2 Samuel 12:28

Now therefore gather the rest of the people together, and encamp against the city, and take it: lest I take the city, and it be called after my name.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(28) The rest of the people.—Joab proposes a general muster of the remaining forces of Israel, either because additional force was actually needed for the capture of the citadel, or simply to carry out the formal capturing of the city by David in person.

Benson Commentary

2 Samuel 12:28. Encamp against the city, and take it — For, having taken one part of the city, he concluded the remaining part of it could not long stand out. Lest I take the city — Lest I have the honour of taking it; and it be called by my name — As from the conquest of Africa, the Roman general Scipio, many years after, was called Africanus. By this it appears that though Joab had many faults, yet he loved his prince, and endeavoured to raise his glory. “There is a magnificence in this proposal capable of creating admiration in the meanest minds. The man that could transfer the glory of his own conquests upon his prince, needs no higher eulogy. And it is but justice to the character of Joab to declare that he is supreme, if not unrivalled, in this singular instance of heroism. Rabbah, it must be observed, was a royal, a large, and a populous city, the metropolis of Arabia Felix, watered, and in some measure encompassed by the river Jabbok. It had its name from its grandeur, being derived from a Hebrew word which signifies to increase and grow great, and was now in the height of its glory.” — Delaney.

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

The city of waters - The lower town of Rabbah (the modern Ammam), so called from a stream which rises within it and flows through it. The upper town with the citadel lay on a hill to the north of the stream, and was probably not tenable for any length of time after the supply of water was cut off.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

28. encamp against the city, and take it—It has always been characteristic of Oriental despots to monopolize military honors; and as the ancient world knew nothing of the modern refinement of kings gaining victories by their generals, so Joab sent for David to command the final assault in person. A large force was levied for the purpose. David without much difficulty captured the royal city and obtained possession of its immense wealth.

lest I take the city, and it be called after my name—The circumstance of a city receiving a new name after some great person, as Alexandria, Constantinople, Hyderabad, is of frequent occurrence in the ancient and modern history of the East.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Take it; for having taken one part of the city, he concluded the remaining part of it could not long stand out.

Lest it be called after my name; lest I have the honour of taking it. Thus he seeks to ingratiate himself with the king, by pretending great care for his honour and interest.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Now therefore gather the rest of the people together,.... The rest of the soldiers in the land of Israel, and come to Rabbah:

and encamp against the city; invest it in form:

and take it; upon a surrender or by storm; for it could not hold out long:

lest I take the city, and it be called after my name; so great a regard had Joab, though an ambitious man, to the fame and credit of David his king: so Craterus (a) at the siege of Artacacna, being prepared to take it, waited the coming of Alexander, that he might have the honour of it.

(a) Curt. Hist. l. 6. c. 6.

Geneva Study Bible

Now therefore gather the rest of the people together, and encamp against the city, and take it: lest I take the city, and it be called after my name.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

28. and take it] Curtius relates how Craterus in like manner resigned the capture of Artacacna into the hands of Alexander. “After all the preparations were made, he awaited the king’s arrival, yielding to him, as was fitting, the honour of taking the city” (Curt. vi. 6).

and it be called after my name] This is the usual meaning of the phrase. Rabbah might have been called “the city of Joab” as Zion was called “the city of David.”

2 Samuel 12:28

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."