2 Samuele 10:16

16 E Hadarezer mandò a far venire i Siri di là dal fiume; ed essi vennero in Helam; e Sobac, capo dell’esercito di Hadarezer, li conduceva.

2 Samuele 10:16 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 10:16

And Hadarezer sent
The same with Hadadezer, ( 2 Samuel 8:3 ) , who was at the head of this confederacy, and to whom the rest of the kings of Syria were servants, ( 2 Samuel 10:19 ) ;

and brought out the Syrians that [were] beyond the river;
the river Phrat or Euphrates, as the Targum; so the Arabic version and Josephus {y}, who says, that he hired them:

and they came to Helam;
which, according to the same writer, was king of the Syrians beyond Euphrates; but it seems to be the name of a place, where was the general rendezvous of the Syrian army. Junius conjectures that it is the same with the Alamatha of Ptolemy ^F26, which he places with the Trachonite Arabs near the Euphrates:

and Shobach the captain of the host of Hadarezer [went] before them:
before the whole combined army, which according to Josephus ^F1, consisted of eighty thousand foot, and ten thousand horse: this general is called Shophach, ( 1 Chronicles 19:16 ) the letters "B" and "P" being of the same pronunciation in the Hebrew tongue, as Kimchi observes, though it is there read "Shobach", in the Syriac and Arabic versions; he was no doubt a very able, valiant, and skilful general, since he is particularly mentioned by name, and whose name was then famous; the Arabic version calls him a spear bearer of Hadarezer.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 6.) sect. 3.
F26 Geograph. l. 5. c. 15.
F1 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 6. sect. 3.)

2 Samuele 10:16 In-Context

14 E gli Ammoniti, veggendo che i Siri erano fuggiti, fuggirono anch’essi d’innanzi ad Abisai, ed entrarono dentro alla città. E Ioab se ne ritornò indietro da’ figliuoli di Ammon, e venne in Gerusalemme.

15 E i Siri, veggendo ch’erano stati sconfitti da Israele, si adunarono insieme.

16 E Hadarezer mandò a far venire i Siri di là dal fiume; ed essi vennero in Helam; e Sobac, capo dell’esercito di Hadarezer, li conduceva.

17 Ed essendo ciò rapportato a Davide, egli adunò tutto Israele, e passò il Giordano, e venne in Helam. E i Siri ordinarono la battaglia contro a Davide, e combatterono con lui.

18 Ma i Siri fuggirono d’innanzi a Israele; e Davide uccise de’ Siri la gente di settecento carri, e quarantamila uomini a cavallo; percosse eziandio Sobac, capo del loro esercito; ed egli morì quivi.