Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and spoke, saying, “Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.
Parallel Translations
-
Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and spoke, saying, “Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.
-
Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spake, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh.
-
Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spoke, saying: 'Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh.
Cross-references (8)
Passages linked to 2 Samuel 5:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Chronicles 11:1-3 Then all Israel gathered themselves to David to Hebron, saying, “Behold, we are your bone and your flesh. In times past, even when Saul was king, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. Yahweh your God said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over my people Israel.’ ” So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and David made a covenant with them in Hebron before Yahweh; and they anointed David king over Israel, according to Yahweh’s word by Samuel.
- Genesis 29:14 Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” Jacob stayed with him for a month.
- 2 Samuel 19:13 Say to Amasa, ‘Aren’t you my bone and my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if you aren’t captain of the army before me continually instead of Joab.’ ”
- Ephesians 5:30 because we are members of his body, of his flesh and bones.
- Deuteronomy 17:15 you shall surely set him whom Yahweh your God chooses as king over yourselves. You shall set as king over you one from among your brothers. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.
- Judges 9:2 “Please speak in the ears of all the men of Shechem, ‘Is it better for you that all the sons of Jerubbaal, who are seventy persons, rule over you, or that one rule over you?’ Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.”
- 1 Chronicles 12:23-40 These are the numbers of the heads of those who were armed for war, who came to David to Hebron, to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according to Yahweh’s word. The children of Judah who bore shield and spear were six thousand eight hundred, armed for war. Of the children of Simeon, mighty men of valor for the war: seven thousand one hundred. Of the children of Levi: four thousand six hundred. Jehoiada was the leader of the household of Aaron; and with him were three thousand seven hundred, and Zadok, a young man mighty of valor, and of his father’s house twenty-two captains. Of the children of Benjamin, Saul’s relatives: three thousand, for until then, the greatest part of them had kept their allegiance to Saul’s house. Of the children of Ephraim: twenty thousand eight hundred, mighty men of valor, famous men in their fathers’ houses. Of the half-tribe of Manasseh: eighteen thousand, who were mentioned by name, to come and make David king. Of the children of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, their heads were two hundred; and all their brothers were at their command. Of Zebulun, such as were able to go out in the army, who could set the battle in array, with all kinds of instruments of war: fifty thousand who could command and were not of double heart. Of Naphtali: one thousand captains, and with them with shield and spear thirty-seven thousand. Of the Danites who could set the battle in array: twenty-eight thousand six hundred. Of Asher, such as were able to go out in the army, who could set the battle in array: forty thousand. On the other side of the Jordan, of the Reubenites, the Gadites, and of the half-tribe of Manasseh, with all kinds of instruments of war for the battle: one hundred twenty thousand. All these were men of war, who could order the battle array, and came with a perfect heart to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel; and all the rest also of Israel were of one heart to make David king. They were there with David three days, eating and drinking; for their brothers had supplied provisions for them. Moreover those who were near to them, as far as Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali, brought bread on donkeys, on camels, on mules, and on oxen: supplies of flour, cakes of figs, clusters of raisins, wine, oil, cattle, and sheep in abundance; for there was joy in Israel.
- Hebrews 2:14 Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in the same way partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (25 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain We are of thy kindred, and most near joined…
We are of thy kindred, and most near joined unto thee.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 2Sa 5:1 Then came all the tribes of Israel…
2Sa 5:1 Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spake, saying, Behold, we [are] thy bone and thy flesh.
Ver. 1. Then came all the tribes,] i.e., Great numbers out of all tribes: out of Zebulun only, fifty thousand. {1Ch 12:33} Josephus saith {a} that Zebulun came full and whole: and the Scripture saith that they were not of a double heart. Christ’s subjects are a willing people; {Psa 110:3} they flee to him as clouds, and as doves to their windows, {Isa 60:8} and he reeeiveth them graciously, {Hos 14:2} though they had long stood out as these tribes had. Nimis sero te amavi. too slowly I had loved thee. {b}
Read full note →
Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh.] We may boldly say the same to Christ, claiming kindred, inasmuch as he is "bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh." {Eph 5:30 Heb 2:15-16}
{a} Lib. vii. cap. 2.
{b} August.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain To wit, by their ambassadors, Ish-bosheth and Abner being…
To wit, by their ambassadors, Ish-bosheth and Abner being now dead, and that without David’s concurrence.
