2 Samuel 8:2

casting them down to the ground Making them lie down on the ground. The Moabite prisoners, doubtless only the fighting men, were ordered to lie down upon the ground in rows, which were measured with a measuring line. Two thirds of them were executed, and only the remaining third spared. Why David inflicted such terrible vengeance on a nation which had once received him and given his parents an asylum (1 Samuel 22:3-4) can only be conjectured. A Jewish tradition relates that the king of Moab betrayed his trust and murdered David's parents. Possibly the Moabites may have been guilty of some special act of treachery in one of David's wars with their neighbours the Ammonites or Edomites. The exploit recorded in ch. 2 Samuel 23:20 was perhaps performed in this war. By this victory Balaam's prophecy was fulfilled (Numbers 24:17).

brought gifts Paid tribute to David. Cp. 2 Samuel 8:6; 1 Kings 4:21. At the division of the kingdom, Moab seems to have fallen to Israel, for we find Mesha, the king of Moab, paying a heavy tribute to Ahab, and at his death making a vigorous effort to throw off the Israelite yoke (2 Kings 3:4 ff.).