2 Samuel 8:5

5 When the Arameans from Damascus came to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, David killed 22,000 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 When David went to restore his control [over the territory] along the Euphrates River, he defeated Zobah's King Hadadezer, son of Rehob.

4 David took 1,700 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers from him. David also disabled all but 100 of their horses so that they couldn't pull chariots.

5 When the Arameans from Damascus came to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, David killed 22,000 of them.

6 David put troops in the Aramean kingdom of Damascus, and the Arameans became his subjects and paid taxes [to him]. Everywhere David went, the LORD gave him victories.

7 David took the gold shields that belonged to Hadadezer's servants, and he brought them to Jerusalem.