Thy bone and thy flesh, i.e. thy brethren, or kinsmen, of the same nation and parentage, though not of the same tribe; and therefore, as God’s law, Deu 17:15, permits us, so our own relation and affection incline us, to choose thee for our king; and we doubt not thou wilt receive us for thy subjects and people, and pardon our offences against thee.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Here is, I. The humble address of all the…
Here is, I. The humble address of all the tribes to David, beseeching him to take upon him the government (for they were now as sheep having no shepherd), and owning him for their king. Though David might by no means approve the murder of Ish-bosheth, yet he might improve the advantages he gained thereby, and accept the applications made to him thereupon. Judah had submitted to David as their king above seven years ago, and their ease and happiness, under his administration, encouraged the rest of the tribes to make their court to him. What numbers came from each tribe, with what zeal and sincerity they came, and how they were entertained for three days at Hebron, when they were all of one heart to make David king, we have a full account, 1 Chr. 12:23-40. Here we have only the heads of their address, containing the grounds they went upon in making David king. 1. Their relation to him was some inducement: "We are thy bone and thy flesh (Sa2 5:1), not only thou art our bone and our flesh, not a stranger, unqualified by the law to be king (Deu 17:15), but we are thine," that is, "we know that thou considerest us as thy bone and thy flesh, and hast as tender a concern for us as a man has for his own body, which Saul and his house had not. We are thy bone and thy flesh, and therefore thou wilt be as glad as we shall be to put an end to this long civil war; and thou wilt take pity on us, protect us, and do thy utmost for our welfare." Those who take Christ for their king may thus plead with him: "We are thy bone and thy flesh, thou hast made thyself in all things like unto thy brethren (Heb 2:17); therefore be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand," Isa 3:6. 2. His former good services to the public were a further inducement (Sa2 5:2): "When Saul was king he was but the cypher, thou wast the figure, thou wast he that leddest out Israel to battle, and broughtest them in in triumph; and therefore who so fit now to fill the vacant throne?" He that is faithful in a little deserves to be entrusted with more. Former good offices done for us should be gratefully remembered by us when there is occasion. 3. The divine appointment was the greatest inducement of all: The Lord said, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, that is, thou shalt rule them; for princes are to feed their people as shepherds, in every thing consulting the subjects' benefit, feeding them and not fleecing them. "And thou shalt be not only a king to govern in peace, but a captain to preside in war, and be exposed to all the toils and perils of the camp." Since God has said so, now at length, when need drives them to it, they are persuaded to say so too.
II. The public and solemn inauguration of David, Sa2 5:3. A convention of the states was called; all the elders of Israel came to him; the contract was settled, the pacta conventa - covenants, sworn to, and subscribed on both sides. He obliged himself to protect them as their judge in peace and captain in war; and they obliged themselves to obey him. He made a league with them to which God was a witness: it was before the Lord. Hereupon he was, for the third time, anointed king. His advances were gradual, that his faith might be tried and that he might gain experience. And thus his kingdom typified that of the Messiah, which was to come to its height by degrees; for we see not yet all things put under him (Heb 2:8), but we shall see it, Co1 15:25.
Read full note →
III. A general account of his reign and age. He was thirty years old when he began to reign, upon the death of Saul, Sa2 5:4. At that age the Levites were at first appointed to begin their administration, Num 4:3. About that age the Son of David entered upon his public ministry, Luk 3:23. Then men come to their full maturity of strength and judgment. He reigned, in all, forty years and six months, of which seven years and a half in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem, Sa2 5:5. Hebron had been famous, Jos 14:15. It was a priest's city. But Jerusalem was to be more so, and to be the holy city. Great kings affected to raise cities of their own, Gen 10:11, 36, 32-35. David did so, and Jerusalem was the city of David. It is a name famous to the end of the Bible (Rev. 21), where we read of a new Jerusalem.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Then came all the tribes of Israel to David…
Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron,.... All the rest of the tribes, save the tribe of Judah, who had made him king over them in Hebron seven years ago. These were ambassadors sent in the name of the several tribes to him, quickly after the deaths of Abner and Ishbosheth; from having any hand in which David had sufficiently cleared himself, and which had tended to reconcile the minds of the people of Israel to him:
and spake, saying, we are thy bone and thy flesh; for though he was of the tribe of Judah, yet as all the tribes sprung from one man, they were all one bone, flesh, and blood; all nearly related to each other, all of the same general family of which David was; and so, according to their law, a fit person to be their king, Deu 16:18; and from whom they might expect clemency and tenderness, being so near akin to them.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain David is anointed king by all the tribes, ver.…
David is anointed king by all the tribes, ver. 1-5. Takes the strong hold of Zion, ver. 6-10. David builds him an house; his kingdom is established, ver. 11, 12. Has more children, ver. 13- 16. Conquers the Philistines, ver. 17-25.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain The elders of ad the tribes of Israel come…
CHAPTER V
The elders of ad the tribes of Israel come and anoint David
Read full note →
king over all Israel, 1-5.
He goes against the Jebusites, and takes the strong hold of
Zion, and afterwards the city itself; which is called the
city of David, 6-9.
David's prosperity, and friendship with Hiram, king of Tyre,
10-12.
He takes more concubines, and begets several sons and daughters,
13-16.
