to your to your well-being, though it would cause you maybe a bit of pain. I've been hit in the face. It didn't feel good. I'm sure getting slapped hard in the wherever it's a slap or a punch, it it doesn't feel good.

So, he said, if somebody comes up and does that to you, he says, turn him the other turn the other cheek also. He says, if any man will sue thee at law, so another illustration here, And take away thy coat. So takes you to small claims court. Convinces the judge that you were at fault for something that you were not what? At fault for.

And it goes against you rather than not following the decision of the judge and refusing to give the guy the thing that really he doesn't deserve because you weren't at fault. Go the extra mile. Give him your coat but also give him your what? Your cloak. Give him two layers of clothing rather than one that he sued you for.

Verse 41, whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him what? Two. Now, Roman soldiers by Roman law, could come up to a Jew or other conquered peoples and the Roman soldier could, by law, compel the conquered people to carry their armament for one, what, mile. So, I mean, you know, you're a Roman soldier. You're, you know, you work out all the time.

You're strong. You can carry this. It's your stuff. But but you walk up to some poor soul who's in the middle of doing who knows what and demand that they carry your stuff for a mile. That was a way of keeping their enemies in their place more than it was relieving them of of duty, though it probably involved a little bit of both.

And Jesus said rather than getting mad at them and refusing to take their stuff for a mile, do something out of the ordinary. Take it what? Take it too. You know, you'll get their attention. When they smite you on one cheek and you turn the other and say, go ahead.

When they when they unfairly take you take you to court and you're required to give something up that wasn't theirs and you give up more than what was required, that's gonna that that's gonna seem odd. And with the Roman soldier asked you to carry your stuff one mile and you carry it two, well, that's again, that's it's out of the ordinary. It almost seems like you don't mind carrying your conquering army's stuff for an extra mile. Give to him that asketh thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn out not away. Incomplication is here even if, you know, they might not pay it back.

If they need it, then don't be stingy. In regards to turning their other cheek, there are a few things I observed from this passage. Number one, the examples given by Christ in the application of this were not regarding the threat or active pursuit of lethal force. In every one of these situations, nobody is attempting to what? To kill you.

Okay? It doesn't say if somebody points I guess they didn't have guns back then. Okay? To your head, just stand there and say, oh, go ahead and shoot me. That's that's not what the passage says.

Okay? In other words, the person who was injured or inconvenienced in some manner was not in danger of losing their life or the life of one in their care. Okay? Mainly, Jesus is talking about personal injury, inconvenience, hurt, humiliation, that sort of thing. Not not that your life is at stake.

With turning the other cheek, you're not going to necessarily die because of it. Number two, the smiting of one's opponent on the cheek was not so much as matter of self defense but of vengeance or spite. Returning evil for what? For evil. In other words, should someone smite you upon the cheek, which might hurt a bit or damage one's pride, smiting them back was not justifiable merely for vengeance sake or to try to humiliate them.

While defending oneself from an ongoing attack would be something a little bit different than Christ was talking about talking about here. It's the idea of if somebody walks up and cusses you out and calls you a bunch of bad names, is it your right? Should you return in kind and call them a bunch of bad names? Somebody should slander you before others. Does it give you the right to slander them?

Somebody should rob you of something? Does it give you the right to go and rob them? What what would be the advice of our savior? Rather than returning evil for evil, that we return evil with what? Good.

Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter no. Romans chapter 12, I think. Reread that very statement. Don't be overcome of evil but overcome evil with good.

In doing so, you will heap coals of fire on their head. Now, that doesn't sound too good. Heaping coals of fire on their head sounds kind of painful. The point that Paul is making is when you return evil with good, then you cause them to have to think about, okay, I did them bad and they did me good, and it makes them to bear the guilt of their what? Of their evil, of their sin.

When you return evil for evil, then now they feel justified in what they did, and they'll do it again. And they don't think about the guilt that is theirs because they're too busy going because they're too busy going back and forth. In the law of Moses, self defense was never condemned or prosecuted, as in somebody trying to kill you or your family. Some martyrs for Christ did lay down their lives willingly as did their savior. How many?

Some undoubtedly attempted to flee. Paul fled on more than one occasion, and some undoubtedly fought back in self defense. That is not necessarily to be condemned. Many did not have the option. When soldiers come at you and they're armed and you're not, what option do you have?

