This chapter depicts a major battle. David led his army to fight a battle that brought him to the peak of a successful reign as the king of Judah. It started from v1-5 with the kind intention of David in sending his men to his neighbouring nation of the Ammonites. He sent his delegates to comfort Hanun who had lost his father Nahash; Nahash treated kindly to David in the past. But Hanun who had succeeded as the king of Ammonite did not reciprocate with the same level of intention. He consulted his other royal subjects but they spoke ill of David’s good intention. They accused David that he was using the pretext of sending benevolence to spy and attack their land. Hanun took their counsel. He therefore arrested and humiliated David’s men by shaving their hair and cutting their garments away before releasing them.

Then the Ammonites knew that David was infuriated and v6-9 tells us that both nations were preparing to go into war. For the Ammonites, they hire more chariots and horsemen from the cities of Syria to attack Israel on two fronts. In v10-19, Israel’s army was divided into two groups; one group led by Joab to confront the Syrians while the other group led by Joab’s brother, Abishai to confront the Ammonites. David’s army eventually won the battle against the formidable Syrians and it was a massive victorious campaign in all the northern geographical area of Israel.

This was the height of David’s military campaign against his enemies in the land. But sadly, it was followed by David’s adulterous act against Bathsheba. Though 1 Chr 19 and 2 Sam 10 narrates the same incident about David’s wonderful victory over the Syrians, the sin of David is recorded subsequently in 2 Sam 11 but not in 1 Chr 20.

For our specific meditation today, we want to recall another similar story about listening to the wrong counsel. In 1 Ki 12, Rehoboam newly succeeded Solomon his father as king over Israel. Jeroboam came to seek peace with him for the northern part of the nation. King Rehoboam chose to listen to the counsel of his royal peers (instead of his older subjects). He imposed harsher conditions than before on the people instead of making peace with them. A revolt triggered. As a result, the nation was divided subsequently into the northern Israel and southern Judah.

My brothers and sisters, what do you do when you are stuck in a situation and you do not know what to do next? How do you solicit the advice of people around you in helping you think and make the right decision? Different people may offer contradictory views as we observe with King Hanun and King Rehoboam. We are to seek for advice that comes from individuals who are not only intellectually matured but can also give us godly advice about fearing God and following His will.

PRAYER : Dear God, I am now in a situation whereby I am at a loss… (please pray to God specifically what kind of decision that you need to make). I pray for your wisdom to know who I should approach in seeking advice. At the end of the day, I need to make the decision. Please help me also to discern which advice given to me is in accordance with your will. Finally, please give me the faith to act on the final decision that pleases you. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.