2 Samuel 12:27

12:26-31 To be thus severe in putting the children of Ammon to slavery was a sign that David's heart was not yet made soft by repentance, at the time when this took place. We shall be most compassionate, kind, and forgiving to others, when we most feel our need of the Lord's forgiving love, and taste the sweetness of it in our own souls.

And Joab sent messengers to David,.... To acquaint him how he had proceeded, and what success he had had: and said, I have fought against Rabbah; laid siege to it, and skirmished with parties that sallied out upon them: and have taken the city of waters; the same with the royal city, and so the Targum here renders it; so called because situated by the waterside; Adrichomius says (x) the river Jabbok flowed round about it: or it abounded with fountains of water, from whence the other part of the city, or what was properly the city Rabbah, was supplied with water; and which communication being cut off, it could not hold out long, which Joab being sensible of, therefore sent for David. Junius and Tremellius render the words, "I have intercepted the water from the city"; with which the account of Josephus (y) agrees, who says, that he cut off the water from them, and precluded other supplies, so that they were in great distress for want of food and drink; and in like manner it was taken by Antiochus some hundreds of years later; for that; historian says (z) the siege by him lasted long, and they could not prevail, because of the multitude of men it, until one of the prisoners showed them a subterraneous passage, through which they came and fetched water; which they stopped up with stones and such like things, and then through want of water yielded. (x) Theatrum T. S. p. 34. (y) Antiqu. l. 7. c. 7. sect. 5. (z) Polyb. Hist. l. 5. p. 414.

27 . the city of waters ] “Just before reaching Ammân [the modern name of Rabbah], the gorge takes a sudden turn to the north, and then swells into a narrow plain, covered with luxuriant grass, and embosomed in low round hills. The fish-stocked stream, with shells studding every stone and pebble, winds in the midst, a narrow channel, receiving occasional affluents in its course, and making Rabbah most truly a ‘city of waters.’ ” Tristram’s Land of Israel , p. 533. 2 Samuel 12:27

The city of waters - The lower town of Rabbah (the modern Ammam), so called from a stream which rises within it and flows through it. The upper town with the citadel lay on a hill to the north of the stream, and was probably not tenable for any length of time after the supply of water was cut off.

The same royal city so called, because it either stood beside the river, or was encompassed with water, both for defence and delight. Although the words are by some learned men rendered thus, I have taken, or intercepted , or cut off water from the city ; which well agrees, both with the words, eth being here put for meeth, which is frequent; as Genesis 4:1 44:4 Exodus 9:29 , &c.; and with the relation of Josephus the Jew, who saith, The conduits of water were cut off, and so the city was taken; and with a relation of Polybius concerning the same city, which was taken afterwards by Antiochus in the same manner, by cutting off water from the city.

27. the city of waters—Rabbah, like Aroer, was divided into two parts—one the lower town, insulated by the winding course of the Jabbok, which flowed almost round it, and the upper and stronger town, called the royal city. "The first was taken by Joab, but the honor of capturing so strongly a fortified place as the other was an honor reserved for the king himself."

Conquest of Rabbah, and Punishment of the Ammonites (comp. 1 Chronicles 20:1-3 ). - "Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the king's city." המּלוּכה עיר, the capital of the kingdom, is the city with the exception of the acropolis, as 2 Samuel 12:27 clearly shows, where the captured city is called "the water-city." Rabbah was situated, as the ruins of Ammn show, on both banks of the river (Moiet) Ammn (the upper Jabbok), in a valley which is shut in upon the north and south by two bare ranges of hills of moderate height, and is not more than 200 paces in breadth. "The northern height is crowned by the castle, the ancient acropolis, which stands on the north-western side of the city, and commands the whole city" (see Burckhardt, Syria ii. pp. 612ff., and Ritter, Erdkunde xv. pp. 1145ff.). After taking the water-city, Joab sent messengers to David, to inform him of the result of the siege, and say to him, "Gather the rest of the people together, and besiege the city (i.e., the acropolis, which may have been peculiarly strong), and take it, that I may not take the city (also), and my name be named upon it," i.e., the glory of the conquest be ascribed to me. Luther adopts this explanation in his free rendering, "and I have a name from it."

