Metheg-ammah must be the name of some stronghold which commanded Gath, and the taking of which made David master of Gath and her towns.

David took Metheg-ammah - This is variously translated. The Vulgate has, Tulit David fraenum tributi, David removed the bondage of the tribute, which the Israelites paid to the Philistines. Some think it means a fortress, city, or strong town; but no such place as Metheg-ammah is known. Probably the Vulgate is nearest the truth. The versions are all different. See the following comparison of the principal passages here collated with the parallel place in 1:Chr:-

2 Samuel 1 Chronicles 2 Samuel 8:1. - David took Metheg-ammah 2 Samuel 8:3. David 1 Chronicles 18:1. - David took Gath and her towns. 1 Chronicles 18:3. David smote Hadadezer 2 Samuel 8:4. And David took from him smote Hadarezer 1 Chronicles 18:4. And David took from him 1000 and 700 horsemen, and 20,000 foot. 1000 chariots, and 7000 horsemen, and 20,000 foot. 2 Samuel 8:6. Then David put garrisons in Syria 2 Samuel 8:8. And 1 Chronicles 18:6. Then David put in Syria 1 Chronicles 18:8. And from Betah and Berothai cities of Hadadezer. 2 Samuel 8:9. from Tibhath and Chun cities of Hadarezer. 1 Chronicles 18:9. When Toi heard that David had smitten When Tou heard that David had smitten Hadadezer 2 Samuel 8:10. Then Toi sent Joram his son Hadarezer 1 Chronicles 18:10. He sent Hadoram his son 2 Samuel 8:12 - Syria and Moab 2 Samuel 8:13. - Syrians, in the valley 1 Chronicles 18:11 - Edom and Moab 1 Chronicles 18:12. - Edomites, in the valley of salt, 18,000 2 Samuel 8:17. - Ahimelech - and Seraiah of salt, 18,000 1 Chronicles 18:16. - Abimelech - and Shausha was the scribe. 2 Samuel 10:16. Shobach the captain was scribe. 1 Chronicles 19:16. Shophach the captain 2 Samuel 10:17. David passed over Jordan, and came הלאמה 1 Chronicles 19:17. David passed over Jordan and came אלהם to Helam. 2 Samuel 10:18. David slew 700 upon them 1 Chronicles 19:18. David slew of the Syrians 7000 chariots of the Syrians, and 40,000 horsemen; chariots, and 40,000 footmen; and smote Shobach, etc. and killed Shophach, etc.

And after this it came to pass,.... After David had rest from his enemies for a time, and after the conversation he had had with Nathan about building the house of God, and after the message sent to him from the Lord by that prophet, forbidding him to build, and David's prayer to the Lord upon it, the following events happened; and which are recorded to show that David's rest from his enemies did not last long, and that he had other work to do than to build the house of God:

that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them; these had been long and implacable enemies of Israel; Samson began to weaken them in his days; a war was waged between them and Israel in the times of Samuel and Saul, and the battle sometimes went on one side and sometimes on the other; but now David made an entire conquest of them: before they had used to come into the land of Israel, and there fight with Israel, but now David entered into their land, and took it from them:

and David took Methegammah out of the hands of the Philistines; the name of a province in Palestine, and from the parallel place in 1 Chronicles 18:1, it appears to be Gath, and its adjacent towns; but why that was called the bridle of Ammah, or the bridle of a cubit, as it may be rendered, is not easy to say. The conjecture of Kimchi is, that there was a pool or river of water, so Ammah is thought to signify; and Aquila renders it a water course, which passed through the city, having been brought from without it into it, the communication of which from place to place it may be David cut off, by stopping or turning its stream; but interpreters more generally suppose that Gath was built upon an hill called Ammah, see 2 Samuel 2:24; thought to be the same with the Amgaris of Pliny (d) though that is sometimes read Angaris, a mountain he places in Palestine; and that it was called Metheg, a bridle, because being a frontier city, and being very strong and powerful, erected into a kingdom, it was a curb and bridle upon the Israelites; but now David taking it out of their hands, opened his way for the more easy subduing the rest of their country: or the word may be rendered Metheg and her mother, that is, Gath, the metropolis, since that and her daughters, or towns, are said to be taken, 1 Chronicles 18:1; and Metheg might be one of them.

