(6) And when the children of Ammon.--Up to this point the narrative has substantially coincided with 2 Samuel 10, and might have been derived immediately from it; but this and the following verses differ considerably from the older account, and add one or two material facts, which suggest another source.

Made themselves odious.--"Had become in bad odonr." A unique (Aramaized) form of the same verb as is used in Samuel (hithb?'?sh- for nib'?sh-).

A thousand talents of silver.--The talent was a weight, not a coin, coined money being unknown at that epoch. The sum specified amounts to 400,000. estimating the silver talent at 400. This detail is peculiar to the Chronicles.

Out of Mesopotamia, and out of Syria-maachah, and out of Zobah.--Out of Aram-nahara‹m, and out of Aram-maachah, &c Samuel has, "And they hired Aram-beth-rehob and Aram-zobah, 20,000 foot, and the king of Maachah, 1,000 men, and the men (or chieftain) of Tob, 12,000men."Aram-nahara‹m, i.e., Aram of the two rivers, was the country between the Tigris and Euphrates (see Judges 3:8); Aram-beth-rehob may have been one of its political divisions, and is perhaps to be identified with Rehoboth-hannahar (1Chronicles 1:48), on the Euphrates. Another Rehoboth ("Rehoboth-ir," Genesis 10:11) lay on the Tigris, north-east of Nineveh, and was a suburb of that great city. Aram-maachah imply the dominions of "the king of Maachah," who is mentioned in 1Chronicles 19:7; and Zobah, the Aram-zobah of Samuel. The chronicler makes no separate mention of the "men of T•b" (Judges 11:3), perhaps because they were subject to Hadadezer, and as such, included in his forces. The Syriac and Arabic here have "from Aram-nahara‹m, Haran, Nisibis, and Edom."

Verse 6. - Made themselves odious. The Hebrew root of very strong force, בָּאשׁ, is here employed, and which our Authorized Version translates, both in the parallel place and elsewhere, far more uncompromisingly than here. A thousand talents. Not stated in Samuel. This talent was of three thousand shekels, believed to be equivalent to f 342. Mesopotamia. The parallel place has Aram-beth-rehob, instead of our Aram-naharaim ("Syria of the Two Rivers," i.e. Tigris and Euphrates; Authorized Version, "Mesopotamia"). From comparing this verso with ver. 16, it may seem probable that those strictly called "of Mesopotamia" lent either no aid at first or but very partial. It is observable that the numbers of men supplied by Beth-rehob, Zobah, and Ishtob in the parallel place (viz. thirty-two thousand) agree with the numbers of this verse, from which we may conclude that, whatever Aram-beth-rehob (probably either Reho-both on the Euphrates, or Rehob last of Lebanon) and Aram-naharaim may strictly stand for respectively, they here substantially mean the same. It is possible that the difference is that of a corrupt text or careless copying. The Aram-naharaim (Mesopotamia), which comes before us first in Genesis 24:10, passes out of Scripture language after the defeats of this chapter - the tract of country which it designated (some seven hundred miles by twenty to two hundred and fifty) being absorbed, first by Assyria, and afterwards by Babylon. The Assyrian Inscriptions reveal the fact that Mesopotamia was the prey of a largo number of small separate tribes at the period of the judges and the early Jewish monarchy, which is quite consistent with the glimpses we here get of it and its people. Aram-maachah probably designates the tract of country north of East Manasseh, bordering on Palestine, and bounded by the Jordan, Mount Hermon, and on its east, Salcah. Zobah (see 1 Chronicles 18:3, note; 1 Samuel 14:47). The parallel place adds also "the men of Ishtob."

19:1-19 David's wars. - The history is here repeated which we read 2Sa 10. The only safety of sinners consists in submitting to the Lord, seeking peace with him, and becoming his servants. Let us assist each other in a good cause; but let us fear lest, while made instruments of good to others, we should come short of salvation, through unbelief and sin.See Chapter Introduction