taking of Geth, he invaded Moab, from whom notwithstanding, in his adversity, he sought succour, and left his parents with him in trust. But whether it were the same king or not, it is not known.

The Rabbins feign that Moab slew those kinsfolks of David, which lived under his protection in Saul's time; but questionless David well knew how that nation had been always enemies to Israel, and took all the occasions to vex them that were offered. And he also remembered, that in the xxiii. of Deuter. God commanded Israel not to seek the peace or prosperity of the Moabites, which David well observed, for he destroyed two parts of the people, leav ing a third to till the ground. This victory obtained, he led his army by the border of Ammon towards Syria Zobah, the region of Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king thereof. The place is set down in the description of the Holy Land; to which I refer the reader.

SECT. VI.

The war which David made upon the Syrians.

Ir is written in the text, David smote also Ha'dadezer,' &c. as he went to recover his border

at the river Euphrates.' Now, whether the words as he went to recover his border,' be referred to David or Hadadezer, it is not agreed upon. Junius thinks that the article, he,' hath relation to David, who finding Tohu oppressed by Hadadezer, overthrew the one, and succoured the other. But the ancient and most received opinion, that this recovery hath reference to the Syrian, is more probable. For if David had intended any such enterprise towards Euphrates, he was in far better case to have proceeded after his victory than before; seeing that (Hadadezer being taken,) he had now left no enemy on his back, either to pursue him, to take victuals

and supplies from him, or to stop the passages of the mountains upon him at his return.

Again, seeing David was either to pass through a part of Arabia the desert, or by the plains of Palmyrena, his army, consisting of footmen, for the most, if not all, he had now both horse and chariots, good store, to carry his provisions through those uncultivated places, by which he was to have marched before he could have reached Euphrates or any part thereof. But we find that David returned to Jerusalem, after he had twice overthrown the Syrian army, not bending his course towards the river Euphrates, but seeking to establish his purchases already made. Whereby it may appear, that it was the Syrian, and not king David, that was going to enlarge his border, as afore is said.

The king of Syria Damascena, and of Damascus, whereof that region is so called, hearing that Hadadezer was overthrown by the Israelites, fearing his own estate, and the loss of his own country, which adjoined to Syria Zobah of Hadadezer, sent for an army of Aramites or Syrians to his succour; but these, as it appeareth, came too late for Hadadezer, and too soon for themselves; for there perished of those supplies twenty-two thousand. This king of Damascus, Josephus, (out of Nicolaus, an ancient historian,) calleth Adad, who was also of the same name and family, as all those other Adads were; which now began to grow up in greatness, and so continued for ten descents, till they were extinguished by the Assyrians, as is shewn heretofore. David, having now reduced Damascus under his obedience, left a garrison therein, as he did in Edom; having also sacked the adjoining cities of Betah, and Berathi, belonging to Hadadezer; of which cities Ptolemy calleth Betah, Tauba; and Berathi he nameth Berathena. Tohu', or Thoi, whose country of Hamath joined to Hadadezer, (as in the description of

1 2 Sam. viii.

the Holy Land the reader may perceive,) sent his son Joram to congratulate this success of David; partly because he had war with Hadadezer, and partly because he feared David, now victorious. He also presented David with vessels of gold, silver, and brass; all which, together with the golden shield of the Aramites, and the best of all the spoils of other nations, David dedicated unto God at his return. Junius translated the words, clypeos aureos,' by umbones, as if all the parts of the targets were not of gold, but the bosses only. The Septuagint call them bracelets; Aquila, golden chains. But because Rehoboam made shields of brass in place of those of Hadadezer, at such time as Shicah the Egyptian sacked the temple of Jerusalem, it may be gathered thereby, that those of Hadadezer were golden shields.

