II Samuel 8

שמואל ב׳ פרק ח׳

Section: נביאים · נביאים ראשונים | Book: II Samuel | Chapter: 8 of 24 | Day: 84 of 742

Date: May 6, 2026

קלאוד על הנ״ך

II Samuel 8 stands as the imperial summary of David’s reign, the chapter that makes good on the sweeping promises of the Davidic Covenant in chapter 7. Where chapter 7 had Nathan declaring in God’s name that He would cut off all of David’s enemies before him and make him a great name (ועשיתי לך שם גדול), chapter 8 demonstrates the historical fulfillment of that pledge. The chapter opens with the formula “ויהי אחרי כן” (“and it came to pass afterward”), tying the campaigns directly to the covenant and signaling that what follows is the working out of God’s chesed ve-yeshua (the loyalty and salvation promised to David’s house). The geographic sweep is deliberately panoramic — Philistia in the west, Moab in the east, Aram-Zobah and Damascus to the north, Edom to the south — encompassing all four corners of the promised borders and approaching the Euphrates frontier first sketched in the covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15:18).

The roll of conquests is rendered with a terse, almost annalistic economy that contrasts with the dramatic narrative texture of earlier chapters. David subdues the Philistines and takes “מתג האמה” (verse 1) — a phrase Rashi, drawing on the parallel in I Chronicles 18:1, identifies with Gat, the metropolis whose royal title (“Akhish king of Gat”) betrays its primacy among the Philistine pentapolis. Radak preserves a striking midrash from the Beraita of Rabbi Eliezer: Yitzchak had cut off “an amah from the bridle of his donkey” and given it to Avimelech as a token of an oath that David’s seed would not inherit Philistine land; only when David recovers that bridle-piece (meteg ha-amah) is the legal obstacle removed and the conquest of Philistia made possible. The treatment of Moab in verse 2 — the haunting scene of the rope-measuring (וימדדם בחבל), with two cords for death and one for life — is the chapter’s most morally arresting moment, and the commentators struggle to reconcile such severity with David’s character. Some, drawing on the tradition that David had entrusted his parents to the king of Moab during Saul’s persecution and that they were killed there, see this as measured retribution rather than wanton cruelty; either way, the verse closes with Moab becoming “נשאי מנחה” (tributary vassals), which mitigates total destruction with the language of ongoing relationship.

The northern campaign against Hadadezer son of Rechov, king of Zobah (verses 3-8), is the chapter’s centerpiece, and its details are weighty: David recovers his border at the river (להשיב ידו בנהר), captures 1,700 horsemen and 20,000 footmen, and hamstrings (ויעקר) all the chariot horses except a hundred — Metzudat David explains this as fulfillment of the Torah’s prohibition on the king multiplying horses (Deuteronomy 17:16), a striking touch in which conquest is constrained by Torah even at the height of military success. The Aramean response from Damascus is shattered (22,000 dead), garrisons are installed, and tribute flows. The gold shields (שלטי הזהב) and copper from Hadadezer’s cities are brought to Jerusalem, where verses 11-12 make the chapter’s theological point explicit: David hikdish (consecrates) all of it to the LORD, along with the spoils from every nation he subdued. The campaigns are not vehicles of personal aggrandizement but of imperial offering; the wealth of the nations is funneled toward the future Temple, anticipating Solomon’s building project and dovetailing with chapter 7’s promise that David’s son will build the house. Toi king of Hamath, recognizing the new geopolitical order, sends his son Yoram with gifts of silver, gold, and bronze (verses 9-10) — a voluntary tribute that mirrors the involuntary one and shows David’s hegemony recognized even by unconquered powers.

The chapter’s hinge verse is verse 15: “וימלך דוד על כל ישראל ויהי דוד עשה משפט וצדקה לכל עמו” (“So David reigned over all Israel; and David executed justice and righteousness for all his people”). After eight verses cataloguing foreign conquest, the narrator pivots inward to the moral architecture of David’s rule. Mishpat u-tzedakah is the classical pairing for righteous governance — the same diadem the prophets will later demand of David’s descendants and find them lacking. Metzudat David glosses tzedakah here as going beyond strict din (law) to act with grace, and mishpat as judgment between man and his fellow according to law; the combination is the biblical ideal of kingship and is the standard against which every later Davidic king will be measured (cf. Jeremiah 22:15-16, where the prophet rebukes Yehoyakim by appealing to his righteous father who “did mishpat u-tzedakah and then it was well with him”). The verse functions as a kind of editorial colophon: David’s military empire is legitimated by his domestic justice, and the imperial summary is also a moral verdict.

