And Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city.
This chapter records David's sin, Nathan's rebuke and God's forgiveness. It ends by going back to the battlefield David had left to other men. Joab is still at Rabbah, and his success raises a plain question: what does a restored man do next?
The siege had been running since chapter 11 — the very campaign David stayed home from. One writer points back to the war David should have been fighting, and notes that the victory was not yet complete.
Verse 26 brings us back to the conquest of the Ammonites. This was the work that should have taken up David's energy at the time he stayed idle at home — the idleness that led to his sad fall. Joab and the army kept fighting and took possession of Rabbah, the royal city of Ammon. His victory seems to have been only partial at that point. He had clearly got inside the city, but there was still mopping up to do.
Those months of siege were also months of silence in David.
Some time passed after David committed this sin. The war against Ammon still went on. It began in the previous chapter, which covers nearly a year. The siege of Rabbah had not ended, and in those days a city could be under siege for years. Through that whole time David's conscience was silent, though his sin weighed on him and the fruit of his wrongdoing was in plain sight.
Rabbah was Ammon's capital, and the next verse gives it a second name — the city of waters.
The fortified capital of the Ammonites... Joab attacked it, and during the siege Uriah lost his life, because David arranged it... A stream rises in the middle of the city. That, and the fact that it was the last place to get water before crossing the desert, is surely why it was called "the city of waters."
So the wall Joab was now storming is the same wall where David had Uriah left to die.
Joab does not finish the job. He sends for the king — and commentators read his reason differently. One takes it as a nudge to David's conscience: "Joab would probably not have minded such honor, but he clearly wanted to stir David up to a sense of his own responsibility" (Leslie M. Grant). Another reads the same message as a bid to become necessary again.
Rabbah was already cut off from its water supply. When it fell, Joab sent this message to David: "Now then gather the rest of the people together and encamp against the city and take it, lest I take the city and it be called by my name." What unselfishness! But is this not the way for him to win back control of the king's heart? David obeys... Joab has now made himself necessary again, and has regained the control he had lost.
Ammon's king in David's day was Nahash, and his name opens up what this nation pictures.
The king of Ammon is Nahash, a name that first of all means "serpent." It points to sorcery, divination and other satanic practices. So we see plainly how false teaching is tied to its author... It is the cunning of Satan that has mixed some outward forms of truth with the deadly poison of error.
Read that way, Joab's refusal to finish alone becomes instructive. "As a picture, this was a victory over satanic doctrine, and God meant the whole army to share in it, for it is no light matter to Him. All the people of God are to be fully united in such a conquest" (Leslie M. Grant).
David goes. That, in itself, is the mark of a soul set right.
At the close of this twelfth chapter (2 Sam. 12), we find David again in conflict with the enemy — his proper place. "So David gathered all the people together and went to Rabbah and fought against it and took it."
Yet the campaign also shows what the fall had cost him.
Everything was already right between his soul and God when he went to lay siege to Rabbah in 2 Samuel 12:26-31. The judgment on the children of Ammon was righteous and according to God's mind. Yet David seems to have mixed his own feelings into both his victory and his vengeance. His spiritual discernment no longer had the sharpness it once had. He takes the king's crown and sets it on his own head. In earlier days he had dedicated all the treasures of the nations to the Lord.
- Neglect — The battle David skipped is the battle still unfinished. The campaign he handed to others is where his fall began, and where the chapter ends.
- Rabbah — Ammon's fortified capital, the "city of waters," and the very place where David had Uriah left to die.
- Summons — Joab breaks in but stops short and calls the king. Commentators differ on whether he was prodding David's conscience or rebuilding his own hold on him.
- Enemy — Ammon's king was named serpent. The nation pictures error mixed with truth — an enemy God means all His people to face together, not a few.
- Restoration — Forgiveness puts David back in the field, his proper place. But the crown he sets on his own head shows that a forgiven man may still lack his old discernment.
And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, I have fought against Rabbah, and have taken the city of waters.
Joab has been battering the Ammonite capital while David stayed home in Jerusalem. Now he holds the city's water supply, and he sends word to the king instead of finishing the job. Why hand a victory back to an absent king? And why does the story of David's sin end with a call to the battlefield he avoided?
Rabbah was Ammon's fortified capital. Its other name in this verse comes from its water.
The fortified capital of the Ammonites… Joab attacked it, and during the siege Uriah lost his life because David arranged it. In the end the city was taken and destroyed… A stream rises in the middle of the city. That, and the fact that it was the last place to get water before crossing the desert, is no doubt why it was called "the city of waters."
This message comes at the end of a long campaign. It is the same siege during which Uriah died.
Some time passed after David committed this sin. The war against Ammon still went on. The siege of Rabbah was not yet finished, and we know that in those days a siege could last for years. Through that whole time David's conscience stayed silent, although his sin weighed on him and its fruit was plain before his eyes.
Joab's own words show the work is not done. He holds the water city, not the whole city. So he asks the king to bring up the rest of the army.
Verse 26 brings us back to the conquest of the Ammonites. This was work that should have taken David's energy at the time he was idle at home, which led to his sad fall. Joab and the army fought on and took Rabbah, the royal city of Ammon. His victory seems to have been only partial: he got inside the city, but there was still mopping up to do. So Joab sent to David, asking him to bring the rest of his army and finish taking the city.
Commentators differ on Joab's motive. Grant reads the message as a nudge to a king who had dropped his duty: Joab "evidently wanted to stir up David to a sense of his own responsibility." Rossier reads it as the move of a man who had lost his hold on David and needed a new way to matter.
