Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Samuel 10:17
And when it was told David, he gathered all Israel together, and passed over Jordan, and came to Helam. And the Syrians set themselves in array against David, and fought with him.
Verse 17. David – gathered all Israel together] He thought that such a war required his own presence.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
All Israel, i.e. the chosen and valiant men picked out of all Israel.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And when it was told David,…. What preparations the Syrians were making to fight him, and where they were:
he gathered all Israel together; all the fighting men in the country:
and passed over Jordan, and came to Helam: which, according to Bunting b, was twenty miles from Jerusalem. David seems to have gone himself in person to this war:
and the Syrians set themselves in array against David, and fought with him; they formed themselves in a line of battle, and attacked him first, being eager to fight, and perhaps confident of victory, because of their numbers.
b Travels, &c. p. 140, 141.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
David went with all Israel (all the Israelitish forces) against the foe, and smote the Aramaeans at Helam, where they had placed themselves in battle array, slaying seven hundred charioteers and forty thousand horsemen, and so smiting (or wounding) the general Shobach that he died there, i.e., that he did not survive the battle (Thenius). With regard to the different account given in the corresponding text of the Chronicles as to the number of the slain, see the remarks on 2Sa 10:6. It is a fact worthy of notice, that the number of men who fell in the battle (seven hundred receb and forty thousand parashim , according to the text before us; seven thousand receb and forty thousand ragli , according to the Chronicles) agrees quite as well with the number of Aramaeans reported to be taken prisoners or slain, according to 2Sa 8:4 and 1Ch 18:4-5 (viz., seventeen hundred parashim or a thousand receb , and seven thousand parashim and twenty thousand ragli of Aram-Zoba, and twenty-two thousand of Aram-Damascus), as could possibly be expected considering the notorious corruption in the numbers as we possess them; so that there is scarcely any doubt that the number of Aramaeans who fell was the same in both accounts (2 Samuel 8 and 10), and that in the chapter before us we have simply a more circumstantial account of the very same war of which the result is given in 2 Samuel 8 and 1Ch 13:1-14.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(17) He gathered . . . and passed.David, hearing of the great Syrian rally, now took the field in person. Joab may have been with him, but more probably was employed at the south in holding the Ammonites in check and preventing their forming a junction with their confederates.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2Sa 10:17 And when it was told David, he gathered all Israel together, and passed over Jordan, and came to Helam. And the Syrians set themselves in array against David, and fought with him.
Ver. 17. He gathered all Israel together. ] The best of all, and fittest for his purpose; leading them forth himself. See 2Sa 8:6 . This put life into his soldiers, as Queen Elizabeth also did by her personal presence at Tilbury Camp; and as the thrice valiant King of Sweden did.
And fought with him.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
he gathered: 1Ch 19:17
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Sa 10:17-18. David passed over Jordan In this expedition David seems to have commanded his army in his own person. But, notwithstanding, the Syrians appear to have begun the fight. David slew the men of seven hundred chariots, &c. The parallel place, 1Ch 19:18, reads, seven thousand men that fought in chariots, and forty thousand footmen, and not horsemen, as here. It is probable, either that horse and foot were mixed together, and that, in all, there were slain forty thousand of them, part horsemen and part footmen; or, as many learned men suppose, that some error has crept into the text in one of the places. Houbigant is of opinion, that the text here, corrected from the parallel passage, should be read, David destroyed seven thousand horsemen, seven hundred chariots, and forty thousand footmen.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
10:17 And when it was told David, he gathered {f} all Israel together, and passed over Jordan, and came to Helam. And the Syrians set themselves in array against David, and fought with him.
(f) Meaning, the greatest part.