1 Chronicles 19:1--20:3
Nahash <05176> [Nahash.]
express <06213> [I will shew.]
son ........................... Ammonite <01121> [the children.]
officials <08269> [but the princes.]
David <05869 01732> [Thinkest thou that David. Heb. In thine eyes doth David.]
they can ... information <02713> [to search.]
seized David's <03947 01732> [took David's.]
shaved their beards off ... cut off <01548 03772> [shaved them.]
cut off <03772> [and cut.]
sent ... away <07971> [sent them.]
told David <01732 05046> [and told David.]
Jericho <03405> [at Jericho.]
beards <02206> [your beards.]
disgusted <0887> [had made.]
disgusted <0887> [odious. Heb. to stink.]
1,000 <0505> [a thousand.]
Aram <0758> [Syria-maachah.]
Zobah <06678> [Zobah.]
hired <07936> [hired.]
32,000 <07970> [thirty.]
Thirty-two thousand soldiers, exclusive of the thousand send by the Maachah, are mentioned in the parallel passage (2 Sa 10:6;) but of chariots or cavalry there is no mention; and the number of chariots stated here is prodigious, and beyond all credibility. But as the word {raichev} denotes not only a chariot, but a rider, (see Isa 21:7,) it ought most probably to be rendered here, in a collective sense, cavalry; and then the number of troops will exactly agree with the passage in Samuel. It is probable that they were a kind of auxiliary troops who were usually mounted on horses, or in chariots, but who occasionally served as foot-soldiers.
king ... Maacah <04601 04428> [the king of Maachah.]
This variation exists only in the translation, the original being the same in both places, {melech m„achah,} "the king of Maachah."
king <04428> [king Maachah. Medeba.]
Joab <03097> [Joab.]
battle <04421> [put the battle.]
kings <04428> [the kings.]
Joab <03097> [when Joab.]
battle <04421> [battle. Heb. face of the battle. set against.]
chose <0977> [choice. or, young men.]
Abishai <052> [Abishai. Heb. Abshai.]
The variation of ['AbŒyshay <\\See definition 052\\>,] Abishai, and ['Abshay <\\See definition 052\\>,] Abshai, is simply caused by the elision of [Y“wd,] {yood,} which is by no means uncommon.
deployed <06186> [and they set.]
Arameans <0758> [If the Syrians.]
strong .... bravely <02388> [of good.]
strong .... bravely <02388> [let us behave, etc.]
In Samuel, "let us play the men;" but the original is the same in both places, {nithchazzak}.
Lord <03068> [let the Lord.]
fled <05127> [they fled.]
flee ... fled <05127> [they likewise.]
<03318> [A.M. 2968. B.C. 1036. An. Ex. Is. 455. and drew.]
Euphrates <05104> [river. that is, Euphrates. Shophach.]
This variation arises from the permutation of [Bˆyth,] {baith,} and [Pˆ,] {pay;} being written in the parallel passage [Sh“wbƒk <\\See definition 07731\\>,] Shobach, and here [Sh“wphƒk <\\See definition 07780\\>,] Shophach.
[Shobach.]
deployed <06186> [upon them.]
Instead of {alaihem,} "upon them," it is in 2 Sa 10:17 {chelamah,} "to Helam:" the one seems evidently to be a mistake for the other.
deployed <06186> [and set.]
fled before Israel <05127 06440 03478> [fled before Israel.]
7,000 ..... 40,000 <07651 0505> [seven thousand.]
In the parallel passage, "the men of seven hundred chariots;" which difference probably arose from mistaking [N–wn,] {noon final}, which stands for 700, for [Zayin,] {zayin,} with a dot above, which denotes 7,000, or vice versa: the great similarity of these letters might easily cause the one to be mistaken for the other.
<0376> [footmen.]
If these troops were as we have suppose, a kind of dismounted cavalry, the terms footmen and horsemen might be indifferently applied to them.
[horsemen.]
subjects <05650> [the servants.]
willing <014> [would.]
time <06256> [A.M. 2969. B.C. 1035. An. Ex. Is. 456. And it came.]
spring .... time <08141 08666 06256> [after the year was expired. Heb. at the return of the year.]
devastated <07843> [wasted.]
Rabbah ......... Rabbah <07237> [Rabbah.]
Joab ........................ Joab defeated <05221 03097> [Joab smote.]
David ............... weight .............. He <04948 01732> [it. Heb. the weight of it. and he brought.]
removed <03318> [And he.]
made them do hard labor <07787> [and cut.]
Instead of {wyyasar,} "and he cut," the parallel passage is {wyyasem,} "and he put them;" which is also the reading here of seven MSS. collated by Dr. Kennicott. Sawing asunder, etc., of human beings, have no more place in the text, than they had in David's conduct towards the Ammonites.
saws ..... axes <04050> [with saws.]
