2 Samuel 12:31

“And he brought forth the people that [were] therein, etc.] Not all the inhabitants of the place, but the princes of the children of Ammon, the counsellors of Hattun, who advised him to use David’s ambassadors in so shameful a manner, and others that expressed their pleasure and satisfaction in it: and put [them] under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron; whereby they were cut asunder, as some were by the Romans and others f206, or their flesh torn to pieces, and they put to extreme pain and agony, and so died most miserably; (see <132003>1 Chronicles 20:3); and made them pass through the brickkiln; where they burnt their bricks, by which they were not only scorched and…”

“he brought forth the people . . . and put them under saws, &c.--This excessive severity and employment of tortures, which the Hebrews on no other occasion are recorded to have practised, was an act of retributive justice on a people who were infamous for their cruelties (Sa1 11:2; Amo 1:13). Next: 2 Samuel Chapter 13”

“For the saw as an implement of torture compare Hebrews 11:37. Harrows of iron - Or rather thrashing-machines (Isaiah 28:27; Isaiah 41:15, etc.). Axes - The word so rendered occurs only here and in 1 Chronicles 20:3. It evidently means some cutting instrument. Made them pass through the brick-kiln - The phrase is that always used of the cruel process of making their children pass through the fire to Moloch, and it is likely that David punished this idolatrous practice by inflicting something similar upon the worshippers of Moloch. The cruelty of these executions belongs to the barbarous manners of the age, and was provoked by the conduct of the Ammonites 2 Samuel 10:1-4; 1 Samuel 11:1-2, but…”

“The people - The words are indefinite, and therefore not necessarily to be understood of all the people; but of the men of war, and especially of those who had been the chief actors of that villainous action against David's ambassadors, and of the dreadful war ensuing upon it; for which, they deserved severe punishments. Altho' indeed there seems to have been too much rigour used; especially, because these deaths were inflicted not only upon those counsellors, who were the only authors of that vile usage of the ambassadors; but upon some number of the people. And therefore it is probable, David exercised this cruelty whilst his heart was hardened, and impenitent; and when he was bereaved of…”

“12:31 He also made slaves of the people of Rabbah and forced them to labor with: Enslaving defeated peoples was in accord with Deut 20:11. Solomon later did the same with the Canaanites (1 Kgs 9:20-22; see also Judg 1:30, 33). The alternate reading might indicate torture inflicted on the defeated Ammonites (cp. textual note on 1 Chr 20:3).”

“and put them: Rather, as the particle ב frequently signifies, "And he put them to saws, and to harrows, and to axes," etc., as we say, to put a person to the plough, to the anvil, to the last, etc. Ch1 20:3, Also, Sa2 8:2; Psa 21:8, Psa 21:9; Amo 1:3 Next: 2 Kings (2 Samuel) Chapter 13”

“He also had the inhabitants executed, and that with cruel tortures. "He sawed them in pieces with the saw and with iron harrows." בּמּגרה ויּשׂם, "he put them into the saw," does not give any appropriate sense; and there can be no doubt, that instead of וישׂם we should read ויּשׂר (from שׂוּר): "he cut (sawed) them in pieces." הבּרזל וּבמגזרות, "and with iron cutting tools." The meaning of the ἁπ. λεγ. מגזרות cannot be more precisely determined. The current rendering, "axes or hatchets," is simply founded upon the circumstance that גּזר, to cut, is applied in Kg2 6:4 to the felling of trees. The reading in the Chronicles, וּבמּגרות, is evidently a copyist's error, as we have already had…”