Chapter XIX

=1‒19= (= 2 Samuel x. 1‒19).
WAR WITH THE AMMONITES AND THEIR ARAMEAN ALLIES.

Chronicles here omits the story of David’s kindness in seeking out and befriending Mephibosheth (Merib-baal) the son of Jonathan (2 Samuel ix.), because he has ignored the story of David’s relations with Saul. Further the Court History of David which occupies an important place in 2 Samuel is passed over altogether in Chronicles Consequently the shameful episode of Bath-sheba, and the rebellion of Absalom vanish from the account of David. It is obvious how greatly the presentation of David’s life and character is affected by these omissions. Yet from his point of view the Chronicler is right in passing these matters by in silence. He was concerned to present David essentially as the founder of the religious life of Israel as a kingdom and of the Temple as an institution of religion.

There are several variations in text between 2 Samuel x. and 1 Chronicles xix., e.g. verses 6, 7 (addition in Chronicles), 16 (omission from Chronicles), 18 (variation in reckoning).

¹And it came to pass after this, that Nahash the king of the
children of Ammon died, and his son reigned in his stead.

=1.= _after this_] The war with Ammon has already been referred to by anticipation in xviii. 11.

_Nahash_] Probably the Nahash mentioned in 1 Samuel xi. 1.

_Ammon_] The Ammonites were a kindred race to the Hebrews, being descended according to tradition from Lot, the nephew of Abraham; compare Deuteronomy ii. 19. The two Ammonite names here given are pure Hebrew, _Nahash_ (= “Serpent”) and _Hanun_ (= “Favoured, _Fortunatus_”); the Ammonite language, like the Moabite, was doubtless very similar to Hebrew.

²And David said, I will shew kindness unto Hanun the son of
Nahash, because his father shewed kindness to me. So David sent
messengers to comfort him concerning his father. And David’s
servants came into the land of the children of Ammon to Hanun,
to comfort him.

=2.= _sent messengers to comfort him_] A customary act of international courtesy; compare 2 Kings xx. 12. Its breach was resented. Thus in the Tell el-Amarna letters (x. 16) the king of Kardunias writes, “Should not my brother (i.e. the king of Egypt) have heard that I am sick? Why has he not comforted me? Why has he not sent his messenger, not looked into it?” (editor H. Winckler, p. 23).

³But the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun,
Thinkest thou that David doth honour thy father, that he hath
sent comforters unto thee? are not his servants come unto thee
for to search, and to overthrow, and to spy out the land?

=3.= _the land_] 2 Samuel x. 3, _the city_, i.e. Rabbah (see xx. 1).

⁴So Hanun took David’s servants, and shaved them, and cut off
their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent
them away.

=4.= _shaved them_] 2 Samuel x. 4, _shaved off the one half of their beards_. Of course a great insult; compare Isaiah l. 6.

_cut off their garments_] Jewish ambassadors are represented on the Black Obelisk (a monument of Shalmaneser II, king of Assyria, now preserved in the British Museum) as wearing robes reaching to the feet; Hanun reduced ambassadors to the level of captives; compare Isaiah xx. 4.

⁵Then there went certain, and told David how the men were served.
And he sent to meet them; for the men were greatly ashamed. And
the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown, and
then return.

=5.= _Tarry at Jericho_] Thus (1) the feelings of the ambassadors would be spared, (2) the insult would be less widely known until it had been avenged.

⁶And when the children of Ammon saw that they had made
themselves odious to David, Hanun and the children of Ammon sent
a thousand talents of silver to hire them chariots and horsemen
out of Mesopotamia, and out of Aram-maacah, and out of Zobah.

=6.= _a thousand talents of silver_] A very large sum; for a hundred talents Amaziah hired a hundred thousand men (2 Chronicles xxv. 6).

_chariots and horsemen_] The Israelite armies on the contrary consisted chiefly of infantry, the country being for the most part unsuitable for horses.

_Mesopotamia_] Hebrew “Aram (Syria) of the two rivers” (compare Genesis xxiv. 10, Revised Version margin), i.e. probably the land between the Euphrates and the Chaboras. The Greeks used the term _Mesopotamia_ of a wider district, i.e. of the country between the Euphrates and the Tigris. This mention of Mesopotamia is probably premature, for in verse 16 the summons of Syrians from beyond the Euphrates is spoken of as a new thing. The corresponding expression in 2 Samuel x. 6 is _Beth-rehob_, a district which has not yet been identified.

_Aram-maacah_] compare vii. 15, note; Deuteronomy iii. 14; Joshua xii. 5, xiii. 11.

_Zobah_]. compare xviii. 3, note.

