The chapter summarizes David’s big military victories. It turns out he defeated all the regional rivals – the Philistines, Amalekites, Moabites, and Edomites. He set garrisons up in the conquered areas and even defeated an army by the Euphrates. I think this is the first military conflict we have seen with the Edomites (descendants of Esau). God wanted the Israelite/Edomite relations to be harmonious up to now.
These victories remind me of various promises to Abraham and Moses where God promised to enlarge the borders of Israel, but only if they were following God. Here, we see some of that potential being fulfill.
By our standards, David was sometimes a brutal warlord when he won battles. When he beat the Moabites, he had 2/3 of them put to death while 1/3 were allowed to live. The survivors then became servants to the Israelites. He also hamstrung 20,000+ horses that were captured in one battle. I am not sure why he would do that, I think it would be better to just kill the horses rather than torture them.
That reminds me of Joshua having the defeated kings impaled.
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