Commentaria in II Regum (II Samuelis)
Chapter 8. Synopsis of the Chapter
David, shut out by God from the building of the temple, turns himself to wars, by which he may prepare peace and spoils for Solomon to build it. Wherefore in this chapter five of his wars are recounted, by which he subjugated as many neighbouring nations and made them tributary, namely first, the Philistines, verse 1; second, the Moabites, verse 2; third, Adarezer king of Soba, verse 3; fourth, the Syria of Damascus, verse 5; fifth, the Idumeans, verse 14; and he made their spoils anathemas, and consecrated them to God.
1. And it came to pass after this, that David defeated the Philistines, and brought them low: and David took the bridle of tribute out of the hand of the Philistines. 2. And he defeated Moab, and measured them with a line, making them even with the ground: and he measured two lines, one to put to death, and one to save alive: and Moab was made to serve David under tribute. 3. David also defeated Adarezer the son of Rohob, king of Soba, when he went to extend his dominion over the river Euphrates. 4. And David took from him a thousand and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: and hamstrung all the chariot horses: and reserved of them only a hundred chariots. 5. And the Syrians of Damascus came also to succour Adarezer king of Soba: and David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men. 6. And David put a garrison in Syria of Damascus: and Syria served David under tribute: and the Lord preserved David in all things whithersoever he went. 7. And David took the arms of gold which the servants of Adarezer had, and brought them to Jerusalem. 8. And from Bete, and from Beroth, cities of Adarezer, king David took exceeding much brass. 9. And Thou king of Emath heard that David had defeated all the army of Adarezer: 10. And he sent Joram his son to king David, to salute him, and to congratulate him, and give him thanks, because he had fought against Adarezer, and had defeated him: for Thou was an enemy to Adarezer; and in his hand were vessels of gold, and vessels of silver, and vessels of brass: 11. Which also king David sanctified to the Lord, with the silver and gold that he had sanctified of all the nations which he had subdued: 12. Of Syria, and of Moab, and of the children of Ammon, and of the Philistines, and of Amalec, and of the spoils of Adarezer son of Rohob king of Soba. 13. David also made himself a name when he returned after he had taken Syria in the valley of the Saltpits, slaying eighteen thousand: 14. And he put a garrison in Idumea, and was Idumea made to serve David: and the Lord preserved David in all things whithersoever he went. 15. And David reigned over all Israel: and David did judgment and justice to all his people. 16. And Joab the son of Sarvia was over the army: and Josaphat the son of Ahilud, recorder: 17. And Sadoc the son of Achitob, and Achimelech the son of Abiathar, were priests: and Seraia was scribe: 18. And Banaias the son of Joiada was over the Cerethi and Phelethi: and David’s sons were priests.
1. AND DAVID TOOK THE BRIDLE OF TRIBUTE OUT OF THE HAND OF THE PHILISTINES.—In Hebrew it is meteg ha-amma, ... pure water led by channels and streams over the whole of Philistia, to irrigate and fertilise it; which Vatablus, Pagninus and others take as the proper name of a city, which was as it were the meteg ha-amma, that is, the bridle of the other neighbouring cities in Philistia. Second, others take it as an appellative signifying the bridle of the cubit (for meteg is a bridle, amma is a cubit, ha is the article of amma), and hence “bridle of tribute,” because the price of tribute was limited and defined like a cubit; amma therefore signifies a fixed payment of tribute. Aquila renders, the bridle of the aqueduct, because by that city, as by a channel, we lead water where we will, as a horse by a bridle. Hence also the Chaldee renders, restoration, or the disposition and convenience of the stream.
Third, R. Eliezer in the Midrash takes bridle properly, namely that of the Patriarch Isaac: for Isaac, he says, striking and swearing a covenant with Abimelech king of the Palestinians not to invade Philistia, Genesis 26:28, “cut off one cubit of the bridle,” or of the “chamus,” that is, the halter of the ass on which he rode, and gave it to them to be in their hand as a sign of the sworn covenant. Moreover when King David wished to enter the land of the Philistines, he could not on account of the force of Isaac’s sworn covenant. But when he took away this halter from them (because it is written, “and David took the bridle,” or “the chamus of the cubit”) then he received the land of the Philistines.