The Philistines gather together against him in the valley of
Rephaim; he defeats them; they abandon their idols, and David
and his men burn them, 17-21.
They assemble once more in the valley of Rephaim, and David
smites them from Geba to Gazer, 22-25.
NOTES ON CHAP. V
Verse 1. Then came all the tribes of Israel] Ish-bosheth the king, and Abner the general, being dead, they had no hope of maintaining a separate kingdom, and therefore thought it better to submit to David's authority. And they founded their resolution on three good arguments:
1. David was their own countryman; We are thy bone and thy flesh.
2. Even in Saul's time David had been their general, and had always led them to victory; Thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel.
3. God had appointed him to the kingdom, to govern and protect the people; The Lord said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people and be a captain over Israel.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 2Sa 5:1. Then came all the tribes to David…
2Sa 5:1. Then came all the tribes to David — That is, elders, deputed as ambassadors from every tribe, sent by a common agreement among them; saying, Behold, we are bone of thy bone, &c. — Abner and Ish-bosheth being dead, whose authority had swayed the Israelites against their duty, they now acknowledged David’s divine right to the crown; they remembered that he had every qualification requisite for a rightful king of Israel, according to God’s own limitations, Deuteronomy chap. 17.; that he was one of their brethren, and that he was chosen of God. They called to mind his valour, and various merits toward Israel, the many deliverances which he had wrought out for them, and God’s express declaration in his favour, that he would make him the shepherd and captain of his favourite people. And when they had thus considered his undoubted title and merits, and their own duty, they immediately came together to crown him.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Compare the marginal reference. The chronicler adds some interesting…
Compare the marginal reference. The chronicler adds some interesting details 2Sa. 12:23-40 of the manner in which the various tribes from both sides of the Jordan came to Hebron to make David king, and of the joyful festivities on the occasion. The consummation to which events in God’s Providence had been leading had now come. Saul and Jonathan, Abner and Ish-bosheth, were dead; David was already head of a very large portion of Israel; the Philistines, and perhaps the remnant of the Canaanites, were restless and threatening; and it was obviously the interest of the Israelite nation to unite themselves under the sovereignty of the valiant and virtuous son of Jesse, their former deliverer, and the man designated by the word of God as their Captain and Shepherd. Accordingly he was at once anointed king over all Israel (compare 2Sa 2:4 note).
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Tribes. Thus were God’s promises sweetly fulfilled, and David…
Tribes. Thus were God’s promises sweetly fulfilled, and David obtained the quiet dominion over all Israel, excepting perhaps a few of the tribe of Benjamin, according to the Vulgate, 1 Paralipomenon xii. 29. an army of 340,822 was collected on this occasion; and David signalized the commencement of his reign, by the taking of Jerusalem. (Calmet) --- The tribe is Issachar is not specified in the text; but Josephus asserts, that 20,000 of them assembled; so that the army would amount to 359 (Salien) or 60[360?] thousand, besides the 822. (Calmet) --- These might be considered as deputies of all the rest of their brethren, 1 Paralipomenon xii. 38. They were abundantly supplied with all necessities. (Salien) --- Flesh, of the same nation, as Moses had specified, Deuteronomy xvii. 15. (Calmet) --- They now relinquish all the seeds of division, which had before hindered them from joining with their brethren of Juda. Kennicott discovers several important alterations, by comparing this history with 1 Chronicles xi. (Dissert. i.) (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain DAVID MADE KING OVER ALL ISRAEL, 2Sa_5:1-5.
DAVID MADE KING OVER ALL ISRAEL, 2Sa_5:1-5.
1. Then came all the tribes — The elders, as representatives of all the tribes. 2Sa_5:3. In accordance with the note on 2Sa_2:10, we hold that David was not recognised as king by all Israel immediately after the death of Ishbosheth. The connective (ו, then,) with which this chapter begins, does not always imply immediate sequence, (Exo_2:2,) but may pass over an interval of years whose history it was not the purpose of the writer to record. If all the Israelites were confounded at the assassination of Abner, (iv, 1,) the alarm and astonishment were not likely to grow less with the similar death of Saul’s son, and it is every way probable that several years were allowed to pass before all the tribes agreed to submit to David.
Read full note →
Thy bone and thy flesh — Thy blood relations, for we are all descended from Jacob, our common father.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain Ch. 2Sa_5:1-5. David anointed king over all Israel
Ch. 2Sa_5:1-5. David anointed king over all Israel
2Sa_5:1-3 = 1Ch_11:1-3
Read full note →
1. Then came, &c.] It is probable that no long interval elapsed between the death of Ish-bosheth and the election of David. “The consummation to which events in God’s Providence had been leading was now come. Saul and Jonathan, Abner and Ish-bosheth, were all dead; there was no one of the house of Saul capable of taking the lead; David was already head of a very large portion of Israel; the Philistines, and perhaps the remnants of the Canaanites, were restless and threatening; and it was obviously the interest of the Israelitish nation to unite themselves under the sovereignty of the valiant and virtuous son of Jesse, their former deliverer, and the man designated by the word of God as their Captain and Shepherd.” Speaker’s Comm.
all the tribes of Israel] The ‘congregation of Israel,’ or national assembly composed of all the warriors of the nation above the age of twenty who chose to come, met to elect David king. See note on 1Sa_10:17.
we are thy bone and thy flesh] An expression denoting close relationship in virtue of common descent. Cp. Gen_29:14; Jdg_9:2.
