1 Chronicles 19

1Ch 19:1-5.

DAVID'S

MESSENGERS,

SENT TO

COMFORT

HANUN,

ARE

DISGRACEFULLY

TREATED.

1. after this--This phrase seems to indicate that the incident now

to be related took place immediately, or soon after the wars described

in the preceding chapter. But the chronological order is loosely

observed, and the only just inference that can be drawn from the use of

this phrase is, that some farther account is to be given of the wars

against the Syrians.

Nahash the king of the children of Ammon died--There had subsisted

a very friendly relation between David and him, begun during the exile

of the former, and cemented, doubtless, by their common hostility to

Saul.

3. are not his servants come unto thee for to search?--that is,

thy capital, Rabbah

(2Sa 10:3).

4, 5. shaved them--not completely, but only the half of their face.

This disrespect to the beard, and indecent exposure of their persons by

their clothes being cut off from the girdle downwards, was the grossest

indignity to which Jews, in common with all Orientals, could be

subjected. No wonder that the men were ashamed to appear in

public--that the king recommended them to remain in seclusion on the

border till the mark of their disgrace had disappeared--and then they

might, with propriety, return to the court.

1Ch 19:6-15.

JOAB AND

ABISHAI

OVERCOME THE

AMMONITES.

6. when the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves odious

to David--One universal feeling of indignation was roused throughout

Israel, and all classes supported the king in his determination to

avenge this unprovoked insult on the Hebrew nation.

Hanun . . . sent a thousand talents of silver--a sum

equal to £342,100, to procure the services of foreign

mercenaries.

chariots and horsemen out of Mesopotamia . . .

Syria-maachah, and . . . Zobah--The Mesopotamian troops

did not arrive during this campaign

(1Ch 19:16).

Syria-maachah lay on the north of the possessions of the trans-jordanic

Israelites, near Gilead.

Zobah--(see on

1Ch 18:3).

7. So they hired thirty and two thousand

chariots--Hebrew, "riders," or "cavalry," accustomed to

fight either on horseback or in chariots, and occasionally on foot.

Accepting this as the true rendering, the number of hired auxiliaries

mentioned in this passage agrees exactly with the statement in

2Sa 10:6:

twenty thousand (from Syria), twelve thousand (from Tob), equal to

thirty-two thousand, and one thousand with the king of Maachah.

8. David . . . sent Joab, and all the host of the mighty men--All the

forces of Israel, including the great military orders, were engaged in

this war.

9-15. children of Ammon . . . put the battle in array before the gate

of the city--that is, outside the walls of Medeba, a frontier town on

the Arnon.

the kings that were come were by themselves in the field--The

Israelitish army being thus beset by the Ammonites in front, and by the

Syrian auxiliaries behind, Joab resolved to attack the latter (the more

numerous and formidable host), while he directed his brother Abishai,

with a suitable detachment, to attack the Ammonites. Joab's address

before the engagement displays the faith and piety that became a

commander of the Hebrew people. The mercenaries being defeated, the

courage of the Ammonites failed; so that, taking flight, they

entrenched themselves within the fortified walls.

1Ch 19:16-19.

SHOPHACH

SLAIN BY

DAVID.

16. And when the Syrians saw that they were put to the worse before

Israel--(See on

2Sa 10:15-19).

18. David slew of the Syrians seven thousand men--(Compare

2Sa 10:18,

which has seven hundred chariots). Either the text in one of the books

is corrupt [KEIL, DAVIDSON],

or the accounts must be combined, giving this result--seven thousand

horsemen, seven thousand chariots, and forty thousand footmen [KENNICOTT, HOUBIGANT, CALMET].