5. It was, however, from the kindred people of Ammon that the royal conquests experienced the greatest resistance. During the period of his wanderings David had received much kindness from Nahash the king of Ammon, and on his death he sent a royal embassy to offer his condolences to the new king Hanun. But Hanun’s courtiers persuaded him that this embassy was really dictated by a wish to spy out his land, and probably add it to the many others that David had conquered. Accordingly on the arrival of the ambassadors, Hanun treated them with the utmost indignity. He shaved off the one half of their beards, cut off their garments in the middle, and so sent them away (2 Sam. x. 1–3; 1 Chr. xix. 1–4).
As soon as David was informed of this aggravated insult, he bade his ambassadors remain at Jericho till the traces of the indignities they had suffered were removed, and then made preparations for sending Joab with the “Mighty Men” and the host to take summary vengeance on the Ammonites. Truly divining the consequences of their folly, the latter prepared for the impending war by raising a mercenary force of 32,000 men from the Syrians of Beth-rehob and Zoba, from those owning fealty to the king of Maacah, a region in the valley of the Jordan south of Zoba, and from the land of Tob[291]. Aided by these allies the Syrians awaited the onset of the Hebrews.
On his arrival Joab, perceiving that he was confronted by two very considerable armies, divided his forces,and assigned to his brother Abishai the task of assaulting the Ammonites, while he himself with a picked body of troops attacked the Syrians, situated a little to the south of Heshbon. At Medeba the latter were quickly routed, and the Ammonites, in alarm at their speedy defeat, fled to their capital, Rabbah[292], now called Ammân, situated on a very advantageous position, and well supplied with water.
Meanwhile the Syrians beyond the Euphrates, under the command of Shophach or Shobach, a general of Hadadezer, assembled their forces with the intention of avenging the repulse sustained by their kindred, the allies of the Ammonites. Crossing the Euphrates they joined the Syrians at Helam, the site of which is unknown. The occasion was deemed of sufficient importance to justify the personal interference of David. Gathering all Israel and passing over Jordan, he attacked the Syrians, and defeated them with great slaughter. Shobach himself was slain, and the allied princes quitted the Syrian confederacy, and became the tributary vassals of the Hebrew monarch (2 Sam. xi. 15–19; 1 Chr. xix. 10–19).
Early in the following year the campaign against the Ammonites was resumed, and the command of the forces, including the royal body-guard (2 Sam. xi. 1), and the troops of Ephraim and Benjamin as well as Judah (2 Sam. xi. 11), was again entrusted to Joab, and the army was for the first time since the disastrous battle of Aphek accompanied by the Ark and its Leviticalguard[293] (2 Sam. xi. 11). On this occasion Rabbah was the main object of the attack, and after ravaging the country, Joab drove the Ammonites into their citadel, and commenced a regular siege, which lasted very nearly two years (2 Sam. xi. 1).
Meanwhile, critical as was the nature of the campaign, instead of accompanying the Ark, David lingered behind at Jerusalem, and there wrought that “deed of shame,” which has left so dark a blot upon his character, and which threw a gloom over all the rest of his life. One day on rising from his afternoon repose, he saw from the roof of his palace a woman of extraordinary beauty, for whom he instantly conceived a most violent passion. On making enquiry, he discovered that her name was Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam or Ammiel, and wife of Uriah the Hittite, who was at that time serving in the army against Rabbah, as one of the famous “Thirty” (2 Sam. xxiii. 39; 1 Chr. xi. 41). The fact that she was the wife of one of his most distinguished officers did not make David hesitate, he sent for her, and committed adultery with her. As time went on, he found it would be no longer possible to screen her from the death-punishment of an adulteress. Accordingly, after vainly trying other and most unworthy expedients to cover his own guilt, he sent a letter to Joab, bidding him expose this chivalrous and high-minded officer where the contest was hottest, so as to ensure his death. The unscrupulous Joab did as he was told, and Uriah fell happily unconscious of his wife’s dishonour. Joab then sent a trusty messenger to David to inform him that Uriah was dead, and the days of mourning for her husband were no sooner over, than the king sent for Bathsheba, and she became his wife (2 Sam. xi. 14–27).
But though David had done all this secretly, an all-seeing Eye had watched each step in this dreadful crime, and punishment quickly appeared at the door. The prophet Nathan was sent to him, and with wonderful tact roused the royal attention by the well-known Parable of the Rich man and the Poor man’s ewe lamb. Unsuspecting its purport, David’s wrath was kindled, and he denounced death as the penalty of the rich man, and the restoration of the property fourfold[294]. Then turning to the king the prophet sped his winged arrow, saying, Thou art the man, and announcing the awful penalty. As David had measured unto others, so should it be measured to him; evil was to rise up against him out of the bosom of his own family, and the sword should never depart from his house (2 Sam. xii. 10).
Unlike other kings of Israel and Judah, unlike any common Eastern despot, David did not slay or ill-treat the messenger of judgment, he acknowledged his sin and the justice of the sentence. On this Nathan went on to tell him that the Lord had put away his sin, and he himself was not to die. But an earnest of future judgments soon appeared. The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bare unto him, and it died[295]. But in the midst of judgment God remembered mercy; and in the course of time a second son was born to Bathsheba, whom Nathan named Jedidiah, beloved of the Lord, but David himself called him Solomon, the peaceful one (2 Sam. xii. 15–25).
Meanwhile Joab had been pushing forward the siege of Rabbah, and eventually succeeded in capturing the city of waters, that is, the lower town, which “contained the perennial stream, which rises in, and still flows through it[296].” But the citadel, a place of great strength,still held out. The possession of the perennial stream was, however, the next step to the capture of the stronghold, and Joab sent messengers to David bidding him gather the rest of the people, and come himself, unless he wished him to have the honour of capturing the place, and calling it after his own name. Accordingly the king set out, and the fortress was speedily taken. Enraged, it is not improbable, at the obstinacy of the siege, he wreaked a terrible vengeance on the inhabitants, some were decapitated, others sawn asunder or crushed beneath iron instruments, others were passed through the fire in brick-kilns[297] (2 Sam. xii. 31). The royal crown, “the crown of Milcom,” weighing a talent of gold with the precious stones, was then placed on David’s head, and he and his army returned in triumph to Jerusalem with abundant spoil.