Three reasons, arranged in the order of their importance, are given for electing David king: the tie of relationship: his proved capacity as a military leader: the divine choice. The first and third correspond to the precept of Deu_17:15 : with the second compare ch. 2Sa_3:18.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1) All the tribes.—Not only as represented by their…
(1) All the tribes.—Not only as represented by their elders (2Sa_5:3), but by the large bodies of their warriors enumerated in 1Ch_12:23-40. It is to be noticed, then, that the “children of Judah” (1Ch_12:24), over whom David was already king, joined in the assembly, and that there were 4,600 Levites with Jehoiada as the leader of the priestly family of Aaron, while Zadok appears only as a conspicuous member of that family (1Ch_12:27-28).
Thy bone and thy flesh.—The Israelites, oppressed by the Philistines and their other enemies, and having seen the utter failure of the house of Saul and the death of their head, Abner, felt the necessity of union under a competent leader, and it is probable that this gathering to David, already prepared for by the negotiations of Abner, took place immediately after the death of Ish-bosheth. They assign three reasons for their action: (1) that they were of the same flesh and bone with David (comp. Gen_29:14; Jdg_9:2; 2Sa_19:12)—i.e., were of such common descent that it was unfitting for them to constitute separate nations; (2) that David, even in Saul’s reign, had been their military leader, and hence they knew him and had confidence in his prowess and sagacity; (3) that the Lord had chosen him for their king. The exact language of the Divine promise quoted is not found in the record, but is either (as in the case of Abner’s words, 2Sa_3:18) a summary of the communications made to David, or else some unrecorded language of one of the prophets.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Then came all the tribes of Israel. As Ishbosheth…
Then came all the tribes of Israel. As Ishbosheth reigned only two years, and David"s reign at Hebron lasted for seven years and a half, there is an interval of more than five years to be accounted for; and we have given reason for believing (see note on 2Sa_2:10) that it must be placed after the death of Ishbosheth. The treacherous murder of Abner, and the tragic fate of Ishbosheth following upon it so rapidly, must have filled all Israel with horror, and made them look upon David as "a bloody man". (2Sa_16:8) But gradually his innocence became clear to all except inveterate partisans, and as the prejudice against him passed away, the evident advantage of union under so able a ruler would force itself upon their attention, and their decision would be hastened by the advantage which the Philistines would be sure to take of their anarchy. How much they had profited by it we gather from the haste with which they endeavoured to crush David"s kingdom. The enormous gathering at Hebron to anoint David king proves not merely the unanimity of the tribes, but that his election was the result of long preparation and arrangement. We have fuller details of it in 1Ch_12:23-40, where we learn that the people assembled in large numbers, the total being computed in the "Speaker"s Commentary" at 348, 222; and it is remarkable that of this vast array only sixteen thousand nine hundred came from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin, which were situated in the neighbourhood of Hebron. On the other hand, the two and a half trans-Jordanic tribes sent no less than a hundred.and twenty thousand men, and the three unimportant tribes of Zebulun, Asher, and Naphtali mustered a hundred and eighteen thousand; while Issachar was content to send only two hundred, who were all, however, "men that had understanding and their brethren were at their commandment." These words suggest the probable explanation of the disparity in the numbers, which to many seems so strange that they think they must be corrupt. Each tribe settled for itself in what way it would be represented, and the more distant sent a large proportion of their men of military age on what would be an enjoyable holiday. As they spent three days at Hebron, the expedition would occupy, even for those most remote, little more than a week; and it was well worth the while of the tribes thus to come together. It made them feel the value of unity, and gave them a knowledge of their strength. Their tribal independence during the time of the judges had made them too weak even to maintain their liberty; but now, welded by the kingly power into a nation, they soon, not only won freedom for themselves, but placed their yoke upon the shoulders of their neighbours. As for the difficulty of supplying them with food, all would bring victuals from home; and the neighbouring tribes showed great hospitality. Especially we read that those who were nigh unto Hebron, "even as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought bread on asses, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen, victual of meal, cakes of figs, and clusters of raisins, and wine, and oil, and oxen, and sheep in abundance: for there was joy in Israel". (1Ch_12:40) It was a grand national festival, joyously kept because the people saw in the election of David an end to all their troubles; and so vast a gathering overbore all opposition, and gave both to them and their king the consciousness of their might. But while we find in the Book of Chronicles the account of this mighty multitude, it is here (ver. 3) expressly said that it was the elders who made a league with David, and anointed him king. The people by their presence testified their joyful assent to what was done; but David"s election was made legitimate by the decision of the constituted authorities in each tribe. It would be most interesting to know the various steps taken, and how the agitation grew and spread from tribe to tribe, until all hesitation and resistance were overcome. But the object of this book is to show us the great qualities, the sin, the repentance, and the punishment of the man who added to the old routine of sacrifice bright services of song, and who was the author of that book of devotion which to this day best expresses the feelings of the heart, as well in the joys as in the sorrows of life. The manner of his election throws no light upon his character, and is passed over. Enough to know that in those five years after Ishbosheth"s murder David won the approval of