(18-22) A war of conquest between the three tribes east of Jordan, and their Arab neighbours. The date is not given.
(18) Of valiant men. — “All that were valiant men, bearing shield and sword, and drawing bow, and-trained in warfare, were 44,760, going out in the host” Comp. what is said in 1 Chronicles 12:8; 1 Chronicles 12:21, of the Gadites and Manassites, who joined fortunes with David. The number of the warriors of the three tribes nearly corresponds to the number (40,000) assigned in Joshua 4:13. It evidently rests upon some official census, of which the chronicler had the record or among his authorities. The data of the Pentateuch (Numbers 1:26) are quite different,
(19) Hagarites. — See 1 Chronicles 5:10.
Jetur, and Nephish, and Nodab. — In 1 Chronicles 1:31, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah are the last three of the twelve tribes of Ishmael. As Nodab is mentioned nowhere else, the word may be a corruption of Kedemah, or rather Kedem. The first two letters might have been mistaken for h, the d is common to both words, and b and m are often confused in Hebrew writing. Jetur is the original of the classical name Ituraea, the modern El-Jedur.
(20) And they were helped against them. — The same word recurs in 1 Chronicles 15:26 : “And when God helped the Levites that bare the Ark.” In both places strictly natural events are regarded as providential. Here the Divine hand is recognised as controlling the issues of an invasion; there as permitting the Ark to be successfully removed from its temporary resting place.
For they cried to God in the battle. — No doubt the Arab warriors also cried to their gods in the fierce struggle for life; and their faith, such as it was, gave them strength for the battle. (Comp. Psalms 18:3-6 and Psalms 18:41.) The whole sentence to the end of the verse looks like a reason added to the narrative by the chronicler himself.
(21) And they took away their cattle. — The numbers are large, but not at all incredible. Flocks and herds naturally constituted the chief wealth of these nomade tribes. Comp. the annual tribute in kind paid by Mesha, king of Moab, to Ahab of Israel (2 Kings 3:4): “a hundred thousand lambs, and a hundred thousand rams in fleeces.”
Sheep. — The Heb. word denotes both sheep and goats; pecora.
Of men an hundred thousand. — And persons (soul of man, a collective expression) a hundred thousand. In Numbers 31:32-35 the booty taken from Midian is far greater, but only 32,000 virgins were saved from the general slaughter of the vanquished. The number here may be corrupt, but we do not know enough about the numerical strength of the Arabian peoples to be able to decide. The captives would be valuable as slaves. Sennacherib boasts that he took 200,150 persons “small and great, male and female,” from the cities of Judah.
(22) There fell down many slain. — Hence the richness of the plunder. The warriors of the Arabian allies were probably exterminated.
The war was of God. — Comp. 2 Chronicles 25:20. This accounts for the completeness of the Arabian overthrow. It is a human instinct to see tokens of Divine activity in great national catastrophes, as well as in the more awful phenomena of nature. In prophetic language, a “day of the Lord” had overtaken the sons of Hagar and their kindred.
And they dwelt in their steads until the captivity. — When they were carried away to Assyria by Tiglath-Pileser, 1 Chronicles 5:6; 1 Chronicles 5:26.