There's a difference, number three, in in also in protecting oneself and other vulnerable people, particularly those in your care. I mentioned this morning in Sunday school, I do possess a gun. If somebody invades my house and threatens the life of my family, I might just use it. Justifiably so, because I am responsible for the safety of my what? My family.

I have that responsibility. David was king, and he had the responsibility laid upon his shoulders to protect his people against foreign aggression. And as this escalated, this certainly became that situation. And David had a responsibility to protect and secure his people against the enemies that surrounded them as the enemies surround Israel still today. God often commanded his armies in the Old Testament to conquer and to defeat their enemy and God often acted to protect his people.

The enemies most often referred to in the New Testament are not enemies of warfare with guns and bullets, but the enemies, the adversaries referred to in the New Testament are not physical ones but spiritual ones. The battle we are waging as Christians, the battle that we are preparing for to put armor on in Ephesians six is a spiritual battle. It's a different kind of what? It's a different kind of war than the one we're talking about in second Samuel 10. And the weapons of that warfare are different than the weapons of, you know, nation against nation.

And we conquer those enemies not with weapons of war, but with love and prayer and a testimony and the word of God, which is the sword of the what? Sword of the spirit. In this scenario and in many other cases during the reign of David, his use of force, sometimes lethal, and execution were necessary to protect the life and security of the people God placed in his care. And this was, I believe, one of those cases. The Ammonites had killed thousands and thousands of Israelites in the past.

They were not a group to be trifled with. Despite their common heritage with Israel, they stood in their way when they came to conquer the land. When David sent his emissaries to Ammon and they were sent back humiliated, did David immediately gather an army? The answer to that in the passage is no, he didn't. Who was it that that gathered an army?

It was the Ammonites that gathered the army. I dare say David David was already turning the other cheek when he sent the envoys to Ammon to offer a hand of peace to the next incoming king, and it was slapped away. David turned the other cheek when he didn't immediately gather an army to go against Ammon when his emissaries were sent back humiliated. And then when Joab went into battle against the Syrians and the Ammonites and they fled, did he go after them? No.

He turned back to Jerusalem because what they were concerned about was protecting his what? He was concerned about protecting his people, which he had a responsibility to do. But once again, the enemy just wouldn't do what? They wouldn't see it. They wouldn't give up, and they came back again.

And this time, David said, okay. We we can't have this. And so the battle ensued and people died. Why? Because David had a responsibility as king to protect his people and to protect the land that God had given to him.

And thus, David deterred aggression on the part of his enemies for years to come. The conclusion of second Samuel 10 verse 19 again. And when all all the kings that were servants of Heterezer saw that they were smitten before Israel, they made what? They made peace with Israel and served them. So the Syrians feared to help the children of Ammon anymore.

So they sought peace with Israel. That's not the same thing as the neighbor that throws his cigarette butts on your side of the fence. That's different. That's not the same guy as the person that you work with at work that won't do their work and you end up having to do it for them. It's not the same thing as as your your family member that that you can't get along with.

That's something different. Those battles are not won with armies and swords and with fighting back. Those are won with love and prayer and forgiveness. And that's what God desires of us today, that we have the attitude of our savior on the cross who didn't come to defeat the Romans, at least not this day, but came to defeat the biggest enemy of Satan of all, Satan, when he died on that cross for the sins of the world and then came back up from that grave to offer redemption to all who come to him in faith. Let's be like our savior in every way we can, to turn to turn the other cheek, to learn to take a little bit of abuse, to not seek vengeance, but to show the love of Christ, and so defeat the plans of the devil.

And also at the same time, support those who put themselves in harm's way so that we might have security and safety and liberty in our land in which we live, for they are worthy of honor and gratitude as well. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, we thank you, Lord, for the leaders that you have given us, many of them not very godly folks, but, Lord, we pray for them. And we thank you for those particularly who put themselves in harm's way for us, who make the tough decisions so that we don't have to. We thank you for them.

And, Lord, we pray for our neighbors, our friends, our coworkers, our family members, those that rub us the wrong way, who don't seem to care too much for us at times, who sometimes even may go as far as to seek our injury by the words they say or the things they do. Lord, help us to show them the love of Christ. Help us to love our neighbor as ourself. Lord, may we overcome evil with good as did our savior. May we put on the whole armor of God that we may be able to fight against the wiles and the darts of a spiritual enemy, Satan and sin.

And may you use us this week to be a light and a testimony in this world. In Jesus' name we do pray. Amen.