2 Samuel 12:27,28 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

I have fought against Rabbah, and have taken the city of waters, &c.— Rabbah was a royal, a large, and a populous city, watered, and in some measure encompassed by the river Jabbok. It had its name from its grandeur, being derived from a Hebrew word, signifying to increase and grow great, and was now in the height of its glory. As the city of waters must mean Rabbah only, Houbigant translates after Josephus, and I have intercepted, or cut off the waters from it, which gives a good reason for Joab's message, as it was not probable that the city in this case should hold out long. Nothing can be more gallant and generous than the message of Joab: Lest I take the city, and it be called after my name. There is a magnanimity in the proposal capable of creating admiration in the meanest minds. The man who could transfer the glory of his own conquests to his prince, needs no higher eulogy as a general; and it is but justice to the character of Joab, to declare, that he is supreme, if not unrivalled, in this singular instance of heroism.