Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
Hadadezer - Not (see the margin) Hadarezer. Hadadezer, is the true form, as seen in the names Benhadad, Hadad (I Kings 15:18, etc.; I Kings 11:14, etc.). Hadad was the chief idol, or sun-god, of the Syrians.
To recover his border - literally, to cause his hand to return. The phrase is used sometimes literally, as e. g. Exodus 4:7; I Kings 13:4; Proverbs 19:24; and sometimes figuratively, as Isaiah 1:25; Isaiah 14:27; Amos 1:8; Psalms 74:11. The exact force of the metaphor must in each case be decided by the context. If, as is most probable, this verse relates to the circumstances more fully detailed in II Samuel 10:15-19, the meaning of the phrase here will be when he (Hadadezer) went to renew his attack (upon Israel), or to recruit his strength against Israel, at the river Euphrates.
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing 2 Samuel 8:3:
Numbers 13:21
Psalms 60:6
Psalms 60:7
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