The First Book of the Chronicles
1 Chronicles 20
Chapter XX · Vol. II, p. 833
1 Rabbah is besieged by Joab, spoiled by David, and the people thereof tortured. 4 Three giants are slain by David's servants in three several battles with the Philistines.
1 And it came to pass, that after the year was expired,1 at the time that kings go out to battle,2 Joab led forth the power of the army, and wasted the country of the children of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah; (but David3 tarried at Jerusalem:) and Joab asmote Rabbah, and destroyed it.
B.C. 1035.
1 Heb. at the return of the year.
2 At the beginning of the Jewish sacred year, in the spring. This is still the season when warlike expeditions are undertaken by the tribes of Western Asia. At this season the weather is suitable for sleeping in the open air and for tent life; the fruits of the field also are approaching maturity, so that supplies can be easily procured both for man and beast. It would seem there had been a cessation of hostilities during the winter months.—P.
3 His adultery and murder are not mentioned.
2 And David took the crown of their king from off his head,4 and found it to weigh5 a talent of gold[≈ 34 kg · 75 lb · gold worth ≈ US$4.5 million],6 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.
4 B.C. 1034.
5 Heb. the weight or worth.
6 The talent at different times and in different places was a name for different weights, so that here we are unable to fix the exact weight of the crown. The ordinary talent of 114 lb. 15 dwt. would seem out of the question as a crown to be worn on the head. There are, however, examples in antiquity of crowns being suspended over, and not worn on the head; and this may have been the case with the crown of Ammon.—C.
3 And he brought out the people that were in it, and cut them with7 saws, and with harrows of iron, and with axes:8 even so bdealt David with all the cities of the children of Ammon. And David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.9
7 Kennicott has found in seven MSS. 'he put them under,' instead of 'he cut them with,' as in the parallel passage, 2 Sa.12.31. See note.—C.
8 Or, made them sawers of stone, diggers of iron, and cutters of wood.
b ch.19.2,4. Am.1.13. Ju.8.6,7.
9 B.C. 1020?.
4 And it came to pass after this, that cthere 1arose2 war at Gezer3 with the Philistines; at which time Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Sippai, that was of the children of the giant:4 and they were subdued.5
1 Or, continued.
2 Heb. stood.
3 Or, Gob.
4 Or, Rapha.
5 These incidents do not profess to be given in chronological order. They occurred at different periods, and are grouped together in this place at the close of the history of David's wars. In the book of Samuel they are inserted at the close of David's whole history.—P.
5 And there was war again with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of dJair slew Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear's staff was like a weaver's beam.6
6 And yet again ethere was war at Gath, where was a man of great stature,7 whose fingers and toes were four and twenty, six on each hand, and six on each foot:8 and he also was the son of the giant.9
e 2 Sa.21.20.
7 Heb. a man of measure.
8 Several examples of this kind are on record. The daughters of Caius Horatius were called the 'six-fingered.' Pliny (L? ii. c. 43) relates that Volcatius had the same formation; and Maupertuis mentions two families near Berlin in which sex-digitism seemed to be hereditary.—C.
9 Heb. born to the giant, or Rapha.
7 But when he fdefied Israel, Jonathan the son of gShimea, David's brother, slew him.
f Or, reproached, 1 Sa.17.10.
g 2 Sa.13.3,32. Called Shammah, 1 Sa.16.9, or Shimma, ch.2.13.
8 These were born unto the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.
Notes
[Ver. 3. A careful study of this passage makes it clear that the writer must have been acquainted with the whole narrative as recorded in the book of Samuel; for in ver. 1 he says, 'but David tarried in Jerusalem,' whereas in the succeeding verses the acts of David at the seat of war are mentioned; and in ver. 3 it is said, 'And David returned to Jerusalem.' The author deliberately omits the painful story of Bathsheba. P.]
Ver. 8. [The harmony and consistency of Scripture history are strikingly illustrated by the incidents narrated in this chapter. In the days of Abraham we read of the gigantic race of the Rephaim, who inhabited the country east of the Jordan. At the exodus the spies reported that they saw in the mountains of Palestine 'the giants, the sons of Anak, which came of the giants. And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight,' Nu. 13. 33. We again read that in the conquest of Canaan by Joshua, 'He cut off the Anakims (sons of Anak) from the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel. . . There was none of the Anakims left in the land of the children of Israel, only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod there remained,' Jos. 11. 22. Again we find an upland plain among the mountains near Jerusalem called the plain or valley of the giants, 2 Sa. 5. 18. And finally we have in this chapter an account of the overthrow and death of some of the remnants of this strange race who resided in Gath, one of the three cities in which alone, according to Joshua, they existed. Thus in a manner altogether undesigned, the truthfulness and consistency of the sacred narrative are remarkably established. P.]
Reflections.—We should conceal the faults of the godly with candour if we can do it with faithfulness. Nay, if we cannot say good of persons, we had generally best say nothing of them. But however long the powerful enemies of God and his church stand their ground, they shall be brought down at last, whether outward or inward. Nor need the saints be ever disheartened by their enemies' insolence and pride while they have the Almighty God on their side. Yea, ordinarily those bring to themselves ruin who reproach and defy God and his people.
Measures in square brackets are modern equivalents added for this edition. They are not in the King James text or in Brown’s notes. They use common scholarly estimates: a cubit is about 45.7 cm (18 in), a shekel about 11.4 g (0.4 oz), an ephah about 22 litres. Money values give the worth of the silver or gold at spot prices on 28 October 2026, not what the sum would buy in the ancient world.