all Israel, and that his appointment to the kingdom was by the free choice of the tribes, acting in a legitimate manner, and sending each their elders to Hebron to notify to David their consent; and that their decision was ratified by this joyful gathering of a mighty multitude from all parts of the land. Three reasons are given by the elders for David"s election, and we may be sure that they represent the arguments used in their popular assemblies. The first, that they were David"s bone and flesh. In other words, the tribes were all of one race, and united by the closest ties of relationship. For the descendants of a common ancestor to be at war with one another was both morally and politically wrong. The second, that David had been their actual leader in war even in Saul"s time. His personal qualities, therefore, justified their choice of him to be their deliverer from the evils which had overwhelmed the land after the disastrous defeat at Gilboa, when Saul had no longer the aid of David"s presence. The third, that Jehovah had by the mouth of his prophet given the throne to David. It is remarkable that the elders place this last. Their view probably was that the Divine command must be proved by outward circumstances, that so reason might confirm faith. So Saul"s public appointment by Samuel was ratified by the people only after he had shown himself worthy to be a king by the defeat of the Ammonites.
Vers. 1-10. The facts are:
Read full note →
1. The tribes of Israel come to Hebron to formally acknowledge David as rightful king.
1. They assign three reasons for their united action.
1. That David was of their kindred.
2. That he had rendered valuable services in times of need.
3. That God had expressed his will.
4. A solemn league being made between David and the tribes, they anointhim king over Israel.
1. The question of the crown being settled, David applies himself to theacquisition of Jerusalem as the seat of government.
2. Being proudly defied by the Jebusites, on account of the strength of their position, he challenges his officers to take the lead in the subjugation of the fortress.
3. Acquiring possession, he calls the place after his name, and extends thefortifications.
4. The continued favour of God ensures to him great prosperity.
The triumph of patient fidelity.
The first three verses bring into view the realization of David"s most cherished desires, the ripe consummation of all his wearying toils and cares. The goal on which Samuel had directed his eye (1Sa_10:1 1Sa_16:1-13) was now attained. The wisdom of his self-restraint when persecuted, and of his trusting more to Divine care than to human weapons, was now fully justified. The historian places together the human popular view of the situation, and the Divine purpose that had to be effected. The being bone of their bone, and the great services rendered to Israel in days of trial, were the natural and political facts which warranted the great gathering at Hebron on that day; and the treasured up saying of the Lord that this very man should feed his people and be their captain, was the Divine declaration now seen by them to harmonize with the natural and political facts. There is here the language of expediency, and a kind of apology for past opposition to David; for the fact that God had so spoken ought from the first to have prevented all controversy and rendered the nation one in enthusiasm for the divinely chosen man. The acceptance of the authority of the declaration is not absolute, but because they now see what they profess not hitherto to have seen that by nature and services he is fit to be the shepherd and captain of Israel.
I GOD"S APPOINTMENTS ARE BASED ON NATURAL PRINCIPLES. The selection of David out of the sons of Jesse was not a mere arbitrary act warranted by no considerations of propriety and fitness. He was the best of the family and of the nation for the specific purpose to be wrought out. His qualities were not bestowed after the call to the position though grace would abound for development of what was already possessed; they were in him by nature. God uses up what he has prepared in the working out of ordinary natural processes. When the people said, "We are thy bone and thy flesh," they were referring to one prominent instance of natural fitness for the position of authority then assigned to David; his common kinship with them would ensure the sympathy which ought ever to exist between ruler and ruled. The Divine appointment rested, among other fitnesses, on this natural basis. The formal fitness lay in the fact of kinship; but God saw also that in the case of this man the sympathies natural to the fact of kinship were exceptionally strong and deep and broad. There was also a Divine recognition of those other natural qualities of statesmanship and valour and generosity, which would render a decree that he should be king but the formulation of a natural adaptation plus the information to men that the Supreme Being will so regulate affairs that this natural adaptation shall manifest itself. We may be sure that the same holds good of all that God ordains. He uses up what is best in nature for the ends in view. Abraham was the fittest man to be commissioned to found a family through which Messiah should come. The choice of Moses to lead the people out of Egypt, and administer law among a people hitherto without law, was evidently based on his natural and acquired qualities. That which may seem to be an exception to this rule is no exception, namely, the appointment of plain and unlettered men to first establish the kingdom of Christ after his ascension. For looking at the spiritual nature of the kingdom, that it is diffused by the spiritual renovation of men by the power of the Holy Spirit, it was befitting that men who had no brilliant gifts wherewith to dazzle others, and so induce the impression that the new cause was one in which human wisdom prevailed, should become the channels through which the power of God might assert itself. (1Co_1:23-31 1Co_2:4, 1Co_2:5) The most illustrious instance of the truth before us is that in the case of our Saviour. By condescending to become bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, made like unto his brethren, there is laid a natural fitness for his becoming the Feeder of his people and the Captain of our salvation. The sympathy of nature thus rendered possible sets forth the wisdom which appointed him to be a Prince and a Saviour. History reveals no exceptions to the rule.