⁷So they hired them thirty and two thousand chariots, and the
king of Maacah and his people; who came and pitched before
Medeba. And the children of Ammon gathered themselves together
from their cities, and came to battle.

=7.= _thirty and two thousand chariots_] Compare 2 Samuel x. 6, which reckons the army (including Maacah) at 33,000, of whom 20,000 are expressly described as footmen. The word “chariots” may have slipped in from verse 6 instead of “men” or may be an intentional alteration, magnifying the war.

_Medeba_] In the territory of Reuben; Joshua xiii. 26. The country round is a table-land suited for the manœuvres of chariots. The place of the rendezvous of the allies is not mentioned in 2 Samuel x., some words having probably fallen out of the text.

⁸And when David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the host of
the mighty men. ⁹And the children of Ammon came out, and put the
battle in array at the gate of the city: and the kings that were
come were by themselves in the field.

=8.= _David ... sent Joab_] Why in such a crisis did he not go himself? Perhaps because he could watch the gathering of the more serious storm described in verses 16‒19 better from Jerusalem.

¹⁰Now when Joab saw that the battle¹ was set against him before
and behind, he chose of all the choice men of Israel, and put
¹¹them in array against the Syrians. And the rest of the people
he committed into the hand of Abishai² his brother, and they put
themselves in array against the children of Ammon. ¹²And he said,
If the Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shalt help me:
but if the children of Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will
help thee.

¹ Hebrew _the face of the battle was against_.

² Hebrew _Abshai_.

=10.= _he chose of all the choice men_] The Syrians were the more formidable because of the chariots they had; Joab therefore opposed to them the flower of his army.

¹³Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people,
and for the cities of our God: and the LORD do that which
seemeth him good.

=13.= _the cities of our God_] The cities which our God has given us and in which He is worshipped. If these were captured by the enemy, false gods would be worshipped in them. Religious feeling often supplies the place of patriotism in the East.

¹⁴So Joab and the people that were with him drew nigh before the
Syrians unto the battle; and they fled before him.

=14.= _drew nigh before the Syrians_] Without fear for their own rear advanced against the Syrian front.

¹⁵And when the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians were fled,
they likewise fled before Abishai his brother, and entered into
the city. Then Joab came to Jerusalem.

=15.= _Joab came to Jerusalem_] Probably because he was wanted for the new danger gathering in the North.

=16‒19.=
THE END OF THE ARAMEAN WAR.

Three stages are apparent in the war with Zobah _as related in Chronicles_, (a) that in which David secured a position on the Euphrates, xviii. 3‒8, (b) the stage during which troops from Zobah acted as auxiliaries to the Ammonites, xix. 6‒15, (c) the final stage which ended in the conclusion of a formal peace, xix. 16‒19. The actual facts of David’s activities against the Arameans are by no means easy to ascertain, as may be seen in the commentaries on the more complex account which is given in Samuel.

¹⁶And when the Syrians saw that they were put to the worse
before Israel, they sent messengers, and drew forth the Syrians
that were beyond the River, with Shophach the captain of the
host of Hadarezer at their head.

=16.= _the Syrians that were beyond the River_] i.e. the Syrians of “Mesopotamia”; compare verse 6, note. 2 Samuel x. 16 adds, _and they came to Helam_; the position of Helam however is unknown.

_Shophach_] In 2 Samuel x. 16 called “Shobach.” The whole allied army was united under one general.

¹⁷And it was told David; and he gathered all Israel together,
and passed over Jordan, and came upon them, and set the battle
in array against them. So when David had put the battle in array
against the Syrians, they fought with him.

=17.= _came upon them_] or possibly read, as 2 Samuel x. 17, =came to Helam=. According to 2 Samuel x. the Syrian army assembled at Helam, and was there attacked by David.

¹⁸And the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew of the
Syrians _the men of_ seven thousand chariots, and forty thousand
footmen, and killed Shophach the captain of the host.

=18.= _seven thousand_] 2 Samuel x. 18, _seven hundred_: an intentional change made by the Chronicler to enhance the achievement of David.

_forty thousand footmen_] 2 Samuel x. 18, _forty thousand horsemen_. Swarms of horsemen have usually formed the strength of armies raised on the eastern bank of the Euphrates; but the reading in Chronicles may well be correct.

¹⁹And when the servants of Hadarezer saw that they were put to
the worse before Israel, they made peace with David, and served
him: neither would the Syrians help the children of Ammon any
more.

=19.= _the servants_] i.e. his vassals and tributaries; in 2 Samuel “all the kings that were servants to Hadarezer.” We are not told what course Hadarezer himself took; possibly, being deserted by his allies, he ceased from hostilities without making any treaty with David.