The cabinet list in verses 16-18 is the administrative blueprint of the United Monarchy and rewards close reading. Yoav over the army; Yehoshafat ben Achilud as mazkir (recorder or chronicler — Rashi understands the office as keeping royal annals and reminding the king of business at hand); Tzadok ben Achituv and Achimelekh ben Evyatar as priests, representing the dual priestly lines that will figure prominently in the succession crisis ahead; Seraiah as sofer (scribe); and Benaiah ben Yehoyada over the Kreti and Pleti, the elite royal guard of foreign mercenaries (identified by some as Philistine-derived warriors loyal personally to David rather than to the tribal levies). The list is famously capped, however, by verse 18’s “ובני דוד כהנים היו” (“and David’s sons were kohanim”) — a textual crux that has exercised commentators since antiquity, since the priesthood is restricted to Aaron’s descendants. Rashi reads it as “high officials” or “ministers,” citing the parallel in I Chronicles 18:17, which substitutes “ראשונים ליד המלך” (“chief officials at the king’s hand”). Radak similarly understands kohanim here in its broader sense of dignitaries or counselors, noting that the word can denote office of distinction generally (compare the priest of Midian or the priest of On in Genesis). The chapter thus closes by drawing into the king’s own household the same architecture of service it has built outward, even as it leaves us with a verse whose ambiguity has been the seedbed of centuries of harmonization — a fitting close to a chapter that is as much theological argument as historical chronicle.

פרק ח׳ · Chapter 8

פסוק א׳ · Verse 1

Hebrew:

וַֽיְהִי֙ אַֽחֲרֵי־כֵ֔ן וַיַּ֥ךְ דָּוִ֛ד אֶת־פְּלִשְׁתִּ֖ים וַיַּכְנִיעֵ֑ם וַיִּקַּ֥ח דָּוִ֛ד אֶת־מֶ֥תֶג הָאַמָּ֖ה מִיַּ֥ד פְּלִשְׁתִּֽים׃

English:

aThis chapter is reproduced, with some variations, in 1 Chron. 18. Sometime afterward, David attacked the Philistines and subdued them; and David took Metheg-ammahbMetheg-ammah If not a place name, meaning of Heb. uncertain. from the Philistines.

פסוק ב׳ · Verse 2

Hebrew:

וַיַּ֣ךְ אֶת־מוֹאָ֗ב וַֽיְמַדְּדֵ֤ם בַּחֶ֙בֶל֙ הַשְׁכֵּ֣ב אוֹתָ֣ם אַ֔רְצָה וַיְמַדֵּ֤ד שְׁנֵֽי־חֲבָלִים֙ לְהָמִ֔ית וּמְלֹ֥א הַחֶ֖בֶל לְהַחֲי֑וֹת וַתְּהִ֤י מוֹאָב֙ לְדָוִ֔ד לַעֲבָדִ֖ים נֹשְׂאֵ֥י מִנְחָֽה׃

English:

He also defeated the Moabites. He made them lie down on the ground and he measured them off with a cord; he measured out two lengths of cord for those who were to be put to death, and one length for those to be spared.ctwo lengths … death, and one length … spared I.e., he repeatedly doomed twice the number he spared. And the Moabites became tributary vassals of David.

פסוק ג׳ · Verse 3

Hebrew:

וַיַּ֣ךְ דָּוִ֔ד אֶת־הֲדַדְעֶ֥זֶר בֶּן־רְחֹ֖ב מֶ֣לֶךְ צוֹבָ֑ה בְּלֶכְתּ֕וֹ לְהָשִׁ֥יב יָד֖וֹ (בנהר) [בִּֽנְהַר־פְּרָֽת]׃

English:

David defeated Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, who was then on his way to restore his monumentdmonument On yad in this sense, cf. 18.18; 1 Chron. 18.3; 1 Sam. 15.12. In contrast to others “dominion.” at the Euphrates River.