II THE EVIDENCE TO MEN OF DIVINE APPOINTMENT WILL LIE IN SERVICES ACTUALLY RENDERED. The original Divine appointment of David was prior even to his appearance before Goliath; for God"s purposes are not the product of changes in time, and the declaration by Samuel to David was only for his guidance and encouragement in view of the troubles that were coming. David had to act so as to render the words of Samuel credible to the people; he had to make his "calling and election sure" by a line of conduct that would destroy the supposition that possibly Samuel the prophet, in this instance, was mistaking the surmisings of his own mind for the purpose of God. Those long years from the day he left the sheepfold to the death of Ishbosheth, formed the period in which he was to bring out before men the great wisdom of God in his selection. As the other Anointed One later on lived among men in such a way as to show to them that he was from the Father, that he had a work to do for the people of God, and was, in fact, appointed to be the Redeemer of the race, so David had to justify all that Samuel bad said, and all that was implied in the prior Divine choice. It is a noble thing when a man believes that God has ordained him to a work in the world, and strives to so regulate his life that every act shall be a demonstration of the wisdom and fitness of the Divine appointment. How David did this, by sympathy with all classes, by carrying on his heart the sorrows of his people, by deeds of valour which broke asunder the chains of Philistine oppression, by gentle forbearance toward those who sought his life, by abstention from pride and acts of violence to further his interests, also by patient trust in the covenant keeping God during days of terrible suffering, as by wise administration among his own followers, the history of his early life fully records. However obstinate, for personal and political reasons, men were in refusing him as successor to Saul, they could not but yield at last to the force of evidence that he was the man for the position, and so far demonstrated to be the chosen of God. By a similar method, Christ is creating history which will be the vindication of his claim to be Lord of all. Likewise the Church, as the body of Christ, answers to her calling and duty only so far as she does deeds and manifests a spirit that will furnish unanswerable evidence of the Divinity of the Christian religion. "By their fruits ye shall know them." The test of salt lies in the presence of its peculiar savour.
III THE REALIZATION OF GOD"S PURPOSE THROUGH THE LOYALTY OF HIS SERVANTS IS ONLY A QUESTION OF TIME. It would have seemed that when Samuel made known the will of God it would have been enough at once to have secured the abdication of Saul and the hearty concurrence of the chosen race. But there was the same free way of dealing with Divine declarations, the same perversity of understanding, as in the days of Christ; so that men did not thoroughly accept and act upon what was said. Jonathan and a few elect souls read aright the Divine intent, and rejoiced therein; but the rest found reasons for doubt, as men always can when the spirit is not thoroughly humble and devout. Occasionally, as we have seen in the case of Abner, (2Sa_3:9, 2Sa_3:10) there was a recognition of truth generally suppressed. A man of less faith than David would have despaired of witnessing the day when the whole nation would, by a solemn act of coronation, fall in with the purpose of God. But through the loyalty of David and the few devout men who were the companions of his heart, the issue was brought to pass. It was not a question of truth or falsehood, of national policy or individual striving; the word of God had gone forth, true and unchangeable, that so it was to be; whether scheming politicians fell in with it or not, the course of nature was the course of God. Time would prove to be the element for solving all. Faithfulness to God has the power, in a mysterious way, of winning over the forces of nature and society to its side. The hour came when all Israel simply met to do what God all along intended should be done. Herein do we see, on a small scale, what is yet to be illustrated on the grandest scale. It is a question of time. The hour is coming when every knee shall bow to the Anointed of the Lord, and every tongue confess that he is the Christ, to the glory of God the Father. The world will then simply recognize, as a whole, what now the faithful followers of Christ know to be true. In spiritual firings the world does not acquire truth; it simply comes to admit to be true what Christ"s people all along have affirmed is true. The Church is not outstripped; its conclusions are accepted.
GENERAL LESSONS.
1. We cannot fully estimate the cumulative force of Christian consistency inbringing about the final triumph of Christianity.
2. There is a parallel between our modern religious conflicts with unbelief and the struggle of many in Israel against the revealed purpose of God, and we may rest assured that the truth with us, long resisted, will in the end be accepted.
3. It behoves every Church and private Christian to consider how much the solution of our modern difficulties depends on our own faithfulness in daily life.
4. It is helpful to the observance of obligations that we recognize themwith the solemn sanctions of religion, "before the Lord" (ver. 3).
The acquisition and building up of Zion.
This narrative exhibits David as a new man free from the old trials and embarrassments, and with a clear course before him to raise up the government which should embody the religious principles of the theocracy, and be prospective of a grand spiritual development in the distant future. As one relieved from great cares and conscious of vast unexpended energy, he at once applies himself to the adoption of the means which at that stage of affairs seemed most conducive to the attainment of ulterior issues. The principles on which he acted, while excellent for the circumstances of the time, admit of a wider application to human affairs, and with this in view we may indicate the wisdom of his conduct and the bearing of the narrative on other matters by a succession of single terms suggestive of both facts and principles.
I INITIATION. All along, even in exile, David had learnt to regard his life as linked in the providence of God with some great events in the far distant future. His mission to the world and his own nation was understood to be the raising of his own people to such a position of social order and righteousness as should fit them to be most perfectly instrumental in hastening on the latter day glory. Now that he was made king, and had the confidence of the people, he devises those initiatory measures which, being well planned and executed, will render the attainment of remoter ends more probable. The record tells us of the facts, and we have to fill in the mental processes by which David was led to the particular course recorded. His work was great, far reaching, and, full of energy and faith and confidence, he makes a beginning in the work of consolidation and administration. The first movement was born of faith in his call to service faith in the bearing of his life"s work on the destinies of men, faith in the existence of a Divine purpose which had to be wrought out in connection with the chosen race, faith in the value of human labour in relation to Divine purposes, and faith in the presence and help of God in all undertaken in his service. How wisely and broadly the foundation was now about to be laid we may notice further on; the fact here to be noted is the laying of a foundation in deeds for subsequent efforts. All wise rulers and governments, when entering into recognized power, take initiatory measures as their wisdom may suggest. The first stages of action bear an important relation to what follows. The same holds good of other departments of human activity. This reminds us of the initiatory work of the kingdom of Christ; how his life, sufferings, death, and resurrection may be regarded as the initiation of that long course of activity by which the king in Zion will wondrously affect the destinies of the world. We know with what clear prevision, what sense of being sent of God, what faith in the value of human effort and in the presence and blessing of the Eternal, all that was done which constituted the beginning of the reign of the Anointed of the Lord.
II CLEARANCE. In making a survey of the inheritance into which, as king, he had come, David saw that the presence of alien Jebusites, defiant of himself and worshippers of blind and lame idols, was an evil which ought at once to be got rid of. For such an alien element to occupy a stronghold in the very heart of the country was a most galling thought to one intensely patriotic and brave, and could not but have suggested to him the defective courage and faith of his ancestors in Israel, who allowed such a thing to be possible. It was no mere love of fighting, no desire to create a diversion on acceding to power, that induced him to challenge his best men to seize the position; it was statesmanship, regard for the purity of the national life, and the honour of him who originally gave the land to Israel for an inheritance. The people of God must be separate from the heathen. Powers of darkness must not dwell in the land of light. A beautiful example this to all who have an inheritance to hold for Christ. Our nature is a holy land, in which he alone is to be honoured, and it is a prime duty that we take strenuous measures call upon the cooperation of our best powers to cast out the evil elements from the centre of our nature, so that theremay be nothing within that defileth, or is an abomination, or that maketh a lie. The work may be difficult, the forces strong and defiant, and faint hearted rulers may suffer the evils to remain from sheer lack of courage and confidence; but their removal at an early stage of life is a condition of a prosperous government, in the name and service of God, of the powers that make up our human nature. In one respect also we see an analogy in our Lord"s work. His mission in its widest reach is to gather into one all things in himself, (Eph_1:10) to sway a blessed sceptre over a perfected humanity, to maintain a kingdom of peace and righteousness that shall never end; (Ps 72) and his first work on ascending the throne is to seek the casting out from the heart and life of humanity of the alien spirit, the Jebusite, that so long has usurped the place of influence, and done serious injury to all. The work is now going on, and the Jebusite will be cast down from his stronghold, and the entire world won at last to the Prince of Peace.
