3 And he took the people out of the town and put them to work with wood-cutting instruments, and iron grain-crushers, and axes. And this he did to all the towns of the children of Ammon. Then David and all the people went back to Jerusalem.
And made their lives bitter with hard work, making building-material and bricks, and doing all sorts of work in the fields under the hardest conditions.
Now because of this you are cursed, and you will for ever be our servants, cutting wood and getting water for the house of my God.
But the chiefs of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna even now in your hand that we are to give bread to your army? Then Gideon said, Because of this, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hands, I will have you stretched on a bed of thorns of the waste land and on sharp stems, and have you crushed as grain is crushed on a grain-floor.
Then he took the responsible men of the town and had them crushed on a bed of thorns and sharp stems. And he had the tower of Penuel broken down and the men of the town put to death.
And he took the people out of the town and put them to work with wood-cutting instruments, and iron grain-crushers, and iron axes, and at brick-making: this he did to all the towns of the children of Ammon. Then David and all the people went back to Jerusalem.
And David said, I will be a friend to Hanun, the son of Nahash, because his father was a friend to me. So David sent men to him, to give him words of comfort on account of his father. And the servants of David came to Hanun, to the land of the children of Ammon, offering him comfort. But the chiefs of the children of Ammon said to Hanun, Does it seem to you that David is honouring your father, by sending comforters to you? is it not clear that these men have only come to go through the land and to make secret observation of it so that they may overcome it? So Hanun took David's servants, and cutting off their hair and the skirts of their robes up to the middle, sent them away. Then certain men went and gave David word of what had been done to them. And he sent out with the purpose of meeting them; for the men were greatly shamed. And the king said, Keep where you are at Jericho till your hair is long again, and then come back.
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Commentary on 1 Chronicles 20 John Gill's Exposition of the Bible
INTRODUCTION TO 1 CHRONICLES 20
Agrees with various passages in the second book of Samuel; 1 Chronicles 20:1 with 2 Samuel 11:1 and 1 Chronicles 20:2 with 2 Samuel 12:30 and the rest, to the end of it, with 2 Samuel 21:15. What differences there are, are observed in the notes on those passages, which see. Also see 1 Chronicles 21:1.
See Gill on 1 Chronicles 20:1, 2 Samuel 11:1, 1 Chronicles 20:2, 2 Samuel 12:30, 2 Samuel 21:15, and 1 Chronicles 21:1.