1 Chronicles 20
Israel defeats Philistines over and over
David’s army takes Ammon capital
2 Samuel 11:1; 12:26-31 1In the spring of the year, when kings at war typically return to the battlefield, David sent his army to finish the fight with Ammon. He sent his commander Joab, all the officers, and all the soldiers to Ammon’s capital of Rabbah. [1] They attacked the city, while David stayed behind in Jerusalem.
2When David got the report that the city was about to fall, he hurried to take the credit. [2] He took the gold crown off the king’s head [3] and put it on his head. Embedded with jewels, the crown weighed 75 pounds. [4] David pillaged the city for its spoils of war—a wealth of treasure. 3Locals who survived the battle became servants of Israel. David gave the people the tools they would need for their jobs: saws, iron picks, and iron axes. [5] David did this to the people in all the cities of Ammon. Then he went home to Jerusalem. Philistines rise to fight again
2 Samuel 21:15-22 4Philistines in the city of Gezer declared war on Israel again. Israel’s warrior, Sibbecai from the town of Hushah, [6] killed Saph. Saph was a Philistine descended from the Rephaim family of giants. Israel won that war.
5Once again, Israel and the Philistines fought each other. During that battle, Elhanan, [7] son of Jair from Bethlehem, killed Goliath’s brother, Lahmi from the town of Gath. Like his brother, Lahmi carried a spear with a shaft thick as a weaver’s beam. [8]
6Israel fought the Philistines again, this time at the town of Gath. One of the Philistine warriors was a giant of a man, from a family of giants. He had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. 7When he stepped out to hurl insults at Israel, David’s nephew killed him—Jonathan, son of David’s brother, Shimei. 8All of these Philistine men who died in the battles were descended from giants in Gath. David and his soldiers killed each one of them. Footnotes
120:1Rabbah was about a three-day march east, across the Jordan River, near to what is now Amman, capital of Jordan.
220:2The report of David wanting to take credit is apparently edited out of this version of the story. But it appears in 2 Samuel 12:27, which is a nearly identical version of the story. 1-2 Chronicles repeats many stories from other Bible books of Israelite history.
320:2“King” in the ancient Hebrew language is melek. It can mean king, ruler, or god. So the crown might have been the crown of the Ammonite god Milcom.
420:2The crown weighed 34 kilograms, or one talent in the system of weight used in Bible times. The weight of the crown seems to argue in favor of it coming from the head of a statue of a god. On the other hand, wouldn’t a king want the biggest crown in the kingdom? Still, no one’s going to wear for very long a crown that weighs as much as a healthy-sized eight-year-old child. (The weight per age comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)
520:3Samuel’s report added that David forced some of them to make bricks, which is reminiscent of what Egypt did to the Hebrew ancestors of the Israelites (2 Samuel 12:31). The Chronicle’s historian may have considered that in poor taste, so he edited it out. But that’s just speculation.
620:4Hushah was a town about four miles (6 km) southwest of Bethlehem.
720:5What to do? This verse seems to clash with the same story reported in 2 Samuel 21:19, which says it was Goliath who died in the battle. And that version seems to clash with 1 Samuel 17:49-50, which says David son of Jesse from Bethlehem killed Goliath from Gath. Scholars offer an array of explanations. Maybe Elhanan was David’s name before he became king. This tracks with ancient Jewish tradition. “Son of Jair” may refer to the city of Jair, possibly his home before moving to Bethlehem. Maybe Elhanan’s defeat of Goliath (in 2 Samuel 21:19) was donated to David as an honorary tribute. Perhaps it worked a little like a university giving away an honorary doctorate to someone who didn’t do the academic work. But it was someone the college wanted to honor—perhaps to get a reward of something in return. Like a big donation for a building with their name on it. Elhanan might have wanted a donation of some sort from David. But these are wild theories. One more theory: some ancient scribe along the timeline of recopying worn out scrolls either messed up or got creative.
820:5A weaver’s beam may have been about two inches thick (five cm).
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2When David got the report that the city was about to fall, he hurried to take the credit. [2] He took the gold crown off the king’s head [3] and put it on his head. Embedded with jewels, the crown weighed 75 pounds. [4] David pillaged the city for its spoils of war—a wealth of treasure. 3Locals who survived the battle became servants of Israel. David gave the people the tools they would need for their jobs: saws, iron picks, and iron axes. [5] David did this to the people in all the cities of Ammon. Then he went home to Jerusalem.
Philistines rise to fight again
2 Samuel 21:15-22 4Philistines in the city of Gezer declared war on Israel again. Israel’s warrior, Sibbecai from the town of Hushah, [6] killed Saph. Saph was a Philistine descended from the Rephaim family of giants. Israel won that war.
5Once again, Israel and the Philistines fought each other. During that battle, Elhanan, [7] son of Jair from Bethlehem, killed Goliath’s brother, Lahmi from the town of Gath. Like his brother, Lahmi carried a spear with a shaft thick as a weaver’s beam. [8]
6Israel fought the Philistines again, this time at the town of Gath. One of the Philistine warriors was a giant of a man, from a family of giants. He had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. 7When he stepped out to hurl insults at Israel, David’s nephew killed him—Jonathan, son of David’s brother, Shimei. 8All of these Philistine men who died in the battles were descended from giants in Gath. David and his soldiers killed each one of them. Footnotes
120:1Rabbah was about a three-day march east, across the Jordan River, near to what is now Amman, capital of Jordan.
