V.3 Their suspicion was not warrented either by any act, or cherished design of David; it must have originated in their knowledge of the denunciations of God's law against them (Deut 23:3-6), and of David's practice at this point of time following God's direction. 

V.4 Unlike the people around them, the Hebrews sported full beards.  To have them cut off was not only considered an insult and a cause of shame, but it was against the Law (Lev 19:27).

10:7  David’s reaction might be thought to be rather extreme. However it is a pattern of how Jesus will react to those who are not willing to abide by, and implement, the law of God. Hanun did not ‘love his neighbour’.

V.18 The numbers differ from the parallel account in 1Chron 19:18.  The Chronicles number is considered correct while the Samuel number is thought to be a probable copyist's error. 

Notice also that the KJV describes David's enemies as Syrians.  That is technically incorrect as Syria only came into political being sometime after 332 BC.  Before that time, the state was known as Aram, and so David fought the Arameans.

10:6 We learn from the consequences of David’s ‘kindness’ that being Christlike does not always bring an easy life. David was involved in battles simply because he showed ‘kindness’. In like manner there will be times when our Godly behaviour will be miss-interpreted with unpleasant consequences.

10:2 We have already seen – 2Sam 9:1,3,7 – the calibre of the man David. He seemed to go out of his way to show ‘kindness’ to others. Where do we fit in on this point? Remember that some of those to whom David showed ‘kindness’ might have been perceived as his enemies.

V.6 In the Near East, it was not uncommon for a nation to hire mercenaries from the armies of other nations in the area.  Kings had absolute rule, and so their fighting men were obliged to follow orders.  If a king saw an opportunity to gain revenue, he had no compunction in hiring out his troops. 

10:3 As many before the servants of Hanun did not know the calibre of David. Hanun should have, though. However he completely miss reads David’s motives and thus brings judgement upon himself and his people.

V.2 Nahash was probably the king who was defeated by Saul  (1Sam 11:1,2,11). Likely, after David took power from Saul,  Nahash showed him support.  Perhaps it was a case of: the friend of my enemy is my friend.

10:13-14 It appears that Joab and Abishai, on David’s behalf, simply defended themselves against the children of Ammon and Syria because when they fled they seem to have just returned home rather than spoiling the children of Ammon.

14:7-9 Despite being told to speak words of Judgment against Judah the prophet pleads for the people. He has already prayed for the people – Jer 7:16, 11:4. Thus we see a compassionate prophet seeking the deliverance of the people he is prophesying judgment to.

14:13 Jeremiah’s response ‘ah Lord God …’ is one of the many times that Jeremiah shows his feelings about the forthcoming captivity, showing, as we have seen in previous years, the compassion that the prophet had for God’s people despite their wickedness.

14 There are a number of times in Jeremiah where we see the prophet in a dialogue with God. This chapter is one of them. The division is like this:-

:1-6 A description of the situation

:7-9 Jeremiah pleads with God

:10-18 God responds again to Jeremiah

:19-22The prophet speaks again.

V.3 Crops cannot grow without rain.  In a drought, people die from starvation.  In the situation described here, not even drinking water was available. 

In affluent nations, we take food and drink for granted.  We are used to, and expect, abundance of these things.  However, we must remember that it is Yahweh who controls all things, including rain (Psa 147:8). 

He uses the forces of nature to compel His will.  If He decided to withhold rain in our region, our lives would be radically altered.  Therefore, we should always be grateful to Yahweh for His bounty towards us. 

When Jesus returns to set up His kingdom, He will expect all nations to obey Him.  Those nations that decide not to comply will experience drought until they do obey (Zech 14:17). 

14:11 Jeremiah has pleaded for the people (:7-9) but this is the third time God has told him not to pray for the people. The first being in Jeremiah 7:16 and the second in Jer 11:4.

V.1 There is no parallel historical record of this drought. 

Other notable droughts in the Bible would include the three-and-one-half year one in Elijah’s time (1Kin 18:1; James 5:17).  And because Elisha’s measure doubled that of Elijah (2Kin 2:9), the drought in his time was seven years (twice as long as Elijah's) (2Kin 8:1).

Vs.14,15,18 See 2Kin 25:3.

V.22 See Psa 135:7.

