⁵Then there went certain, and told David how the men were served. And he sent to meet them; for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown, and then return.
5. Tarry at Jericho] Thus (1) the feelings of the ambassadors would be spared, (2) the insult would be less widely known until it had been avenged.
⁶And when the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves odious to David, Hanun and the children of Ammon sent a thousand talents of silver to hire them chariots and horsemen out of Mesopotamia, and out of Aram-maacah, and out of Zobah.
6. a thousand talents of silver] A very large sum; for a hundred talents Amaziah hired a hundred thousand men (2 Chronicles xxv. 6).
chariots and horsemen] The Israelite armies on the contrary consisted chiefly of infantry, the country being for the most part unsuitable for horses.
Mesopotamia] Hebrew “Aram (Syria) of the two rivers” (compare Genesis xxiv. 10, Revised Version margin), i.e. probably the land between the Euphrates and the Chaboras. The Greeks used the term Mesopotamia of a wider district, i.e. of the country between the Euphrates and the Tigris. This mention of Mesopotamia is probably premature, for in verse 16 the summons of Syrians from beyond the Euphrates is spoken of as a new thing. The corresponding expression in 2 Samuel x. 6 is Beth-rehob, a district which has not yet been identified.
Aram-maacah] compare vii. 15, note; Deuteronomy iii. 14; Joshua xii. 5, xiii. 11.
Zobah]. compare xviii. 3, note.
⁷So they hired them thirty and two thousand chariots, and the king of Maacah and his people; who came and pitched before Medeba. And the children of Ammon gathered themselves together from their cities, and came to battle.
7. thirty and two thousand chariots] Compare 2 Samuel x. 6, which reckons the army (including Maacah) at 33,000, of whom 20,000 are expressly described as footmen. The word “chariots” may have slipped in from verse 6 instead of “men” or may be an intentional alteration, magnifying the war.