1 Chronicles 19 · a question people ask
Did David go to war over the insult?
Read the order of the verses. After the insult, David sends to meet his men and tells them to stay at Jericho (19:5). The chapter records no word from David against Hanun. The next move is Ammon's: "When the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves odious to David, Hanun and the children of Ammon sent one thousand talents of silver to hire chariots and horsemen" (19:6), and "The children of Ammon gathered themselves together from their cities, and came to battle" (19:7). Then "When David heard of it, he sent Joab with all the army of the mighty men" (19:8). The chapter doesn't say what David would have done if Ammon had not hired an army, and it gives no reasons beyond that order. The war with Ammon goes on into the next chapter, where Joab "came and besieged Rabbah" (20:1).
The verses
“At the time of the return of the year, at the time when kings go out, Joab led out the army and wasted the country of the children of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. Joab struck Rabbah, and overthrew it.”