2 Samuel 10:17

17 David [was] told, so he gathered all Israel and crossed over the Jordan and came to Helam. Aram {arranged themselves in battle lines} to meet David, and they fought with him.

2 Samuel 10:17 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 10:17

And when it was told David
What preparations the Syrians were making to fight him, and where they were:

he gathered all Israel together;
all the fighting men in the country:

and passed over Jordan, and came to Helam:
which, according to Bunting {b}, was twenty miles from Jerusalem. David seems to have gone himself in person to this war:

and the Syrians set themselves in array against David, and fought with
him;
they formed themselves in a line of battle, and attacked him first, being eager to fight, and perhaps confident of victory, because of their numbers.

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 Travels p. 140, 141.

2 Samuel 10:17 In-Context

15 When the Arameans saw that they [were] defeated before Israel, they gathered themselves together.

16 Then Hadadezer sent and brought out the Arameans who [were] beyond the Euphrates, and they came to Helam. Now Shobach, the commander of the army of Hadadezer, {was at their head}.

17 David [was] told, so he gathered all Israel and crossed over the Jordan and came to Helam. Aram {arranged themselves in battle lines} to meet David, and they fought with him.

18 And Aram fled before Israel, and David killed from [the] Arameans seven hundred chariot teams and forty thousand horsemen. He struck down Shobach, the commander of his army, and he died there.

19 When all the kings, the servants of Hadadezer, saw that he had been defeated before Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them, and Aram [was] afraid to help the {Ammonites} any longer.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "arrayed"