|  Home  |  Old Testament Studies  |  2 Samuel Table of Contents  |  Previous Section  |  Next Section  |

2 SAMUEL 10

PARAGRAPH DIVISIONS OF MODERN TRANSLATIONS

 NASB  NKJV  NRSV  TEV   NJB
(MT versing)
Ammon Defeated The Ammonites Defeated David Defeats the Ammonites David Defeats the Ammonites and the Syrians David's Ambassadors Are Insulted
10:1-5 10:1-5 10:1-5 10:1-3 10:1-5
10:4-5 The First Ammonite Campaign
10:6-8 10:6-8 10:6-8 10:6-8 10:6-14
10:9-14 10:9-14 10:9-14 10:9-12
Aram Defeated The Syrians Defeated David Defeats Arameans (Syrians) 10:13-14 Victory Over the Arameans
10:15-19 10:15-19 10:15-19 10:15-19 10:15-19

READING CYCLE THREE (see "Bible Interpretation Seminar")

FOLLOWING THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR'S INTENT AT THE PARAGRAPH LEVEL

This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

Read the chapter in one sitting. Identify the subjects. Compare your subject divisions with the five translations above. Paragraphing is not inspired, but it is the key to following the original author's intent, which is the heart of interpretation. Every paragraph has one and only one subject.

  1. First paragraph
  2. Second paragraph
  3. Etc.

WORD AND PHRASE STUDY

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 10:1-5
  1Now it happened afterwards that the king of the Ammonites died, and Hanun his son became king in his place. 2Then David said, "I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me." So David sent some of his servants to console him concerning his father. But when David's servants came to the land of the Ammonites, 3the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun their lord, "Do you think that David is honoring your father because he has sent consolers to you? Has David not sent his servants to you in order to search the city, to spy it out and overthrow it?" 4So Hanun took David's servants and shaved off half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle as far as their hips, and sent them away. 5When they told it to David, he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly humiliated. And the king said, "Stay at Jericho until your beards grow, and then return."

10:1-19 The Jewish Study Bible, p. 635, has a good summary of this military campaign (out of chronological order).

  1. 2 Sam. 10:1-14, the cause of the war with Ammon
  2. 2 Sam. 10:15-19, the conflict with Ammon's Syrian mercenries
  3. 2 Samuel 8 discusses David's war with the Syrian kingdoms
  4. 2 Samuel 11-12 deal with the battle for the capital of Ammon, Rabbah, which encompasses the story of David's sin against Uriah and Bathsheba

10:1 "Ammon" This account is paralleled in 1 Chronicles 19. This nation came from one of Lot's daughters (cf. Gen. 19:30-38).

Ben-ammi seems to mean "son of my people" (cf. the Septuagint, Jerome, and Augustine). The sons of Ammon (BDB 769) later caused tremendous problems for the nation of Israel, yet were relatives (cf. Deut. 2:19). The degradation of vv. 30-38 was seen either as

  1. a mark of moral failure
  2. pride that they kept the pure racial line of the family

Both names are sarcastic!

▣ "Hanun" This man's father was Nahash (v. 2), a king who was defeated by Saul earlier (cf 1 Samuel 11).

10:2 David wanted good relations with Ammon. This was a diplomatic gesture of friendship.

Apparently David and Nahash were on good terms, but it is never stated why.

For "kindness" see SPECIAL TOPIC: LOVINGKINDNESS (hesed).

10:3 "princes" This NOUN (BDB 978) has a wide usage.

  1. chief
  2. ruler (LXX)
  3. official (JPSOA)
  4. captain
  5. prince (Peshitta)

Because of their accusations (3 INFINITIVE CONSTRUCTS)

  1. to search the city
  2. to spy out the city
  3. to plan to overthrow it

I think they were military advisers, not children of the former king.

▣
NASB, NKJV, NRSV, NJB, JPSOA, REB, Peshitta  "overthrow it"
JPSOA footnote  "reconnoiter"
LXX  "survey"

The difference between

  1. overthrow ‒ הפך (BDB 245)
  2. reconnoiter ‒ חפר (BDB 343 I, cf. Deut. 1:22; Josh. 2:2-3)

10:4 This treatment of David's representatives was meant to humiliate (v. 5) them and be a hostile gesture to David.

  1. cut off their robes so that their bodies were exposed (1 Chr. 19:4, has "buttocks")
  2. cut off half their beard
    1. length?
    2. one side?
    3. total beard (the word "half" is not in the LXX or 1 Chr. 19:4 parallel)

It is possible that cutting half the beard and half the garment was a way of expressing that the new king thought David was lying about his reason for sending these ambassadors.

▣ "garment" This NOUN (BDB 551, KB 548) occurs only here and in the parallel in 1 Chr. 19:4. The LXX has "woolen cloaks." I think it must have referred to their outer clothing, which symbolized them as official representatives of Israel.

10:5 "Jericho" It is one of the most ancient cities in all the ANE. It was rebuilt and destroyed many times. It was not a large city during this period and it was on the border of Israel and Ammon, but on the western side of Jordan. It was a good, quiet, insignificant place for these men to regrow their beards. See NIDOTTE, vol. 4, pp. 767-769.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 10:6-8
  6Now when the sons of Ammon saw that they had become odious to David, the sons of Ammon sent and hired the Arameans of Beth-rehob and the Arameans of Zobah, 20,000 foot soldiers, and the king of Maacah with 1,000 men, and the men of Tob with 12,000 men. 7When David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the army, the mighty men. 8The sons of Ammon came out and drew up in battle array at the entrance of the city, while the Arameans of Zobah and of Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah were by themselves in the field.

