Ammonites

Those were wild and terrible days in which David lived. To his own times he seemed mild and merciful, but to modern hearts some deeds of his reign seem of unthinkable severity. While his triumph over the Syrians made him the chief ruler of the region, there must have been many walled cities which refused him submission. Chief among these was Rabbah (Rabbath), the capital of the Ammonites, whose king insulted Israel's ambassadors. David seems to have resolved to make a terrible example of the Ammonites. He sent Joab to lay close siege to Rabbah, and when the time had come for the final assault, the monarch himself joined his army and was present at the taking of the city. The Ammonites who were captured were put to death with savage brutality by David's express command.

Commentators on the Bible have argued about this passage: "And he brought out the people . . . and cut them with saws and with harrows of iron, and with axes," which occurs in both Samuel and Chronicles. Some believe, or hope, that the meaning is that the prisoners were put to work with saws and harrows. But the grimmer statement that they were slain by such implements not only stands in the Bible text, but is in harmony with David's savagery against he Moabites. He may have thought it necessary to let the subject nations know how terribly he meant to punish all rebellion.

On this page you'll find images of David's defeat of the Ammonites taken from my collection of antique Bibles and story books. You're welcomed to use these pictures of the Ammonite people in your artistic creations. Click on the Ammonite illustrations below to see more details about saving a free Ammonite image or about purchasing the images of the Ammonites at a higher resolution.