2 Samuel 10:6-14

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.

Beth-rehob Beth-rehob (house of Rehob) or Rehob (2 Samuel 10:8), the capital of this Syrian kingdom, can hardly be the Beth-rehob near Dan mentioned in Judges 18:28, which was in Israelite territory. It is better to place it at Ruhaibeh, 25 miles N.E. of Damascus, or to identify it with Rehoboth by the river(Genesis 36:37), the site of which is fixed a few miles below the junction of the Chaboras with the Euphrates. In this case the Mesopotamians mentioned in the parallel passage in 1 Chron. may be the same as the Syrians of Beth-rehob.

the Syrians of Zoba See note on ch. 2 Samuel 8:3.

and of king Maacah Rather, and the king of Maacah. This small Syrian kingdom was in the neighbourhood of Geshur, adjoining the province of Argob in the north-east of Bashan (Deuteronomy 3:14), somewhere to the east of the wild and rocky region now called El-Lejah. Some however would place it on the south-west slope of Hermon at the sources of the Jordan. See notes on Joshua 12:5; Joshua 13:13.

and of Ish-tob Rather, and the men of Tob, the district in which Jephthah took refuge (Judges 11:3). It seems to have been somewhere north or east of Gilead, between Syria and the country of the Ammonites.

The text of Chronicles differs from that of Samuel in several points. (a) It mentions the price paid to the Syrians, a thousand talents of silver, and names Medeba as the rendezvous where their forces assembled. (b) The names of the countries from which the mercenaries were drawn are given as Mesopotamia, Maacah, and Zobah. Beth-rehob may be included under Mesopotamia (2 Samuel 10:6, note). Tob is not mentioned; perhaps it was a dependency of Zobah, and is included under it. The contingent sent by each is not specified. (c) The total number of 32,000 besides the men of Maacah, agrees with the numbers here; but the reading chariotsin the present text of 1 Chronicles 19:7 can scarcely be right. 32,000 chariots would be a force of unexampled magnitude. See 1 Kings 10:26; 2 Chronicles 12:3; 2 Chronicles 14:9. The text of Samuel also seems to be defective, as the force doubtless had some cavalry and chariots and did not consist of infantry only.