Servants Sent for the King’s Kindness

Today, I want to speak directly to the servants of Jesus Christ our King and Savior. I want you to know that He has sent you to extend His kindness, mercy, and grace. Even to a hostile people. Jesus spoke to me this morning through the word of God, and this is what He showed me through this passage of scripture. We will be taking apart 2 Samuel chapter 10.

First to just give you some background I would like you to know who the Ammonites were and where exactly their history and culture was. This always helps me in my study and helps me get the picture of the scene God is painting here. Ammonites were descendants of Ben-Ammi which is a son of Lot ( Gen. 19:38). The Ammonites were also an idolatrous nation, and their chief idol was Moloch which was a god that they sacrificed their children into the fire for this idol. In 1 Kings 11:5-7 we see King Solomon was led by his foreign wives to worship Milcom another name for Moloch. The Bible also mention’s this offense again in 2 Kings 23:13. The name Ammonites means “son of my people,” “children of my people,” which the Israelite’s would understand or say to them as that they are relatives and avoid conflict with them. (Deuteronomy 2:19). Their land was already given to them as God provided, so the Israelite’s knew not to engage in war with them because they were related as they were descendants of Lot, Abraham’s nephew. Their land was east of the Jordan river. 

Now with this information, we can see that this nation had totally fallen away from God and were now worshiping other gods.

To get back to the scripture that we are looking at we see in 2 Samuel 10 that Hanun’s father who was the king of Ammon had just passed away. King David was sending a group of men that were very honorable men of King David. These men had noble and honorable intentions as servants of the King. They were simply going to represent the kindness, mercy, and grace for King David to Hanun during the loss of his father Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to King David. Hanun’s name even means gracious which is quite ironic because that is the last thing he showed to King David’s men. We see further down in verse 3 that the leaders said to Hanun “Just because David sent men with condolences for you, do you believe he’s showing you respect for your father? Instead, David has sent these men to scout out the city, spy on it, and demolish it? I would like to input here that what dwells in the heart, is in the mind and what is in the mind comes out of the mouth. You see they were suspicious and evil in their thinking because that is what dwells in their hearts. See they were already at war with King David in their hearts they just needed an opportunity to pounce and devise a poorly thought out plan of attack on the King’s servants.

In verse 4 we see Hanun take the noble servants of King David and shave half their beards, and cut their clothes to expose their private parts to humiliate them and send a clear message to the King. See in shaving half their beards off it would not only make them look ridiculous but they would be in violation of the law (Lev. 19:27), as they would look as if they were mourning (Isaiah 15:2, Jer.41:5) see their actions were clearly speaking we will return your kindness for war (we will humiliate you for your kindness).

King David when he heard of this, he sent someone to the servants and told them to stay in Jericho until their beards grew back normal and they could be restored back. What an awesome King! We have that in our King Jesus when His servants have been sent to extend His kindness, mercy, and grace, and they are humiliated and mocked even scorned. He is faithful to send someone (Holy Spirit) to comfort us and to hide us away until we can be restored. Not just that but King David immediately sent Joab his commander to engage the Ammonites in battle. See just like King David; Jesus recognizes the threat that they meant to humiliate you but He will seek justice for you and will turn what was intended to harm you into good. I can imagine Jesus saying “Gabriel!  Go help my servant they have been humiliated and hurt, lead them to safety.” Jesus might have to set you in  Jericho (waiting) for a while so that your “beard” (confidence) will grow back and others will not mock you or humiliate you further, but He will restore you back into your role as an honorable servant and seek justice for your humiliation.

See the issue here was they were at war with the King, not the servants they took it out on the servants, but they were saying something much more with their intent saying that they would reject the kindness of  David, and they are at war. Sometimes we can be in situations just like King David’s men and have to endure shame and mocking because we are doing what the King sent us to do. God see’s the humiliation/mourning and He also see’s that you were left in shame but He promises there is a day where everything will be brought to justice, and the King has sent someone to comfort us and take away our guilt until the time is right to be restored to our rightful place in His Kingdom. That man is Jesus Christ. I pray this gives other servants of Christ encouragement today knowing that when we do what He asks and we serve him even through the humiliation that He will restore us back, and He will seek justice for us.

God see’s and God know’s never forget that He knows your shame and still loves you and still has a place for you in this earth and heaven to serve! Has your beard grown in? Is it time to return to the King? Leave Jericho and be with Your King again. Knowing that He is sending you again and again to display the kindness, grace, and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, our King, and Mighty Savior. Don’t lose hope! Don’t allow the enemies attack to render you helpless get back up and fight the good fight and know that you belong to The King of Kings!! I am praying for the servants of Christ, and I know that we endure for Jesus our King, but there is no other King I would serve or love because He is so good and kind and loving, most of all my, all in all, my everything!