Reading for May 9th

Read 2 Samuel 8.1-18
In 8.1-18: David's wars.
In verse 1: The meaning of Methegammah is uncertain.
In verse 2: The Moabites lived on the other side of the of the dead Sea from Israel.
In verse 3: Zobah was an Aramean (Syrian) city-state.
The word restore may also be read as "leave."
Thus, David, rather than Hadadezer, may have been traveling to the Euphrates to erect a monument.
In verse 4: David hamstrung the horses he could not use to keep someone else from using them against him.
Joshua was commanded to do the same thing with the chariot horses he captured (Josh 11.6).
This suggests that the Israelites did not yet use chariots extensively in battle.
In verse 5: Twenty-two thousand may be twenty-two military units, which numbered much less than a thousand.
In verse 9: Hamath was an important city-state north of Syria.
In verse 10: Joram,, the son of King Toi, has an Israelite name.
In verses 13-14: Edom was the southernmost country eats of the Jordan.
In verses 15-17: The exact functions of the recorder and the secretary in David's administration are unknown.
In verse 18: The Cherethites and Pelethites were the royal bodyguard (23.23) and were related to if not identical with the Philistines.
Apparently, in David's day the king and his sons could serve as priests.
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