¹⁸And the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew of the Syrians the men of seven thousand chariots, and forty thousand footmen, and killed Shophach the captain of the host.
18. seven thousand] 2 Samuel x. 18, seven hundred: an intentional change made by the Chronicler to enhance the achievement of David.
forty thousand footmen] 2 Samuel x. 18, forty thousand horsemen. Swarms of horsemen have usually formed the strength of armies raised on the eastern bank of the Euphrates; but the reading in Chronicles may well be correct.
¹⁹And when the servants of Hadarezer saw that they were put to the worse before Israel, they made peace with David, and served him: neither would the Syrians help the children of Ammon any more.
19. the servants] i.e. his vassals and tributaries; in 2 Samuel “all the kings that were servants to Hadarezer.” We are not told what course Hadarezer himself took; possibly, being deserted by his allies, he ceased from hostilities without making any treaty with David.
Chapter XX.
1–3 (= 2 Samuel xi. 1, xii. 26–31).
The Subjugation of Ammon.
The account of the siege of Rabbah is given more shortly in Chronicles than in 2 Samuel From the latter we learn that the Ark was in the besiegers’ camp (xi. 11), that the city was defended with spirit (xi. 17), and finally taken piecemeal (xii. 26–29).
¹And it came to pass, at the time of the return of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that Joab led forth the power of the army, and wasted the country of the children of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried at Jerusalem. And Joab smote Rabbah, and overthrew it.