Saw that they stank. — The Hebrew, translated literally, shows that they were conscious that this was by their own fault — “that they had made themselves stink,” and is so rendered in 1 Chronicles 19:6.
Hired. — Chronicles gives the amount of the subsidy, 1,000 talents of silver, a sum variously estimated at from £125,000 to twice that amount. It shows at once the wealth of Ammon, the importance of the auxiliaries, and the grave character of the war.
Syrians of Beth-rehob. — Called simply Rehob in 2 Samuel 10:8. This has been understood of several different places. It can hardly have been the Rehob (or Beth-rehob) of Numbers 13:21; Judges 18:28, since that was near Laish, and within the territory of the Israelites. Some identify it with “Ruhaibeh,” twenty-five miles N.E. of Damascus; but it is more likely to have been “Rehoboth by the river” (i.e., near the Euphrates) of Genesis 36:37, as this corresponds with “out of Mesopotamia’ in the parallel passage 1 Chronicles 19:6, the situation of which is not more definitely known.
Zoba. — See Note on 2 Samuel 8:3.
King Maacah. — Read, King of Maacah, as in Chronicles. For the situation of the country see Deuteronomy 3:14; Joshua 12:5. It furnished only one thousand auxiliaries.
Ish-tob. — Translated, men of Tob, the first syllable not being a part of the proper name. Jephthah here found refuge when exiled by his countrymen (Judges 11:3; Judges 11:5). It was probably just east of Gilead, between Syria and the land of Ammon; it is not mentioned in Chronicles.
The total number of auxiliaries mentioned in 1 Chronicles 19:7, thirty-two thousand, is the same as given here, Maacah being omitted from the number; but the composition of the force is different. Here only infantry are mentioned, there only chariots and cavalry. It is plain from the result of the battle (2 Samuel 10:18 in both places) that all three arms of the service were employed; either, therefore, some words have dropped out from both texts, or else the writer in each case did not care to go into details. Chronicles mentions that the allies mustered in Medeba, a place on a hill in the Belka plain, about four miles south-east of Heshbon, and well fitted strategically to repel an attack upon Rabbah. It had been originally assigned to the tribe of Reuben (Joshua 13:9).