What we read about here in this chapter and the last chapter, goes together with what we read in 1 Chronicles 17, and 1 Chronicles 18. They are not recorded in chronological order, rather they are written to let us know about the events which happened after the Ark was brought to Jerusalem, 2 Samuel 6:12-15.
Henry, in his commentary, gives us a useful summary of this chapter.
‘David’s piety and his prayer we had an account of in the foregoing chapter, here follows immediately that which one might reasonably expect, an account of his prosperity; for those that seek first the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof, as David did, shall have other things added to them as far as God sees good for them. Here is, 1. His prosperity abroad. He conquered the Philistines, 1 Chronicles 18:1, the Moabites, 1 Chronicles 18:2, the king of Zobah, 1 Chronicles 18:3-4, the Syrians, 1 Chronicles 18:5-8, made the king of Hamath his tributary, 1 Chronicles 18:9-11, and the Edomites, 1 Chronicles 18:12-13. 2. His prosperity at home. His court and kingdom flourished, 1 Chronicles 18:14-17. All this we had an account of before, 2 Samuel 8.’
The first thirteen verses are parallel with 1 Chronicles 18:1-13, but here, there is no mention of David’s extreme cruelty to the Moabites, but otherwise, there are few variations.
This chapter begins with the words, ‘in the course of time’, 2 Samuel 8:1 / 1 Chronicles 18:1, which implies that this chapter, along with the next two chapters happened over a period of several years. If David wanted to remain king and further establish his kingship then he was going to have to defeat all of Israel’s enemies.
David’s first threat was found in their old foes, the Philistines, 2 Samuel 8:1 / 1 Chronicles 18:1, who were a constant thorn in the flesh for Israel, Numbers 33:55, since Israel took over Palestine. David’s main aim was to get rid of all the enemies of Israel in Palestine, or at the very least bring them into subjection.
David’s second threat was the Moabites, 2 Samuel 8:2 / 1 Chronicles 18:2. He made them lie down on the ground and measured them off with a length of cord and every two lengths of them were put to death, and the third length was allowed to live and so, the Moabites became subject to David and brought him tribute, 2 Samuel 8:2 / 1 Chronicles 18:2.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The cause of the war with the Moabites, who had been very friendly with David, 1 Samuel 22:3-4, and of this severe treatment, is not known. But it seems likely, from the tone of Psalms 60:1-12, that David had met with some temporary reverse in his Syrian wars, and that the Moabites and Edomites had treacherously taken advantage of it, and perhaps tried to cut off his retreat.’
David totally massacred them, which is strange because there was a time when David trusted the Moabites, when his father and mother stayed with the king of Moab while he was a fugitive from Saul, 1 Samuel 22:3-4. We don’t know exactly what the Moabites had done to provoke David to take such drastic actions again them, but we presume it must have been something terrible.
Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, when he went to restore his monument at the Euphrates River, 2 Samuel 8:3 / 1 Chronicles 18:3, was caught by David and David captured a thousand of his chariots, seven thousand charioteers and twenty thousand foot soldiers, 2 Samuel 8:4 / 1 Chronicles 18:4.
Notice that David hamstrung all the chariot horses, 2 Samuel 8:4 / 1 Chronicles 18:4 / Joshua 11:6 / Joshua 11:9. This appears to be very cruel, but in this case very necessary. If an army has no horses to pull their chariots, then the chariots would become useless.
When the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck down twenty-two thousand of them, 2 Samuel 8:5 / 1 Chronicles 18:5. He put garrisons in the Aramean kingdom of Damascus, and the Arameans became subject to him and brought tribute, 2 Samuel 8:6 / 1 Chronicles 18:6.
Notice it was the LORD who gave David victory wherever he went, 2 Samuel 8:6 / 1 Chronicles 18:6 / 2 Samuel 8:12. David took the gold shields that belonged to the officers of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem, 2 Samuel 8:7 / 1 Chronicles 18:7. The shields of gold, 2 Samuel 8:7 / 1 Chronicles 18:7, were possibly valuable ornaments worn by the Syrian soldiers, 1 Kings 10:16.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following, concerning the shields.
