He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight. — Sun Tzu in The Art of War
Imagine the scene. Thirty-two thousand chariots have rolled in “from Mesopotamia, from Syrian Maacah, and from Zobah” (1 Chron 19:6) to aid the Ammonites in their showdown with Israel. In a pincer formation, the Syrians formed one arm by the city of Medeba; the Ammonites took the apposing position. So we read, “When Joab saw that the battle line was against him before and behind, he chose some of Israel’s best and put them in battle array against the Syrians. And the rest of the people he put under the command of Abishai his brother, and they set themselves in battle array against the people of Ammon” (vv 10-11). Joab’s idea was to initially test the relative strengths of the two foes, then readjust his forces accordingly. “Two are better than one, because…if they fall, one will lift up his companion” (Eccl 4:9-10). So it should be in both home and church. Just before the battle engaged, Joab said to his forces, “Be of good courage, and let us be strong for our people and for the cities of our God. And may the Lord do what is good in His sight” (v 13). And of course He did! The Syrians fled, the Ammonites retreated inside the city walls, and Israel returned home. But they hadn’t learned their lesson. The Syrians called for more troops and returned for Round 2. The outcome was the same, but now Syria got the point: “they made peace with David and became his servants. So the Syrians were not willing to help the people of Ammon anymore” (v 19). The Ammonites? Not so much. The next spring, Israel returned to defeat Rabbah, then “put [the Ammonites] to work with saws, with iron picks, and with axes” (20:3). When it comes to our neighbors, it’s better to build than battle, better to be on the work crew than the wrecking crew any day.