1. And it happened thereafter. This characteristically vague temporal reference actually reflects the achronological arrangement of the narrative material at this point. Chapter 7 was a long pause in the progress of the larger story that was devoted to the theological grounds for the postponement of building a temple and to the promise of a perpetual Davidic dynasty. Chapter 8 offers a summary of David’s conquests (which in historical fact would have spanned at least several years) resulting in the establishment of a small empire. We then revert to the intimate story of David.

David struck down the Philistines and subjugated them. Neither the Hebrew terms of the text nor the scant extrabiblical evidence allows one to conclude whether David actually occupied the Philistine cities on the coastal plain or merely reduced them to vassal status. In any case, he put an end to the Philistine military threat and was free to turn his attention to adversaries east of the Jordan.

Metheg-Ammah. There are differences of opinion as to whether this is an otherwise unknown place-name or the designation of some precious trophy (meteg is an equestrian bit, ʾamah is a watercourse) taken from the Philistines.

2. Moab. It should be recalled that Moab, with whom David is linked by ancestry, provided refuge for his parents from Saul. Perhaps now that David has consolidated an Israelite monarchy, each side views the other as a threat. Or perhaps Moab has been compelled by proximity to join forces with the anti-Israelite kingdoms east of the Jordan.

and measured them out with a line. This procedure is not otherwise known.

3. Zobah. Aram Zobah was at this point the large dominant kingdom of Mesopotamia, to the north and east of biblical Israel.

as he went to restore his monument. Presumably, the absence of the king from the Aramean heartland exposed it to David’s attack. The term yad here (usually “hand”) is construed in its occasional sense of “monument” or “stele,” though the idiom heshiv yad (literally, “to bring back the hand”) also has the sense of “strike.” Were that the case here, however, one would probably expect an object to the striking (“brought his hand back against X.”).

4. one thousand seven hundred horsemen. The numbers reflected in Chronicles and in the Septuagint as well as in the Qumran Samuel scroll are “one thousand chariots and seven thousand horsemen.”

David hamstrung all the chariot horses. The most likely explanation for this cruel act is that the Israelites, who initially fought on mountainous terrain, as yet made no significant use of cavalry, and so David’s only concern would be to disable the horses in order that they could not be used against him in the future. The hundred horses left unmaimed might perhaps be for use as a small experiment with cavalry, or as draft animals.

7. the golden quivers. The relatively rare Hebrew term shelatim has often been understood as “shields,” but most of the other biblical occurrences encourage the notion of something that contains arrows, as Rashi observed, and this sense is supported by cognates in Babylonian and Aramaic.

9. Toi king of Hamath. Hamath lay to the northwest of the kingdom of Aram Zobah, in present-day Syria. It was a neo-Hittite state.

10. And Toi sent Joram his son to King David. Sending the prince as emissary is a token of the importance that the king attaches to the mission. The vessels of precious metals are a peace offering to David or, from another perspective, an advance payment of tribute. Toi, as a king who has been threatened by the Arameans, has good reason to pledge fealty to David, but he surely also wants to ward off any possible military thrust of the expansionist Israelites against his own kingdom.

12. from Edom. The Masoretic Text has “from Aram,” but Chronicles, the Septuagint, and the Peshitta all have Edom, a kingdom contiguous with Moab, which immediately follows. Aram (Zobah) is mentioned at the end of the verse.

13. from striking down the Edomites. Again, the Masoretic Text has “Aram” in contradiction to several other ancient versions. Since the Valley of Salt was most probably in the vicinity of the Dead Sea, it would have been Edomite, not Aramean, territory.

15. And David was king over all Israel. The chronicle of David’s conquests is followed by a kind of epilogue—a notice of the royal bureaucracy.

16. recorder. The Hebrew term mazkir could also be represented as “remembrancer.” It is not entirely clear what his duties were, although they obviously went far beyond being a mere clerk. He may have been in control of the royal archives. It has been proposed that he was also chief of protocol in the palace.

17. Abiathar son of Ahimelech. The Masoretic Text makes Ahimelech the son and Abiathar the father, in flat contradiction to the occurrences of these two figures both earlier and later in the narrative.

scribe. As with “recorder,” the responsibilities were more than those of an amanuensis. They might have included diplomatic translation and even counseling in affairs of state.

18. the Cherithites and the Pelethites. There is debate over the national identity of the latter, but the consensus is that the former are people of Cretan origins, part of the wave of so-called Sea Peoples who immigrated to Canaan from the Aegean toward the beginning of the eleventh century B.C.E. David has taken care to set up a special palace guard of foreign mercenaries on whose loyalty he can rely, in contrast to Israelites who might have motives of tribal allegiance or support for some pretender to the throne in an attempt to displace him.

and David’s sons served as priests. This curious detail is probably parallel to the report of a palace guard of foreign origins: just as David creates an elite military contingent outside the framework of the Israelite troops, he invests his own sons with sacerdotal duties within the circle of the court, outside the framework of the hereditary priesthood that controlled the public cult.