2 Samuel 12:31

Contextual Overview

²⁶ Yo'av fought against Rabbah of the people of ‘Amon and took the royal city. ²⁶ And Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city. ²⁶ Rabbah was the capital city of the Ammonites. Joab fought against Rabbah and captured it. ²⁶ Now Yo'av fought against Rabbah of the children of `Ammon, and took the royal city. ²⁶ Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city. ²⁶ Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city. ²⁶ Now Joab was fighting against Rabbah, in the land of the children of Ammon, and he took the water-town. ²⁶ Then Ioab fought against Rabba of the children of Ammon, and toke the citie of the kingdome. ²⁶ Then Ioab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and tooke the citie of the kingdome. ²⁶ And Joab fought against Rabbath of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

and put them: Rather, as the particle ב frequently signifies, "And he put them to saws, and to harrows, and to axes," etc., as we say, to put a person to the plough, to the anvil, to the last, etc. 1 Chronicles 20:3, Also, 2 Samuel 8:2, Psalms 21:8, Psalms 21:9, Amos 1:3

Reciprocal: Genesis 11:3 - brick Deuteronomy 23:6 - Thou shalt 1 Samuel 14:44 - thou shalt 2 Chronicles 16:10 - the same time 2 Chronicles 25:12 - cast them Proverbs 20:26 - bringeth Jeremiah 43:9 - in the brickkiln

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he brought forth the people that [were] therein,.... Not all the inhabitants of the place, but the princes of the children of Ammon, the counsellors of Hattun, who advised him to use David's ambassadors in so shameful a manner, and others that expressed their pleasure and satisfaction in it:

and put [them] under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron; whereby they were cut asunder, as some were by the Romans and others n, or their flesh torn to pieces, and they put to extreme pain and agony, and so died most miserably; see 1 Chronicles 20:3;

and made them pass through the brickkiln; where they burnt their bricks, by which they were not only scorched and blistered, but burnt to death; so the word in the "Keri", or margin, signifies, which we follow; but in the text it is, they caused them to pass through Malcem, the same with Milcom or Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon, 1 Kings 11:5; unto which they made their children pass through the fire, and burnt them; and now in the same place they themselves are made to pass through, and be burnt, as a righteous punishment of them for their barbarous and wicked idolatry. The word used in the Greek version, according to Suidas o, signifies an army, or a battalion of men drawn up in a quadrangular form, like a brick; and in the same sense Josephus p uses it; hence a learned man q conjectures that David's army was drawn up in the like form, through which the Ammonites were obliged to pass, and as they passed were assailed with darts, and killed; a like punishment to which is what the Italians call "passing through the pikes":

and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon; to the inhabitants of them; that is, the chief, who bad expressed their joy at the ill usage of his ambassadors: this he did to strike terror into other nations, that they might fear to use his ambassadors in such like manner. This action of David's showing so much severity, is thought by most to be done when under the power of his lust with Bathsheba, in an hardened and impenitent state, when he had no sense of mercy himself, and so showed none; which is too injurious to his character; for this was a righteous retaliation of this cruel people, 1 Samuel 11:2. Which may be observed in other instances, Judges 8:6; but the charge of cruelty in David will be easily removed by following the translation of a learned r man, and which I think the words will bear, "and he obliged the people that were in it to go out, and put them to the saw", to cut stones; "and to the iron mines", to dig there; "and to the axes of iron", to cut wood, with; "after he had made them to pass with their king" out of the city.

So David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem; in triumph, and with great spoil.

n Suetonius in Vita Caii, c. 27. Vid. Herodot. l. 2. c. 139. o In voce πλινθιον. p Antiqu. l. 13. c. 4. sect. 4. q Menochius de Repub. Heb. l. 8. c. 3. col 752. r Danzii Commentat. de miligat. David in Ammon. crudel. Jenae 1710, apud Michael. in 1 Chron. xx. 3. Vid. Stockium, p. 392.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For the saw as an implement of torture compare Hebrews 11:37.

Harrows of iron - Or rather thrashing-machines (Isaiah 28:27; Isaiah 41:15, etc.).

Axes - The word so rendered occurs only here and in 1 Chronicles 20:3. It evidently means some cutting instrument.

Made them pass through the brick-kiln - The phrase is that always used of the cruel process of making their children pass through the fire to Moloch, and it is likely that David punished this idolatrous practice by inflicting something similar upon the worshippers of Moloch. The cruelty of these executions belongs to the barbarous manners of the age, and was provoked by the conduct of the Ammonites 2 Samuel 10:1-4; 1 Samuel 11:1-2, but is utterly indefensible under the light of the Gospel. If Rabbah was taken before David’s penitence, he may have been in an unusually harsh and severe frame of mind. The unpleasant recollection of Uriah’s death would be likely to sour and irritate him to the utmost.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Samuel 12:31. He brought forth the people — And put them under saws. From this representation a great cry has been raised against "David's unparalleled, if not diabolic, cruelty." I believe this interpretation was chiefly taken from the parallel place, 1 Chronicles 20:3, where it is said, he cut them with saws, and with axes, c. Instead of וישר vaiyasar, he sawed, we have here (in Samuel) וישם vaiyasem, he put them and these two words differ from each other only in a part of a single letter, ר resh for ם mem. And it is worthy of remark, that instead of וישר vaiyasar, he sawed, in 1 Chronicles 20:3, six or seven MSS. collated by Dr. Kennicott have וישם vaiyasem, he put them; nor is there found any various reading in all the MSS. yet collated for the text in this chapter, that favours the common reading in Chronicles. The meaning therefore is, He made the people slaves, and employed them in sawing, making iron harrows, or mining, (for the word means both,) and in hewing of wood, and making of brick. Sawing asunder, hacking, chopping, and hewing human beings, have no place in this text, no more than they had in David's conduct towards the Ammonites.

It is surprising, and a thing to be deplored, that in this and similar cases our translators had not been more careful to sift the sense of the original words by which they would have avoided a profusion of exceptionable meanings with which they have clothed many passages of the sacred writings. Though I believe our translation to be by far the best in any language, ancient or modern, yet I am satisfied it stands much in need of revision. Most of the advantages which our unbelievers have appeared to have over certain passages of Scripture, have arisen from an inaccurate or false translation of the terms in the original; and an appeal to this has generally silenced the gainsayers. But in the time in which our translation was made, Biblical criticism was in its infancy, if indeed it did exist; and we may rather wonder that we find things so well, than be surprised that they are no better.