3 He brought forth the people who were therein, and cut [them] with saws, and with harrows of iron, and with axes. Thus did David to all the cities of the children of Ammon. David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.
and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve.
Now therefore you are cursed, and there shall never fail to be of you bondservants, both wood cutters and drawers of water for the house of my God.
The princes of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your army? Gideon said, Therefore when Yahweh has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.
He took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth. He broke down the tower of Penuel, and killed the men of the city.
He brought forth the people who were therein, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick kiln: and thus did he to all the cities of the children of Ammon. David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.
David said, I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father shown kindness to me. So David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon to Hanun, to comfort him. But the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun, Think you that David does honor your father, in that he has sent comforters to you? Aren't his servants come to you to search, and to overthrow, and to spy out the land? So Hanun took David's servants, and shaved them, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away. Then there went certain persons, and told David how the men were served. He sent to meet them; for the men were greatly ashamed. The king said, Stay at Jericho until your beards be grown, and then return.
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Commentary on 1 Chronicles 20 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 20
1Ch 20:1-3. Rabbah Besieged by Joab, Spoiled by David, and the People Tortured.
1. at the time when kings go out to battle—in spring, the usual season in ancient times for entering on a campaign; that is, a year subsequent to the Syrian war.
Joab led forth the power of the army, 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 and invested their capital, Rabbah. After a protracted siege, Joab took one part of it, the lower town or "city of waters," insulated by the winding course of the Jabbok. Knowing that the fort called "the royal city" would soon fall, he invited the king to come in person, and have the honor of storming it. The knowledge of this fact (mentioned in 2Sa 12:26) enables us to reconcile the two statements—"David tarried at Jerusalem" (1Ch 20:1), and "David and all the people returned to Jerusalem" (1Ch 20:3).
2. David took the crown of their king …, and found it to weigh a talent of gold—equal to one hundred twenty-five pounds. Some think that Malcom, rendered in our version "their king," should be taken as a proper name, Milcom or Molech, the Ammonite idol, which, of course, might bear a heavy weight. But, like many other state crowns of Eastern kings, the crown got at Rabbah was not worn on the head, but suspended by chains of gold above the throne.
precious stones—Hebrew, a "stone," or cluster of precious stones, which was set on David's head.
3. cut them with saws, &c.—The Hebrew word, "cut them," is, with the difference of the final letter, the same as that rendered "put them," in the parallel passage of Samuel [2Sa 12:31]; and many consider that putting them to saws, axes, and so forth, means nothing more than that David condemned the inhabitants of Rabbah to hard and penal servitude.
1Ch 20:4-8. Three Overthrows of the Philistines and Three Giants Slain.
4. war at Gezer—or Gob (see 2Sa 21:18-22).