פסוק ד׳ · Verse 4

Hebrew:

וַיִּלְכֹּ֨ד דָּוִ֜ד מִמֶּ֗נּוּ אֶ֤לֶף וּשְׁבַע־מֵאוֹת֙ פָּרָשִׁ֔ים וְעֶשְׂרִ֥ים אֶ֖לֶף אִ֣ישׁ רַגְלִ֑י וַיְעַקֵּ֤ר דָּוִד֙ אֶת־כׇּל־הָרֶ֔כֶב וַיּוֹתֵ֥ר מִמֶּ֖נּוּ מֵ֥אָה רָֽכֶב׃

English:

David captured 1,700 charioteers and 20,000 foot soldiers of his force; and David hamstrung all the chariot horses, except for 100 that he retained.

פסוק ה׳ · Verse 5

Hebrew:

וַתָּבֹא֙ אֲרַ֣ם דַּמֶּ֔שֶׂק לַעְזֹ֕ר לַהֲדַדְעֶ֖זֶר מֶ֣לֶךְ צוֹבָ֑ה וַיַּ֤ךְ דָּוִד֙ בַּאֲרָ֔ם עֶשְׂרִֽים־וּשְׁנַ֥יִם אֶ֖לֶף אִֽישׁ׃

English:

And when the Arameans of Damascus came to the aid of King Hadadezer of Zobah, David struck down 22,000 of the Arameans.

פסוק ו׳ · Verse 6

Hebrew:

וַיָּ֨שֶׂם דָּוִ֤ד נְצִבִים֙ בַּאֲרַ֣ם דַּמֶּ֔שֶׂק וַתְּהִ֤י אֲרָם֙ לְדָוִ֔ד לַע��בָדִ֖ים נוֹשְׂאֵ֣י מִנְחָ֑ה וַיֹּ֤שַׁע יְהֹוָה֙ אֶת־דָּוִ֔ד בְּכֹ֖ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר הָלָֽךְ׃

English:

David stationed garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans became tributary vassals of David. GOD gave David victory wherever he went.

פסוק ז׳ · Verse 7

Hebrew:

וַיִּקַּ֣ח דָּוִ֗ד אֵ֚ת שִׁלְטֵ֣י הַזָּהָ֔ב אֲשֶׁ֣ר הָי֔וּ אֶ֖ל עַבְדֵ֣י הֲדַדְעָ֑זֶר וַיְבִיאֵ֖ם יְרוּשָׁלָֽ͏ִם׃

English:

David took the gold shieldseshields Or “quivers.” carried by Hadadezer’s retinue and brought them to Jerusalem;

פסוק ח׳ · Verse 8

Hebrew:

וּמִבֶּ֥טַח וּמִבֵּרֹתַ֖י עָרֵ֣י הֲדַדְעָ֑זֶר לָקַ֞ח הַמֶּ֧לֶךְ דָּוִ֛ד נְחֹ֖שֶׁת הַרְבֵּ֥ה מְאֹֽד׃ {ס}        

English:

and from Betah and Berothai, towns of Hadadezer, King David took a vast amount of copper.

פסוק ט׳ · Verse 9

Hebrew:

וַיִּשְׁמַ֕ע תֹּ֖עִי מֶ֣לֶךְ חֲמָ֑ת כִּ֚י הִכָּ֣ה דָוִ֔ד אֵ֖ת כׇּל־חֵ֥יל הֲדַדְעָֽזֶר׃

English:

When King Toi of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer,

פסוק י״ · Verse 10

Hebrew:

וַיִּשְׁלַ֣ח תֹּ֣עִי אֶת־יֽוֹרָם־בְּנ֣וֹ אֶל־הַמֶּֽלֶךְ־דָּ֠וִ֠ד לִשְׁאׇל־ל֨וֹ לְשָׁל֜וֹם וּֽלְבָרְכ֗וֹ עַל֩ אֲשֶׁ֨ר נִלְחַ֤ם בַּהֲדַדְעֶ֙זֶר֙ וַיַּכֵּ֔הוּ כִּי־אִ֛ישׁ מִלְחֲמ֥וֹת תֹּ֖עִי הָיָ֣ה הֲדַדְעָ֑זֶר וּבְיָד֗וֹ הָי֛וּ כְּלֵי־כֶ֥סֶף וּכְלֵי־זָהָ֖ב וּכְלֵ֥י נְחֹֽשֶׁת׃

English:

Toi sent his son Joram to King David to greet him and to congratulate him on his military victory over Hadadezer—for Hadadezer had been at war with Toi. [Joram] brought with him objects of silver, gold, and copper.

פסוק י״א · Verse 11

Hebrew:

גַּם־אֹתָ֕ם הִקְדִּ֛ישׁ הַמֶּ֥לֶךְ דָּוִ֖ד לַיהֹוָ֑ה עִם־הַכֶּ֤סֶף וְהַזָּהָב֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר הִקְדִּ֔ישׁ מִכׇּל־הַגּוֹיִ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר כִּבֵּֽשׁ׃

English:

King David dedicated these to GOD, along with the other silver and gold that he dedicated, [taken] from all the nations he had conquered:

פסוק י״ב · Verse 12

Hebrew:

מֵאֲרָ֤ם וּמִמּוֹאָב֙ וּמִבְּנֵ֣י עַמּ֔וֹן וּמִפְּלִשְׁתִּ֖ים וּמֵעֲמָלֵ֑ק וּמִשְּׁלַ֛ל הֲדַדְעֶ֥זֶר בֶּן־רְחֹ֖ב מֶ֥לֶךְ צוֹבָֽה׃

English:

from Edom,fEdom So several mss., Septuagint, and 1 Chron. 18.11–13; and cf. v. 14 below. Printed editions and most mss. read “Aram.” Moab, and Ammon; from the Philistines and the Amalekites, and from the plunder of Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

פסוק י״ג · Verse 13

Hebrew:

וַיַּ֤עַשׂ דָּוִד֙ שֵׁ֔ם בְּשֻׁב֕וֹ מֵהַכּוֹת֥וֹ אֶת־אֲרָ֖ם בְּגֵיא־מֶ֑לַח שְׁמוֹנָ֥ה עָשָׂ֖ר אָֽלֶף׃

English:

David gained fame when he returned from defeatinggwhen he returned from defeating Cf. 1 Chron. 18.12 and Ps. 60.1, which read differently. Edom,hEdom See note at v. 12. in the Valley of Salt, 18,000 in all.

פסוק י״ד · Verse 14

Hebrew:

וַיָּ֨שֶׂם בֶּאֱד֜וֹם נְצִבִ֗ים בְּכׇל־אֱדוֹם֙ שָׂ֣ם נְצִבִ֔ים וַיְהִ֥י כׇל־אֱד֖וֹם עֲבָדִ֣ים לְדָוִ֑ד וַיּ֤וֹשַׁע יְהֹוָה֙ אֶת־דָּוִ֔ד בְּכֹ֖ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר הָלָֽךְ׃

English:

He stationed garrisons in Edom—he stationed garrisons in all of Edomihe stationed garrisons in all of Edom This phrase is lacking in 1 Chron. 18.13.—and all the Edomites became vassals of David. GOD gave David victory wherever he went.

פסוק ט״ו · Verse 15

Hebrew:

וַיִּמְלֹ֥ךְ דָּוִ֖ד עַל־כׇּל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וַיְהִ֣י דָוִ֗ד עֹשֶׂ֛ה מִשְׁפָּ֥ט וּצְדָקָ֖ה לְכׇל־עַמּֽוֹ׃

English:

David reigned over all Israel, and David executed true justice among all his people.

פסוק ט״ז · Verse 16

Hebrew:

וְיוֹאָ֥ב בֶּן־צְרוּיָ֖ה עַל־הַצָּבָ֑א וִיהוֹשָׁפָ֥ט בֶּן־אֲחִיל֖וּד מַזְכִּֽיר׃

English:

Joab son of Zeruiah was commander of the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder;

פסוק י״ז · Verse 17

Hebrew:

וְצָד֧וֹק בֶּן־אֲחִיט֛וּב וַאֲחִימֶ֥לֶךְ בֶּן־אֶבְיָתָ֖ר כֹּהֲנִ֑ים וּשְׂרָיָ֖ה סוֹפֵֽר׃

English:

Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of AbiatharjAhimelech son of Abiathar Emendation yields “Abiathar son of Ahimelech,” cf., e.g., 20.25; 1 Sam. 22.20. were priests; SeraiahkSeraiah “Sheva” in 20.25; “Shavsha” in 1 Chron. 18.16. was scribe;

פסוק י״ח · Verse 18

Hebrew:

וּבְנָיָ֙הוּ֙ בֶּן־יְה֣וֹיָדָ֔ע וְהַכְּרֵתִ֖י וְהַפְּלֵתִ֑י וּבְנֵ֥י דָוִ֖ד כֹּהֲנִ֥ים הָיֽוּ׃ {ס}        

English:

Benaiah son of Jehoiada was commander oflcommander of So Targum (cf. 20.23; 1 Chron. 18.17); Heb. “and.” the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David’s sons were priests.

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