John Gill Commentary 2 Samuel 8

And after this it came to pass
After David had rest from his enemies for a time, and after the conversation he had had with Nathan about building the house of God, and after the message sent to him from the Lord by that prophet, forbidding him to build, and David's prayer to the Lord upon it, the following events happened; and which are recorded to show that David's rest from his enemies did not last long, and that he had other work to do than to build the house of God:

that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them ;
these had been long and implacable enemies of Israel; Samson began to weaken them in his days; a war was waged between them and Israel in the times of Samuel and Saul, and the battle sometimes went on one side and sometimes on the other; but now David made an entire conquest of them: before they had used to come into the land of Israel, and there fight with Israel, but now David entered into their land, and took it from them:

and David took Methegammah out of the hands of the Philistines ;
the name of a province in Palestine, and from the parallel place in (1 Chronicles 18:1) , it appears to be Gath, and its adjacent towns; but why that was called the bridle of Ammah, or the bridle of a cubit, as it may be rendered, is not easy to say. The conjecture of Kimchi is, that there was a pool or river of water, so Ammah is thought to signify; and Aquila renders it a water course, which passed through the city, having been brought from without it into it, the communication of which from place to place it may be David cut off, by stopping or turning its stream; but interpreters more generally suppose that Gath was built upon an hill called Ammah, see (2 Samuel 2:24) ; thought to be the same with the Amgaris of Pliny ^F4 though that is sometimes read Angaris, a mountain he places in Palestine; and that it was called Metheg, a bridle, because being a frontier city, and being very strong and powerful, erected into a kingdom, it was a curb and bridle upon the Israelites; but now David taking it out of their hands, opened his way for the more easy subduing the rest of their country:

or the word may be rendered Metheg and her mother, that is, Gath, the metropolis, since that and her daughters, or towns, are said to be taken, (1 Chronicles 18:1) ; and Metheg might be one of them.

FOOTNOTES:

• F4: Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 13.

And he smote Moab
He next went against that, and invaded it, the people of it being always troublesome and distressing to the children of Israel; and though the king of it has shown some favour to David, yet it was when he considered him as an enemy to Saul, and Saul to him; but things having taken a different turn, his and his people's enmity against David and his people appeared; wherefore he went and fought them, and made them his subjects, whereby was fulfilled the prophecy of Balaam (Numbers 24:17) as it referred to David:

and measured them with a line :
either their country and fields, to distribute among his people, or rather the soldiers he took prisoners; which, as Procopius Gazaeus says, were so numerous that they could not be told. Therefore, they were ordered to lie prostrate on the ground and were measured with a line, as it follows:

casting them down to the ground ;
or ordering them to lie down; though some understand this of casting down their cities, towers, and strong holds, and levelling them with the ground:

even with two lines measured he ;
with one, so it may be supplied, as the Vulgate Latin,

to put to death, and with one full line, to keep alive ;
that is, in measuring them with his lines, he divided them into two parts: one he put to death, and the other, the full line, which contained the most, he saved alive. Though it seems according to our version, and so most understand it, that David slew two thirds, and saved one, and so Josephus ^F5 .

This must be understood of the army of the Moabites that fell into his hands, so Josephus, who persisted and refused to submit, not of all the inhabitants of the land.

The Jews say ^F6 that the reason of this severe treatment of them was because they slew the father, mother, and brethren of David, whom he left to the care and custody of the king of Moab when he fled from Saul (see 1 Samuel 22:3). Since after that they are heard no more of, though it should rather be imputed to their enmity against the people of Israel.

The phrase of "meting out the valley of Succoth" seems to be an allusion to this fact (Psalms 60:6), the psalm being written on occasion of the victories here related:

and [so] the Moabites became David's servants ;
the inhabitants of the land who were left in it, perhaps that part of the soldiers preserved alive were brought home captives:

[and] brought gifts ;
paid a yearly tribute to King David, as they afterwards did to Solomon and to Rehoboam, until the revolt of the ten tribes, and then they paid it unto the kings of Israel, to the times of Ahab (see 2 Kings 3:4, 2 Kings 3:5). Though these gifts may be distinct from and besides the tribute paid, which is supposed in their being servants (see 2 Chronicles 17:11).

