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1 Chronicles 20

KJV · Chapter 20/29

1And it came to pass, that after the year was expired, at the time that kings go out to battle, Joab led forth the power of the army, and wasted the country of the children of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried at Jerusalem. And Joab smote Rabbah, and destroyed it.

2And David took the crown of their king from off his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there were precious stones in it; and it was set upon David’s head: and he brought also exceeding much spoil out of the city.

3And he brought out the people that were in it, and cut them with saws, and with harrows of iron, and with axes. Even so dealt David with all the cities of the children of Ammon. And David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

4And it came to pass after this, that there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines; at which time Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Sippai, that was of the children of the giant: and they were subdued.

5And there was war again with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear staff was like a weaver’s beam.

6And yet again there was war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were four and twenty, six on each hand, and six on each foot: and he also was the son of the giant.

7But when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea David’s brother slew him.

8These were born unto the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The army of Israel, led by Joab, conquers the Ammonite city of Rabbah. The chapter also briefly recounts three battles against Philistine giants descended from Rapha, including a relative of the famous Goliath.

Explanation

This chapter is notably brief compared to the parallel account in 2 Samuel 11-12, which includes the long and painful episode of David's sin with Bathsheba and the death of her husband Uriah. The chronicler, writing decades later to help rebuild national identity, chooses to focus on the aspects of David's victory and positive leadership, leaving out this moment of serious moral failure. The brief mentions of the defeated Philistine giants serve as a reminder that the threat posed by such imposing figures, like Goliath decades earlier, continued to be faced and overcome by David's generation of warriors.

Fun facts

  • The omission of the episode of David and Bathsheba in this chapter is one of the clearest examples of how the chronicler deliberately selects what to include, favoring a more edifying narrative to help rebuild the faith of the post-exile people.
  • One of the giants mentioned had 'six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot,' an unusual physical detail (polydactyly) mentioned as part of the description of the line of Rapha, associated with warriors of exceptional stature.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 1 Chronicles 20:1Notice that the text says only that David stayed in Jerusalem while Joab went to war, without telling anything else about that period. That is because Chronicles simply skips the entire story of David with Bathsheba and Uriah, told in detail in Samuel: here the portrait of the king stays cleaner, focused on achievements, not scandals.
  2. 1 Chronicles 20:2David takes the crown of the Ammonite king, weighing a talent of gold set with precious stones, and puts it on his own head — a clear symbol of who won the war that began with a simple diplomatic insult.
  3. 1 Chronicles 20:3David imposes heavy forced labor on the conquered population of Ammon, repeating the same treatment in every Ammonite city before returning to Jerusalem with the army.
  4. 1 Chronicles 20:4After Ammon, war turns again against the Philistines at Gezer, where Sibbechai kills Sippai, one of the descendants of the giant Rapha — the first in a series of duels against giant warriors.
  5. 1 Chronicles 20:5This Goliath, brother of Lahmi and killed by Elhanan, is often compared by readers with a similar passage in Samuel, where the text seems to say that Elhanan killed the famous Goliath himself. The most widely accepted explanation is that these are different people with similar names, and Chronicles helps clarify that by adding ‘the brother of’ Goliath.
  6. 1 Chronicles 20:6Yet another clash at Gath against a huge man with twenty-four fingers and toes in all, six on each hand and each foot — also a descendant of the line of giants called Rapha.
  7. 1 Chronicles 20:7This giant openly defies Israel, but the one who kills him is Jonathan, son of Shimea, David’s own nephew — one more member of the royal family distinguishing himself in combat.
  8. 1 Chronicles 20:8A summary closes the chapter: all these giants were of the line of Rapha, in Gath, and fell by the hand of David and his soldiers — bringing the threat of the giant Philistine warriors to a final end.

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