2 Samuel 8:5

5 And when the Syrians of Damascus came to succour Hadadezer king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians twenty-two thousand men.

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.

---

FOOTNOTES:

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

2 Samuel 8:5 In-Context

3 David smote also Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to extend his border to the river Euphrates.

4 And David took from him a thousand seven hundred horsemen and twenty thousand footmen, and David hamstrung all the chariot horses but reserved of them for one hundred chariots.

5 And when the Syrians of Damascus came to succour Hadadezer king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians twenty-two thousand men.

6 Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus, and the Syrians became slaves to David, bringing presents. And the LORD saved David wherever he went.

7 And David took the shields of gold that were on the slaves of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem.