Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
David crushes the Ammonites with threshing sledges and saws; then, in verse 4, he defeats the Philistines in three battles and kills three giants.
Vulgate Text: 1 Paralipomenon 20:1-8
1. And it came to pass at the turn of the year, at the time when kings usually go out to war, that Joab led out the army and the strength of the military, and ravaged the land of the children of Ammon; and he went and besieged Rabbah: but David remained in Jerusalem, when Joab struck Rabbah and destroyed it. 2. And David took the crown of Milcom from its head, and found in it a talent of gold by weight, and very precious gems, and made from it a diadem for himself: he also took very much spoil from the city; 3. and the people who were in it he brought out: and he made threshing sledges, and harrows, and iron-shod wagons pass over them, so that they were cut apart and crushed; thus David did to all the cities of the children of Ammon, and he returned with all his people to Jerusalem. 4. After this, war broke out in Gezer against the Philistines, in which Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Sippai, of the race of the Rephaim, and humbled them. 5. Another war also was waged against the Philistines, in which Elhanan the son of Jair the Bethlehemite struck down the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear shaft was like a weaver's beam. 6. And yet another battle occurred in Gath, in which there was a very tall man, having six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, that is, twenty-four in all: and he also was descended from the race of Rapha. 7. He taunted Israel, and Jonathan the son of Shimea, David's brother, struck him down. These are the sons of Rapha in Gath, who fell by the hand of David and his servants.
This chapter is the same as chapters 10 and 11 of the book of 2 Kings, where I explained it.
Verse 2: The Crown of Milcom
AND DAVID TOOK THE CROWN OF MILCOM. — The Hebrew has Malcham, that is, "of their king," namely of the Ammonites. So also the Septuagint; for the crown of idols, such as Milcom was, had to be burned together with the idols themselves, as is commanded in Deuteronomy 7; therefore David could not fashion a royal crown for himself from it.