So David gathered all Israel. — Assembled; a different word in 1 Chronicles 13:2.
Shihor of Egypt. — The boundary between Egypt and Canaan is elsewhere called Nahal Micrayim (Authorısed Version, River of Egypt; Isaiah 27:12; 2 Chronicles 7:8). It is the modern Wady el Arish. Joshua 13:3 also calls this winter torrent the Shihor (Blackwater); but, in Isaiah 23:3, Shihor means the Nile.
The entering of Hemath. — Hamath. — This was the usual designation of the north boundary of Palestine, as the “torrent of Egypt” was that of the south (1 Kings 8:65). Hamath was the seat of an ancient kingdom, independent of, but friendly to David. The prophet Amos (eighth century B.C.) calls it Hamath Rabbah, Great Hamath (Amos 6:2). A revived interest attaches to Hamath in our day, owing to the discovery of five curious inscriptions at Hâmah, written in a peculiar hieroglyphic character, which has been pronounced to be Hittite, but still awaits decipherment.