And David made him a name when he returned, after he had smitten the Syrians in the valley of salt, eighteen thousand [men].
Chapter 8 records one conquest after another, and commentators trace the source back to the chapter before it, where David sat before the Lord and heard His promises. The wars are the overflow of that quiet hour.
After 2 Samuel 7, which is morally the high point of David's entire history, 2 Samuel 8 relates a series of victories. The victories of this chapter grow out of David's communion with his God, just as the victories of 2 Samuel 5 were the fruit of his dependence and obedience... Our path becomes God's path because our thoughts do not differ from His. So it is said twice in this chapter: "Jehovah preserved David wherever he went" (vv. 6, 14).
David "made a name for himself." But in 2 Samuel 7 God had already told him where that name came from.
God tells David what He had done for him: "I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be prince over My people, over Israel" (v. 8). That was his origin. "I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and have made you a great name, like the name of the great men of the earth" (v. 9). God in grace had sustained him from his first step to his last; He had been with him throughout and wanted to make him powerful and honoured.
The parallel accounts name different men at the head of this battle. 1 Chronicles credits Abishai. The heading of Psalm 60 credits Joab. Yet 2 Samuel puts the victory on David's record.
In verses 13-14 Edom is completely subdued. In 1 Chronicles 18:12 they are overcome by the hand of Abishai, Joab's brother; in Psalm 60 they are defeated by Joab himself. Whatever instruments are used, here the victory is attributed to David.
Some older English Bibles read "Syrians" here. The ESV reads "Edomites." Commentators put the difference down to two Hebrew letters that look alike, and they settle it by where the valley lies.
Many manuscripts, supported by the Septuagint and the Syriac, read "Edom," as in 1 Chronicles 18. That seems correct, since the Valley of Salt is in Edom (2 Kings 14:7). The interchange of the letters r and d makes the difference.
The verses that follow the slaughter describe garrisons planted across Edom. Writers read Edom as a picture of the flesh — the part of us that never leaves while we are on earth.
Verse 13 speaks of his killing 18,000 Syrians in the Valley of Salt, which clearly enhanced his reputation. Then we are told that he put garrisons throughout all of Edom. Edom (which is only Adam with the vowels changed) is a picture of the flesh. While we are on earth the flesh will not leave us, but garrisons are necessary to restrain it from acting as it pleases. The authority of the Lord Jesus over His own involves His restraining hand to keep the flesh under control.
Being beaten did not change Edom's heart. Long after David and Joab were dead, an Edomite survivor named Hadad still carried the grudge.
Edom was filled with deadly hatred against Israel because David, by the hand of Joab, had cut off all the males of that land (2 Sam. 8:13-14; 1 Chr. 18:12; Ps. 60, heading). Hadad had escaped with a few servants... He gives up all his advantages to satisfy this hatred. No doubt the conduct of David's companions had provided the motive for it, but Joab and David were dead: the hatred continued. Underneath it all, the world always hates the Lord's anointed.
Commentators add that Edom's end is unlike that of any other nation.
Of all the nations that reappear at the time of the end for judgment, Edom alone will have no "remnant" preserved. God will judge the Edomites without mercy because of the way they behaved toward His people, for they were the most wicked and the most eager to destroy Israel.
When every other enemy has fallen, one question is left: who will lead Israel into Edom? Commentators answer from Isaiah.
When all enemies are defeated and the king shouts aloud over Philistia, the remnant asks who will lead them into Edom. Isaiah 63:1-6 gives us the answer: "Who is this that comes from Edom... I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me... For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and My year of redemption had come."
- Communion first. The conquests of chapter 8 grow straight out of the hour David spent before God in chapter 7.
- Name given, not grabbed. God had already promised David a great name; the Valley of Salt only delivered what grace had pledged.
- Credit shared. Abishai and Joab swung the swords; the king's record carries the win.
- Edom garrisoned. Commentators read Edom as the flesh. It never leaves us on earth. Only the restraining hand of Christ holds it down.
- Edom judged. The old hatred outlived both David and Joab. It ends not with David's army, but with the One who comes from Edom in the day of vengeance.
