At Hamath. [David] defeated Hadarezer in Hamath, when Hadarezer was on his way to establish control (lehaṣṣiv yado) at the Euphrates River. For Hadarezer had set out to conquer the land and establish his boundary at the Euphrates River, which was the boundary of the land of Israel. This took place in Hamath because the war in which Hadarezer was involved was with King Toi of Hamath, as the text says, “for Hadarezer had been at war with Toi” (2 Sam 8:10). In the book of Samuel, however, [it says] “to restore control (lehashiv yado)” (ibid. v. 3), meaning to retake (lehashiv) the land for himself.

David captured from him one thousand chariots and seven thousand horsemen. But in the book of Samuel [it says] “one thousand seven hundred horsemen” (ibid. v. 4)! It seems that the text there only counts the high-ranking officers of Hadarezer’s camp, whereas in this book it counts all the horsemen. Also, there it does not provide a number for the chariots, whereas here it does; and there it mentions the foot soldiers, whereas here it does not.

And David hamstrung all the chariot horses. For it was forbidden for him to have many horses, as the text says, “[The king] shall not have many horses” (Deut 17:16).

But he retained a hundred of them—in accordance with his needs.

David stationed in Aram of Damascus. This means that he stationed garrisons and officers there, as it says in the book of Samuel, “David stationed garrisons in Aram of Damascus” (2 Sam 8:6). There it says “and from Betah (בטה) and Berothai” (ibid. v. 8), whereas here it says “and from Tibbath (טבחת) and Cun” (v. 8), because the cities were called by both names. Indeed, טבחת and בטח are one and the same, only the letters are transposed.

King David dedicated to the Lord—for the construction of the Temple.

Abshai son of Zeruiah etc. The question arises that, in the book of Psalms, the text attributes this war to Joab and says “twelve thousand” (Ps 60:2), whereas here it attributes it to Abshai and—as in the book of Samuel (2 Sam 8:13)—says “eighteen thousand”! Furthermore, in two of the books it says “Edom,” whereas in the book of Samuel it says “Aram” (ibid.)! It seems that the Edomite war took place at the same time as the Aramean war, because that is what the text says in Psalms: “When he fought with Aram-Naharaim and with Aram-Zobah” (Ps 60:2). So these eighteen thousand were from Aram and Edom: when it says in one place “Aram,” it means together with those who were with them, namely Edom, and when it says elsewhere “Edom,” it means together with those who were with them, namely Aram. And the reason it says here that Abshai waged this war and says “eighteen thousand,” whereas in Psalms it says “Joab” and “twelve thousand,” is that Abishai did battle first and killed six thousand of them, after which Joab came and killed twelve thousand of them. This, then, is the meaning of vayyashov Yoav (=and Joab [smote] once again) in Psalms (ibid.)—that is, after Abshai. The reason the text here attributes the entire war to Abshai is that he started it. In the book of Samuel, however, the text attributes it to David (2 Sam 8:13), because he is the essential one.