2 Samuel 8

2 Samuel 8 is the eighth chapter of the Second Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the second part of Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel, with additions by the prophets Gad and Nathan, but modern scholars view it as a composition of a number of independent texts of various ages from c. 630–540 BCE. This chapter contains the account of David's reign in Jerusalem. This is within a section comprising 2 [Samuel 2]–8 which deals with the period when David set up his kingdom.

Text

This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language. It is divided into 18 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis, Aleppo Codex, and Codex Leningradensis. Fragments containing parts of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls including 4Q51 with extant verses 1–8.
Extant ancient manuscripts of a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint include Codex Vaticanus and Codex Alexandrinus.

Old Testament references

Places

Analysis

This chapter contains a catalogue of David's victories, arranged thematically rather than chronologically, and a list of David's court officials.

David's victories (8:1–14)

This section can be divided into two sections: David's victories and David's handling of the plunder, with the first verse serving as an overture to introduce the
two verbs that guide the reading: David “strikes” his enemies and then "takes" plunder. Three interlocking pairs of
refrains integrate the whole unit, which main theme is the ascent of David as a shepherd-king to the world stage, just as God promised to give David a great name.
The structure of this section is as follows:
These verses, together with other passages provide a list of David's victories, as shown below:

Defeated enemy	Bible verses
Amalekites	1 Samuel 30:1–31
Ammonites	2 Samuel 10:1–11:1; 12:26–31
Aram-Zobah	2 Samuel 8:3–10
Aram	2 Samuel 10:6–19
Edom	2 Samuel 8:13–14
Moab	2 Samuel 8:2
Philistines	2 Samuel 5:17–25; 8:1; 21:15–22

According to 2 Samuel 10:1–19 and this passage, David fought three successive battles against the Arameans. king Toi (or "Tou") of Hamath heard about David's successes and sent his son to make an alliance with David, bringing expensive gifts. As a result of his conquests David took control over what is now 'Palestine' from the Philistines, with garrisons placed in Moab, Edom, and Ammon, and also conquered Aramean states.

Verse 1

"After this": from Hebrew "wayehî ’a-ḥă-rê-ḵên", "and-happened after this", indicating an unspecified interval of time since God's promise to David in the previous chapter.
"Metheg-ammah": from Hebrew: "metheg ha-ammah", literally, "the Bridle of the Mother City", because in 2 Samuel 20:19 "ammah" refers to a "mother city" also can be rendered as "the bridle of one cubit." or "the forearm bridle". The parallel text in 1 Chronicles 18:1 reads "Gath and its daughters ".

David's court officials (8:15–18)

The list of David's court officials is not exactly identical with another version in 2 Samuel 20:23–26, which indicates the existence of several variants in archives over a period of time. The comparison is as follows:

2 Samuel 8:15–18	2 Samuel 20:23–26
Joab, commander of the army	Joab, commander of the army
Jehoshaphat, royal historian	Benaiah, over the Cherethites and Pelethites
Zadok and Ahimelech, high priests	Adoram, in charge of forced labor
Seraiah, royal scribe	Jehoshaphat, royal historian
Benaiah, over the Cherethites and Pelethites	Sheva, royal scribe
David's sons, palace administrators	Zadok and Abiathar, high priests Ira, David's priest

Joab had been with David and had command of the army for a long time, whereas Jehoshaphat was still in office in the time of Solomon. Zadok and Abiathar shared the priesthood until David's death. The Cherethites and Pelethites were the royal bodyguard, under the command of Benaiah ; they were David's most loyal soldiers, marching with David out of Jerusalem during Absalom's rebellion, helping to chase the rebellious Sheba son of Bichri, and guarding Solomon's anointing by Zadok the high priest as David's successor.