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2 Samuel 10 Bible study: Kindness refused
Joab's words before the battle, "may the LORD do what seems good to him" (10:12), are in Hebrew the same four words Eli said when he heard the LORD's judgment on his house (1 Samuel 3:18), and David says nearly the same of himself as he flees Absalom (15:26).
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“Be courageous, and let’s be strong for our people and for the cities of our God; and may the LORD do what seems good to him.”
Try it · Did you catch it?
“The children of Ammon hired Syrian soldiers before David sent Joab against them.”
Is that in 2 Samuel 10, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
Kindness for kindness
The chapter opens on a death: "After this, the king of the children of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his place" (10:1). David's first words are these: "I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness to me" (10:2) (tap kindness). In Hebrew the word chesed comes twice in that one sentence. In the chapter before, David used the word three times, as he looked for someone of Saul's house to show it to (9:1, 9:3, 9:7). He asked, "Is there yet any who is left of Saul’s house, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?" (9:1), and told Jonathan's son, "I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake" (9:7). There it was kindness to Jonathan's son; here it is to the son of a foreign king. The verse doesn't say when Nahash showed David kindness, or what it was. What David does is plain: "So David sent by his servants to comfort him concerning his father" (10:2) (tap comfort).
Where it leads to Jesus
Whoever rejects you rejects me
2 Samuel 10:4leads toLuke 10:16
David sent his servants "to comfort him concerning his father" (10:2), Hanun shamed them (10:4), and the children of Ammon "saw that they had become odious to David" (10:6): what was done to the men David sent counted against David. When Jesus sent out seventy, he said, "Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me. Whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me" (Luke 10:16). Luke doesn't cite 2 Samuel 10, so setting them side by side is a reading. Some see the same pattern in both: how the ones sent are received is how the sender is received. Others read each on its own terms: David's servants carried a king's condolences, and the seventy were sent to say, "God’s Kingdom has come near to you" (Luke 10:9).
Honest questions
Questions people ask about 2 Samuel 10
That was a taste
The rest of 2 Samuel 10 is waiting in Favor
- What the princes saw
- The insult, and the king's care
- Two fronts, one promise
- "What seems good to him"
- Chronicles tells it again
- A son of Nahash, later
- 9 questions as you read
- 11 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach 2 Samuel 10 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
חֶסֶדchesedsay KHE-sed
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "goodness, kindness", including "kindness of men toward men, in doing favours and benefits". "I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness to me" (10:2): in Hebrew the word comes twice in the sentence, each time with the verb asah, do or show. It is the same pairing as David's words for Jonathan's son a chapter earlier: "that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake" (9:1), "that I may show the kindness of God to him" (9:3), and "I will surely show you kindness" (9:7). In 2 Samuel the word comes twelve times in the Hebrew. The men of Jabesh Gilead had "shown this kindness to your lord, even to Saul" (2:5), with the same verb.
For your group
2 Samuel 10 Bible study questions
- 1David meant kindness, and the princes read it as spying (10:2-3). When has something kind you did been misread, and what did you do next?
- 2David "sent to meet them, for the men were greatly ashamed", and gave them time before they came home (10:5). Who near you needs someone to go out to them, and what would giving them time look like?
- 3Joab made his plan, promised his brother help, and then said, "may the LORD do what seems good to him" (10:12). Where are you finding it hard to do your part and leave the outcome with God?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads 2 Samuel 10 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home