Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsh, [1857-78], at sacred-texts.com
1 Chronicles Chapter 18
The events recorded in these three chapters are all narrated in the second book of Samuel also, and in the same order. First, there are grouped together in our 18th chapter, and in 2 Sam 8, in such a manner as to afford a general view of the whole, all the wars which David carried on victoriously against all his enemies round about in the establishment of the Israelitish rule, with a short statement of the results, followed by a catalogue of David's chief public officials. In 1 Chron 19 and in 2 Sam 10 we have a more detailed account of the arduous war against the Ammonites and Syrians, and in Ch1 20:1-3 and Sa2 12:26-31 the conclusion of the war with the capture of Rabbah, the capital of the Ammonites; and finally, in Ch1 20:4-8, we have a few short accounts of the victories of the Israelitish heroes over giants from the land of the Philistines, which are inserted in Sa2 21:18-22 as a supplement to the last section of David's history. Apart from this last section, which is to be regarded even in the Chronicle as an appendix, we find the arrangement and succession of the events to be the same in both books, since the sections which in Sa2 9:1-13 and Sa2 11:1-12, Sa2 11:25, stand between the histories of the wars, contain sketches of David's family life, which the author of the Chronicle has, in accordance with his plan, omitted. Even as to individual details the two narratives are perfectly agreed, the divergences being inconsiderable; and even these, in so far as they are original, and are not results of careless copying, - as, for instance, the omission of the word נציבים, Ch1 18:6, as compared with Ch1 18:13 and Sa2 8:6, and the difference in the numbers and names in Ch1 18:4, Ch1 18:8, as compared with Sa2 4:4, Sa2 4:8, are, - partly mere explanations of obscure expressions, partly small additions or abridgments. For the commentary, therefore, we may refer to the remarks on 2nd Samuel, where the divergences of the Chronicle from the record in Samuel are also dealt with. With Ch1 18:1-13 cf. Sa2 8:1-14; and with the register of public officials, Sa2 18:14-17, cf. Sa2 8:15-18.
Examples of paraphrastic explanation are found in Ch1 18:1, where the figurative expression, David took the bridle of the mother out of the hands of the Philistines, i.e., deprived them of the hegemony, is explained by the phrase, David took Gath and her cities out of the hands of the Philistines, i.e., took from the Philistines the capital with her daughter cities; and in Ch1 18:17, כּהנים is rendered by, the first at the king's hand. Among the abridgments, the omission of David's harsh treatment of the Moabites who were taken prisoners is surprising, no reason for it being discoverable; for the assertion that the chronicler has purposely omitted it in order to free David from the charge of such barbarous conduct, is disposed of by the fact that he does not pass over in silence the similar treatment of the conquered inhabitants of Rabbah in Ch1 20:3. Instead of this, the chronicler has several historical notes peculiar to himself, which are wanting in the text of Samuel, and which prove that the author of the Chronicle has not derived his account from the second book of Samuel. Such, e.g., is the statement in Ch1 18:8, that Solomon caused the brazen sea and the pillars and vessels of the court of the temple to be made of the brass taken as booty in the war against Hadadezer; in Ch1 18:11, the word מאדום, which is wanting in Samuel, as מארם, which in Ch1 18:11 of that book is used in place of it, probably stood originally in the Chronicle also. Such also are the more accurate statements in Ch1 18:12 as to the victory over the Edomites in the Valley of Salt (see on Sa2 8:13).