But everyone sees that this is a fable and a figment of Rabbinic brain.
Fourth and genuinely, the “bridle of tribute” is the city of Geth, which was on the border of Juda and Philis- AND MEASURED THEM WITH A LINE, MAKING THEM EVEN WITH THE GROUND.—First, Theodoret, Question 23, takes the line literally, as the words sound. “So great, he says, was the force of the victory, and so great the multitude of those who were taken alive, that it did not allow them to be numbered. Wherefore he commanded them to be cast prone on the ground, divided into three parts, and two parts he slew, but one he kept alive.”
tia, and therefore by it the Philistines bridled Juda: but David, occupying it, bridled Philistia by it. He took away therefore this bridle from the Philistines, and with the same bridled the Philistines, setting a military garrison in it to hold them under yoke and tribute. That it is so is clear from the fact that this place is thus explained in 1 Paralipomenon 18:1, where it is said: “And it came to pass after this that David defeated the Philistines, and brought them low, and took Geth and her daughters (subject towns) out of the hand of the Philistines.” So St. Jerome in the Traditions, Sanchez, Serarius and others. Geth, therefore, was called by David and the Hebrews metegamma, that is, bridle of tribute, by a name not proper but appropriated, because it was itself the bridle of the Philistines, compelling them to pay tribute to David.
Finally some translate metegamma properly, the bridle of the cubit, and by it understand dominion and governance; because as we subject to ourselves what we measure and press with the cubit applied, so we bridle those over whom we rule. By a like catachresis “to drive a chariot” signifies to rule and command; for as a charioteer with bridle and whip rules horses, so a king by his authority governs peoples. So Elias is called by Eliseus “the charioteer of Israel.” “My father, he says, the chariot of Israel, and the driver thereof,” 4 Kings 2:12.
2. AND HE DEFEATED MOAB,—namely the Moabites, who were to the east of Juda; as the Philistines were to the west, the Syrians in verses 4 and 5 to the north, the Idumeans in verse 14 to the south. Through all the quarters of the world, therefore, David carried his victorious arms, subjugating the neighbouring nations. Where note that David took part in all these battles, nay led them, and therefore brought them to a happy end. For the very presence and excellence of the prince contributes much to the quick resolution of doubtful occurrences, to the easy execution of things decreed, to animating the soldiers, and to overcoming all difficulties; for, as Virgil says, “the presence of Turnus presses on.” Certainly Charles the Fifth was illustrious for so many victories because he himself took part in and led almost all battles. There is extant a notable exhortation of Synesius to the Emperor Arcadius that he himself take part in wars, where among other reasons Onosander the strategist brings this, chap. 42: “If, he says, the general wishes something done quickly, let him be seen first with his own hand applied to the work. For the common crowd of soldiers is not so compelled by the threats of the powerful as by the examples of eminent men striking their sense of shame. For when a man sees his leader first of all in the matter to be done, he perceives that haste must be made, is ashamed to hold back, and fears not to obey commands: and now no longer as a servant or one subject to command, but as a fellow-soldier called to the work, he comes forward.” Second, Lyranus and Cajetan take this of the towers and citadels of the Moabites, which David cast down and laid low so completely that he levelled them with the ground. Third, others take it of the fields, as if to say: David, as a victor, occupied the fields, villages and all places of Moab, and distributed them at will to his men, just as we easily measure and distribute with a line fields levelled with the ground. Or as if to say: David subjugated the Moabites wholly to himself, so that he could freely measure out their land and region as his own with lines, distribute, turn and overturn it at will. So Angelomus: “It signifies, he says, that with so free a disposal David divided the regions of the Moabites to heirs whom he wished, as any owner divides his own fields with a line drawn this way and that at his nod.”