Crocodile tears and the postman

It is most unlike the LORD to not accept prayer. But on this occasion, not only does He close His ears to prayer, He also disregards fasting, crying and burnt offerings (v11-12). Furthermore in the next chapter He explains not even a mediator such as Jeremiah would be accepted, no, not even if he were Moses or Samuel (15:1).

There comes a time, I'm sure we're all aware, when immediate mercy is no longer the best course of action. This can happen when a child comes to expect the parent to forgive, and therefore does what it likes. This is what Israel were doing. We can see this in v8 where God is called the "hope of Israel, his Saviour in time of trouble". In other words "we've sinned before and you forgave and delivered us. Why not now?" They called on Him only as a last resort. And this attitude bred a hypocritical attitude of lip-service (12:2).

But the underlying problem, namely that they had replaced God with Baal, was still there (2:11) even though they disavowed it (2:35). In this case swift forgiveness was no longer an option because though they called to Him, they hadn't changed.

If your son or daughter went around telling the whole neighbourhood that they were in fact the child of the postman, would you be pleased? And then when you threatened to punish them, they broke down in tears, so you would forgive it. But if each day you heard them telling the same story, and each day they would repent just before you punished them, what would that do for your good name in the community? And would the child ever really understand that what they did was wrong? Though you loved that child you would have to punish them despite their fake tears and protestations, because it would be the only way to address the underlying lie. This is the situation God was in, and maybe helps to expain why He couldn't delay their punishment any longer (v10). He had listened to their crocodile tears since the time of Manasseh (15:4).

14:2 God hearing the ‘cry of the Jerusalem’ because it had ‘gone up’ catches the idea in 1Sam 5:12 of how the Philistines responded to the punishment of God. However whereas the Philistines responded by sending back the ark Israel in the days of Jeremiah refused to respond.

The question is, was the master in fact a "hard man", as the servant believed? The same can be said for the proverb "The lazy man says, "There is a lion in the road! A fierce lion is in the streets!"" (Prov 26v13). Was there in fact a lion in the road? We know from the recorded ministry of Jesus that he was far from a "hard man". He was a caring, loving, gentle, compassionate man, even though he had "all power and authority" given to him by God. Jesus exercises that power and authority now with the same compassion and love as he did then. He is the absent master in the parable, and when he returns he will ask me what I did with what he gave me. Knowing of his un-qualified forgiveness makes me far less likely to bury that talent. I will more readily risk losing it, by investing it so that it will bear fruit, through him. (John 15v5)

V.1 etc. The only way to please Yahweh is to know what He requires.  We obtain the necessary wisdom and knowledge to understand the requirements by reading the Scriptures.  The Scriptures are the Word of God written for our learning (Rom 15:4; 2Tim 3:15,16). 

The Word of God can be equated with the oil in the virgins' lamps.  The virgins needed oil for their lamps in order to light their way.  Without light, they would stumble in the darkness.  We need the Word of God (spiritual oil) to guide us and light our way (Psa 119:105). 

If we are full of the Word, we will be prepared for the Lord's return; if not we won't.  When He comes, we won't be able to take a crash course in scriptural learning if we are not already prepared.

 25:21,23 We should never forget that faithfulness in the 'little' things is what we just strive to achieve. It is the little daily repetitive activities that we have the greatest difficulty doing but it is these little things that determine what our heart is really like..

25:40 The way in which doing things for brethren is like doing things for God is used by Paul – Eph 6:6 – to encourage the brethren to realise that they were not doing things to men but rather to God.

25:21 The ‘faithful servant’ is the same man as was described in Matt 24:45. This chapter was spoken to the disciples at the same time as the Olivet prophecy.

25:13 The exhortation to watch not knowing the time repeats Jesus’ words earlier in this discourse – Matt 24:38

V.14 etc. The Lord has given us different abilities and opportunities (talents).  We should not compare our talents with others', or make any judgments about them.  Rather we ought to add value to Christ by doing the best with what we have been given.  Each will be judged individually: For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required (Luke 12:48).

In sum, the parables in this chapter are telling us to, constantly:

Be prepared for the Lord's return to earth (v.25).

Be busy in doing His Will (Matt 7:21).

If those two areas are covered, we can expect to be with the sheep and not the goats at the Judgment.

25:32,34 Notice whilst the ‘shepherd’ gathers the flock the ‘king’ makes the judgment. So we see the twofold work of Jesus. He came as a shepherd and will come again as a king.