Sunday Sermonette: Deja vu of deja vu

I didn ' t want to steal Yogi ' s line. Chapter 19 is once again a near copy of a chapter from 2 Samuel, in this case Chapter 10, but with some details altered. For example, in Samuel the Ammonites hired 30,000 Syrian soldiers, whereas here they hire 32,000 chariots. I cannot explain the discrepancies, or for that matter why the Chronicler feels the need to reproduce these stories in the first place. Of course, the numbers involved in these battles, and the numbers David ' s army kills, are preposterous. As I ' ve said before, if David existed he was chieftan of a few small towns, not a kingdom that could muster tens of thousands of troops. Also, it isn ' t plausible that the Ammonites had 34 metric tons of silver lying around with which to hire mercenaries. It is historically true that kings in those days tended to hoard silver and gold against such critical needs (James Lacey. Rome, Strategy of Empire. Oxford University Press, 2022), as we see the Israelites do. But 34 metric tons? Come on, man.19 In the course of time, Nahash king of the Ammonites died, and his son succeeded him as king.2 David thought, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father.When David ’s envoys came to Hanun in the land of the Ammonites to express sympathy to him,3 the Ammonite commanders said to Hanun, “Do you think David is honoring your father by sen...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs