1Ch 20:1 And it came to pass, that after the year was expired, at the time that kings go out to battle, Joab led forth the power of the army, and wasted the country of the children of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried at Jerusalem. And Joab smote Rabbah, and destroyed it.
2Sa 11:1 And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.
2Sa 12:26 And Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city.
After the year was expired - The next spring after the escape of the Ammonites into their city 2Sa_10:14. At the end of the year, which concluded with the month Adar or February, the spring of the year This was a fit time to go out to war; when the rains were over, and there were grass in the fields, and fruit on the trees, and corn ripe, and so food for horse and men.
David tarried at Jerusalem - The Syrians being subdued, the war with Ammon was not of sufficient moment to require David’s personal presence. The whole section relating to David’s adultery and Uriah’s death, from this verse to 2Sa_12:26, is omitted in the Book of Chronicles.
David tarried at Jerusalem - After this verse the parallel place in Samuel relates the whole story of David and Bath-sheba, and the murder of Uriah, which the compiler of these books passes over as he designedly does almost every thing prejudicial to the character of David. All he states is, but David tarried at Jerusalem; and, while he thus tarried, and Joab conducted the war against the Ammonites, the awful transactions above referred to took place.
When kings go forth - This was about a year after the war with the Syrians spoken of before, and about the spring of the year, as the most proper season for military operations.
besieged Rabbah - their chief city.
Joab smote Rabbah and destroyed it - The time during which this siege lasted, since the intercourse with Bathsheba, and the birth of at least one child, if not two, occurred during the progress of it, probably extended over two years.
1Ch 20:2 And David took the crown of their king from off his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there were precious stones in it; and it was set upon David's head: and he brought also exceeding much spoil out of the city.
2Sa 12:30 And he took their king's crown from off his head, the weight whereof was a talent of gold with the precious stones: and it was set on David's head. And he brought forth the spoil of the city in great abundance.
he took their king's crown from off his head - The crown of Hanun the king of the Ammonites, who now fell into his hands, and whom he stripped of his ensigns of royalty, who had so shamefully abused his ambassadors.
it was set on David's head - to show that the kingdom was subject to him;
To weigh a talent - Or, to be worth a talent.
1Ch 20:3 And he brought out the people that were in it, and cut them with saws, and with harrows of iron, and with axes. Even so dealt David with all the cities of the children of Ammon. And David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.
2Sa 12:31 And he brought forth the people that were therein, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brickkiln: and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon. So David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem.
he brought forth the people that were therein - Not all the inhabitants of the place, but the princes of the children of Ammon, the counselors of Hattun, who advised him to use David's ambassadors in so shameful a manner, and others that expressed their pleasure and satisfaction in it:
he brought forth the people - This excessive severity and employment of tortures, which the Hebrews on no other occasion are recorded to have practiced, was an act of retributive justice on a people who were infamous for their cruelties 1Sa_11:2 And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, With this I will make a covenant with you, when all your right eyes are dug out and I will make it a reproach on all Israel. Amo_1:13 So says the LORD: For three transgressions of the sons of Ammon, yea for four, I will not turn away from it. Because they have ripped up the pregnant women of Gilead, to make their own border larger.
Cut them with saws - Saws were used to kill, as referenced in Heb_11:37 They were stoned, they were sawed in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented.
cut them with saws, and with harrows of iron, and with axes - whereby they were cut asunder, as some were in later times by the Romans and others, or their flesh torn to pieces, and they put to extreme pain and agony, and so died most miserably.
