1 Chronicles · chapter 20 of 29
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1 Chronicles 20 tells of the conquest of Rabbah, the capital of the Ammonites, by Joab while David stays in Jerusalem, and the plunder David receives, including the crown of their king. It then summarizes three combats against descendants of the Rephaim, Philistine giants, who die at the hands of David's warriors, among them a brother of Goliath and a man with six fingers on each hand.
The chapter ends the series of David's wars with a military scene and a note about the giants. Its content is brief, but it has an important peculiarity: the text mentions that David stayed in Jerusalem when kings go out to war, and does not tell what happened there. Anyone who knows 2 Samuel 11 and 12 knows that this was the time of his sin with Bathsheba, but Chronicles chooses not to narrate it and moves on to the result of the campaign.
In the spring, the time when kings go out to war, Joab leads the army, ravages the land of the Ammonites and besieges Rabbah, while David stays in Jerusalem. Joab attacks Rabbah and overthrows it.
David takes the crown of their king, which weighed a talent of gold and had a precious stone in it, and puts it on his own head. He also carries off a great amount of plunder from the city. The people who were there he brings out and sets to work with saws, iron picks and axes, and he does the same to all the cities of the Ammonites. Then David and all the people return to Jerusalem.
Next come wars with the Philistines. At Gezer, Sibbecai the Hushathite kills Sippai, one of the descendants of the Rephaim, and the Philistines are subdued. In another war, Elhanan the son of Jair kills Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear shaft was like a weaver's beam. In another battle at Gath there is a man of great stature, with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all, also descended from the Rephaim. When he taunts Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimea, David's brother, kills him. These were descended from the Rephaim of Gath and fell by the hand of David and his servants.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
When kings went out to war, Joab led the army and besieged Rabbah, while David stayed in Jerusalem. The author mentions that detail without explaining it. Whoever reads 2 Samuel 11 knows that in that time a grave fall of the king occurred, but Chronicles leaves that episode out.
David takes the crown of the king of the Ammonites, a talent of gold with a precious stone, and puts it on his head. The plunder marks the total victory over a city that had humiliated his messengers and set off the war.
Elhanan kills Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear shaft was like a weaver's beam. The author thus recalls that the giants of Gath, though fearsome, fell to Israel's warriors, so the terror Goliath had sown was not final.
The chapter closes by saying that these descendants of the Rephaim fell by the hand of David and his servants. David does not fight alone: his kingdom is a shared work, and the men around him share his victory.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Joab, the commander of David's army. — 1 Chronicles 20:1
Answer: His crown, a talent of gold with a precious stone, and he put it on his own head. — 1 Chronicles 20:2
Answer: He set them to work with saws, iron picks and axes. — 1 Chronicles 20:3
Answer: Sibbecai the Hushathite. — 1 Chronicles 20:4
Answer: Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite. — 1 Chronicles 20:5
Answer: Jonathan, the son of Shimea, David's brother. — 1 Chronicles 20:6-7
The chapter reminds us that giants fall, but almost always through the work of many. David did not kill them all: other warriors did. In a small group, talk about challenges that seem enormous and how they are better faced in community. Asking for help and offering it is part of the Christian life.
It also reminds us that staying home when one should be elsewhere can open dangerous doors. Chronicles does not explain anything, but other texts show the consequences. It is a call to take care in moments of rest and to surround ourselves with people who help us stay faithful.
1 Chronicles 20 ends the list of David's wars and shows him surrounded by faithful warriors. The next chapter narrates one of the most serious episodes of his reign: the census of the people, a sin that brings a plague on Israel and ends with the purchase of the place where the temple will be built.
The author of Chronicles writes for those returning from exile and concentrates on the promise to David and the preparation of the temple. He assumes his readers knew the books of Samuel, where David's sin is told in detail. Leaving it out does not mean denying it.
They were a people of great stature, mentioned several times in the Bible, from whom some Philistine giants descended. In this chapter they are called descendants of Rapha in Gath. The text does not explain their origin, but it shows that the fear they inspired could not stop Israel's warriors.
In this chapter Elhanan is said to have killed Lahmi, Goliath's brother, while in 2 Samuel 21:19 the Hebrew text seems to say he killed Goliath. Many scholars think Chronicles preserves the original reading and that the passage in Samuel was altered in copying. In any case, David killed Goliath in 1 Samuel 17.