220:2The report of David wanting to take credit is apparently edited out of this version of the story. But it appears in 2 Samuel 12:27, which is a nearly identical version of the story. 1-2 Chronicles repeats many stories from other Bible books of Israelite history.
320:2“King” in the ancient Hebrew language is melek. It can mean king, ruler, or god. So the crown might have been the crown of the Ammonite god Milcom.
420:2The crown weighed 34 kilograms, or one talent in the system of weight used in Bible times. The weight of the crown seems to argue in favor of it coming from the head of a statue of a god. On the other hand, wouldn’t a king want the biggest crown in the kingdom? Still, no one’s going to wear for very long a crown that weighs as much as a healthy-sized eight-year-old child. (The weight per age comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)
520:3Samuel’s report added that David forced some of them to make bricks, which is reminiscent of what Egypt did to the Hebrew ancestors of the Israelites (2 Samuel 12:31). The Chronicle’s historian may have considered that in poor taste, so he edited it out. But that’s just speculation.
620:4Hushah was a town about four miles (6 km) southwest of Bethlehem.
720:5What to do? This verse seems to clash with the same story reported in 2 Samuel 21:19, which says it was Goliath who died in the battle. And that version seems to clash with 1 Samuel 17:49-50, which says David son of Jesse from Bethlehem killed Goliath from Gath. Scholars offer an array of explanations. Maybe Elhanan was David’s name before he became king. This tracks with ancient Jewish tradition. “Son of Jair” may refer to the city of Jair, possibly his home before moving to Bethlehem. Maybe Elhanan’s defeat of Goliath (in 2 Samuel 21:19) was donated to David as an honorary tribute. Perhaps it worked a little like a university giving away an honorary doctorate to someone who didn’t do the academic work. But it was someone the college wanted to honor—perhaps to get a reward of something in return. Like a big donation for a building with their name on it. Elhanan might have wanted a donation of some sort from David. But these are wild theories. One more theory: some ancient scribe along the timeline of recopying worn out scrolls either messed up or got creative.
820:5A weaver’s beam may have been about two inches thick (five cm).
Discussion Questions
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5Once again, Israel and the Philistines fought each other. During that battle, Elhanan, [7] son of Jair from Bethlehem, killed Goliath’s brother, Lahmi from the town of Gath. Like his brother, Lahmi carried a spear with a shaft thick as a weaver’s beam. [8]
6Israel fought the Philistines again, this time at the town of Gath. One of the Philistine warriors was a giant of a man, from a family of giants. He had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. 7When he stepped out to hurl insults at Israel, David’s nephew killed him—Jonathan, son of David’s brother, Shimei. 8All of these Philistine men who died in the battles were descended from giants in Gath. David and his soldiers killed each one of them.
Footnotes
Rabbah was about a three-day march east, across the Jordan River, near to what is now Amman, capital of Jordan.
The report of David wanting to take credit is apparently edited out of this version of the story. But it appears in 2 Samuel 12:27, which is a nearly identical version of the story. 1-2 Chronicles repeats many stories from other Bible books of Israelite history.
“King” in the ancient Hebrew language is melek. It can mean king, ruler, or god. So the crown might have been the crown of the Ammonite god Milcom.
The crown weighed 34 kilograms, or one talent in the system of weight used in Bible times. The weight of the crown seems to argue in favor of it coming from the head of a statue of a god. On the other hand, wouldn’t a king want the biggest crown in the kingdom? Still, no one’s going to wear for very long a crown that weighs as much as a healthy-sized eight-year-old child. (The weight per age comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)
Samuel’s report added that David forced some of them to make bricks, which is reminiscent of what Egypt did to the Hebrew ancestors of the Israelites (2 Samuel 12:31). The Chronicle’s historian may have considered that in poor taste, so he edited it out. But that’s just speculation.
Hushah was a town about four miles (6 km) southwest of Bethlehem.
What to do? This verse seems to clash with the same story reported in 2 Samuel 21:19, which says it was Goliath who died in the battle. And that version seems to clash with 1 Samuel 17:49-50, which says David son of Jesse from Bethlehem killed Goliath from Gath. Scholars offer an array of explanations. Maybe Elhanan was David’s name before he became king. This tracks with ancient Jewish tradition. “Son of Jair” may refer to the city of Jair, possibly his home before moving to Bethlehem. Maybe Elhanan’s defeat of Goliath (in 2 Samuel 21:19) was donated to David as an honorary tribute. Perhaps it worked a little like a university giving away an honorary doctorate to someone who didn’t do the academic work. But it was someone the college wanted to honor—perhaps to get a reward of something in return. Like a big donation for a building with their name on it. Elhanan might have wanted a donation of some sort from David. But these are wild theories. One more theory: some ancient scribe along the timeline of recopying worn out scrolls either messed up or got creative.
A weaver’s beam may have been about two inches thick (five cm).
Discussion Questions
- Sorry, there are currently no questions for this chapter.