Even so dealt David with all the cities of the children of Ammon – Commentators seek to excuse this behavior of David’s, if in fact he ordered these atrocities. One states: “this action of David's showing so much severity, is thought by most to be done when under the power of his lust with Bathsheba, in an hardened and impenitent state, when he had no sense of mercy himself, and so showed none; which is too injurious to his character; for this was a righteous retaliation of this cruel people, 1Sa_11:2.” The Ammonites were cruel to their enemies and it is here thought by some scholars that David subjected only the fighting men to the cruelty they themselves enacted on others. In doing this, David merely retaliated upon the Ammonites the cruelties with which they had treated their foes; since according to Amo_1:13 they ripped up women who were with child, and according to 1Sa_11:2 their king Nahash would only make peace with the inhabitants of Jabesh upon the condition that the right eye of every one of them should be put out. After the close of this war, David returned to Jerusalem with all the men of war. The war with the Syrians and Ammonites, including as it did the Edomite war as well, was the fiercest in which David was ever engaged, and was also the last great war of his life.
cut them with saws — The Hebrew word, “cut them,” is, with the difference of the final letter, the same as that rendered “put them,” in the parallel passage of Samuel [2Sa_12:31]; and many consider that putting them to saws, axes, and so forth, means nothing more than that David condemned the inhabitants of Rabbah to hard and penal servitude.
1Ch 20:4 And it came to pass after this, that there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines; at which time Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Sippai, that was of the children of the giant: and they were subdued.
2Sa 21:18 And it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, which was of the sons of the giant.
war at Gezer - In the parallel passage 2Sa 21:18, “Gob” is named as the field of this battle. Either it had 2 names, or Gob is a small area located close to Gezer, from which both names would be appropriate for it. However, Gath is named 2Sa_21:20, 2Sa_21:22 in a way to make it probable that Gath was the scene of all the battles. The Septuagint in this verse has Geth (Gath). 2Sa_21:18 And after this there was a battle again with the Philistines in Geth: then Sebocha the Astatothite slew Seph of the progeny of Rapha. (Septuagint)
Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Sippai - who is called Saph, 2Sa 21:18; he had his name from the lintel of a door, being as high as one, so tall that he could scarce go under one. Sibbechai was one of David's worthies, 1Ch_11:29; perhaps a descendant of Hushah, who sprung from Judah, 1Ch_4:4. According to 1Ch_27:11 The eighth for the eighth month was Sibbecai the Hushathite, of the Zerahites. And in his division were twenty-four thousand. Sibbechai, one of the gibborim of David 1Ch_11:29, was the leader of the eighth division of the army (2Sa_23:27).
1Ch 20:5 And there was war again with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear staff was like a weaver's beam.
2Sa 21:19 And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.
Elhanan the son of Jaire - he was one of David's worthies, 2Sa_23:24; where he is called the son of Dodo.
1Ch 20:6 And yet again there was war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were four and twenty, six on each hand, and six on each foot: and he also was the son of the giant.
2Sa 21:20 And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant.
1Ch 20:7 But when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea David's brother slew him.
2Sa 21:21 And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea the brother of David slew him.
Jonathan the son of Shimea the brother of David - this brother of David is called Shammah, 1Sa_16:9 And Jesse passed Shammah by, but he said, Also the LORD has not chosen this one.; and Shimma, 1Ch_2:13 And Jesse fathered his first-born Eliab, and Abinadab the second, and Shimma the third, this son of his is not Jonadab his son, who was famous for his subtlety as this was for his valor, 2Sa_13:3 And Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of David's brother Shimeah. And Jonadab was a very crafty man.
1Ch 20:8 These were born unto the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.
2Sa 21:22 These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.
These were born to the giant in Gath - Not necessarily meaning that they were brothers, but that they were all of the race of the Giant, all Rephaim. 2Sa 21:22 These four were born descendants of the giants in Geth, the family of Rapha; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants. (Septuagint) These giants, it is highly probable, were the descendants of the Anakim which remained in Gath after they were cut off by Joshua in other places, Jos_11:22. This verse is a postscript, in which the previous verses are summed up.
The compiler of these books passes by also the incest of Amnon with his sister Tamar, and the rebellion of Absalom, and the awful consequences of all these. These should have preceded the fourth verse. These facts could not be unknown to him, for they were notorious to all.
