Text -- 1 Chronicles 19:1--20:3 (NET)

David’s Campaign against the Ammonites

19:1 Later King Nahash of the Ammonites died and his son succeeded him. 19:2 David said, “I will express my loyalty to Hanun son of Nahash, for his father was loyal to me.” So David sent messengers to express his sympathy over his father’s death. When David’s servants entered Ammonite territory to visit Hanun and express the king’s sympathy, 19:3 the Ammonite officials said to Hanun, “Do you really think David is trying to honor your father by sending these messengers to express his sympathy? No, his servants have come to you so they can get information and spy out the land!” 19:4 So Hanun seized David’s servants and shaved their beards off. He cut off the lower part of their robes so that their buttocks were exposed and then sent them away. 19:5 Messengers came and told David what had happened to the men, so he summoned them, for the men were thoroughly humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Jericho until your beards grow again; then you may come back.” 19:6 When the Ammonites realized that David was disgusted with them, Hanun and the Ammonites sent 1,000 talents of silver to hire chariots and charioteers from Aram Naharaim, Aram Maacah, and Zobah. 19:7 They hired 32,000 chariots, along with the king of Maacah and his army, who came and camped in front of Medeba. The Ammonites also assembled from their cities and marched out to do battle. 19:8 When David heard the news, he sent Joab and the entire army to meet them. 19:9 The Ammonites marched out and were deployed for battle at the entrance to the city, while the kings who had come were by themselves in the field. 19:10 When Joab saw that the battle would be fought on two fronts, he chose some of Israel’s best men and deployed them against the Arameans. 19:11 He put his brother Abishai in charge of the rest of the army and they were deployed against the Ammonites. 19:12 Joab said, “If the Arameans start to overpower me, you come to my rescue. If the Ammonites start to overpower you, I will come to your rescue. 19:13 Be strong! Let’s fight bravely for the sake of our people and the cities of our God! The Lord will do what he decides is best!” 19:14 So Joab and his men marched toward the Arameans to do battle, and they fled before him. 19:15 When the Ammonites saw the Arameans flee, they fled before Joab’s brother Abishai and withdrew into the city. Joab went back to Jerusalem. 19:16 When the Arameans realized they had been defeated by Israel, they sent for reinforcements from beyond the Euphrates River, led by Shophach the commanding general of Hadadezer’s army. 19:17 When David was informed, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan River, and marched against them. David deployed his army against the Arameans for battle and they fought against him. 19:18 The Arameans fled before Israel. David killed 7,000 Aramean charioteers and 40,000 infantrymen; he also killed Shophach the commanding general. 19:19 When Hadadezer’s subjects saw they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and became his subjects. The Arameans were no longer willing to help the Ammonites. 20:1 In the spring, at the time when kings normally conduct wars, Joab led the army into battle and devastated the land of the Ammonites. He went and besieged Rabbah, while David stayed in Jerusalem. Joab defeated Rabbah and tore it down. 20:2 David took the crown from the head of their king and wore it (its weight was a talent of gold and it was set with precious stones). He took a large amount of plunder from the city. 20:3 He removed the city’s residents and made them do hard labor with saws, iron picks, and axes. This was his policy with all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all the army returned to Jerusalem.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 1Ch 19:2

¹ tn Heb “do loyalty.”

² tn Heb “did loyalty.”

³ tn Heb “to console him concerning his father.”

⁴ tn Heb “and the servants of David came to the land of the sons of Ammon to Hanun to console him.”

NET Notes: 1Ch 19:3

¹ tn Heb “Is David honoring your father in your eyes when he sends to you ones consoling?”

² tc Heb “Is it not to explore and to overturn and to spy out the land (that) his servants have come to you?” The Hebrew term לַהֲפֹךְ (lahafakh, “to overturn”) seems misplaced in the sequence. Some emend the form to לַחְפֹּר (lakhpor, “to spy out”). The sequence of three infinitives may be a conflation of alternative readings.

NET Notes: 1Ch 19:4

¹ tn Heb “shaved them.” See v. 5.

² tn Heb “and he cut their robes in the middle unto the buttocks.”

NET Notes: 1Ch 19:5

¹ tn Heb “they.” The logical referent, though not specified in the Hebrew text, has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

² map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

NET Notes: 1Ch 19:6

¹ tn Heb “that they were a stench [i.e., disgusting] with David.”

² tn The Hebrew word כִּכַּר (kikar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or, by extension, to a standard unit of weight. According to the older (Babylonian) standard the “talent” weighed 130 lbs. (58.9 kg), but later this was lowered to 108.3 lbs. (49.1 kg). More recent research suggests the “light” standard talent was 67.3 lbs. (30.6 kg). Using this as the standard for calculation, the Ammonites hired chariots and charioteers for about 33.7 tons (30,600 kg) of silver.

³ tn The parallel text of 2 Sam 10:6 has “Aram Beth Rehob and Aram Zobah.”

NET Notes: 1Ch 19:8

¹ tn The words “the news” and “to meet them” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.

NET Notes: 1Ch 19:10

¹ tc The parallel text of 2 Sam 10:10 has “the Ammonites” in place of “the Arameans” here.

tn Heb “and Joab saw that the face of the battle was to him before and behind and he chose from all the best in Israel and arranged to meet Aram.”

NET Notes: 1Ch 19:12

¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Heb “if Aram is stronger than me.”

³ tn Heb “if the sons of Ammon are stronger than you.”

NET Notes: 1Ch 19:13

¹ tn Heb “and the Lord, what is good in his eyes, he will do.”

NET Notes: 1Ch 19:14

¹ tn Heb “and the army which was with him.”

NET Notes: 1Ch 19:15

¹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

NET Notes: 1Ch 19:16

¹ tn Heb “the River,” referring to the Euphrates. This has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Heb “and Aram saw that they were struck down before Israel and they sent messengers and brought out Aram which is beyond the River, and Shophach the commander of the army of Hadadezer [was] before them.”

NET Notes: 1Ch 19:17

¹ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

² tc The parallel text of 2 Sam 10:17 “he came to Helam.”

tn Heb “and he came to them and was deployed against them.”

³ tn Heb “and David was deployed to meet Aram [for] battle and they fought with him.”

NET Notes: 1Ch 19:18

¹ tc The parallel text of 2 Sam 10:18 has “seven hundred.”

² tn The parallel text of 2 Sam 10:18 has the variant spelling “Shobach.”

NET Notes: 1Ch 20:1

¹ tn Heb “and it was at the time of the turning of the year, at the time of the going out of kings.”

NET Notes: 1Ch 20:2

¹ tc The translation follows the MT, which reads “of their king”; the LXX and Vulgate read “of Milcom” (cf. 1 Kgs 11:5). Milcom, also known as Molech, was the god of the Ammonites.

² tn Heb “and it was on the head of David.”

³ sn See the note on the word “talents” in 19:6.

NET Notes: 1Ch 20:3

¹ tc The Hebrew text reads “saws,” but since saws were just mentioned, it is preferable to emend מְגֵרוֹת (mÿgerot, “saws”) to מַגְזְרוֹת (magzÿrot, “axes”).

² tn Heb “and so he would do.”