Shmuel Bais 8:9

9 When To’u Melech Chamat heard that Dovid had defeated all the army of Hadadezer,

Shmuel Bais 8:9 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 8:9

When Toi king of Hamath
Which was another small kingdom in Syria, perhaps lately erected to defend themselves against Hadadezer, and this the first king of it, at least the first we hear of; his name is Tou in ( 1 Chronicles 18:9 ) ; where in the Targum he is called king of Antioch. Hamath lay to the north of the land of Canaan; (See Gill on Numbers 34:8): it is said ^F20 to be three days' journey from Tripoli, and that it stands in the midway to Aleppo, on a very goodly plain, replenished with corn and cotton wool, but very much in ruins, and falls more and more to decay: at this day (says my author, who travelled in those parts in the beginning of the seventeenth century) there is scarce one half of the wall standing, which hath been very fair and strong. The king of this place

heard that David had smitten all the host of Hadadezer;
the news of which soon reached him, he being in the neighbourhood.

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 Cartwright's Preacher's Travels, p. 6.

Shmuel Bais 8:9 In-Context

7 And Dovid took the shields of zahav that were on the avadim of Hadadezer, and brought them to Yerushalayim.

8 And from Betach [Tivchat, 1 Chr18:8], and from Berotai [Kun, 1 Chr 18:8], cities of Hadadezer, Dovid HaMelech took exceeding much nechoshet.

9 When To’u Melech Chamat heard that Dovid had defeated all the army of Hadadezer,

10 Then To’u sent Yoram bno unto Dovid HaMelech, to give him shalom greetings, and to put a berachah on him, because he had fought against Hadadezer, and defeated him; for Hadadezer had been at war with To’u. And Yoram brought with him vessels of kesef, and vessels of zahav, and vessels of nechoshet;

11 Which also Dovid HaMelech did dedicate as kodesh unto Hashem, with the kesef and zahav that he had dedicated as kodesh of kol HaGoyim which he subdued;