“Now it came to pass after this, that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon died, and his son reigned in his stead. And David said, I will shew kindness unto Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father shewed kindness to me. And David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. So the servants of David came into the land of the children of Ammon to Hanun, to comfort him. But the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun, Thinkest thou that David doth honour thy father, that he hath sent comforters unto thee? are not his servants come unto thee for to search, and to overthrow, and to spy out the land? Wherefore Hanun took David’s servants, and shaved them, and cut off their garments in the midst hard by their buttocks, and sent them away,” 1 Chronicles 19:1-4.
As I said in part one of this Gospel study, these verses formed part of my daily Bible reading on Monday, 25th November. As I read them I thought of the parallel there is between the kindness of David, the reaction of the Ammonite king and princes to his kindness and the parallel reaction of men to the greater kindness, by far, of the Word that the Lord sends to sinful man, amidst the mourning that sin has wrought universally amongst us!
Please consider: —
I. THE WORDS OF SYMPATHY TO THE MOURNERS CAME FROM A GREAT KING.
We are told that at that time, following a series of great victories by David over neighbouring nations, that it had all come about because, “Thus the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went,” 1 Chronicles 18:13.
1. For David to take note of the sadness that had come upon the household of “Nahash the king of the children of Ammon”, by the death of the old king, was an act of gracious kindness. It is very obvious from the passage that David was engaged in the establishing of his kingdom with the help of the Lord. For him to take the time to consider the grief of the family of Nahash indicated his love and concern for the family of a man who had shown kindness to him (verse 2).
Likewise, we can say with the Psalmist that “The LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth,” Psalm 47:2. Yet, the “great King”, “so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life,” John 3:16. That displays kindness and love at their ultimate level!
It has ever been a source of great wonder to me, and indeed to all who have experienced the saving grace of God, why he ever took notice of me.
Christians may say with David: “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour,” Psalm 8:3-5.
We likewise can marvel at the prospects we look forward to, as stated by Hannah in her great prayer. “He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory,” 1 Samuel 2:8.
The loving consideration of sinners by the Lord is beyond measurement or comprehension!
2. David sent messengers to the family of the dead king with expressions of his love and concern. “And David said, I will shew kindness unto Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father shewed kindness to me. And David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father,” verse 2.
That is what the Gospel is _– a ‘showing of God’s kindness’ to sinners suffering the consequences of the ‘spiritual death’ that has come upon us all through Adam’s transgression.
That death was a ‘judgment’ and the Judge speaks and works mercy toward those under His judgment!
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,” Romans 5:8.
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,” John 15:13. However, Christ died for those who were actively His enemies!
3. Every Christian should feel as did Paul regarding this matter. Paul undoubtedly felt the exceeding grace that God showed to sinners. “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting,” 1 Timothy 1:12-16.
II. IT IS A SAD FACT THAT THE LOVE OF GOD PRESENTED IN THE GOSPEL IS SPURNED AND REJECTED BY MOST WHO HEAR IT.
1. The spirit of the princes of Ammon was that of the devil.
To men who did know and understand the message of Christ, He said: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it,” John 8:44.
The falsehoods and slanders of the princes of Ammon whereby they misrepresented the intentions of David and moved King Hanun to treat despicably the men with David’s message of love and condolences, were of the “father of lies”, the devil.
He it is who moves men to act against the Gospel offer and reject it. Paul’s rebuke of Elymas the sorcerer indicates that.
“But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?” Acts 13:8-10.
Were it not for the actions of Paul, doubtless Elymas would have turned Sergius Paulus away from the path of salvation!
However, we read, “Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord,” Acts 13:12.
2. In rejecting David’s act of kindness and then humiliating his servants, Hanun acted most foolishly. It is the height of foolishness to believe the devil and defy the Lord.
The Ammonites soon realised that they had made themselves “odious” in the eyes of David. The word literally means ‘to stink’.
Sin is a stench in the nostrils of God. Man invariably has a high opinion of himself but that is not the view the Lord takes of man’s moral standing! Sin is an abomination in God’s eyes! The religions of the world, with the exception of the true religion of Christ, is a religion which tells men that they are capable of doing works that will appease God and atone for their sins! Even some who claim to be ‘Christian’, such as Roman Catholicism and modernistic and liberal ‘Protestantism’, teach a system of ‘works’ as the appointed means of salvation.
Holding to this view, they vigorously oppose and miscall ‘Bible’ religion! History records the high price that was paid by millions in upholding God’s Word against the lies of the devil.
3. Furthermore, the folly of man goes beyond rejecting God’s mercy, it entertains the notion that it can reject and overthrow the Lord! “And when the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves odious to David, Hanun and the children of Ammon sent a thousand talents of silver to hire them chariots and horsemen out of Mesopotamia, and out of Syriamaachah, and out of Zobah. So they hired thirty and two thousand chariots, and the king of Maachah and his people; who came and pitched before Medeba. And the children of Ammon gathered themselves together from their cities, and came to battle,” 1 Chronicles 19:6-7.
As it was in those days, so still the rejecter of the Gospel and the rebel against the Lord will find many to help him in his folly!
The voice of the atheist, the agnostic and the infidel is to be heard, ever urging the gullible to reject the Gospel and embrace the ‘anti-God’ movement!
The various media outlets, the newspapers, the television, the internet and social media, resound loudly to the voices of those like the late Stephen Hawking (1942-2018). He has now gone, like Judas of old, “to his own place,” Acts 1:25.
It is a place where no one any more believes that there is no God but rather accepts the Bible’s record of the wondrous power and justice of God and the truth and the mercy proclaimed in the Gospel, but refused by them!
Dear reader, if you have been deceived by the likes of the friends of Hanun to defy great David’s Greater Son, then I urge you, consider how this incident ends and take heed for it pictures the inescapable consequences that will befall the Christ rejecter.
More about that in our next study.
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
1st December November 2025