1 Chronicles 18

Some time after this, David defeated the Philistines and brought them under his control. He took the city of Gath and the villages around it away from the Philistines.

1Now 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.

NoteThe Philistines were a people settled in five fortified cities along the coastal plain southwest of Israel, Israel's most persistent enemy for generations and the people David had fought since his youth. Gath was one of those five cities; the "villages around it" were the smaller unwalled settlements that depended on a fortified city, in Hebrew literally its "daughters."

2David also defeated Moab. The people of Moab became his subjects, and they brought him the payments a conquered people owed their ruler.

2And he smote Moab; and the Moabites became David’s servants, and brought gifts.

NoteMoab was a kingdom on the high plateau east of the Dead Sea. To "become subjects" and bring payment means Moab kept its own people and land but paid an annual levy of goods to David and could not act independently in war or diplomacy, the standard arrangement between a strong king and a defeated neighbor.

3David also defeated Hadarezer, king of Zobah, as far north as Hamath. Hadarezer had marched out to set up his rule along the Euphrates River.

3And David smote Hadarezer king of Zobah unto Hamath, as he went to stablish his dominion by the river Euphrates.

NoteZobah was an Aramean kingdom north of Damascus, in what is now southern Syria; Hamath lay further north on the Orontes River. The king's name appears in other books as Hadadezer, which is the more usual spelling; both stand for the same man. Setting up rule "along the Euphrates" means claiming the trade routes at the far northern edge of the region: this was a contest between two expanding powers, not a border raid.

4David captured from him a thousand chariots, seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand foot soldiers. David cut the leg tendons of all the chariot horses, except enough horses for a hundred chariots, which he kept.

4And 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.

NoteCutting the leg tendons permanently crippled a horse for war without killing it. Chariots were the heavy weaponry of the age, and Israel had no tradition of maintaining large chariot forces; disabling the captured animals denied them to any future enemy rather than absorbing them into an army that could not feed or train them.

5When the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadarezer king of Zobah, David killed twenty-two thousand of their men.

5And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadarezer king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men.

NoteThe King James calls these people Syrians; the Hebrew word is Aramean. They were the peoples of the small kingdoms spread across what is now Syria, of whom Damascus was the strongest. They are not the Syrians of later Greek and Roman usage.

6Then David set up army posts in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans became his subjects and brought him payments. The LORD gave David victory everywhere he went.

6Then David put garrisons in Syriadamascus; and the Syrians became David’s servants, and brought gifts. Thus the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.

7David took the gold shields that Hadarezer's officers carried, and he brought them to Jerusalem.

7And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadarezer, and brought them to Jerusalem.

NoteGold shields of this kind were ceremonial, carried by royal attendants on parade rather than used in battle. Taking them was a public seizure of another king's dignity as much as of his wealth.

8In the same way, from Tibhath and Chun, cities that belonged to Hadarezer, David took a very large amount of bronze. Solomon later used it to make the bronze Sea, the pillars, and the other bronze items.

8Likewise 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.

NoteThe bronze Sea was an enormous basin, roughly fifteen feet across, that stood in the courtyard of the temple Solomon later built, holding water for the priests' washing. The pillars were the two free-standing bronze columns at the temple entrance. Solomon was David's son and successor; the writer is pointing forward to a building that did not yet exist.

9Tou, king of Hamath, heard that David had defeated the whole army of Hadarezer king of Zobah.

9Now when Tou king of Hamath heard how David had smitten all the host of Hadarezer king of Zobah;

10So Tou sent his son Hadoram to King David to greet him and to wish him well for fighting Hadarezer and defeating him, because Hadarezer had been at war with Tou. Hadoram brought with him all kinds of objects made of gold, silver, and bronze.

10He 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.

NoteSending a son rather than an ordinary messenger, and sending him with valuables, was the recognized way one king acknowledged another's superior position while asking for friendly relations. The King James "enquire of his welfare" translates the ordinary Hebrew greeting, asking after someone's peace and wellbeing.

11King David set these apart for the LORD too, along with the silver and gold he had taken from all these nations: from Edom, from Moab, from the Ammonites, from the Philistines, and from Amalek.

11Them 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.

Note"Dedicated" means placed in a reserved treasury for the LORD's use rather than kept for the king's own household. Edom lay south of the Dead Sea, Ammon east of the Jordan north of Moab, and the Amalekites were a nomadic people of the southern desert.

12Also, Abishai son of Zeruiah killed eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

12Moreover Abishai the son of Zeruiah slew of the Edomites in the valley of salt eighteen thousand.

NoteZeruiah was David's sister, so Abishai and Joab were the king's nephews; the Hebrew names them by their mother, which is unusual and may point to her standing in the family. The Valley of Salt lay in the arid country south of the Dead Sea. The parallel account in 2 Samuel 8:13 credits this victory to David himself, and a heading in Psalm 60 to Joab; the sources differ, and Chronicles gives it to Abishai.

13He set up army posts in Edom, and all the Edomites became David's subjects. The LORD gave David victory everywhere he went.

13And he put garrisons in Edom; and all the Edomites became David’s servants. Thus the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.

14So David ruled over all Israel, and he judged fairly and did what was right for all his people.

14So David reigned over all Israel, and executed judgment and justice among all his people.

15Joab son of Zeruiah was commander of the army. Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder, the official who kept the royal records.

15And Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the host; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, recorder.

NoteThe recorder's title comes from the Hebrew for "one who causes to remember." He was not a clerk but a senior minister who kept the official record of the reign and controlled what reached the king, the equivalent of a chief of staff.

16Zadok son of Ahitub and Abimelech son of Abiathar were the priests. Shavsha was the scribe, the king's secretary.

16And Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Abimelech the son of Abiathar, were the priests; and Shavsha was scribe;

NoteIsrael would later have a single high priest, but here two priestly families hold office at once: Zadok's line, tied to the older sanctuary, and Abiathar's, which had served David through his years as a fugitive. The name Abimelech is almost certainly a copying variation on Ahimelech, and the father-son order is reversed from what 1 Samuel reports, where Abiathar is the son of Ahimelech. The scribe or secretary drafted royal correspondence and treaties.

17Benaiah son of Jehoiada was in charge of the Cherethites and the Pelethites. David's sons were chief officials who served at the king's side.

17And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and the sons of David were chief about the king.

NoteThe Cherethites and Pelethites were foreign professional soldiers, probably of Cretan and Philistine origin, who served as the king's personal bodyguard. Their loyalty was to David alone rather than to any Israelite tribe, which made them dependable in a dispute between Israelites. The parallel verse in 2 Samuel 8:18 says David's sons were "priests"; Chronicles instead calls them chief officials at the king's side.