The study of Rehoboam has gone places I could not have seen when I started. Rehoboam and His Mom pushed this study back to David and his relations with the countries around Israel. I think it would be fair to say that David’s foreign policies were complicated. In 1 Samuel 22 David, the outlaw hides his parents with the king of Moab. Yet in 2 Samuel 8 Moab is defeated and David took care of business. In 8:12 a list of peoples he subdued is listed and the Ammonites are among them. In 2 Samuel 10: 2 David was going to “show kindness” to the Ammonites because Nahash their king had always been kind to him. The new King insults the delegation so Joab and the army is sent to settle the matter. This is the time period when David has Uriah the Hittite killed (by the Ammonites) and takes Bathsheba as a wife. It is ironic that Solomon is married to Naamah an Ammonite. David took care of problems not grudges. Jewish tradition holds Naamah was Nahash’s granddaughter. There is also a tradition that says Moabite and Ammonite women were not the problem in Deuteronomy 23:3 only the men that is why Ruth and Naamah could be included in David’s family tree. The story goes that it came as a revelation from Samuel the prophet (Jewish Encyclopedia). (See Rehoboam and Ammonites)

David had problems. Surrounding countries were attacking Israel, the Ziphites and others would have handed him over to King Saul, and he had to go hide with the enemy that did not trust him. His handling of Amnon and Tamar, Absalom, and Adonijah could also be labeled as bad but in one thing he stands out – he is known as a man after God’s heart.

So how would David be treated today?     Palace Picketed or Helped