This done, David sent ambassadors to Hanum king of the Ammonites, to congratulate his establishment in his father's kingdom; for David, in the time of his affliction under Saul, had been relieved by Nahash, the father of Hanum. But this Ammonite being ill advised, and over-jealous of his estate, used David's messengers so barbarously and contemptuously, (by curtailing their beards and their garments,) as he thereby drew a war upon himself, which neither his own strength, nor all the aids purchased, could put off, or sustain. For notwithstanding that he had waged thirty-three thousand soldiers of the Amalekites, and their confederates; viz. of the vassals of Hadadezer twenty thousand, and of Maachah' and Ishtob, thirteen thousand, (for which he dis bursed a thousand talents of silver;) yet all these great armies together, with the strength of the Ammonites, were, by Joab* and his brother Abishai, easily broken and put to ruin; and that without any great loss or slaughter at that time. And it is written, that when the Aramites fled, the Ammonites also

2 2 Sam. x. 3 Maachah, the north part of Traconitis, remember in Deut. iii. 14. Ishtob or Thob, a country near Gad, under the rocks of Arnon. 42 Sam. x

retreated into their cities, the one holding themselves within the walls, the other in the deserts adjoining, till Joab was returned to Jerusalem.

6

Hadadezer, hearing that Joab had dismissed his army, assembled his forces again, and sent all the companies that he could levy out of Mesopotamia, who, under the command of Shobach, passed Euphrates, and encamped at Helam 5, on the south side thereof. David hearing of this new preparation, assembled all the ablest men of Israel, and marched towards the Syrian army in Palmyrena, not yet entered into Arabia; viz. at Helam, a place no less distant from Damascus, towards the north-east, than Jerusalem was towards the south-west. Now David, (speaking humanly,) might, with the more confidence go on towards Euphrates, (which was the farthest off journey that ever he made,) because he was now lord of Damascus, which lay in the mid-way. He also possessed himself of Tadmor or Palmyrena, which Solomon afterwards strongly fortified, and this city was but one day's journey from Helam, and the river Euphrates. So had he two safe retreats, the one to Tadmor, and the next from thence to Damascus. In this encounter between David and the Syrians, they lost forty thousand horsemen, and seven hundred chariots, together with Shobach, general of their army. The Chronicles call these forty thousand soldiers footmen, and so Junius converts it, and so is it very probable. For the army of Israel consisting of footmen, could hardly have slaughtered forty thousand horsemen, except they quitted their horses and fought on foot. So are the chariots, taken in this battle, numbered at seven thousand, in the 1st of Chronicles, chap ix., in which number, as I conceive, all the soldiers that served in them, with their conductors, are included; so as there died of the Syrians in this war against David,

5 Helam or Chelam, which Ptolemy calleth Alamatha, near the fords of Eum) phrates. 2 Sam. x. See chap. xviii. sect. 2.

before he forced them to tribute, a hundred thousand footmen, besides all their horsemen and waggoners, and besides all those that Joab slew, when they fled at the first encounter, together with the Ammonites before Rabbah. Notwithstanding all which, the Adads in following ages gathered strength again, and afflicted the kings of Judah often; but the kings of Israel they impoverished, even to the last end of

that state.

David having now beaten the Arabians and Mesopotamians from the party and confederacy of Ammon, he sent out Joab the lieutenant of his armies to forage and destroy their territory, and to besiege Rabbah, afterwards Philadelphia, which after a while the Israelites mastered and possessed. The king's crown, which weighed a talent of gold, garnished with precious stones, David set on his own head, and carried away with him the rest of the riches and spoil of the city. And though David stayed at Jerusalem, following the war of Uriah's wife, till such time as the city was brought to extremity, and ready to be entered; yet Joab, in honour of David, forbore the last assault, and entrance thereof, till his master's arrival. To the people he used extreme rigour, (if we may so call it, being exercised against heathen idolators,) for some of them he tore with harrows, some he sawed asunder, others he cast into burning kilns, in which he baked tile and brick.

SECT. VII.

Of David's troubles in his reign, and of his forces.

BUT as victory begetteth security, and our present worldly felicity a forgetfulness of our former miseries, and many times of God himself the giver of all goodness; so did these changes in the fortune and state of this good king, change also the zealous care which formerly he had to please God in the precise observation of his laws and commandments. For