And Hadarezer sent,.... The same with Hadadezer, 2 Samuel 8:3, who was at the head of this confederacy, and to whom the rest of the kings of Syria were servants, 2 Samuel 10:19;
and brought out the Syrians that [were] beyond the river; the river Phrat or Euphrates, as the Targum; so the Arabic version and Josephus y, who says, that he hired them:
and they came to Helam; which, according to the same writer, was king of the Syrians beyond Euphrates; but it seems to be the name of a place, where was the general rendezvous of the Syrian army. Junius conjectures that it is the same with the Alamatha of Ptolemy z, which he places with the Trachonite Arabs near the Euphrates:
and Shobach the captain of the host of Hadarezer [went] before them: before the whole combined army, which according to Josephus a, consisted of eighty thousand foot, and ten thousand horse: this general is called Shophach, 1 Chronicles 19:16 the letters "B" and "P" being of the same pronunciation in the Hebrew tongue, as Kimchi observes, though it is there read "Shobach", in the Syriac and Arabic versions; he was no doubt a very able, valiant, and skilful general, since he is particularly mentioned by name, and whose name was then famous; the Arabic version calls him a spear bearer of Hadarezer.
y Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 6.) sect. 3. z Geograph. l. 5. c. 15. a Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 6. sect. 3.)