3. Damascus (2 Sam. 8:5-12), in alliance with Zobah, and the largest city in Syria.
4. Edom (2 Sam. 8:13, 14), south of the Dead Sea. The word "Syrians," in verse 13, should undoubtedly be "Edomites." The battle was fought at the "valley of salt," an unknown place, but probably near Sela, or Petra, the capital of Edom.
5. Ammon. (2 Sam. 10-13.) This was the longest of David's wars, and was waged not against the Ammonites only, but against the allied forces of several small Syrian kingdoms, as Zobah (already conquered, but not subjugated), Maachah, Rehob and Tob, districts on the north and east of Israel. Three great battles were fought; the first near Medeba; the second at Helam, an uncertain locality (if it be the name of a place, which is questioned, as the word means "host," or "army"); and the third, the siege and capture of Rabbah, the capital of the Ammonites, which ended the war. During this war occurred the crime of David with Bathsheba, and the murder of Uriah. (2 Sam. 11.) This completed the series of conquests, and made the throne of David supreme from the Red Sea to the Euphrates. One fact which made these conquests possible was that the tribes around Israel were not united into strong nations, as afterward in the cases of Syria and Assyria, but were independent principalities, easily overcome in turn by the trained warriors of David.
As a result of these wars the kingdom of David, which he transmitted to his son Solomon, was the largest in the Oriental world at that time. The Assyrian empire had not arisen, the great kings of Egypt had passed away, and the East was broken up into small principalities, among which Israel easily rose to power.
IV. The Calamities of David's Reign. (2 Sam. 12-20, 24.) Three great troubles befell David and his kingdom as the result of his sins.
1. The first and greatest was the Rebellion of Absalom. We can only mention the places referred to in the history, not relate its events. Geshur, where Absalom was in exile, was a small kingdom under the rule of Absalom's maternal grandfather. Tekoa, whence came the "wise woman," was near Bethlehem. The places near Jerusalem named in David's flight, may be seen on the map of the Environs of Jerusalem, [page 83]. David's resting place was at Mahanaim, east of the Jordan, and south of the Hieromax. Absalom was defeated and killed at "the wood of Ephraim," a locality not in the tribe of that name, but east of the Jordan, perhaps where the Ephraimites sustained a great defeat from Jephthah. (Judges 12.)
2. The second calamity was the Rebellion of Sheba, following soon after Absalom's, and arising from the same disaffection. It was ended at Abel-beth-maachah, in the extreme north, by the death of Sheba. (2 Sam. 20.)
3. The third calamity was the Pestilence, after the numbering of the people, an enumeration with a view either to heavy levies of assessment, or to foreign conquest; either of which was contrary to the spirit of the Hebrew constitution. (2 Sam. 24.) The places named will be found upon the map, except the inexplicable Tahtim-hodshi, which may mean "the land newly inhabited," but whose location is unknown. The sacrifice of David at Araunah's threshing-floor gave the location to the great altar of the Temple, probably the rude rock which now rises from the floor of the Mosque of Omar, in Jerusalem.
V. The Close of David's Reign (1 Kings 1, 2; 1 Chron. 22-29) was occupied in the organization of his empire, and in preparation for the building of the Temple. There are but few localities named with this period, and they may be easily found upon the maps, those near Jerusalem being upon the map of its Environs.
