Note that all that had to be done was to “touch” the tsinnor, not, as often translated, to “get up” the tsinnor. Z. Abels and A. Arlit have plausibly suggested that, this being so, Joab, David’s soon-to-be general, didn’t have to come into the city through the water system. He only had to “harm” the system and divert the water out in order to force the inhabitants to surrender.