6 And the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves odious to David; and the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth-Rehob, and the Syrians of Zoba, twenty thousand footmen, and the king of Maacah [with] a thousand men, and the men of Tob twelve thousand men.
And David smote Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his dominion by the river Euphrates.
And the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, and David smote of the Syrians twenty-two thousand men.
And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me, in that ye make me odious among the inhabitants of the land -- among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and I am few men in number, and they will gather themselves against me and smite me, and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.
Then Jephthah fled from his brothers, and dwelt in the land of Tob; and worthless fellows collected round Jephthah, and went raiding with him.
And when the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of Tob;
And Achish trusted David, saying, He has made himself utterly odious among his people Israel; and he shall be my servant for ever.
And they said to them, Jehovah look upon you and judge, that ye have made our odour to stink in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his bondmen, putting a sword into their hand to kill us!
and Gilead, and the border of the Geshurites and Maachathites, and all mount Hermon, and the whole of Bashan to Salcah; all the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned at Ashtaroth and at Edrei, who remained of the residue of the giants; and Moses smote them and dispossessed them. But the children of Israel did not dispossess the Geshurites nor the Maachathites; but the Geshurites and the Maachathites dwell among the Israelites to this day.
And all Israel heard say, Saul has smitten the garrison of the Philistines, and Israel also has become odious to the Philistines. And the people were called together after Saul to Gilgal.
And the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves odious to David; and Hanun and the children of Ammon sent a thousand talents of silver to hire them chariots and horsemen out of Mesopotamia, and from the Syrians of Maacah, and from Zobah. And they hired thirty-two thousand chariots, and the king of Maacah and his people; and they came and encamped before Medeba. And the children of Ammon gathered together from their cities, and came to battle.
Go not forth hastily to strive, lest [thou know not] what to do in the end thereof, when thy neighbour hath put thee to shame.
Rage, ye peoples, and be broken in pieces! And give ear, all ye distant parts of the earth: Gird yourselves, and be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and be broken in pieces! Settle a plan, and it shall come to nought; speak a word, and it shall not stand: for ùGod is with us.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 2 Samuel 10
Commentary on 2 Samuel 10 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 10
2Sa 10:1-5. David's Messengers, Sent to Comfort Hanun, Are Disgracefully Treated.
2. Then said David, I will show kindness unto Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness unto me—It is probable that this was the Nahash against whom Saul waged war at Jabesh-gilead (1Sa 11:11). David, on leaving Gath, where his life was exposed to danger, found an asylum with the king of Moab; and as Nahash, king of the Ammonites, was his nearest neighbor, it may be that during the feud between Saul and David, he, through enmity to the former, was kind and hospitable to David.
3. the princes of the children of Ammon said unto Hanun—Their suspicion was not warranted either by any overt act or by any cherished design of David: it must have originated in their knowledge of the denunciations of God's law against them (De 23:3-6), and of David's policy in steadfastly adhering to it.
4. Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards—From the long flowing dress of the Hebrews and other Orientals, the curtailment of their garments must have given them an aspect of gross indelicacy and ludicrousness. Besides, a knowledge of the extraordinary respect and value which has always been attached, and the gross insult that is implied in any indignity offered, to the beard in the East, will account for the shame which the deputies felt, and the determined spirit of revenge which burst out in all Israel on learning the outrage. Two instances are related in the modern history of Persia, of similar insults by kings of haughty and imperious temper, involving the nation in war; and we need not, therefore, be surprised that David vowed revenge for this wanton and public outrage.
5. Tarry at Jericho—or in the neighborhood, after crossing the fords of the Jordan.
2Sa 10:6-14. The Ammonites Overcome.
6-14. when the children of Ammon saw that they stank before David—To chastise those insolent and inhospitable Ammonites, who had violated the common law of nations, David sent a large army under the command of Joab, while they, informed of the impending attack, made energetic preparations to repel it by engaging the services of an immense number of Syrian mercenaries.
Beth-rehob—the capital of the low-lying region between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon.
Zoba—(see on 2Sa 8:3).
of king Maacah—His territories lay on the other side of Jordan, near Gilead (De 3:14).
Ish-tob—that is, "the men of Tob"—the place of Jephthah's marauding adventures (see also 1Ch 19:6; Ps 60:1, title). As the Israelite soldiers poured into the Ammonite territory, that people met them at the frontier town of Medeba (1Ch 19:7-9), the native troops covering the city, while the Syrian mercenaries lay at some distance encamped in the fields. In making the attack, Joab divided his forces into two separate detachments—the one of which, under the command of his brother, Abishai, was to concentrate its attack upon the city, while he himself marched against the overwhelming host of mercenary auxiliaries. It was a just and necessary war that had been forced on Israel, and they could hope for the blessing of God upon their arms. With great judgment the battle opened against the mercenaries, who could not stand against the furious onset of Joab, and not feeling the cause their own, consulted their safety by flight. The Ammonites, who had placed their chief dependence upon a foreign aid, then retreated to entrench themselves within the walls of the town.
14. So Joab returned and came to Jerusalem—Probably the season was too far advanced for entering on a siege.
2Sa 10:15-19. The Syrians Defeated.
16. Hadarezer sent and brought out the Syrians that were beyond the river—This prince had enjoyed a breathing time after his defeat (2Sa 8:3). But alarmed at the increasing power and greatness of David, as well as being an ally of the Ammonites, he levied a vast army not only in Syria, but in Mesopotamia, to invade the Hebrew kingdom. Shobach, his general, in pursuance of this design, had marched his troops as far as Kelam, a border town of eastern Manasseh, when David, crossing the Jordan by forced marches, suddenly surprised, defeated, and dispersed them. As a result of this great and decisive victory, all the petty kingdoms of Syria submitted and became his tributaries (see on 1Ch 19:1).