David Takes Rabbah

Read aloud

Joab fights against Rabbah, the Ammonite city, and captures the royal fortress. He sends messengers to David, saying that he has taken the water supply and that David should gather the rest of the troops to besiege and capture it.

Joab warns that if he captures the city himself, it will be called by his name. David gathers the troops, goes to Rabbah, fights it, and takes its crown from the head of the Ammonite king.

The crown is placed on David’s head, and he takes a great amount of plunder. The people are put to work with saws, iron picks, and axes, and at brick kilns. David does the same in all the Ammonite cities, then returns with the troops to Jerusalem.

Joab’s message makes royal credit part of the campaign: David should come before the city is associated with Joab’s name. But the people assigned to labor also belong in our reading of this victory. Their lives change along with the ownership of the crown and the city’s wealth.

This difficult account should not be used to celebrate domination or to make modern oppression sound holy. It asks what happens when success is measured by captured cities and public honor while the conquered have no say. Read the violence honestly, resist triumphal language, and examine how your household benefits when other people have less power.