(d) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 13.

Subjugation of the Philistines. - In the introductory formula, "And it came to pass afterwards," the expression "afterwards" cannot refer specially to the contents of 2 Samuel 7, for reasons also given, but simply serves as a general formula of transition to attach what follows to the account just completed, as a thing that happened afterwards. This is incontestably evident from a comparison of 2 Samuel 10:1, where the war with the Ammonites and Syrians, the termination and result of which are given in the present chapter, is attached to what precedes by the same formula, "It came to pass afterwards" (cf. 2 Samuel 13:1). "David smote the Philistines and subdued them, and took the bridle of the mother out of the hand of the Philistines," i.e., wrested the government from them and made them tributary. The figurative expression Metheg-ammah, "bridle of the mother," i.e., the capital, has been explained by Alb. Schultens (on Job 30:11) from an Arabic idiom, in which giving up one's bridle to another is equivalent to submitting to him. Gesenius also gives several proofs of this (Thes. p. 113). Others, for example Ewald, render it arm-bridle; but there is not a single passage to support the rendering "arm" for ammah. The word is a feminine form of אם, mother, and only used in a tropical sense. "Mother" is a term applied to the chief city or capital, both in Arabic and Phoenician (vid., Ges. Thes. p. 112). The same figure is also adopted in Hebrew, where the towns dependent upon the capital are called its daughters (vid., Joshua 15:45, Joshua 15:47). In 1 Chronicles 18:1 the figurative expression is dropped for the more literal one: "David took Gath and its daughters out of the hand of the Philistines," i.e., he wrested Gath and the other towns from the Philistines. The Philistines had really five cities, every one with a prince of its own (Joshua 13:3). This was the case even in the time of Samuel (1 Samuel 6:16-17). But in the closing years of Samuel, Gath had a king who stood at the head of all the princes of the Philistines (1 Samuel 29:2., cf. 1 Samuel 27:2). Thus Gath became the capital of the land of the Philistines, which held the bridle (or reins) of Philistia in its own hand. The author of the Chronicles has therefore given the correct explanation of the figure. The one suggested by Ewald, Bertheau, and others, cannot be correct, - namely, that David wrested from the Philistines the power which they had hitherto exercised over the Israelites. The simple meaning of the passage is, that David wrested from the Philistines the power which the capital had possessed over the towns dependent upon it, i.e., over the whole of the land of Philistia; in other words, he brought the capital (Gath) and the other towns of Philistia into his own power. The reference afterwards made to a king of Gath in the time of Solomon in 1 Kings 2:39 is by no means at variance with this; for the king alluded to was one of the tributary sovereigns, as we may infer from the fact that Solomon ruled over all the kings on this side of the Euphrates as far as to Gaza (1 Kings 5:1, 1 Kings 5:4).

And after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them: and David took Methegammah out of the {a} hand of the Philistines.

(a) So that they paid no more tribute.

8:1 And David took - Gath and her towns, as it is expressed in the parallel place, 1Chron 18:1. Which are called Metheg - ammah, or the bridle of Ammah, Gath was situate in the mountain of Ammah; and because this being the chief city of the Philistines, and having a king, which none of the rest had, was the bridle which had hitherto kept the Israelites in subjection.

Methegammah: or, the bridle of Ammah

CHAPTER 8

2Sa 8:1, 2. David Subdues the Philistines, and Makes the Moabites Tributary.

1. David took Metheg-ammah out of the hand of the Philistines-that is, Gath and her suburban towns (1Ch 18:1). That town had been "a bridle" by which the Philistines kept the people of Judah in check. David used it now as a barrier to repress that restless enemy.

8:1-8. David subdued the Philistines. They had long been troublesome to Israel. And after the long and frequent struggles the saints have with the powers of darkness, like Israel with the Philistines, the Son of David shall tread them all under foot, and make the saints more than conquerors. He smote the Moabites, and made them tributaries to Israel. Two parts he destroyed, the third part he spared. The line that was to keep alive, though it was but one, is ordered to be a full line. Let the line of mercy be stretched to the utmost. He smote the Syrians. In all these wars David was protected, for this in his psalms he often gives glory to God.