And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and
Amalek,
&c.] Either the Lord gathered them to Eglon, inclined them to
enter into a confederacy with him, to assist in the war against
Israel; or the king of Moab got them to join with him in it, they
being his neighbours, and enemies to Israel, and especially
Amalek:
and went and smote Israel;
first the two tribes and a half, which lay on that side Jordan
Moab did, whom it is reasonable to suppose he would attack first;
and having defeated them, he came over Jordan:
and possessed the city of the palm trees;
Jericho, as the Targum, which was set with palm trees; see (
Deuteronomy 34:3 ) (
Judges 1:16 )
; not the city itself, for that was destroyed by Joshua, and not
rebuilt until the time of Ahab; but the country, about it, or, as
Abarbinel thinks, a city that was near it; here Josephus says
F20 he had his royal palace; it is
probable he built a fort or garrison here, to secure the fords of
Jordan, and his own retreat; as well as to keep up a
communication with his own people, and prevent the tribes of the
other side giving any assistance to their brethren, if able and
disposed to do it.