(3) And he brought.--Better, "And the people that were in it he brought out, and sawed with the saw, and with the iron threshing-drags (Isaiah 41:15), and with the axes."
Sawed.--The Hebrew is an old word, only found here. Samuel reads, by change of one letter, "set them in," or "among," the saws, &c.
With the axes.--So Samuel. Our Hebrew text repeats the word "saw" in the plural, owing to a scribe's error. The two words differ by a single letter. Samuel adds, "and made them pass through the brick-kiln," or "Moloch's fire" (2 Kings 23:10).
Even so dealt David.--Literally, And so David used to do. These cruelties were enacted again at the taking of every Ammonite city. There needs no attempt to palliate such revolting savagery; but according to the ideas of that age it was only a glorious revenge. As David treated Ammon, so would the Ammonites have treated Israel, had the victory been theirs. (Comp. their behaviour to the Gileadites, Amos 1:13; comp. also the atrocities of Assyrian conquerors, Hosea 10:14; and of the Babylonians Psalm 137:7-9.)
Verse 3. - Cut them with saws (so Hebrews 11:37). We have here the very doubtful (so far as regards its real signification) Hebrew word וַיָּשַׂר (and he cut) instead of וַיָּשֶׂם (he put). Probably it is nowhere else used in the sense of "cutting," if it is here. Its ordinary sense is to rule or put into subjection. The parallel place (2 Samuel 12:31) corrects, in the word (Authorized Version) axes, our Hebrew text, which repeats the word for saw, though putting it in the plural, and which thereby shows וּבַמְּגֵרות, instead of וּבְמַגְזְרות. This last word means "Axes" or "scythes," and is from the root גָזַרַ, to cut (2 Kings 6:4). It is found only in 2 Samuel 12:31, though it should appear here also. There is a fourth severity of punishment mentioned in the parallel place, that the people were "made to pass through the brick-kilns," a form of torture possibly suggested by the own familiar cruelty of the Ammonites in "making their children to pass through the fire to Moloch." However, in harmony with what is above said respecting the doubtfulness of the just signification of the verb וַיָּשַׂר, much uncertainty hangs over the interpretation of this verse. Instead of severity and needless cruelty on the part of David, it may rather set forth that he subjected them to hard tasks in connection with the cultivation of the soil and with the making of bricks. The saws and harrows and axes (or scythes) were awkward and unlikely weapons to be employed for the purpose of inflicting torture, when the ordinary weapons of battle and warfare were close at hand. This view, however, is contrary to the verdict, so far as the above Hebrew verb is concerned, of Gesenius's 'Thesaurus,' p. 1326, and of Thenins, on this and the parallel passage. When such punishments were of the nature of torture, the cruelty was in some cases extreme. "The criminal was sometimes sawn asunder lengthwise; this was more especially the practice in Persia. Isaiah, according to the Talmud-isis, was put to death in this wise by King Manasseh, 'Sanhedrin,' p. 103, c. 2; comp. Justin's dialogue with Trypho" (Jahn's 'Sacred Antiquities,' p. 132, § 260, 7.). With saws. The word in the original is not in the plural. It occurs again only in the parallel place (2 Samuel 12:31) and in 1 Kings 7:9, both times in the singular. The teeth of Eastern saws then and now usually incline to the handle instead of from it. With harrows of iron. The only harrow known to have been used at this time consisted of a thick block of wood borne down by a weight, or on which a man sat, drawn over the ploughed land by oxen (Isaiah 28:24, 25; Job 39:10; Hosea 10:11), and the root of the Hebrew word expresses the idea of crushing or levelling the land. But our present word is very different, and is found only here and in the parallel place, with the word "iron" accompanying it, so as to be equivalent to a compound word, and appears to mean "sharp instruments of iron," or sharp threshing instruments. The use of the former part of this phrase (1 Samuel 17:18) for cheeses is the only other instance of its occurrence. Saws should be "axes," or "scythes," as stated above, though it is not any of the three more ordinary words for "axe" (see Smith's 'Bible Dictionary,' 1:142).
20:1-8 David's wars. - Though the Lord will severely correct the sins of his believing people, he will not leave them in the hands of their enemies. His assistance will overcome all advantages of number and strength of those that defy his Israel. All that trust in Christ, shall be made more than conquerors through him that loveth them.
Sawed.--The Hebrew is an old word, only found here. Samuel reads, by change of one letter, "set them in," or "among," the saws, &c.
With the axes.--So Samuel. Our Hebrew text repeats the word "saw" in the plural, owing to a scribe's error. The two words differ by a single letter. Samuel adds, "and made them pass through the brick-kiln," or "Moloch's fire" (2 Kings 23:10).
Even so dealt David.--Literally, And so David used to do. These cruelties were enacted again at the taking of every Ammonite city. There needs no attempt to palliate such revolting savagery; but according to the ideas of that age it was only a glorious revenge. As David treated Ammon, so would the Ammonites have treated Israel, had the victory been theirs. (Comp. their behaviour to the Gileadites, Amos 1:13; comp. also the atrocities of Assyrian conquerors, Hosea 10:14; and of the Babylonians Psalm 137:7-9.)