2 Samuel 10:18

_AND THE SYRIANS FLED BEFORE ISRAEL; AND DAVID SLEW THE MEN OF SEVEN HUNDRED CHARIOTS OF THE SYRIANS, AND FORTY THOUSAND HORSEMEN, AND SMOTE SHOBACH THE CAPTAIN OF THEIR HOST, WHO DIED THERE._ SEVEN HUNDRED CHARIOTS OF THE SYRIANS. In the parallel passage of 1 Chronicles 19:18 the reading is seven thousand, which is more probable. The result of this great and decisive victory was, that all the petty kingdoms of Syria submitted, and became his tributaries (see the notes at 1 Chronicles 19:1: cf. Psalms 60:1, title)....

15-19 Here is a new attempt of the Syrians. Even the baffled cause will make head as long as there is any life in it; the enemies of the Son of David do so. But now the promise made to Abraham, Genesis 15:18, and repeated to Joshua, Joshua 1:4, that the borders of Israel should extend to the river Euphrates, was performed. Learn hence, that it is dangerous to help those who have God against them; for when they fall, their helpers will fall with them....

Verse 2 Samuel 10:18. _SEVEN HUNDRED CHARIOTS - AND FORTY THOUSAND HORSEMEN_] In the parallel place, 1 Chronicles 19:18, it is said, _David slew of the Syrians SEVEN THOUSAND men_, which fought in _chariots_. It is difficult to ascertain the right number in this and similar places. It is very probable that, in former times, the Jews expressed, as they often do _now_, their numbers, not by _words_ _at full length_, but by _numeral letters_; and, as many of the letters bear a great similarity to each other, mistakes might easily creep in when the numeral letters came to be expressed by _words_ at _full length_. This alone will account for the many mistakes which we find in the numbers in these books, and renders a mistake here very probable. The le...

SEVEN HUNDRED CHARIOTS - More probable than the “seven thousand” of 1 Chronicles 19:18. The frequent errors in numbers arise from the practice of expressing numerals by letters, with one or more dots or dashes to indicate hundreds, thousands, etc....

EXPOSITION 2 SAMUEL 10:1 THE KING OF THE CHILDREN OF AMMON DIED. This war is very briefly referred to in 2 Samuel 8:12; but we have now entered upon a narrative, the interest of which is altogether unlike all that has gone before. There we saw David crowned with earthly glory, and made the monarch of a vast empire; he is also a prophet, and, as such, not only restores, but enriches and enlarges, the worship of the sanctuary; and, as prophet and king, he becomes not only the type, but the ancestor of the Messiah. In this narrative he is a sinner, punished with terrible, though merited, severity, and must henceforth walk humbly and sorrowfully as a penitent before God. From...

AND THE SYRIANS FLED BEFORE ISRAEL,.... After an obstinate and bloody fight between them: AND DAVID SLEW [THE MEN OF] SEVEN HUNDRED CHARIOTS OF THE SYRIANS; the word "men" is rightly supplied, for chariots could not be said to be slain, but the men in them; in 1 Chronicles 19:17, they are said to be seven thousand, here seven hundred; which may be reconciled by observing, that here the chariots that held the men are numbered, there the number of the men that were in the chariots given, and reckoning ten men in a chariot, seven hundred chariots held just seven thousand men; though Kimchi takes another way of reconciling the two places, by observing that here only the choicest chariots are mentioned, there all of them, but the former way seems best: AND FORTY THOUSAND HORSEMEN; in...

7. THE WAR WITH AMMON AND THE SYRIANS CHAPTER 10 _ 1. David and Hanun (2 Samuel 10:1)_ 2. Ammon and the Syrians smitten (2 Samuel 10:6) The chapter with the war against Ammon and the Syrians is the prelude to the great sin of David. While Joab is carrying on the siege of Rabbah, the last city of the Ammonites, David, no doubt flushed with the great victory and prosperity, remained in his house and committed his awful sin. The war with Ammon originated through the insults which Hanun the King of Ammon had heaped upon David's ambassadors. David wanted to show kindness also to Hanun as his father Nahash had shown kindness to David. We have no record of this kindness. In this endeavour David did certainly not follow the right course, for Ammon was an enemy, and while Nahash

2 SAMUEL 10. WAR WITH THE AMMONITES AND THE SYRIANS (J). 2 Samuel 10:1. The king of Ammon insults David's ambassadors. [J. G. Frazer (_Taboo and the Perils of the Soul,_ p. 273) connects Hanun's action with the well-known belief that to get possession of the hair of a person is to have him in one's power. He supposes that Hanun, distrusting David's designs and desirous to have some guarantee of peace, thought he secured this by retaining half the beards and garments He quotes as a parallel the treatment of a traitor by two Moabite Arabs who shaved completely one side of his head and his moustache on the other, and set him at liberty. A. S. P.] 2 SAMUEL 10:6. The Ammonites hire mercenaries from the Syrian states; Joab takes command of the general levy of Israel and the standi

SEVEN HUNDRED.. 1Ch 19:187. 1 Chronicles 19. But Hebrew. =. and. = 7,000, probably. scribe's INFIRMITY. Compare 2 Samuel 8:4 and 1 Chronicles 18:4....

Renewed attack of the Syrians. Their total defeat 16. _And Hadarezer sent_, &c. The correct form of his name is probably _Hadadezer_. See note on ch. 2 Samuel 8:3. He now mustered his vassals and tributaries (2 Samuel 10:19) from beyond "the river," i.e. the Euphrates. "Brought out" = caused to take the field: it is the causative voice of the verb "to go out," which is the technical term for going out to war (1 Samuel 8:20; 2 Samuel 11:1). _and they came to Helam_ The words might be translated _and their force came_; but on the whole it is preferable to take _Helam_as a proper name, as in...