Thus the Arabians ^F7 carried gifts to the king of Persia besides tribute.

FOOTNOTES:

• F5: Antiqu. l. 7. c. 5. sect. 1.
• F6: Bemidbar Rabba, l. 14. fol. 212. 1.
• F7: Herodot. Thalia, sive, l. 3. c. 97.

And David also smote Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of
Zobah
Called sometimes Aramzobah, and was a part of Syria, as its name shows. Benjamin, of Tudela ^F8 takes it to be the same with Haleb or Aleppo; Josephus ^F9 calls it Sophene; but that is placed by Ptolemy

as he went to recover his border at the river Euphrates ; which some understand of Hadadezer, so Jarchi and Kimchi, who attempted to recover part of his dominions that had been taken by some one or another from him, which lay upon the river Euphrates; or he endeavoured to enlarge his dominions, and carry them as far as the river, and establish the borders of them.

While he was doing this, or attempting it, David fell upon him, and routed him.

Or rather this refers to David, who considering that the ancient border of the land of Israel, as given to Abraham, reached to the river Euphrates, (Genesis 15:18) , he set out on an expedition to recover this border.

Whereas the country of this king lay in his way, he invaded that; upon which Hadadezer rose up against him, and was conquered by him, and by this means the border was recovered to the kingdom of Israel, and reached so far, as is plain it did in Solomon's time, (1 Kings 4:21–24) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F8: Itinerar. p. 59.
• F9: Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 5. sect. 1.)

And David took from him a thousand [chariots], and seven
hundred horsemen
"Chariots" are not in the text here, it is only 1700 "horsemen"; but it is supplied from (1 Chronicles 18:4); where the word is expressly mentioned, and there the horsemen are said to be seven thousand as in the Septuagint version here, and in Josephus ^F13. This may be reconciled by observing, with Kimchi and Abarbinel, that here the chief officers are meant, there all the chariots and horsemen that were under their command are mentioned, which together made up that large number.

Or else here are meant the ranks and companies of horse David took, which were seven hundred; and these having ten in a company or rank, made seven thousand; and there the complement of soldiers in those companies and ranks are intended:

and twenty thousand footmen ;
the same as in (1 Chronicles 18:4); and so in Josephus ^F14 :

and David houghed all the chariot [horses] ;
or hamstrung them, as Joshua was ordered to do with respect to the Canaanites, (Joshua 11:6); he did not kill them, which might seem cruel and unmerciful to the brute creatures, but hamstrung them, that they might be useless for war; and the reason of it was, that horses might not be multiplied in Israel for that purpose, that so their trust and confidence might not be placed in them; see (Deuteronomy 17:16);

but reserved of them [for] an hundred chariots ;
for his own use, not for war, but for grandeur; which accounts in some measure for the number of chariots and horses Solomon had, (1 Kings 4:26) (2 Chronicles 1:14); the number of horses reserved is supposed to be four hundred, four horses being used in a chariot, which Jarchi gathers from (2 Chronicles 1:17) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F13: Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 5. sect. 1.)
• F14: Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 5. sect. 1.)

And when the Syrians of Damascus came to succour Hadadezer king
of Zobah
These seem to have had no king at this time, or, if they had, Hadadezer was their king, which is not improbable. And Nicholas of Damascus ^F15, an Heathen writer, is clear for it. He calls him Adad, who, he says, reigned over Damascus, and the other Syria without Phoenicia. He made war with David king of Judea, and was routed by him at Euphrates.

And he seems to be the first king of Damascus, which he joined to the kingdom of Zobah, and all the kings of Damascus afterwards were called by the same name. Though Josephus ^F16 also speaks of Adad being king of Damascus and of the Syrians. He yet makes him different from this Hadadezer, to whose assistance he says he came.

David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men ;
that is, of the Syrians of Damascus.

FOOTNOTES:

• F15: Apud Joseph. ib. (l. 7. c. 5.) sect. 2.
• F16: Ibid.