This section is important as showing that David, the younger son of a not very opulent family 1 Samuel 16:11 , 1 Samuel 16:20 , had now become a large landed proprietor, as well as a capitalist, possessed of much moveable wealth. We may perhaps see the sources of both these kinds of property, in the successful wars which he had waged 1 Samuel 27:8-9 ; 1 Samuel 30:20 ; 2 Samuel 8:4 , 2 Samuel 8:7-8 , 2 Samuel 8:12 ; in the revenue derived from subject kings 1 Samuel 8:2 , 1 Samuel 8:14 ; 1 Samuel 10:19 ; and in the purchase and occupation of lands in different places. Further, he enjoyed, of course, the usual rights of a Jewish king over the landed property of his subjects, and was thus entitled to receive a tithe of the produce in tithes ( 1 Samuel 8:15 , 1 Samuel 8:17 ) and in "benevolences." Compare 1 Samuel 10:27 ; 1 Samuel 16:20 , etc. 1 Chronicles 27:25 The castles - Probably the watchtowers in the border districts, exposed to raids from the plundering tribes of the desert 2 Chronicles 26:10; 2 Chronicles 27:4.

This section is important as showing that David, the younger son of a not very opulent family 1 Samuel 16:11 , 1 Samuel 16:20 , had now become a large landed proprietor, as well as a capitalist, possessed of much moveable wealth. We may perhaps see the sources of both these kinds of property, in the successful wars which he had waged 1 Samuel 27:8-9 ; 1 Samuel 30:20 ; 2 Samuel 8:4 , 2 Samuel 8:7-8 , 2 Samuel 8:12 ; in the revenue derived from subject kings 1 Samuel 8:2 , 1 Samuel 8:14 ; 1 Samuel 10:19 ; and in the purchase and occupation of lands in different places. Further, he enjoyed, of course, the usual rights of a Jewish king over the landed property of his subjects, and was thus entitled to receive a tithe of the produce in tithes ( 1 Samuel 8:15 , 1 Samuel 8:17 ) and in "benevolences." Compare 1 Samuel 10:27 ; 1 Samuel 16:20 , etc. 1 Chronicles 27:25 The castles - Probably the watchtowers in the border districts, exposed to raids from the plundering tribes of the desert 2 Chronicles 26:10; 2 Chronicles 27:4.

On אליהם ויּבא, as compared with חלאמה ויּבא (2 Samuel 10:17), cf. the discussion on 2 Samuel 10:16-17. The account of the siege of Rabbah, the capital, in the following year, 1 Chronicles 20:1-3, is much abridged as compared with that in 2 Samuel 11:1; 2 Samuel 12:26-31. After the clause, "but David sat (remained) in Jerusalem," in 2 Samuel 11, from 2 Samuel 11:2 onwards, we have the story of David's adultery with Bathsheba, and the events connected with it (2 Samuel 11:3-12:25), which the author of the Chronicle has omitted, in accordance with the plan of his book. Thereafter, in 2 Samuel 12:26, the further progress of the siege of Rabbah is again taken up with the words, "And Joab warred against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon;" and in 2 Samuel 12:27-29 the capture of that city is circumstantially narrated, viz., how Joab, after he had taken the water-city, i.e., the city lying on both banks of the upper Jabbok (the Wady Ammn), with the exception of the Acropolis built on a hill on the north side of the city, sent messages to David, and called upon him to gather together the remainder of the people, i.e., all those capable of bearing arms who had remained in the land; and how David, having done this, took the citadel. Instead of this, we have in the Chronicle only the short statement, "And Joab smote Rabbah, and destroyed it" (1 Chronicles 20:1, at the end).