He can no longer control his master through his secret crime. He must find another way to regain his influence. Rabbah had already lost its water supply, and when it fell Joab sent word to David: gather the rest of the people, camp against the city and take it, or I will take it and it will be called by my name. What unselfishness! But is this not the way he wins back control of the king's heart? David obeys… Now Joab is needed again, and has regained the control he had lost.
David does come. The delay cost him something, and the call to arms teaches who belongs in such a fight.
David accepted the rebuke, perhaps because his own honour was at stake, and went to battle. He clearly had no trouble subduing the city. If he had gone with Joab in the first place, the victory may have come more quickly, for David was a capable man of war. As a picture, this was a victory over satanic doctrine, and God meant the whole army to share in it, for it is no light matter to Him. All the people of God are to be fully united in such a conquest.
Joab feared the city would carry his name. Chronicles tells David's reign again, and there this scene stands with the fall left out.
Chronicles passes over the account of David and Bathsheba. It keeps only the first step down that steep slope: "But David remained at Jerusalem." Sovereign grace moves straight on to David taking the crown from the head of the king of Rabbah, a crown of gold set with precious stones, and it is set on David's head. This is not the restoration of the soul of a failing saint. It is God restoring David to his official position, as a picture of the One who is yet to come.
- Absence. David's fall began when he stayed home from a war he should have led. The siege of Rabbah drags on behind the whole story, while his conscience stays silent.
- Summons. Joab holds only the water city — a partial win — and calls the king to bring up the rest of the people and finish it.
- Motive. Commentators differ. One sees Joab prodding David back to his duty. Another sees a general rebuilding his own hold on the king.
- Return. David comes and the city falls with ease. Had he come at first, the win might have been quicker. God meant the whole army in it, not a part.
- Restoration. Grace puts the king back in the field and the crown on his head. Chronicles drops the fall and keeps the crown: God restoring him to his place, as a picture of the One who is yet to come.
And now gather the rest of the people, and encamp against the city and take it lest I take the city and it be called by my name.
Joab has broken into Rabbah, the fortified capital of Ammon. The siege had dragged on while David stayed home and fell into sin. Now Joab is one push from the end, and instead of taking the honour himself he sends for the king. Commentators read that move in more than one way.
Joab's message pulls the story back to the battlefield David had left to others.
Verse 26 brings us back to the conquest of the Ammonites. This should have taken David's energies at the time. Instead he was idle at home, and that led to his sad fall. Joab and the army continued their fight and took possession of Rabbah, the royal city of Ammon. His triumph at the time seems to have been only partial. He had got into the city, but there was still clearing-up work to do. Joab therefore sent to David, asking him to bring the rest of his army and finish the taking of the city. He tells David that if Joab took the city, it might bear Joab's own name. Joab was probably not unwilling to have such honour himself. But he plainly wanted to wake David up to his own responsibility.
Commentators differ over what lay behind Joab's offer. One hears a calculated move behind the generous-sounding words.
When Rabbah fell, already cut off from its water supply, Joab sent this message to David… What selflessness! But is not this the means by which he may regain control of the king's heart? David obeys… Now Joab again has become indispensable and has regained the control that he had lost.
Another writer sets it inside Joab's lifelong policy. He removed rivals for second place, but never reached for the first.
He was content to be second in the kingdom. His worldly wisdom told him he could hold that place in safety, but he knew he could not reach for more without danger. He could get both Abner and Amasa out of his way when he thought they were moving into the place he had eyed for himself. But the first place he would leave with David. So he never plots against him. He is always watchful of David's interest, and always ready to let David take the chief post of honour.
The phrase Joab uses for what he has captured is not decoration. It points to what made the place worth holding.
The fortified capital of the Ammonites… A stream rises in the middle of the city, and this fact, together with its being the last place to get water before crossing the desert, was doubtless the reason it was called "the city of waters."
David answered this summons soon after burying his child. One writer sees God's discipline bearing fruit in him.
While the child lived, he pleaded with the Lord for it. He did not despise the Lord's chastening; he plainly felt it very deeply. But when the child is dead, he accepts God's will in perfect submission… We next find him at war against Rabbah, in the full tide of victory. He takes up the right path again, and honour and blessing come back to him. God shows him this: however unbending He is in righteousness, His love and His interest in him have not changed.
David was back in his place, but not unchanged. One writer weighs what he does with the captured crown against his earlier practice.
Everything was already in order between his soul and God when he went to lay siege to Rabbah. The judgment of the Ammonites was righteous and in line with God's mind. But David seems to have mixed his own feelings into his victory and his vengeance. His spiritual discernment no longer had the same sharpness as before. He takes the king's crown and sets it on his own head. In earlier days he had dedicated all the treasures of the nations to the Lord.
David came, and the city fell. One writer finds meaning in the call for the whole army.
David accepted the rebuke, perhaps because his own honour was at stake. He went to battle and took the city without difficulty. If he had gone with Joab at the start, he might have won sooner, for David was a capable man of war. As a picture, this was a victory over satanic teaching, and God meant the whole army to share in it, for it is no light matter to Him. All God's people are to stand fully united in such a conquest.
- Absence — David stayed home while the army besieged Rabbah, and that idleness led to his fall. The unfinished siege was the debt his sin left standing.
- Summons — Joab's word about the city bearing his name calls David back to a responsibility that was his own to carry.
- Motive — commentators differ. One sees a push toward duty. Another sees a bid to regain influence. A third sees a lifelong policy of leaving first place to the king.
- Return — David's march to Rabbah shows chastening bearing fruit. He takes up the right path again, and God's love and interest in him are unchanged.
- Residue — forgiveness restored him, yet the crown on his own head shows his discernment had dulled. Recovery is real, but it does not erase the cost.