2 Samuel 12:26

And Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(26) Took the royal city.—The parallel narrative is resumed at this point in 1Chronicles 20:2. Rabbah was situated in the narrow valley of the upper Jabbok, on both sides of the stream, but with its citadel on the cliff on the northern side. The “royal city” of this verse, and “the city of waters” of the next, refer probably to the city proper, while the “city” of 2Samuel 12:28-29 is no doubt the citadel, which was more strongly fortified.

Benson Commentary

2 Samuel 12:26-27. Took the royal city — That is, that part of the city where the king’s palace was; though now, it seems, he was retired to a strong fort. It is not to be supposed that Joab had continued the siege so long as till David had two children by Bath-sheba; this was done soon after the death of Uriah, when David commanded them to assault the city with greater force. The city of waters — That part of the city which lay open, or was encompassed with the water; the other part, which was the upper city, and probably much stronger, was not yet taken.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

12:26-31 To be thus severe in putting the children of Ammon to slavery was a sign that David's heart was not yet made soft by repentance, at the time when this took place. We shall be most compassionate, kind, and forgiving to others, when we most feel our need of the Lord's forgiving love, and taste the sweetness of it in our own souls.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Solomon - Or "peaceable," a name given to him at his circumcision. Compare Luke 1:59. The giving of the name Jedidiah, by the Lord through Nathan, signified God's favor to the child, as in the cases of Abraham, Sarah, and Israel. The name Jedidiah (which contains the same root as the name David, namely, "to love") indicated, prophetically, what God's Providence brought about actually, namely, the succession and glorious reign of Solomon over Israel.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Sa 12:26-31. Rabbah Is Taken.

26. Joab fought against Rabbah—The time during which this siege lasted, since the intercourse with Bath-sheba, and the birth of at least one child, if not two, occurred during the progress of it, probably extended over two years.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

i.e. That part of the city where was the king’s palace, where he ordinarily resided; though now it seems he was retired to a strong fort.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon,.... Of his being sent against it, and of his besieging it, we read in 2 Samuel 11:1; but it can hardly be thought that he had been so long besieging it, as that David had two children by Bathsheba; but the account of the finishing of it is placed here, that the story concerning Bathsheba might lie together without any interruption:

and took the royal city; or that part of it in which the king's palace was, and which, as Abarbinel observes, was without the city, as the palaces of kings now usually are.

Geneva Study Bible

And Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

26. And Joab fought against Rabbah] The narrative returns to the point at which it was left in ch. 2 Samuel 11:1. But how long a time was occupied in the siege does not appear. It is possible that it lasted more than one year, and did not come to an end till after the birth of Bath-sheba’s first child. But on the other hand it would be quite natural for the historian, having once commenced his account of Bath-sheba, to complete it before narrating the capture of Rabbah, so that this may have been effected within a year.

and took the royal city] “The royal city” seems to be equivalent to “the city of waters” of 2 Samuel 12:27, that is, the lower city on the river, as distinguished from “the city” (2 Samuel 12:28), i.e. the citadel. The capture of this probably deprived the citadel of its water-supply, and so rendered it untenable for any length of time.

26–31. Capture of Rabbah

 = 1 Chronicles 20:1-3

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 26. - Joab... took the royal city. As the siege of Rabbah would be conducted by the slow process of blockade, it might easily be prolonged into the second year, and so give ample space for David's sin and its punishment by the death of the child. But more probably the narrator, having commenced the history of David's sin, completes the story before returning to his account of the war. Thus the capture of Rabbah would occupy some of the interval between David's adultery and Nathan's visit of rebuke, and would lessen the difficulty, which we cannot help feeling, of David remaining for nine or ten months with the guilt of adultery and murder resting upon him, and no open act of repentance. Some short time, then, after Uriah's death, Joab captured "the city of waters." This is not a poetical name for Rabbah, but means the "water city," that is, the town upon the Jabbok, whence the supply of water was obtained. The citadel, which occupied a high rock on the northwestern side, must, therefore, soon be starved into submission, and the whole of "the royal city," that is, of the metropolis of the Ammonites, be in Joab's power. He therefore urges David to come in person, both that the honour of the conquest may be his, and also because probably the blockading force had been reduced to as small a body of men as was safe, and the presence of a large army was necessary for completing the subjugation of the country, which would follow upon the capture of the capital. 2 Samuel 12:26

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Conquest of Rabbah, and Punishment of the Ammonites (comp. 1 Chronicles 20:1-3). - "Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the king's city." המּלוּכה עיר, the capital of the kingdom, is the city with the exception of the acropolis, as 2 Samuel 12:27 clearly shows, where the captured city is called "the water-city." Rabbah was situated, as the ruins of Ammn show, on both banks of the river (Moiet) Ammn (the upper Jabbok), in a valley which is shut in upon the north and south by two bare ranges of hills of moderate height, and is not more than 200 paces in breadth. "The northern height is crowned by the castle, the ancient acropolis, which stands on the north-western side of the city, and commands the whole city" (see Burckhardt, Syria ii. pp. 612ff., and Ritter, Erdkunde xv. pp. 1145ff.). After taking the water-city, Joab sent messengers to David, to inform him of the result of the siege, and say to him, "Gather the rest of the people together, and besiege the city (i.e., the acropolis, which may have been peculiarly strong), and take it, that I may not take the city (also), and my name be named upon it," i.e., the glory of the conquest be ascribed to me. Luther adopts this explanation in his free rendering, "and I have a name from it."