Глава 10

Wars of David with the Ammonites and Syrians. 2 Samuel 10:1. Some time later, the king of Ammon died, and his son Hannon reigned in his place. King of Ammon - Nahash (cf. 2 v.), defeated by Saul at Jabesh-gilead (1 Sam. 11:1). 2 Samuel 10:2. And David said, I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Naash, because of the good deed which his father showed me. And David sent his servants to comfort Hanun about his father. And the servants of David came to the land of Ammon. “For the benefit that his father showed me.” . This refers, perhaps, to some kind of help provided by Nahash to David during the latter’s persecution by Saul. 2 Samuel 10:3. But the princes of Ammon said to their master Hanun, “Do you really think that David sent comforters to you out of respect for your father?” Was it not in order to inspect the city and spy on it and then destroy it that David sent his servants to you? David's successful wars (2 Samuel 8:1–15) brought fear to his neighbors and made them fear David even where he was not at all dangerous to them. 2 Samuel 10:6. And the Ammonites saw that they had become hated by David; and the Ammonites sent to hire the Syrians from Beth-rehob and the Syrians of Zobah twenty thousand footmen, from the king [of Amalekite] Maacah a thousand men, and from Istov twelve thousand men. Beth Rehob is a Syrian region in the northern reaches of Palestine, near the sources of the Jordan River. Suva - northeast of Damascus, between the Orontes and Euphrates rivers. "At the [Amalekite] King Maacah's". There is no addition of "Amalekite" in the Hebrew text and some Greek copies. Maakha is a Syrian region at the foot of Mount Greater Hermon, in the vicinity of Gessur. Istov is a region of eastern Transjordan in the northeast of Perea. 2 Samuel 10:8. And the Ammonites came out and set up for battle at the gates, and the Syrians of Zobah and Rehob, and Istov, and Maacah, stood separately in the field. At the gates of one of their cities. 2 Samuel 10:16. And Adraazar sent and called the Syrians who were beyond the river [Halamak], and they came to Elam; and Sovak, the commander of the Adraazars, led them. Elam mentioned here is a currently unknown region of Syria. 2 Samuel 10:17. When David was told about this, he gathered all the Israelites, crossed the Jordan and came to Elam. The Syrians lined up against David and fought him. “All Israelis,” i.e., the entire Israeli militia. “The people’s militia under David (288,000 people) consisted of 12 corps (24,000 people each), obliged to assemble in full only at the time of military danger to the state, by special order of the king; in peacetime, only one of the corps was assembled, serving duty for one month and then transferring its duties to the next corps for the next month. Thus, David's military strength constituted a middle ground between a standing army and a militia in the strict sense of the word: the militia had skill in military affairs and were better warriors than the warriors, who never held any other weapon in their hands except the plow and spade; on the other hand, being in active service only a month a year, they continued their peaceful pursuits and did not abandon their farms” (Ya. Bogorodsky, “Jewish Tsars”, 177). You might be interested in: