II Samuel 10

שמואל ב׳ פרק י״

Section: נביאים · נביאים ראשונים | Book: II Samuel | Chapter: 10 of 24 | Day: 86 of 742

Date: May 8, 2026

קלאוד על הנ״ך

II Samuel 10 occupies a pivotal structural position in the David narrative. It is the last chapter in which David appears as an unambiguous protagonist of righteousness and military success before the Bathsheba episode of chapter 11 unmakes his moral standing. The chapter opens with the formula “ויהי אחרי כן” (And it came to pass after this), explicitly tethering it to the chesed-narrative of chapter 9, where David sought out Mephiboshet to extend faithful kindness to the house of Jonathan. Here David tries to repeat that gesture on the international stage: “אעשה חסד עם חנון בן נחש כאשר עשה אביו עמדי חסד” (I will do kindness with Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father did kindness with me). The deliberate verbal echo invites comparison — and contrast. Chesed extended within the covenant (to Mephiboshet) flourishes into a permanent place at the king’s table; chesed extended outside it, to a pagan dynasty whose father once sheltered David in flight, is read as espionage and answered with calculated humiliation. Radak, citing the midrash, draws a sharp halachic-theological lesson: the Torah commanded “לא תדרוש שלומם וטובתם” regarding Ammon and Moab, and David’s well-meaning generosity to Hanun set in motion the very wars that mark this chapter — a warning, in Radak’s reading, against being “צדיק הרבה” (overly righteous) at the expense of Torah’s explicit commands.

The humiliation Hanun visits upon the envoys (v 4) is unprecedented in its calculated cruelty. He shaves half their beards and cuts their garments at the buttocks, an act that fuses bodily exposure with the ritual disgrace of de-facing. Metzudat David and Radak both stress that beard and garment in the ancient Near East were the irreducible markers of male dignity, so that the assault aimed not merely at insult but at unmaking the envoys as men. David’s response is itself a study in chesed turned inward: “שבו בירחו עד יצמח זקנכם ושבתם” (Stay at Jericho until your beards grow back, then return). The instruction is one of the great quiet moments of the book. The same David who sat Mephiboshet at his table now refuses to expose his shamed servants to the gaze of Jerusalem. Where Hanun used the body to shame, David uses time and distance to restore — the dignity-economy that linked chapter 9 to chapter 10 reappears in inverted form, healing what a foreign king sought to destroy.

The military narrative that follows is the climactic phase of the Aramean wars whose opening rounds were sketched in chapter 8. Realizing they “made themselves odious” (כי נבאשו) to David, the Ammonites assemble a formidable mercenary coalition — twenty thousand foot from Beth-rehob and Aram-Zoba, a thousand from the king of Maacah, and twelve thousand men of Tov (v 6). The geography is significant: Beth-rehob and Zoba are the kingdoms David had already humbled in chapter 8, and their willingness to be hired again signals that the earlier defeat was tactical, not final. Joab, sent against this dual threat, finds himself pinched between the Ammonites at the city gate and the Arameans deployed in the open field. His response — splitting the army, taking the elite “בחורי ישראל” against Aram while assigning his brother Abishai the Ammonite front (vv 9-10) — has long been studied as a textbook tactical envelopment. But the chapter’s heart is not the tactics; it is the speech.

Joab’s exhortation, “חזק ונתחזק בעד עמנו ובעד ערי אלהינו וה’ יעשה הטוב בעיניו” (Be strong and let us strengthen ourselves on behalf of our people and on behalf of the cities of our God, and the Lord will do what is good in His eyes), is one of the great theological-military formulations in Tanakh. Its structure is double: a human imperative of resolve and mutual reinforcement (חזק ונתחזק, in the reflexive hitpa’el), bound to a complete surrender of outcome to divine will. Metzudat David notes that Joab refuses to claim the victory in advance; he commits only to the effort, to the obligation owed to the people and the cities of God, and leaves the result to heaven. The formula resists both fatalism (which would refuse to fight) and triumphalism (which would presume God’s favor). It is the posture that Mordechai will later articulate to Esther and that the Sages will read as the proper Jewish stance in any war of survival. Joab routs the Arameans, the Ammonites flee back into Rabbah, and Joab returns to Jerusalem (vv 13-14) — the first phase of the war is won by faithfulness paired with strenuous effort.

The second phase escalates the conflict beyond a regional skirmish into the great northern reckoning. Hadadezer summons Arameans “מעבר הנהר” (from beyond the river, the Euphrates), and Shophach his commander leads a fresh army to Helam. This time David himself crosses the Jordan, takes the field, and inflicts a decisive defeat — seven hundred chariots and forty thousand horsemen (the textual variant with Chronicles is well known), Shophach himself killed in the battle. The chapter closes with the political consequence: “ויראו כל המלכים עבדי הדדעזר כי נגפו לפני ישראל וישלמו את ישראל ויעבדום” (All the vassal kings of Hadadezer saw that they were defeated before Israel, and they made peace with Israel and served them); the Arameans no longer dare aid the Ammonites. The Davidic empire reaches its territorial and political zenith. And precisely here, at the height, the narrator will turn the page to chapter 11 — “ויהי לתשובת השנה לעת צאת המלכים” (At the turn of the year, the time when kings go out) — and David, who in this chapter crossed the Jordan to lead his armies in person, will remain in Jerusalem while Joab besieges Rabbah. The chapter is thus the structural setup for the catastrophe: it builds David’s height precisely so the fall can be measured against it. Read in sequence with chapter 9, II Samuel 10 is the last unbroken note of David’s chesed and David’s victory before the great descent begins.

פרק י״ · Chapter 10

פסוק א׳ · Verse 1

Hebrew:

וַֽיְהִי֙ אַחֲרֵי־כֵ֔ן וַיָּ֕מׇת מֶ֖לֶךְ בְּנֵ֣י עַמּ֑וֹן וַיִּמְלֹ֛ךְ חָנ֥וּן בְּנ֖וֹ תַּחְתָּֽיו׃

English:

aThis chapter is found also in 1 Chron. 19. Sometime afterward, the king of Ammon died, and his son Hanun succeeded him as king.

פסוק ב׳ · Verse 2

Hebrew:

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר דָּוִ֜ד אֶעֱשֶׂה־חֶ֣סֶד ׀ עִם־חָנ֣וּן בֶּן־נָחָ֗שׁ כַּאֲשֶׁר֩ עָשָׂ֨ה אָבִ֤יו עִמָּדִי֙ חֶ֔סֶד וַיִּשְׁלַ֨ח דָּוִ֧ד לְנַחֲמ֛וֹ בְּיַד־עֲבָדָ֖יו אֶל־אָבִ֑יו וַיָּבֹ֙אוּ֙ עַבְדֵ֣י דָוִ֔ד אֶ֖רֶץ בְּנֵ֥י עַמּֽוֹן׃

English:

David said, “I will keep faith with Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father kept faith with me.” He sent his courtiers with a message of condolence to him over his father. But when David’s courtiers came to the land of Ammon,

פסוק ג׳ · Verse 3

Hebrew:

וַיֹּאמְרוּ֩ שָׂרֵ֨י בְנֵי־עַמּ֜וֹן אֶל־חָנ֣וּן אֲדֹנֵיהֶ֗ם הַֽמְכַבֵּ֨ד דָּוִ֤ד אֶת־אָבִ֙יךָ֙ בְּעֵינֶ֔יךָ כִּֽי־שָׁלַ֥ח לְךָ֖ מְנַחֲמִ֑ים הֲ֠ל֠וֹא בַּעֲב֞וּר חֲקֹ֤ר אֶת־הָעִיר֙ וּלְרַגְּלָ֣הּ וּלְהׇפְכָ֔הּ שָׁלַ֥ח דָּוִ֛ד אֶת־עֲבָדָ֖יו אֵלֶֽיךָ׃

English:

the Ammonite officials said to their lord Hanun, “Do you think David is really honoring your father just because he sent you consolers? Why, David has sent his courtiers to you to explore and spy out the city, and to overthrowboverthrow Emendation yields “reconnoiter”; cf. Deut. 1.22; Josh. 2.2–3. it.”

פסוק ד׳ · Verse 4

Hebrew:

וַיִּקַּ֨ח חָנ֜וּן אֶת־עַבְדֵ֣י דָוִ֗ד וַיְגַלַּח֙ אֶת־חֲצִ֣י זְקָנָ֔ם וַיִּכְרֹ֧ת אֶת־מַדְוֵיהֶ֛ם בַּחֵ֖צִי עַ֣ד שְׁתוֹתֵיהֶ֑ם וַֽיְשַׁלְּחֵֽם׃

English:

So Hanun seized David’s courtiers, clipped off one side of their beards and cut away half of their garments at the buttocks, and sent them off.

פסוק ה׳ · Verse 5

Hebrew:

וַיַּגִּ֤דוּ לְדָוִד֙ וַיִּשְׁלַ֣ח לִקְרָאתָ֔ם כִּי־הָי֥וּ הָאֲנָשִׁ֖ים נִכְלָמִ֣ים מְאֹ֑ד וַיֹּ֤אמֶר הַמֶּ֙לֶךְ֙ שְׁב֣וּ בִירֵח֔וֹ עַד־יְצַמַּ֥ח זְקַנְכֶ֖ם וְשַׁבְתֶּֽם׃

English:

When David was told about the men,cthe men Moved up from later in the verse for clarity. he dispatched others to meet them, for they were greatly embarrassed. And the king gave orders: “Stop in Jericho until your beards grow back; then you can return.”

פסוק ו׳ · Verse 6

Hebrew:

וַיִּרְאוּ֙ בְּנֵ֣י עַמּ֔וֹן כִּ֥י נִבְאֲשׁ֖וּ בְּדָוִ֑ד וַיִּשְׁלְח֣וּ בְנֵי־עַמּ֡וֹן וַיִּשְׂכְּרוּ֩ אֶת־אֲרַ֨ם בֵּית־רְח֜וֹב וְאֶת־אֲרַ֣ם צוֹבָ֗א עֶשְׂרִ֥ים אֶ֙לֶף֙ רַגְלִ֔י וְאֶת־מֶ֤לֶךְ מַֽעֲכָה֙ אֶ֣לֶף אִ֔ישׁ וְאִ֣ישׁ ט֔וֹב שְׁנֵים־עָשָׂ֥ר אֶ֖לֶף אִֽישׁ׃

English:

The Ammonites realized that they had incurred the wrath ofdincurred the wrath of See note at 1 Sam. 13.4. David. So the Ammonites sent agents and hired Arameans of Beth-rehob and Arameans of Zobah—20,000 foot soldiers—and the king of Maacah [with both his] 1,000 men and Tob’seTob’s I.e., from the region called Tob, in Transjordan near Maacah (cf. Judg. 11.3). contingent of 12,000 men.fand the king of Maacah … 12,000 men Meaning of Heb. uncertain.

פסוק ז׳ · Verse 7

Hebrew:

וַיִּשְׁמַ֖ע דָּוִ֑ד וַיִּשְׁלַח֙ אֶת־יוֹאָ֔ב וְאֵ֥ת כׇּל־הַצָּבָ֖א הַגִּבֹּרִֽים׃

English:

On learning this, David sent out Joab and the entire army of mighty soldiers.

פסוק ח׳ · Verse 8

Hebrew:

וַיֵּֽצְאוּ֙ בְּנֵ֣י עַמּ֔וֹן וַיַּעַרְכ֥וּ מִלְחָמָ֖ה פֶּ֣תַח הַשָּׁ֑עַר וַאֲרַ֨ם צוֹבָ֤א וּרְחוֹב֙ וְאִֽישׁ־ט֣וֹב וּמַעֲכָ֔ה לְבַדָּ֖ם בַּשָּׂדֶֽה׃

English:

The Ammonites marched out and took up their battle position at the entrance of the gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and Tob’s contingent and Maacah took their stand separately in the open.

פסוק ט׳ · Verse 9

Hebrew:

וַיַּ֣רְא יוֹאָ֗ב כִּֽי־הָיְתָ֤ה אֵלָיו֙ פְּנֵ֣י הַמִּלְחָמָ֔ה מִפָּנִ֖ים וּמֵאָח֑וֹר וַיִּבְחַ֗ר מִכֹּל֙ בְּחוּרֵ֣י (בישראל) [יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל] וַֽיַּעֲרֹ֖ךְ לִקְרַ֥את אֲרָֽם׃

English:

Joab saw that there was a battle line against him both front and rear. So he made a selection from all the best soldiers of Israel and arrayed them against the Arameans,

פסוק י״ · Verse 10

Hebrew:

וְאֵת֙ יֶ֣תֶר הָעָ֔ם נָתַ֕ן בְּיַ֖ד אַבְשַׁ֣י אָחִ֑יו וַיַּעֲרֹ֕ךְ לִקְרַ֖את בְּנֵ֥י עַמּֽוֹן׃

English:

and the rest of the troops he put under the command of his brother AbishaigAbishai Heb. “Abshai.” and arrayed them against the Ammonites.

פסוק י״א · Verse 11

Hebrew:

וַיֹּ֗אמֶר אִם־תֶּחֱזַ֤ק אֲרָם֙ מִמֶּ֔נִּי וְהָיִ֥תָה לִּ֖י לִישׁוּעָ֑ה וְאִם־בְּנֵ֤י עַמּוֹן֙ יֶחֶזְק֣וּ מִמְּךָ֔ וְהָלַכְתִּ֖י לְהוֹשִׁ֥יעַֽ לָֽךְ׃

English:

[Joab] said, “If the Arameans prove too strong for me, you come to my aid; and if the Ammonites prove too strong for you, I will come to your aid.

פסוק י״ב · Verse 12

Hebrew:

חֲזַ֤ק וְנִתְחַזַּק֙ בְּעַד־עַמֵּ֔נוּ וּבְעַ֖ד עָרֵ֣י אֱלֹהֵ֑ינוּ וַֽיהֹוָ֔ה יַעֲשֶׂ֥ה הַטּ֖וֹב בְּעֵינָֽיו׃

English:

Let us be strong and resolute for the sake of our people and the landhland Lit. “towns.” of our God; and accept the outcome that GOD deems right.”

פסוק י״ג · Verse 13

Hebrew:

וַיִּגַּ֣שׁ יוֹאָ֗ב וְהָעָם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר עִמּ֔וֹ לַמִּלְחָמָ֖ה בַּאֲרָ֑ם וַיָּנֻ֖סוּ מִפָּנָֽיו׃

English:

Joab and the troops with him marched into battle against the Arameans, who fled before him.

פסוק י״ד · Verse 14

Hebrew:

וּבְנֵ֨י עַמּ��וֹן רָאוּ֙ כִּֽי־נָ֣ס אֲרָ֔ם וַיָּנֻ֙סוּ֙ מִפְּנֵ֣י אֲבִישַׁ֔י וַיָּבֹ֖אוּ הָעִ֑יר וַיָּ֣שׇׁב יוֹאָ֗ב מֵעַל֙ בְּנֵ֣י עַמּ֔וֹן וַיָּבֹ֖א יְרוּשָׁלָֽ͏ִם׃

English:

And when the Ammonites saw that the Arameans had fled, they fled before Abishai and withdrew into the city. So Joab broke off the attack against the Ammonites, and went to Jerusalem.

פסוק ט״ו · Verse 15

Hebrew:

וַיַּ֣רְא אֲרָ֔ם כִּ֥י נִגַּ֖ף לִפְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וַיֵּאָסְפ֖וּ יָֽחַד׃

English:

When the Arameans saw that they had been routed by Israel, they regrouped their forces.

פסוק ט״ז · Verse 16

Hebrew:

וַיִּשְׁלַ֣ח הֲדַדְעֶ֗זֶר וַיֹּצֵ֤א אֶת־אֲרָם֙ אֲשֶׁר֙ מֵעֵ֣בֶר הַנָּהָ֔ר וַיָּבֹ֖אוּ חֵילָ֑ם וְשׁוֹבַ֛ךְ שַׂר־צְבָ֥א הֲדַדְעֶ֖זֶר לִפְנֵיהֶֽם׃ {ס}        

English:

HadadezeriHadadezer Many editions read “Hadarezer.” sent for and brought out the Arameans from across the Euphrates; they came to Helam, led by Shobach, Hadadezer’sjHadadezer’s Many editions read “Hadarezer’s.” army commander.

פסוק י״ז · Verse 17

Hebrew:

וַיֻּגַּ֣ד לְדָוִ֗ד וַיֶּאֱסֹ֤ף אֶת־כׇּל־יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ וַיַּעֲבֹ֣ר אֶת־הַיַּרְדֵּ֔ן וַיָּבֹ֖א חֵלָ֑אמָה וַיַּעַרְכ֤וּ אֲרָם֙ לִקְרַ֣את דָּוִ֔ד וַיִּֽלָּחֲמ֖וּ עִמּֽוֹ׃

English:

David was informed of it; he assembled all Israel, crossed the Jordan, and came to Helam. The Arameans drew up their forces against David and attacked him;

פסוק י״ח · Verse 18

Hebrew:

וַיָּ֣נׇס אֲרָם֮ מִפְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵל֒ וַיַּהֲרֹ֨ג דָּוִ֜ד מֵאֲרָ֗ם שְׁבַ֤ע מֵאוֹת֙ רֶ֔כֶב וְאַרְבָּעִ֥ים אֶ֖לֶף פָּרָשִׁ֑ים וְאֵ֨ת שׁוֹבַ֧ךְ שַׂר־צְבָא֛וֹ הִכָּ֖ה וַיָּ֥מׇת שָֽׁם׃

English:

but the Arameans were put to flight by Israel. David killed 700 Aramean chariot teams and 40,000 riders;kriders Or “foot soldiers”; cf. 1 Chron. 19.18. he also struck down Shobach, Hadadezer’slHadadezer’s Heb. “his.” army commander, who died there.

פסוק י״ט · Verse 19

Hebrew:

וַיִּרְא֨וּ כׇֽל־הַמְּלָכִ֜ים עַבְדֵ֣י הֲדַדְעֶ֗זֶר כִּ֤י נִגְּפוּ֙ לִפְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וַיַּשְׁלִ֥מוּ אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל וַיַּעַבְד֑וּם וַיִּֽרְא֣וּ אֲרָ֔ם לְהוֹשִׁ֥יעַ ע֖וֹד אֶת־בְּנֵ֥י עַמּֽוֹן׃ {פ}

English:

And when all the vassal kings of HadadezermHadadezer Many editions read “Hadarezer.” saw that they had been routed by Israel, they submitted to Israel and became their vassals. And the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.

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