NOTES for Ch1 20:1-8
1 And 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. |
2 And 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. |
3 And 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. |
4 And 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. |
5 And 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. |
6 And 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. |
7 But when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea David's brother slew him. |
8 These were born unto the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants. |
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It is hard for us to read the details of the tortures and executions to which David subjected the Ammonites after defeating them. Admittedly, some modern scholars maintain that an inaccuracy occurred in the translation here, so that this passage should be read quite differently. In their interpretation, it refers not to methods of killing but to the tools and kinds of work to which David assigned the captured Ammonites. We would like to hope that this was indeed the case. Yet the subtleties of translation and interpretation do not change the fact that cruelty at that time was characteristic not only of pagans but also of the sons of the people to whom the Lord had long since revealed Himself. Again and again, readers encountering bloody episodes in the pages of the Bible are tempted to regard the cruelties mentioned as the norm. Two conclusions then suggest themselves: either religion must be interpreted as a defence of cruelty and accepted in that form, or Revelation must be rejected because it is recorded in a Book that does not conceal terrible events.
Both responses are wrong. What we read in the Bible is far from always presented as a norm or an example to follow. The Bible simply describes the actual condition of humanity fallen into sin, in which even the best people bear the marks of the corruption shared by all. And, as the saying goes, there is no use blaming the mirror!
Yet it is this very Book that reveals to us the possibility of deliverance from what it shows.
Readings for 17 May 2023
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