2 Samuel 10:16

16 And Hadadezer sent, and led out [the] men of Syria that were beyond the flood, and he brought forth the host of them; and Shobach, [the] master of the chivalry of Hadadezer, was the prince of them. (And Hadadezer sent for the Syrians who were on the other side of the Euphrates River, and they came forth to Helam; and Shobach, the master of Hadadezer's cavalry, or of his army, was their leader.)

2 Samuel 10:16 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 10:16

And Hadarezer sent
The same with Hadadezer, ( 2 Samuel 8:3 ) , who was at the head of this confederacy, and to whom the rest of the kings of Syria were servants, ( 2 Samuel 10:19 ) ;

and brought out the Syrians that [were] beyond the river;
the river Phrat or Euphrates, as the Targum; so the Arabic version and Josephus {y}, who says, that he hired them:

and they came to Helam;
which, according to the same writer, was king of the Syrians beyond Euphrates; but it seems to be the name of a place, where was the general rendezvous of the Syrian army. Junius conjectures that it is the same with the Alamatha of Ptolemy ^F26, which he places with the Trachonite Arabs near the Euphrates:

and Shobach the captain of the host of Hadarezer [went] before them:
before the whole combined army, which according to Josephus ^F1, consisted of eighty thousand foot, and ten thousand horse: this general is called Shophach, ( 1 Chronicles 19:16 ) the letters "B" and "P" being of the same pronunciation in the Hebrew tongue, as Kimchi observes, though it is there read "Shobach", in the Syriac and Arabic versions; he was no doubt a very able, valiant, and skilful general, since he is particularly mentioned by name, and whose name was then famous; the Arabic version calls him a spear bearer of Hadarezer.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 6.) sect. 3.
F26 Geograph. l. 5. c. 15.
F1 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 6. sect. 3.)

2 Samuel 10:16 In-Context

14 And the sons of Ammon saw, that [the] men of Syria had fled; and they fled also from the face of Abishai, and entered into the city; and Joab turned again from the sons of Ammon, and came into Jerusalem (and then Joab left off fighting the Ammonites, and went back to Jerusalem).

15 And [the] men of Syria saw that they had fallen before Israel, and they were gathered together. (And when the Syrians saw that they had fallen before Israel, they gathered themselves together.)

16 And Hadadezer sent, and led out [the] men of Syria that were beyond the flood, and he brought forth the host of them; and Shobach, [the] master of the chivalry of Hadadezer, was the prince of them. (And Hadadezer sent for the Syrians who were on the other side of the Euphrates River, and they came forth to Helam; and Shobach, the master of Hadadezer's cavalry, or of his army, was their leader.)

17 And when this was told to David, he drew together all Israel, and he passed over Jordan (and he crossed over the Jordan River), and came into Helam. And [the] men of Syria dressed (the) battle array against David, and fought against him.

18 And Syrians fled from the face of Israel; and David killed of the Syrians (the men in) seven hundred chariots, and forty thousand of horsemen; and he smote Shobach, the prince of the chivalry, the which was dead anon. (And the Syrians fled from the Israelites; and David killed of those Syrians the men in seven hundred chariots, and forty thousand horsemen; and he struck down Shobach, the leader of the cavalry, or of the army, who died on the battlefield.)