10:6 "become odious" This VERB (BDB 92, KB 107, Niphal PERFECT) denotes a bad smell from something rotting (i.e., Qal, Exod. 7:18,21; 8:10; 16:20; Isa. 50:2).

The Niphal is also used in

  1. Israel odious to the Philistines
  2. Ammonites to David
  3. Absalom to David

What they did to David's representatives would elicit a military response.

▣ "hired" Ammon tried to bolster their military with mercenaries (Josephus, Antiq. 7.1.1, says he sent one thousand talents).

  1. Syrians from the city of Beth-rehob
  2. Syrians from the city of Zobah, from both #1 and #2 about 20,000 foot soldiers
  3. from Maacah (Syrian Kingdom south of Mt. Hermon, but in the trans-Jordan, east, 1,000 men

Remember, "thousand" has a wide semantic field. It can refer to a military unit.

SPECIAL TOPIC: THOUSAND (eleph)

10:7
NASB, NKJV  "the mighty men"
NRSV  "the warriors"
TEV  "the whole army"
NJB  "the champions"
REB  "all the fighting men"
JPSOA  "[including] the professional fighters"
LXX  "the mighty ones"
Peshitta  "all the host of the mighty men"

The MT has the DEFINITE ARTICLE and the ADJECTIVE "mighty" (BDB 150). This could refer to

  1. the whole army
  2. an elite professional group

See NIDOTTE, vol. 4, pp. 676-678.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 10:9-14
  9Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him in front and in the rear, he selected from all the choice men of Israel, and arrayed them against the Arameans. 10But the remainder of the people he placed in the hand of Abishai his brother, and he arrayed them against the sons of Ammon. 11He said, "If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you shall help me, but if the sons of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come to help you. 12Be strong, and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may the Lord do what is good in His sight." 13So Joab and the people who were with him drew near to the battle against the Arameans, and they fled before him. 14When the sons of Ammon saw that the Arameans fled, they also fled before Abishai and entered the city. Then Joab returned from fighting against the sons of Ammon and came to Jerusalem.

10:12 This shows the sense of national duty felt by the Israeli soldiers, but also the deep conviction that YHWH was with them (and He needed to be, since the Israelite army was vastly outnumbered). He was the key to victory in battle. However, this theological worldview (cf. 1 Sam. 3:18; 2 Chr. 19:11; 32:7-8) did not keep them from strategizing (vv. 9-11). Somehow in the mystery of life both parts are important.

SPECIAL TOPIC: PREDESTINATION VS. HUMAN FREE WILL

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 10:15-19
  15When the Arameans saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they gathered themselves together. 16And Hadadezer sent and brought out the Arameans who were beyond the River, and they came to Helam; and Shobach the commander of the army of Hadadezer led them. 17Now when it was told David, he gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan, and came to Helam. And the Arameans arrayed themselves to meet David and fought against him. 18But the Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed 700 charioteers of the Arameans and 40,000 horsemen and struck down Shobach the commander of their army, and he died there. 19When all the kings, servants of Hadadezer, saw that they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them. So the Arameans feared to help the sons of Ammon anymore.

10:15-19 This Syrian kingdom was mentioned earlier in 2 Sam. 8:3-12.

10:16 "the River" This refers to the Euphrates River.

10:17 "to Helam" This is an unknown location. The 1 Chronicles 19 parallel has a verbal form. See my notes from 1 Chr. 19:17:

"1 Chr. 19:17 In the parallel of 2 Sam. 10:17 there is an unknown city named "Helam," which is in the trans-Jordan area. This city is not mentioned in 1 Chronicles 19 but there is a series of Hebrew letters that are close.

  1. Helen (חילם) in 2 Sam. 10:17 is חלאמה
  2. "and came upon them" in 1 Chr. 19:17 is אלהם

No ancient version or modern English translation uses this supposed emendation. We just do not know why the Chronicler changed his Samuel sources. It is possible he had different Hebrew source documents. The MT is not the oldest ancient Hebrew textual tradition."

10:18 The numbers of men defeated by David is different in the 1 Chronicles 19 parallel. See note below from my commentary on 1 Chronicles 19 online.

"1 Chr. 19:18-19 The Jewish Study Bible (p. 1750) makes the comment that the Chronicler expands the numbers in 2 Samuel 10 to glorify David's victory. The NASB Study Bible (p. 577) says it was a copyist's mistake in Samuel. This shows the two ways of viewing these number differences (i.e., literary or scribal error). See Hard Sayings of the Bible, pp. 51-54, 239-240, which supports the numbers in Chronicles. The best book on the number differences involved in the OT historical books is Edwin R. Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings."

▣
NASB, NKJV, NRSV, REB, JPSOA, LXX  "horsemen"
TEV  "cavalry"
NJB  "men"
NET  "foot soldiers"

The MT has "horsemen" (BDB 832). However, the Lucianic LXX and the 1 Chr. 19:18 parallel have "footsoldiers." The UBS Text Project, p. 228, gives the MT a "C" rating (considerable doubt).

10:19 "they made peace with Israel and served them" This peace with Syria was the working out of YHWH's promise of establishing, protecting, and growing His people (cf. Deut. 28:1-14).

The VERB "served" (BDB 712, KB 773, Qal IMPERFECT with waw) denotes servitude and taxation.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

This is a study guide commentary which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.

  1. How do 2 Samuel 8, 10, and 11-12 fit together?
  2. How did Nahash show kindness to David?
  3. Why was Nahash's son so nervous about David?
  4. Why do the numbers differ between Samuel and Chronicles (esp. v. 18)?
  5. Explain why 2 Sam. 10:12 is so theologically significant.

|  Home  |  Old Testament Studies  |  2 Samuel Table of Contents  |  Previous Section  |  Next Section  |