‘We know not what these were. Some translate arms, others quivers, others bracelets, others collars, and others shields. They were probably costly ornaments by which the Syrian soldiers were decked and distinguished. And those who are called servants here, were probably the choice troops or body-guard of Hadadezer, as the argyraspides were of Alexander the Great.’
David now takes a great quantity of bronze from Tebah and Berothai, towns that belonged to Hadadezer, 2 Samuel 8:8 / 1 Chronicles 18:8. Tou, king of Hamath obviously didn’t want to get involved in a battle with David and so he sends David his congratulations for defeating Hadadezer, who was one of Hamath’s enemies, 2 Samuel 8:9-10 / 1 Chronicles 18:9-10. Hamath was the north-eastern stronghold of the Solomonic Empire, 2 Kings 14:25. The people of Hamath were descendants of Ham and Canaan, Genesis 10:18.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following concerning Hamath .
‘This appears as an independent kingdom so late as the time of Sennacherib, Isaiah 37:13. But in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, both Hamath and Arpad appear to have been incorporated in the kingdom of Damascus, Jeremiah 49:23.’
Joram brought David a lot of valuable gifts, 2 Samuel 8:10 / Psalms 18:43-44. 1 Chronicles 18:10, says it was Hadoram who brought David the gifts.
The Pulpit Commentary, says the following.
‘In 1 Chronicles 18:10, he is called Hadoram, and this was apparently his real name, Joram being merely the substitution of the nearest Hebrew word for something foreign and therefore unintelligible.’
David dedicated all of Tou’s gifts to the LORD, as he had done with the silver and gold from all the nations he had subdued, 2 Samuel 8:11 / 1 Chronicles 18:11. David continues his conquest by killing eighteen thousand Edomites, 2 Samuel 8:12-14 / 1 Chronicles 18:11-13 / 1 Chronicles 19:16-18 / 1 Kings 11:15-16.
Coffman says the following about this passage.
‘The avid seekers of ‘contradictions’ or ‘discrepancies’ are diligent to point out that David is here said to have slain those Edomites, but that 1 Chronicles 18:13, ascribes the victory to Abishai, and that 1 Kings 11:15-16, and the heading of Psalm 60, declare that it was Joab who did it! However, as Willis noted, David was involved as king, Joab was commander of the army, and Abishai had charge of that particular battle.’
Because of David’s conquests over all these armies, Israel as a whole became very rich from the spoils of war. The nations around were becoming poorer whilst Israel was getting richer as a nation, 1 Chronicles 18:1-13. Notice again it was the LORD who gave David victory wherever he went, 2 Samuel 8:14 / 1 Chronicles 18:13 / 2 Samuel 8:6.
These last verses are parallel with 1 Chronicles 18:14-17. Unlike Saul before him, David as king of Israel treated people justly and right, he treated them fairly, 2 Samuel 8:15 / 1 Chronicles 18:14.
Saul was only bothered about himself and his rule and didn’t care how he treated people as long as he got his own way but David had people’s hearts in his mind, he was for the people, he wasn’t in a power trip but genuinely cared for the welfare of others, Matthew 20:25-28 / 1 Peter 5:3.
What we read here is a list of David’s administrators for the business of the kingdom, 2 Samuel 8:16-18 / 1 Chronicles 18:15-17, among whom the sons of David were certainly included, as we learn later in the activities of Absalom.
The parallel inspired account tells us exactly what the functions of David’s sons were, 1 Chronicles 18:17. We must remember, despite what the text says here, that David’s sons were not priests as we understand the word ‘priest’.
Smith, in his commentary, says following about the word, ‘priests’ used here, 1 Chronicles 18:16 / 2 Samuel 8:18.
‘In the time of the writing of 1 Kings, this word, ‘kohen’, as a word for ‘priest’ was already becoming obsolete, as proved by 1 Kings 4:5, and therefore the author of 1 Chronicles 18:17, writing at a still later time, changed the passage to give the correct meaning. We are certain that the Chronicler knew what the passage in 2 Samuel 8:18, meant, and that he was also aware that the word, ‘kohen’ had gone out of use as a term for chief officials; and so he properly rendered the passage thus, ‘David’s sons were the chief officials in the service of the king.’