1 Chronicles 18:2

Much abridged, as compared with Samuel. After the words “he smote Moab,” we read there of a partial massacre of the conquered. The emission is scarcely due to any unfair bias on the part of the chronicler. Indeed, as a Jew, possessed with all the national exclusiveness and hatred of the aliens who always misunderstood and sometimes cruelly oppressed his people, he was not likely to regard the slaughter of captive Moabites from a modern point of view. (Comp. Ezra 6:21; Ezra 6:9; Nehemiah 2:19; Nehemiah 2:4; Nehemiah 2:6; Nehemiah 2:13) Besides, he has related the cruel treatment of the Ammonite prisoners (1 Chronicles 20:3). (See the prophecy, Numbers 24:17.)

And the Moabites became. — Literally, and they became — viz., Moab. The name of the country denotes the people. Samuel has “and Moab [i.e., the country] became” (verb singular feminine).

David’s servants. — Samuel, “to David for servants.”

And brought gifts. — Literally, bringers of an offering — i.e., tribute. Similar notices are common in the Assyrian inscriptions. (Comp. 1 Kings 4:21; 2 Kings 3:4; and the famous Moabite inscription of which the fragments are now in the Louvre, and which records Mesha’s revolt against the successor of Ahab.)