2 Samuel 20:15

Besieged him. Sheba had had time enough to establish himself in a fortified town that could be taken only be siege.

Cast up a bank. See 2 Kings 19:32; Isa. 37:33. This was a common method of siege warfare in the ancient Orient. The weakest part of a wall was the part near the top, which might be made of only mud bricks, whereas the bottom would be of stone. A bank of earth would be thrown up against the wall, and siege engines, if such were employed, mounted on it. In this way a hole could be battered through the wall and the city entered.

Trench. Heb. chel, “a rampart.” Some take chel to refer to a fortified area between a lower outer wall and the main wall of the city, or the outer wall itself, or the glacis, others, by metonymy, to a moat or ditch. With a bank thrown up in this area, against the main wall itself, the besiegers would be in position to make their final attack.

Battered the wall. It is doubtful whether the forces of David were in possession of siege engines, such as battering-rams. These were common in later years with the Assyrian and Babylonian armies and gave these peoples their great success.