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Context No. 673 of 4322 · 2 Samuel

Context · Reflection

2 Samuel 10:15-19: in context

15When the Syrians saw that they were defeated by Israel, they gathered themselves together. 16Hadadezer sent and brought out the Syrians who were beyond the River; and they came to Helam, with Shobach the captain of the army of Hadadezer at their head. 17David was told that; and he gathered all Israel together, passed over the Jordan, and came to Helam. The Syrians set themselves in array against David and fought with him. 18The Syrians fled before Israel; and David killed seven hundred charioteers of the Syrians and forty thousand horsemen, and struck Shobach the captain of their army, so that he died there. 19When all the kings who were servants to Hadadezer saw that they were defeated before Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them. So the Syrians were afraid to help the children of Ammon any more.

This is from the stretch of Second Samuel that records David's wars at the height of his reign. It began when the Ammonites humiliated the envoys David had sent in friendship, then hired Aramean troops to back them. Joab beat that first army, and now the Arameans regroup. Their overlord Hadadezer summons more forces from beyond the Euphrates, and they mass at Helam under his commander Shobach.

This time David crosses the Jordan himself and meets them. The Arameans break, and the report tallies the ruin: seven hundred chariot teams, forty thousand horsemen, and Shobach struck down on the field. Then comes the part that outlasts the battle. When the kings who were Hadadezer's vassals see him beaten, they make their own peace with Israel and serve it, and the Arameans will not help Ammon again. The coalition held only while its patron was winning; one decisive loss and the servant-kings changed masters. This is David at his peak, the empire at its widest. The next chapter opens with him staying home from the war, on the roof, watching a woman bathe.

The allies scattered to the winning side the moment the patron fell. Which of my alliances would survive a single clear defeat, and which are only loyal to my winning?

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