Page:The Books of Chronicles (1916).djvu/181

Rh And after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them, and took Gath and her towns out of the hand of the Philistines. And he smote Moab; and the Moabites became servants to David, and brought presents. And David smote Hadarezer king of Zobah unto Hamath, as he went to stablish his dominion by the river Euphrates. And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and

XVIII. 1—13 (= 2 Sam. viii. 1—14).&emsp;

1. after this] The phrase is adopted from 2 Sam. viii. 1 and probably came originally from a still earlier book of annals, in which the context may have been different. We cannot therefore say at what period of David's reign the conquest of Gath took place.

took Gath and her towns] It is impossible to say for certain whether this is the original text or only an interpretation of the obscure reading in 2 Sam. viii. 1, took the bridle of the mother city (R.V.).

2. smote Moab] The Chronicler at this point omits, as he often omits, some difficult words of Samuel. 2 Sam. viii. 2 seems to say that David put two-thirds of the Moabites (presumably the warriors) to death, but the meaning of the verse is uncertain.

brought presents] i.e. tribute, in acknowledgment of David's superiority. The same Heb. phrase (translated "bring an offering") is used Ps. xcvi. 8 of sacrificing to Jehovah.

3. Hadarezer] So spelt in 2 Sam. x. 16—19, but in 2 Sam. viii. 3—12, Hadadezer, the right form (as inscriptions show).

Zobah unto Hamath] Render as mg. Zobah by Hamath, the position of Zobah being fixed by the note that it was near Hamath.

Hamath] The modern Hama on the Orontes, midway between Antioch and Damascus, but somewhat further to the E. than either. See below ver. 9; also xiii. 5 and 2 Chr. viii. 3.

as he went to stablish his dominion] He may refer to Hadarezer or to David; the latter, probably, is the Chronicler's intention. The reading in 2 Sam. viii. 3 ("to recover his dominion"—R.V.) should be emended to the text in Chron.

by the river Euphrates] The utter improbability that David exercised any authority in regions so far north throws no doubt upon the reading, for the Chronicler and the author of Sam. may easily have believed that he did so.

4. a thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen] Sam. a thousand and seven hundred horsemen (so Heb. but LXX. of Sam. agrees with Chron.).Houghed = "hamstrung."