Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Chronicles 20:2

"And David took the crown of their king from off his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there were precious stones in it; and it was set upon David`s head: and he brought forth the spoil of the city, exceeding much." — 1 Chronicles 20:2 (ASV)

The crown of their king. Or, “of Milcom” or “Moloch,” their god. The Hebrew malkâm, “their Melech” (that is, king), occurs in this sense (Zephaniah 1:5).

The same title is applied by the prophets to Jehovah (Isaiah 6:5; Isaiah 44:6, “Jahweh, the king [melech] of Israel.” Compare Zephaniah 3:15, and John 1:49, John 12:15, 2 Samuel 12:12, Psalms 5:2, Psalms 89:18, Isaiah 8:21, and Jeremiah 10:10). The Septuagint here has “Molchom, their king”; the Vulgate, “Melchom”; and the Arabic, “Malcha, their god”; all confirming our rendering.

A talent of gold. The Arabic Version says one hundred pounds. Modern scholars consider the “talent of gold” as about one hundred and thirty-one pounds troy. If the weight was anything like this, the crown was obviously more suited for the head of a big idol than of a man.

And there were precious stones in it. Samuel includes their weight in the talent.

And it was set (Hebrew, became) upon David’s head. The Vulgate states, “he made himself a crown out of it.” This may be the meaning, or else the weighty mass of gold and jewels may have been held over the king’s head by his attendants on the occasion of its capture.

Exceeding much spoil. Compare the continual boast of the Assyrian conquerors: “spoils without number I carried off” (sallata la mani aslula).