2 Samuel 10:6

_AND WHEN THE CHILDREN OF AMMON SAW THAT THEY STANK BEFORE DAVID, THE CHILDREN OF AMMON SENT AND HIRED THE SYRIANS OF BETHREHOB, AND THE SYRIANS OF ZOBA, TWENTY THOUSAND FOOTMEN, AND OF KING MAACAH A THOUSAND MEN, AND OF ISHTOB TWELVE THOUSAND MEN._ When the children of Ammon saw that they stank before David. To chastise those insolent and 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 the notes at 2 Samuel 8:3.) Of king Ma

6-14 They that are at war with the Son of David, not only give the provocation, but begin the war. God has forces to send against those that set his wrath at defiance, Isaiah 5:19, which will convince them that none ever hardened his heart against God, and prospered. Christ's soldiers should strengthen one another's hands in their spiritual warfare. Let nothing be wanting in us, whatever the success be. When we make conscience of doing our duty, we may, with satisfaction, leave the event with God, assuredly hoping for his salvation in his own way and time....

Verse 2 Samuel 10:6. _THE CHILDREN OF AMMON SAW THAT THEY STANK_] That is, that their conduct rendered them abominable. This is the Hebrew mode of expressing such a feeling. See Genesis 34:30. _THE SYRIANS OF BETHREHOB_] This place was situated at the extremity of the valley between Libanus and Anti-libanus. The Syrians of Zoba were subject to Hadadezer. _Maacah_ was in the vicinity of Mount Hermon, beyond Jordan, in the Trachonitis. _ISH-TOB_] This was probably the same with _Tob_, to which Jephthah fled from the cruelty of his brethren. It was situated in the land of Gilead....

STANK ... - A strong figure for to be odious or detested. Compare the marginal references THE SYRIANS OF BETH-REHOB - If identical with the Mesopotamians of 1 Chronicles 19:6, Beth-rehob is the same as Rehoboth by the river Genesis 36:37. Others think Beth-rehob (Rehob, 2 Samuel 10:8) the same as the Rehob and Beth-rehob of Numbers 13:21, near Hamath (perhaps the modern ruin of Hunin). If so, Beth-rehob, as well as Tob, must have been a colony of Aram Naharaim (compare the numbers in...

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 WHEN THE CHILDREN OF AMMON SAW THAT THEY STANK BEFORE DAVID,.... Or had made themselves odious to him, as it is rendered in 1 Chronicles 19:6; were abominable to him, that he was incensed against them, and enraged at them, and was determined to be avenged on them for the affront given, of which they had certain information: but instead of seeking to appease him, and give him satisfaction for the affront, THE CHILDREN OF AMMON SENT, AND HIRED THE SYRIANS OF BETHREHOB; a place near Hamath, Numbers 13:21; there was a city of this name in the tribe of Asher, out of which the Canaanites could not be driven, and perhaps now inhabited by Syrians, or by a people so called, Joshua 19:28

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

MEN. Hebrew. _ish_, App-14. ISH-TOB. men of Tob....

Defeat of the Ammonites and their Syrian allies 6. _that they stank_ Lit. _that they had made themselves stink_: had brought themselves into evil odour, or, made themselves odious. Ancient history records many wars undertaken to avenge insults offered to ambassadors, whose persons have always been considered sacred by the law of nations: e.g. the war between Rome and Tarentum which led to the invasion of Italy by Pyrrhus. See also Cicero, _pro lege Manil._c. 5. _hired_ For a thousand talents of silver according to 1 Chronicles 19:6, a sum variously estimated at from £250,000 to £500,000. For other instances of the employment of mercenary troops see 2 Kings 7:6; 2 Chronicles 25:6