2 Samuel 8:3-8
Hadadezer <01909> [Hadadezer.]
[Hadarezer. Zobah.]
Euphrates <05104> [at the river.]
1,700 .... 20,000 <0505> [from him. or, of his. chariots.]
As 1 Ch 18:4 seven hundred. In the parallel place in Chronicles it is "seven thousand horsemen, a far more probable number. The letter [Zayin,] {zayin,} with a dot upon it stands for seven thousand, and the final letter N–wn,] {noon,} for seven hundred: the great similarity of these letters might easily cause the one to be mistaken for the other, and so produce an error in this place.
David .......... David cut the hamstrings <06131 01732> [David houghed.]
but <03498> [reserved.]
Arameans ................. Arameans <0758> [And when.]
<0935> [came.]
Zobah <06678> [Zobah.]
From 2 Ch 8:3, we learn that Zobah was the district in which Tadmor or Palymyra was situated; and consequently lay between the land of Israel and the Euphrates. The capital was probably the same as the Sabe mentioned by Ptolemy as a city of Arabia Deserta.
garrisons <05333> [garrisons.]
subjects <05650> [became.]
Lord <03068> [the Lord.]
shields <07982> [shields.]
Tebah <0984> [Betah.]
Probably the same as Bathne in Syria, between Bero‘ea and Hierapolis.
[Tibhath, Chun. Berothai.]
Berothai is probably the Barathena of Ptolemy, which he mentions, along with Sabe, as a city of Arabia Deserta, in the confines of the Palmyrenian district.
<03966> [exceeding.]
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 18:3
<03318> [Thou shalt.]
rapid retreat <05127> [if we flee.]
make ......... concerned ...... half ................ like <07760 02677 03644> [care for us. Heb. set their heart on us. but now.]
The particle {Æ’ttah,} Now, is doubtless a mistake for the pronoun {attah,} Thou: and so it appears to have been read by the LXX., Vulgate, and Chaldee, and by two of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS.
like <03644> [worth, etc. Heb. as ten thousand of us.]
support <05826> [succour. Heb. be to succour.]
2 Samuel 18:5
gently <0328> [Deal gently.]
army <05971> [all the people.]
