1 Chronicles 20

1 Chronicles 20:1

20:1, 2 Joab had been sent against Rabbah (modern-day Amman) by King David while David himself stayed at Jerusalem (2Sa_12:1). The siege probably lasted about two years. During this time David became involved with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, one of his thirty “mighty men.” Second Samuel 12 tells about David’s sin and restoration but, true to the form of Chronicles, the sin is not mentioned here. Joab summoned David when the city was ready to fall, and the crown of the defeated monarch was placed on David’s head. 20:3 This verse may refer only to the men of war. Since the Hebrew wording is somewhat obscure in this passage, a possible rendering offered by some commentators is that the people were put under forced labor (see notes on 2 Samuel 12). 20:4-8 Three giants were killed in the course of fighting with Israel’s constant enemies, the Philistines. Sibbechai killed Sippai . . . at Gezer, Elhanan . . . killed Lahmi (referred to as Goliath in 2 Sam. 21), and David’s nephew Jonathan (son of his brother . . . Shimea, or Shammah) struck down a giant who had six . . . fingers . . . on each hand and six . . . toes . . . on each foot. Matthew Henry applies the verse for us: The servants of David, though men of ordinary stature, were too hard for the giants of Gath in every encounter because they had God on their side. . . . We need not fear great men against us while we have the great God for us. What will a finger more on each hand do, or a toe more on each foot, in contest with Omnipotence?