1 Now after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them, and took Gath and her towns out of the hand of the Philistines.
2 And he smote Moab; and the Moabites became David's servants, and brought gifts.
3 And David smote Hadarezer king of Zobah unto Hamath, as he went to stablish his dominion by the river Euphrates.
4 And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: David also houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them an hundred chariots.
5 And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadarezer king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men.
6 Then David put garrisons in Syriadamascus; and the Syrians became David's servants, and brought gifts. Thus the Lord preserved David whithersoever he went.
7 And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadarezer, and brought them to Jerusalem.
8 Likewise from Tibhath, and from Chun, cities of Hadarezer, brought David very much brass, wherewith Solomon made the brasen sea, and the pillars, and the vessels of brass.
9 Now when Tou king of Hamath heard how David had smitten all the host of Hadarezer king of Zobah;
10 He sent Hadoram his son to king David, to enquire of his welfare, and to congratulate him, because he had fought against Hadarezer, and smitten him; (for Hadarezer had war with Tou;) and with him all manner of vessels of gold and silver and brass.
11 Them also king David dedicated unto the Lord, with the silver and the gold that he brought from all these nations; from Edom, and from Moab, and from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines, and from Amalek.
12 Moreover Abishai the son of Zeruiah slew of the Edomites in the valley of salt eighteen thousand.
13 And he put garrisons in Edom; and all the Edomites became David's servants. Thus the Lord preserved David whithersoever he went.
14 So David reigned over all Israel, and executed judgment and justice among all his people.
15 And Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the host; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, recorder.
16 And Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Abimelech the son of Abiathar, were the priests; and Shavsha was scribe;
17 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and the sons of David were chief about the king.
<html><b>And it came to pass afterwards that David smote</b> After David stated [his intention] to build a house, and the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “You shall not build,” David said, “Since it is not incumbent upon me to build the house, only upon my son, I shall now prepare and arrange everything for him for [the time] when my son comes to build the House so that he has everything prepared.” And now he [the Chronicler] leaves everything and relates how he [David] prepared the building, how he fought with his enemies and designated their spoils for the construction of the House. And so is the manner of the verse, and an example is found regarding Elijah and Elisha, i.e., after he [Elisha] said, (II Ki. 2:9): “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit to me,” he [the author] leaves the entire story of the kings and proceeds to relate some of the wonders of Elisha, how they were a double portion, until he completed them all.</html>
<html><b>And David smote Hadadezer, king of Zobah, in Hamath</b> The war took place in Hamath, and in Hamath David smote them. <b>in Hamath</b> - Heb. חֲמָתָה, like לְחַמָת, to Hamath. <b>to establish his power</b> Its meaning is: when he went to establish his power, to restore his boundary and to establish it by the Euphrates River, for he was restoring to the boundary (sic) of the Euphrates River. An example is (Sam. II 18:18): “And Absalom took and established for himself in his lifetime, etc., and he called it Yad Absalom,” meaning the power of the boundary of Absalom. Another explanation of, “and he called it Yad Absalom”: Absalom engraved the form of the length of his hand in the middle of the monument, as it is written in that verse, that he said that this engraving was engraved after the shape of Absalom’s hand. (I heard this from Isaac the son of Rabbi Samuel in Narbonne.)</html>
<html><b>and David hamstrung</b> because it is written (Deut. 17:16) “Only he must not get himself many horses,” (Josh. 11:6): “… you shall cripple their horses.” <b>and left over of them a hundred chariots</b> He must not get himself many horses, but enough for his chariots is permissible.</html>
<html><b>And Aram of Damascus came</b> - Heb. דַרְמֶשֶׂק, and in II Samuel (8:6), it is written: דַמֶּשֶׂק. It is customary for Scripture to speak in this manner, like from שַׁרְבִיט :שֵׁבֶט, for (cf. I Kings 12:14): “I shall flog you with whips בַּשּׁוֹטִים (Sic),” is translated שַׁרְבִיטִים. (Rabbi Isaac said this also.)</html>
<html><b>And David placed in Aram of Damascus</b> The meaning is [that he stationed] governors, and in II Samuel (8:6), it is stated explicitly: “And David placed governors in Aram of Damascus.”</html>
<html><b>the golden quivers</b> - Heb. שִׁלְטֵי, <i>cuyvres</i>, <i>cuevres</i> in Old French, quivers, and a like word is found in Jeremiah (51:11): “Polish the arrows, fill the quivers הַשְּׁלָטִים”.</html>
<html><b>huge quantities of copper, from which… made, etc.</b> This is what I stated (verse 17:1); since David stated [his intention] to build the House, and the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, (17:4): “You shall not build… the House,” but your son, he proceeds to tell how he prepared for him to erect the edifice.</html>
<html><b>for… had been Tou’s opponent in war</b> He was his antagonist, and this is proven above (v. 3): “And David smote Hadarezer” (note Rashi’s reading). Now what connection do they have to Hamath to wage war there? But [the matter is that] Hadarezer, the king of Zobah, went to wage war against Tou the king of Hamath in Hamath, during which David came upon him and smote him. <b>and all vessels of gold, of silver, and of copper</b> he brought to David; and so it appears in II Samuel (8: 10): “… and in his possession were vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of copper.”</html>
<html><b>And he placed governors</b> - Heb. נְצִיבִים, governors, because he did not wish to set up a king to reign over them.</html>
<html><b>justice and charity</b> He retired from waging any more wars and from going forth and coming in battle, and he sat constantly and judged Israel fairly.</html>
<html><b>Now Joab, etc. was over the host</b> Since he retired from going with the army, he placed Joab over the host to wage all his battles. All this refers back to “… and he administered justice and charity.” The interruption with “Now Joab, etc. was over the host,” was necessary for the following reason, lest you say that since “… and David was administering justice,” [the result was that] the Israelites were no longer waging war, therefore, it says “Now Joab was over the host.” <b>recorder</b> - Heb. הַמַּזְכִּיר, lit., the reminder. This refers back to the beginning (verse 14), that he would remind [him of] which case came before the king first, and a similar instance is (Esther 6:1): “… to bring… the records (הַזִּכְרוֹנוֹת), the chronicles.”</html>
<html><b>and Shavsha was scribe</b> Ahilud was the recorder, and Shavsha would write alongside him.</html>
<html><b>over the Cherethites and the Pelethites</b> The meaning is that they were nations, as it is written, (Zeph. 2:5): “Woe to… the nation of Cherethites,” and from their nations were mighty warriors with David, and Benaiah was over them. Another instance of this (II Sam. 15:18): “… and all his servants passed beside him, and all the Cherethites and all the Pelethites and all the Gittites.” <b>and the sons of David were first at the king’s hand</b> The meaning is that David’s sons were always first beside the king to perform all his necessities.</html>