2 Samuel 8:5

5 When the Arameans of Damascus came to help Zobah's King Hadadezer, David killed twenty-two thousand of them.

2 Samuel 8:5 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 8:5

And when the Syrians of Damascus came to succour Hadadezer king
of Zobah
These seem to have had no king at this time, or, if they had, Hadadezer was their king, which is not improbable; and Nicholas of Damascus ^F15; an Heathen writer, is clear for it, whom he calls Adad, who, he says, reigned over Damascus, and the other Syria without Phoenicia, who made war with David king of Judea, and was routed by him at Euphrates: and he seems to be the first king of Damascus, which he joined to the kingdom of Zobah, and all the kings of Damascus afterwards were called by the same name; though Josephus ^F16, who also speaks of Adad being king of Damascus and of the Syrians, yet makes him different from this Hadadezer, to whose assistance he says he came:

David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men;
that is, of the Syrians of Damascus.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 Apud Joseph. ib. (l. 7. c. 5.) sect. 2.
F16 Ibid.

2 Samuel 8:5 In-Context

3 Next David defeated Zobah's King Hadadezer, Rehob's son, as Hadadezer was on his way to put his monument along the Euphrates River.

4 David captured one thousand chariots, seven hundred charioteers, and twenty thousand foot soldiers. He cut the hamstrings of all but one hundred of the chariot horses.

5 When the Arameans of Damascus came to help Zobah's King Hadadezer, David killed twenty-two thousand of them.

6 David set up forts among the Arameans of Damascus. And the Arameans became David's subjects and brought him tribute. The LORD gave David victory wherever he went.

7 David took the gold shields carried by Hadadezer's servants and brought them to Jerusalem.