And he put garrisons in Edom throughout Edom did he put garrisons; and all they of Edom became servants to David. And Jehovah preserved David whithersoever he went.
David's wars end at Edom: garrisons go in, and a whole nation becomes his servants. Why does this chapter twice say that the LORD gave him victory wherever he went, and why does Edom, of all his neighbours, come last?
These wins did not start on the battlefield. One writer traces them back to David's closeness with God.
The victories of this chapter grow out of David's communion with his God, just as the victories of 2 Samuel 5 were the fruit of his dependence and obedience. When we are in communion with Him, God has no need to discipline us as He did with Uzzah. Communion lets us go forward, sure we are in God's pathway, with no need of special instructions to point it out. Psalm 32:8 becomes real to us: "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you." Our path becomes God's path because our thoughts do not differ from His. So this chapter says twice: "the LORD preserved David wherever he went" (vv. 6, 14).
The older translation quoted here says the LORD "preserved" David wherever he went. The ESV reads, "the LORD gave victory to David wherever he went."
Edom is not just one more border state. One writer explains why it comes last on the list.
Edom comes last for judgment, and once we know what Edom stands for spiritually, this is easy to understand. Edom, the old "Adam" nature in man, is the hardest evil of all to subdue, and the last. In the barren Valley of Salt Edom is finally beaten. David puts garrisons all through it, and the Edomites become his servants. All of us who now know Christ were Edomites at the beginning, so there need be no difficulty about this.
Why garrisons, and not just a win? A beaten enemy left unwatched recovers.
Edom (which is only Adam with the vowels changed) is a picture of the flesh. While we are on earth the flesh will not leave us, but garrisons are necessary to restrain it from acting as it pleases. The authority of the Lord Jesus over His own involves His restraining hand to keep the flesh under control.
The arrangement did not last. One writer follows the line of Jacob from David to a later king of Judah.
All this comes to pass. David, who came of Jacob, sets garrisons in Edom, and the Edomites become his servants and bring gifts. Jehoram, who also comes of Jacob, afterwards loses the Edomites as his servants and tributaries; they revolt, and continue so to this day. 2 Sam. 8:14; 2 Chr. 21:8.
David wins the land, but he does not keep the spoil. One writer sees in him a picture of a greater King.
In all this we see again the man of faith, and a picture of the Lord Jesus, King in Zion. He wins the victory over the enemies of Israel. He puts Israel in possession of the promised land (Gen. 15:18), as far as the Euphrates. He dedicates the spoil to the LORD. He reigns over all Israel, and executes judgment and justice to all his people. The companions of his pilgrimage share in the glory of his kingdom — a picture, in all this, of the kingdom of Christ.
Not every nation submits the same way. One writer looks ahead from Toi — the one king in this chapter who came to David without a fight — to the end of the age.
Some will be broken with a rod of iron and forced to submit. Others will put on an appearance of submission… And still others — not one lone Toi, but a great multitude that no one will be able to number (Rev. 7:9-10) — will put themselves under Christ's yoke, accepting His victory as their deliverance.
Success on this scale brings its own test. One writer asks how David carried it.
In short, the Lord gives David the fullest prosperity, in a way no one else has known. How does he bear it?… Adversity tests the character, because it makes a demand on the resources in ourselves. Prosperity tests the nature and our power of self-control. In hard times we use all our strength, and prove it too, to get out of the trouble. In good times our natural tendencies have room to act and to rule. If we do not control them, they are sure to show themselves.
- Source. David's victories grow out of his closeness with God. His path was God's path because his thoughts matched God's.
- Guard. Edom stands for the old nature, the hardest evil to subdue. The garrisons across the land picture Christ's hand holding the flesh in check.
- Reach. David's borders stretch to the Euphrates, and he gives the spoil to God. He pictures Christ, who reigns with judgment and justice.
- Response. Nations will submit in different ways. Some are broken by force, some only pretend, and a crowd beyond counting welcomes His victory as their deliverance.
- Risk. Victory everywhere is the peak of David's story, and its test. Hard times draw out our strength; success shows what we really are.