1 Chronicles 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._ At the time that kings go out to battle - in spring, the usual season, in ancient times, for entering on a campaign; i:e., a year subsequent to the Syrian war. JOAB LED FORTH THE POWER ... AND WASTED THE COUNTRY ... OF AMMON. The former campaign had been disastrous, owing chiefly to the hired auxiliaries of the Ammonites; and as it was necessary, as well as just, that they should be severely chastised for their wanton outrage on the Hebrew ambassadors, Joab ravaged their country, invested their capital, Rabbah, and having, after a protracted siege, taken one part of it, the lower town or 'city of waters,'...

CHAPTER XX _Joab smites the city of Rabbah; and David puts the crown of its_ _king upon his own head, and treats the people of the city with_ _great rigour_, 1-3. _First battle with the Philistines_, 4. _Second battle with the Philistines_, 5. _Third battle with the Philistines_, 6, 7. _In these battles three giants are slain_, 8. NOTES ON CHAP. XX Verse 1 Chronicles 20:1. _AFTER THE YEAR WAS EXPIRED, AT THE TIME THAT KINGS GO_ _OUT_ TO BATTLE] About the _spring_ of the year

This chapter, containing such other warlike exploits belonging to David’s reign as the writer of Chronicles thinks it important to put on record, is to be compared with the passages of Samuel noted in the marginal references....

EXPOSITION The contents of this chapter are all to be found in the work of Samuel, but woven in, in very different places. The cause of the first considerable difference of this kind is in connection with the occurrence of what would have seemed a mere casual detail of expression in our first verse, "But David tarried at Jerusalem," at which same statement, however, the writer of Samuel halts, to append all that then happened with David in the disastrous matter of Bathsheba and Uriah, occupying nearly two whole chapters—a history not recorded at all by the Chronicle compiler. Why David tarried at Jerusalem, and how far he did so legitimately and in harmony with the necessities of government, we know not, but certain it is, he was tempted to make the unhappiest use of his "tarrying at Jerusalem." 1 CHRONICLES 20:1 The fifteenth verse of th

DAVID Here should be read (2 Samuel 11:2); (2 Samuel 11:25); (Psalms 51:1)....

CHAPTER 20 JOAB AND DAVID TAKE RABBAH _ 1. Rabbah destroyed (1 Chronicles 20:1)_ 2. The Philistine giants slain (1 Chronicles 20:4) Rabbah was the capital of Ammon (Deuteronomy 3:11; Joshua 13:25) and was taken by Joab. David tarried in Jerusalem (so fatal to him, 2 Samuel 11:1) and Joab smote Rabbah and destroyed it. Then David appeared also upon the scene. Joab had summoned David to help in the overthrow of the city ...

THE AMMONITES SUBDUED (see notes on 2 Samuel 11:1; 2 Samuel 12:30 f.). 1 CHRONICLES 20:4. INCIDENTS DURING THE PHILISTINE WAR (see notes on 2 Samuel 21:18)....

IT CAME TO PASS. Compare 2 Samuel 11:1; 2 Samuel 12:26. CHILDREN. sons. DAVID TARRIED AT JERUSALEM. No reference is made here to the result of this tarrying, which is recorded in 2 Samuel 11:1; 2 Samuel 12:25....

_after the year was expired_ R.V. AT THE TIME OF THE RETURN OF THE YEAR, i.e. in the spring, 2Sa 11:1; 1 Kings 20:22. _the power of the army_ The Heb. phrase is quite general in meaning: _the host of war, the military forces_. _Rabbah_ the capital of the Ammonites; Jeremiah 49:2; Ezekiel 21:20 (25, Heb). Its site, now called - _Ammân_, is covered with important ruins of the Roman and Byzantine periods. The town lies in a fertile basin, its citadel on a hill on the north side. _Bädeker_, pp. 185 ff. _David tarried at Jerusalem_ In 2 Sam. these words introduce the story of David's adultery with Bath-sheba, which is omitted from Chron. _Joab smote Rabbah_ In

_JOAB TAKES THE CITY OF RABBAH. THE PHILISTINES ARE THREE TIMES OVERCOME BY DAVID AND HIS SERVANTS._ _Before Christ 1037._ REFLECTIONS.—While Joab conquered the country of the Ammonites, David stayed at Jerusalem: we learn, with grief, to how bad purpose, 2 Samuel 11. Here his crime is passed over. A veil should be drawn ever the sins which are repented of, and they should no more be mentioned to a man's shame....