2 Samuel 8:12

Of Syria. — 1 Chronicles 18:11 reads Edom. The two names differing in the original only by one very similar letter (the d and r, which are so often confused), it might be supposed that one was an error for the other, were it not that both were actually conquered and the spoils of both dedicated by David, Syria is spoken of here because Edom has not yet been mentioned, and the account of its conquest is given afterwards (2 Samuel 8:14; 1 Kings 11:15); while Edom is given in Chron. because the booty from Syria had just before been spoken of particularly. It may be, however, that both names were originally in both places.

Amalek. — This is the only allusion to a war with Amalek after David came to the throne. They had been “utterly destroyed” by Saul (1 Samuel 15); but they were a nation of many tribes, and Saul’s victory can relate to only one branch, since David afterwards inflicted a severe blow upon them (1 Samuel 30), and there is no reason why still other branches of the nation may not have proved troublesome, and been defeated by him at other times.