In the spring, military campaigns resumed across the eastern plains. Joab marched the Israelite army across the Jordan River to besiege Rabbah. The Ammonite capital sat on a fortified plateau roughly 25 miles east of the river. Invaders breached the defensive walls and laid waste to the central citadel.
The invading forces claimed the royal crown of Ammon when the central citadel finally fell in 995 b.c. The solid gold headpiece weighed roughly 75 pounds and held a prominent central jewel. King David claimed this massive prize for his own head. He then conscripted the defeated Ammonite populace into forced labor with saws, iron picks, and heavy axes.
After securing the eastern territory, the military shifted focus westward to Philistia. Violent clashes erupted at Gezer and Gath. These lowland cities controlled crucial agricultural trade routes near the Mediterranean coast. Combat in this region pitted the Israelites against notably tall Philistine warriors. One specific enemy combatant carried a heavy spear built from a thick wooden rod and a dense iron point.
Physical size on the battlefield commands an immediate and deadly response.
This necessary response defined the final campaigns in the western territories. Israelite champions systematically hunted down these massive combatants to break the remaining Philistine morale. Another brutal skirmish at Gath ended when an Israelite soldier killed a towering fighter who possessed exactly 24 digits across his hands and feet. The largest Philistine commanders died in the dirt and left the strategic coastal plain under new control.