Monday, January 29, 2018

No skin in the game




2 Samuel 10:9-19

I believe in the past I’ve divulged I once was in the army of the USA, but I was never a warrior, never in battle, I was a pretend soldier and not a very good one.  But even Sargent Rice knew that it was not a good thing to have the enemy at your back and front at the same time.  Joab, the general of the army of Israel, found he was in a difficult position, this is the action recorded that he took.  “When Joab saw that the battle was set against him both in front and in the rear, he chose some of the best men of Israel and arrayed them against the Syrians. The rest of his men he put in the charge of Abishai, his brother, and he arrayed them against the Ammonites. And he said, “If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me, but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come and help you. Be of good courage, and let us be courageous for our people, and for the cities of our God, and may the Lord do what seems good to him.” (2 Samuel 10:9-12)

Now one thing is clear, Joab is not a pretend soldier he is a great general and knows that the resource he needs is not more men, not high ground, but the Lord God of Israel fighting for him.  Now, do you recall that we talked about a hireling and how when the battle gets tough they have no skin in the game and will run, not stand and fight?  We shall see that lived out with the army of the Syrians in verse 13, “So Joab and the people who were with him drew near to battle against the Syrians, and they fled before him.”

The Ammonites saw the Syrians turn tail and run, they took off for home and all ran into a walled city.   So Joab returns home, but the Syrians called all the other Syrians, and together they had a vast army.  This is the account in verses 13-19, “And Hadadezer sent and brought out the Syrians who were beyond the Euphrates. They came to Helam, with Shobach, the commander of the army of Hadadezer at their head. And when it was told David, he gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan and came to Helam. The Syrians arrayed themselves against David and fought with him. And the Syrians fled before Israel, and David killed of the Syrians the men of 700 chariots, and 40,000 horsemen, and wounded Shobach the commander of their army so that he died there. And when all the kings who were servants of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became subject to them. So the Syrians were afraid to save the Ammonites anymore.”

If you are an Ammonite and your defender has just been whipped real good, and you have become a stench to King David, that’s not a place to find yourself.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

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