Bible Commentaries

2 Samuel 9-10. (J.) These chapters are of the utmost value, both as literature and as history. They seem to be the work either of a contemporary, or of some one who was familiar with the facts through the testimony of contemporaries.

2 Samuel 10. War with the Ammonites and the Syrians (J).

2 Samuel 10:1-5. The king of Ammon insults David's ambassadors. [J. G. Frazer (Taboo and the Perils of the Soul, p. 273) connects Hanun's action with the well-known belief that to get possession of the hair of a person is to have him in one's power. He supposes that Hanun, distrusting David's designs and desirous to have some guarantee of peace, thought he secured this by retaining half the beards and garments He quotes as a parallel the treatment of a traitor by two Moabite Arabs who shaved completely one side of his head and his moustache on the other, and set him at liberty.—A. S. P.]

2 Samuel 10:6-14. The Ammonites hire mercenaries from the Syrian states; Joab takes command of the general levy of Israel and the standing army (read, "the host and the mighty men"; probably David's 600 were continued as the nucleus of a standing army). Joab marched to the gate, i.e. of Rabbah, the capital of Ammon; and though caught between the Ammonites and the Syrians, won a signal victory.

2 Samuel 10:6. Beth-rehob: Numbers 13:21*.—Maachah: Deuteronomy 3:14.—Tob: Judges 11:3*.

2 Samuel 10:15-19. Further victories over the Syrians. Apparently a variant of 2 Samuel 8:3-8, which see; perhaps an editorial addition.