2 Samuel 10

2 Samuel 10:1

I. Further Conquests (Chap. 10)10:1-5 Apparently Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, had done David a favor at one time. This was the same Nahash whom Saul defeated early in his reign (1 Sam. 11). Nahash might have helped David when he was a fugitive, since Saul was their mutual enemy for a time. Now David desired to repay that loyalty, so he sent messengers to Hanun the son of Nahash, who was crowned king when his father died. The princes of . . . Ammon suspected David’s men of being spies, and so Hanun ordered them to be subjected to personal insults and indignities. David was angered when he saw his humiliated messengers. 10:6-8 As soon as the Ammonites learned of this, they prepared for war against Israel by hiring the Syrians from the north (see 1 Chron. 19). Thus David’s men, under Joab, faced two armiesthe Syrians and the Ammonites. John Haley gives the following explanation of the apparent inconsistencies between verse 6 and 1Ch_19:6-7 : Bethrehob was one of the little kingdoms of Mesopotamia, as also were Maacah, Zobah, and Tob petty monarchies of Syria. Thus the names and numbers agree as follows: 2 SamuelSyrians of Beth Rehob and Zobah20,000Syrians of Tob12,000Syrians of Maacah1,000TOTAL33,0001 ChroniclesSyrians from Zobah, etc.32,000Syrians of Maacah (number not given)[1,000]TOTAL33,00010:9-14 Joab divided his men into two groups. He himself commanded some of Israel’s best soldiers in a drive against the Syrians. His brother . . . Abishai led the rest of the Israelites against . . . Ammon. Both generals agreed to send help should the other be threatened. The Syrians . . . fled as Joab and his men attacked in the open field. Then the frightened Ammonites retreated into their city (probably Rabbah). 10:15-19 Shortly thereafter the Syrians reorganized their forces and solicited aid from other Syrian states. They marched as far as Helam, east of the Jordan (exact location unknown), where David’s army met and defeated them. The Israelites destroyed seven hundred charioteers and forty thousand horsemen. (In 1Ch_19:18 the losses are stated as “seven thousand charioteers and forty thousand foot soldiers.” Williams suggests that there was a cavalry brigade of 40,000 men with 700 light chariots, and an infantry brigade of 40,000 with 7,000 heavy chariots.) This battle convinced the Syrians of David’s power, so they made peace with Israel and refused to help the Ammonites anymore.