You have probably heard the old proverb “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” I would reword that slightly to fit today’s passages: “Don’t bite the shoulder you are crying on.” Ok, maybe that doesn’t have quite the same ring, but we see it played out in today’s passages. Proverbs 9:12 says that the king’s wrath is like a roaring lion, and 1 Chronicles 19 is a perfect illustration of this fact.

Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, was kind to David when he was running from Saul. (Crossreference 2 Samuel 10:2. It is notable that this may not be the same Nahash described in 1 Samuel 11-12.) Because of Nahash’s kindness to David, when Nahash died, David sent a delegation to Hanun, Nahash’s son out of respect. This was for consolation, to pay respects, and to set a good “foreign affairs precedent” in the reign of a new monarch.

However, Hanun’s counselors offer a different take on David’s delegation: they must be spies. “There’s no way that David would send people over here just to pay respects to your father. They must be here to find our weaknesses so that David and his army can exploit them.” So Nahun, realizing that David has a powerful army (according to chapter 21, the army of Israel totaled 1.1 million and the army of Judah was a “measly” 470 thousand) decides that he should get some help from Syria. Joab and Abishai lead Israel’s “Mighty Men” to set up battle lines against Syria and Ammon. However, Syria looks at their adversary and decides this is not a good battle to be a part of, and they run away. Now Ammon is standing there alone and they decide that maybe they should rethink this too.

The Syrians, not wanting to have their reputation be weak, send for reinforcements. They come back and try to have it out with Israel. To put it succinctly, it doesn’t go well! Syria lost seven thousand chariot soldiers, forty thousand foot soldiers, and their general. That’s a bad day! So bad in fact that chapter 19 ends with these words: “neither would the Syrians help the children of Ammon any more.”

 

So what could have made the difference? Hanun could have chosen better advisors. To be fair, their suggestion does make sense. Undoubtedly, many kings used similar tactics to find an enemy’s weakness, so maybe it was generally sound advice. But the real issue is how he treated them. 1 Chronicles 19:4 describes the distasteful and disrespectful way that Hanun treated an envoy from a foreign king. Had he just turned them away, it might not have incurred such vengeance in response, but he chose to go above and beyond.

So how can we apply all of this today? Can we apply any of it? A friend of mine passed away a couple of years ago. He was saved as an adult and had been a smoker prior to salvation. He always told me that if someone offered him a cigarette, he would just say “No, thank you.” He said, “There’s no reason to be mean or nasty about it. If you are, they might never listen when you give them the Gospel.” Our responses to everyday things can impact the responses of those we come into contact with.

Above all, we have to remember that we ourselves are envoys of the King of kings. When we go out, we represent Him. It is our obligation to behave with dignity and grace. Regardless of how others behave, we represent Jesus Christ. How will you represent Him today?