2 Samuel 8:16-18
Joab <03097> [Joab.]
Jehoshaphat <03092> [Jehoshaphat.]
secretary <02142> [recorder. or, remembrancer, or writer of chronicles.]
Zadok <06659> [Zadok.]
Seraiah <08304> [and Seraiah.]
[Shavsha. scribe. or, secretary.]
Benaiah <01141> [Benaiah.]
Kerithites <03774> [the Cherethites.]
priests <03548> [chief rulers. or, princes.]
2 Samuel 8:1
Later <0310> [A.M. 2964. B.C. 1040. An. Ex. Is. 451. And after.]
Metheg <04965> [Metheg-ammah. or, the bridle of Ammah.]
[Gath.]
In the parallel passage of Chronicles, we read, "David took Gath and her towns;" and it is probable, that Gath and its districts were called Metheg-ammah in David's time; which, being unusual or becoming obsolete, in the time of the author of the Chronicles, led him thus to explain it.
2 Samuel 18:15-17
Then ... blew ... trumpet <08628 07782> [blew the trumpet.]
<05324> [laid.]
This was the ancient method of burying, whether heroes or traitors; the heap of stones being designed to perpetuate the memory of the event, whether good or bad. The Arabs in general make use of no other monument than a heap of stones over a grave. Thus, in an Arabic poem, it is related, that Hatim the father, and Adi the grandfather of Kais, having been murdered, at a time before Kais was capable of reflection, his mother kept it a profound secret; and in order to guard him against having any suspicion, she collected a parcel of stone on two hillocks in the neighbourhood, and told her son that the one was the grave of his father, and the other of his grandfather. The ancient cairns in Ireland and Scotland, and the tumuli in England, are of this kind.
