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Some time later King Nahash of Ammon died, and his son Hanun became king.
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King David said, "I must show loyal friendship to Hanun, as his father Nahash did to me." So David sent messengers to express his sympathy. When they arrived in Ammon,
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the Ammonite leaders said to the king, "Do you think that it is in your father's honor that David has sent these men to express sympathy to you? Of course not! He has sent them here as spies to explore the city, so that he can conquer us!"
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Hanun seized David's messengers, shaved off one side of their beards, cut off their clothes at the hips, and sent them away.
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They were too ashamed to return home. When David heard about what had happened, he sent word for them to stay in Jericho and not return until their beards had grown again.
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The Ammonites realized that they had made David their enemy, so they hired twenty thousand Syrian soldiers from Bethrehob and Zobah, twelve thousand men from Tob, and the king of Maacah with a thousand men.
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David heard of it and sent Joab against them with the whole army.
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The Ammonites marched out and took up their position at the entrance to Rabbah, their capital city, while the others, both the Syrians and the men from Tob and Maacah, took up their position in the open countryside.
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Joab saw that the enemy troops would attack him in front and from the rear, so he chose the best of Israel's soldiers and put them in position facing the Syrians.
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He placed the rest of his troops under the command of his brother Abishai, who put them in position facing the Ammonites.
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Joab said to him, "If you see that the Syrians are defeating me, come and help me, and if the Ammonites are defeating you, I will go and help you.
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Be strong and courageous! Let's fight hard for our people and for the cities of our God. And may the LORD's will be done!"
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Joab and his men advanced to attack, and the Syrians fled.
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When the Ammonites saw the Syrians running away, they fled from Abishai and retreated into the city. Then Joab turned back from fighting the Ammonites and went back to Jerusalem.
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The Syrians realized that they had been defeated by the Israelites, and so they called all their troops together.
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King Hadadezer sent for the Syrians who were on the east side of the Euphrates River, and they came to Helam under the command of Shobach, commander of the army of King Hadadezer of Zobah.
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When David heard of it, he gathered the Israelite troops, crossed the Jordan River, and marched to Helam, where the Syrians took up their position facing him. The fighting began,
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and the Israelites drove the Syrian army back. David and his men killed seven hundred Syrian chariot drivers and forty thousand cavalry, and they wounded Shobach, the enemy commander, who died on the battlefield.
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When the kings who were subject to Hadadezer realized that they had been defeated by the Israelites, they made peace with them and became their subjects. And the Syrians were afraid to help the Ammonites any more.
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The following spring, at the time of the year when kings usually go to war, Joab led out the army and invaded the land of Ammon; King David, however, stayed in Jerusalem. They besieged the city of Rabbah, attacked it, and destroyed it.
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The Ammonite idol Molech had a gold crown which weighed about seventy-five pounds. In it there was a jewel, which David took and put in his own crown. He also took a large amount of loot from the city.
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He took the people of the city and put them to work with saws, iron hoes, and axes. He did the same to the people of all the other towns of Ammon. Then he and his men returned to Jerusalem.
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Later on, war broke out again with the Philistines at Gezer. This was when Sibbecai from Hushah killed a giant named Sippai, and the Philistines were defeated.
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There was another battle with the Philistines, and Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi, the brother of Goliath from Gath, whose spear had a shaft as thick as the bar on a weaver's loom.
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Another battle took place at Gath, where there was a giant with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. He was a descendant of the ancient giants.
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He defied the Israelites, and Jonathan, the son of David's brother Shammah, killed him.
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These three, who were killed by David and his men, were descendants of the giants at Gath.
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Jesus again used parables in talking to the people.
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"The Kingdom of heaven is like this. Once there was a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son.
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He sent his servants to tell the invited guests to come to the feast, but they did not want to come.
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So he sent other servants with this message for the guests: 'My feast is ready now; my steers and prize calves have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast!'
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But the invited guests paid no attention and went about their business: one went to his farm, another to his store,
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while others grabbed the servants, beat them, and killed them.
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The king was very angry; so he sent his soldiers, who killed those murderers and burned down their city.
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Then he called his servants and said to them, 'My wedding feast is ready, but the people I invited did not deserve it.
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Now go to the main streets and invite to the feast as many people as you find.'
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So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, good and bad alike; and the wedding hall was filled with people.
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"The king went in to look at the guests and saw a man who was not wearing wedding clothes.
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'Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' the king asked him. But the man said nothing.
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Then the king told the servants, 'Tie him up hand and foot, and throw him outside in the dark. There he will cry and gnash his teeth.' "
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And Jesus concluded, "Many are invited, but few are chosen."
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The Pharisees went off and made a plan to trap Jesus with questions.
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Then they sent to him some of their disciples and some members of Herod's party. "Teacher," they said, "we know that you tell the truth. You teach the truth about God's will for people, without worrying about what others think, because you pay no attention to anyone's status.
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Tell us, then, what do you think? Is it against our Law to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor, or not?"
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Jesus, however, was aware of their evil plan, and so he said, "You hypocrites! Why are you trying to trap me?
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Show me the coin for paying the tax!" They brought him the coin,
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and he asked them, "Whose face and name are these?"
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"The Emperor's," they answered. So Jesus said to them, "Well, then, pay to the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor, and pay to God what belongs to God."
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When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.
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That same day some Sadducees came to Jesus and claimed that people will not rise from death.
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"Teacher," they said, "Moses said that if a man who has no children dies, his brother must marry the widow so that they can have children who will be considered the dead man's children.
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Now, there were seven brothers who used to live here. The oldest got married and died without having children, so he left his widow to his brother.
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The same thing happened to the second brother, to the third, and finally to all seven.
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Last of all, the woman died.
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Now, on the day when the dead rise to life, whose wife will she be? All of them had married her."
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Jesus answered them, "How wrong you are! It is because you don't know the Scriptures or God's power.
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For when the dead rise to life, they will be like the angels in heaven and will not marry.
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Now, as for the dead rising to life: haven't you ever read what God has told you? He said,
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'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' He is the God of the living, not of the dead."
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When the crowds heard this, they were amazed at his teaching.
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When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they came together,
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and one of them, a teacher of the Law, tried to trap him with a question.
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"Teacher," he asked, "which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
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Jesus answered, " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'
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This is the greatest and the most important commandment.
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The second most important commandment is like it: 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself.'
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The whole Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets depend on these two commandments."
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When some Pharisees gathered together, Jesus asked them,
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"What do you think about the Messiah? Whose descendant is he?" "He is David's descendant," they answered.
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"Why, then," Jesus asked, "did the Spirit inspire David to call him 'Lord'? David said,
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'The Lord said to my Lord: Sit here at my right side until I put your enemies under your feet.'
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If, then, David called him 'Lord,' how can the Messiah be David's descendant?"
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No one was able to give Jesus any answer, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.
