2 Samuel 10 is the crest before the dreaded and unexpected crash. It’s not like the crest of a roller coaster. There the fall is the thrill—the fall is anticipated and expected, though fear is mingled with it. This is more like a trip up Pike’s Peak gone wrong at the very top. Tumbling down Pike’s Peak is not the reason you went up.
Because you know how this scenic trip up the peak is going to go, you may wish you could just stay on top and enjoy this view. You may wish for a short 2 Samuel concluding with chapter 10. The end. Or, you may find it difficult to make the trip up at all. It’s like the sad movie you don’t want to watch again, though it beings so beautifully.
Don’t let the anticipated fall rob you of the majesty of this peak. If you are truly to understand the depths to which David falls in chapter 11, you must appreciate the height to which he rises in chapter 10. If you fail to appreciate the height, you can’t grasp the fall. Glory in the height that you may gasp at the fall.
Paradoxically then, I’m bringing up David’s sin now because I don’t want you to think about it. David’s valley is critical for rightly interpreting this peak, but you must not let the shadow dim this light. The light is meant to carry you through the valley. On top of this peak, you are to get a heavenly view and bearings to carry you through darker days.
1 Samuel 10 has profound ties to chapters 8 and 9. Chapter 8 provided us with a summary of David’s victories. Chapter 9 told us of his lovingkindness to Mephibosheth. David is the lion-like conqueror and the lamb-like servant of Yahweh who shows “hesed”—covenant faithfulness and mercy. The crest we arrive at here rides on those waves. But having appreciated the crest, we can now note its connections to the fall that follows.
“After this” or “And it came to pass” (v. 1), introduces a new section. The Ammonites form an inclusio around this section. Here, David first extends lovingkindness to Hanun the king of the Ammonites. Then he defeats him. In the middles of this section, the account of David’s adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah begins this way, “In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem” (2 Samuel 11:1). The walls at which Uriah meets his death are those of Rabbah, the royal city of the Ammonites. But we don’t read of the fall of Rabbah and the Ammonites until after Nathan’s rebuke, the death of Bathsheba’s child, and the birth of Solomon in 12:26–31. The author has chosen to use the Ammonites to frame this section: their rise against David on one side and their fall before David on the other. After which, chapter 13 begins with “now,” or as the KJV has it, “And it came to pass” or, in the NIV, “In the course of time.”
Also, you may have noted that there is a lot of sending in this chapter. David sends servants to Hanun (v. 2). The princes of the Ammonnites accuse David of having sent spies (v. 3). Hanun sends the servants back shamed (v. 4). The Ammonites sent and hired Syrians (v. 6). David sends Joab and all the host of the mighty men (v. 7). Hadedezer sends out for the Syrians beyond the Euphrates (v. 10). The word for “send” is used 32 times throughout chapters 11–12. Here’s just a smattering of the sending we will see in the next episode: David sends for Bathsheba (11:4). Bathsheba sends a message to David (11:5). David sends word to Joab so that Joab sends Uriah to David (11:6). Uriah is sent back to Joab with a letter from David (11:14). David sends for Bathsheba (11:27) Yahweh sends Nathan to David (12:1).
What role does chapter 10 play as it introduces this section? It prepares you for what lies ahead, not by making you begin to think less of David, but by making you continue to think much of David. David is loyal and kind. He cares for his servants and is courageous against his enemies. He is wise. He is Yahweh’s anointed, a man after His own heart. David’s fall disappoints us so because it is from such a height. It is almost like a second Adam because David almost is the second Adam—that is the very hope he is meant to manifest. Joab’s piety is not as surprising as David’s infidelity is shocking. We had hoped for so much more from God’s king.
But there remains hope for us in this disappointment. David was only ever a shadow, not the substance of the hope of the Israel of God. Yahweh had not promised that it would be David, but David’s Son who would build a house for His name. Yahweh will establish His Kingdom forever. (2 Samuel 7:13). And here is this blessed news: while David’s lovingkindness manifested the lovingkindness of God, David’s sin could not eradicate it. It could not eradicate it for God had promised David, “my steadfast love will not depart from him [you son], as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you” (2 Samuel 7:15).
David’s fall saddens us, because we had hoped for so much more. But is does not discourage us, because all that we hoped for was never to be realized in David. David’s fall encourages us, because it reminds us that our sins cannot destroy God’s promises.
We have a King who in every respect has been tempted as we are, and yet, is without sin (Hebrews 4:5). We have a King who never fell, yet came from the greatest heights to suffer the wrath of the deepest hell on the cross for our sins. We have a King whose crash into the curse raises us to the heights of blessedness. We have a King whose crest comes not only after the crash, but precisely because of the crash (Philippians 2:5–11, Ephesians 2:6).
No Other Boast 