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1 Chronicles 20

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David Captures Rabbah and Conquers Ammon 1–3

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. ​
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. ​
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. ​

Battles Against the Philistine Giants 4–8

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. ​
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. ​
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. ​
7
But when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea David's brother slew him.
8
These were born unto the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for 1 Chronicles 20

Verse 1

Joab smote Rabbah — Rabbah is ‘Rabbath of the children of Ammon’, where Og’s iron bedstead was kept (Deut 3:11). The words ‘But David tarried at Jerusalem’ open the time of 2 Sam 11–12, and 2 Sam 12:26 says Joab ‘took the royal city’. Amos 1:14 later names ‘the wall of Rabbah’.

Verse 2

a talent of gold — Kikkar, the same weight as the ‘thousand talents of silver’ Ammon paid in 19:6. The crown (atarah) ‘was set upon David’s head’; 2 Sam 12:30 gives the weight ‘with the precious stones’. Gold taken from Ammon is named among what David ‘did dedicate unto the LORD’ (2 Sam 8:11–12).

Verse 3

cut them with saws — Suwr is to saw or cut, with megerah, a saw, the mason’s tool of 1 Kgs 7:9, and charits, a sharp-toothed ‘harrow’. 2 Sam 12:31 says he ‘put them under’ the same tools. Readers differ whether this was execution or labour at saw and axe.

Verse 4

the children of the giant — Rapha, the Rephaim, whose last ‘remnant’ was Og of Bashan (Deut 3:11). Sibbechai the Hushathite is one of David’s mighty men (1 Chr 11:29) and captain of the eighth month (27:11). ‘Subdued’ is kana, the verb of ‘I will subdue all thine enemies’ (17:10).

Verse 5

Lahmi the brother of Goliath — Goliath ‘of Gath’ was the champion David killed (1 Sam 17:4). 2 Sam 21:19 says that Elhanan ‘slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite’. The spear ‘like a weaver’s beam’ is the description given of Goliath’s own (1 Sam 17:7).

Verse 6

the son of the giant — Rapha again. Gath was Goliath’s city too (1 Sam 17:4). The text counts the extra digits, ‘six on each hand, and six on each foot’, and 2 Sam 21:20 repeats the same numbers of this man ‘of great stature’ (middah, measure).

Verse 8

by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants — These are the sons of the giant named in vv.4–6, and the men who slew them are Sibbechai, Elhanan and Jonathan (vv.4–7). Caleb had asked for the mountain though ‘the Anakims were there’, trusting that if the LORD would be with him he could drive them out (Josh 14:12).