III CONSTRUCTION. In reformation and restoration there is a negative and a positive side. David had to clear out the foe of his people, and so secure free scope for their activities and their happiness. But a positive work had to follow the removal of the evil forces. Hence, in his sagacity, he resolved to construct on the site cleared of the alien a stronghold that should serve the important ends of commanding the entire country from an impregnable position, of giving local prominence to his seat of government, and of facilitating the administration of affairs. The possession of Zion, and the immediate development of its military advantages, were positive advances in the rearing of the stable state which was to stand out so markedly in contrast with the disintegration and weakness of Saul"s time. True wisdom is constructive. Evil is destructive and disintegrating. Men prove their capacity to lead and govern by what they can gradually build up. The aim and effort of David all through his reign evidently was to form a national life on solid foundations, and richly developed in all that constitutes true greatness. How truly typical of the Son of David, who, by supremely wise acts in the establishment of his kingdom, laid the foundation for a superstructure of human good which is ever going on toward perfection! How suggestive of the true wisdom of missionary enterprise laying solid foundations, in central positions, with a view to bless whole lands with the peace and blessedness of the gospel, and then gradually adding to the first work by positive developments of the same stable character! Likewise in education and in individual self-culture in godliness, construction should be ever aimed at, ever going on, proceeding upon definite solid foundations of success, laid with care in the very centre of the heart and intellect. Hereby also do we learn the extreme importance of getting supreme mastery of those powerful central forces of our nature which are to the details and outward aspects of our personal life what the stronghold of Jebus was to the varied hills and valleys of the land of Israel.
IV INSPIRATION. The step taken by David was the natural outflow of his own enthusiasm. The force was latent in him, and now came the occasion for its manifestation. It was a new thing for the tribes to see a man of spirit, conscious of a high destiny to work out and urged, as by a Divine inspiration, to dare deeds not dreamt of for many generations (Jos_15:63; Jud 19:10-12) The man rose with his position. The consciousness of new and heavy responsibilities developed heroism. Even the barbarous occupants of the stronghold (ver. 8) seemed surprised that any one should dream of touching them. The strong expression, "hated of David"s soul," only reveals the high and all commanding spirit that could not brook the defilement of the holy land by idolatrous feet. But the infection of an enthusiastic spirit is rapid, and this action of the king at once raised the national tone. It made men feel that, as a people, they were entering on a new era; the possibilities of a great future opened before them; an ambition of a lofty kind was enkindled; the dismemberment of the nation, the low political status of Saul"s time, when they could scarcely hold their own against heathen tribes, must cease to be imagined, and the great ideas of Abraham and of Moses once more must become regnant in their minds. Possibly on that day of coronation, when the elders of the tribes would come into close conference with David, he would speak out from his own clearer vision of their function in the world as the people of God and his own strong faith in the presence of Jehovah, so that the deeds on Mount Zion would illustrate in impressive form words of power. (Psa_40:9, Psa_40:10) Likewise the inspiration given to the Church in days of the founding of the kingdom of Christ has raised the tone and put a strong and masterful confidence in the heart of man. None can fully estimate the widespread and mighty influence exerted by the lofty spirit displayed by our Lord. It has raised new hopes, developed a bolder courage, fixed men"s eyes more steadily on the glorious future, and produced the feeling that the faithful are engaged in an enterprise not only sanctioned by God, but pervaded by the very life giving presence of the Lord of all power and glory. In so far as we each enter on our appointed work for Christ in the same spirit, we carry on the inspiration and swell the moral forces that are to win the world for God.
V MEMORIES. David, as we know from his early experience and from the Psalms, was a man of much meditation one who was well versed in the memorials of his nation and deeply imbued with the spirit of devotion. Was it nothing to him that the seat of Melchizedek"s reign as King of Salem was possibly this spot where now the impious Jebusites dwelt? Could he forget that here it was Abraham displayed the marvellous faith which, more than anything, won for him the name ever to be cherished, "father of the faithful"? It was creditable to his religious instincts and to his sagacity that one of the first acts of his reign was to recover a place so sacred to the memory, and to gather the associations of the place around his own seat of government. Piety, poetry, and statesmanship are here combined. Great and hallowed associations tend to beget corresponding deeds; and doubtless it was with the fond hope that as king he might still further consecrate that sacred spot, that he made it the centre of his administration. History tells us how age after age memories clustered more and more richly and often sadly, yet instructively, around that holy hill, until the name of Zion has become, perhaps, more rich in pathetic story and suggestive splendour and bliss than any word in human language next, of course, to the one "Name that is above every name.
Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God; He whose Word cannot be broken Formed thee for his own abode.
HOMILIES BY B. DALE.
Vers. 1-3(. (HEBRON.) (1Ch_11:1-3)
David anointed king of all Israel.
1. About twenty years had elapsed since David was anointed by Samuel,seven years and a half since he was anointed King of Judah; and at length, at the age of thirty-seven, his faith and patience were rewarded, every obstacle was removed out of his path, and the Divine purpose concerning his royal destination fulfilled. "In the fulness of time, at the right moment, in perfect vigour of mind and body, he grasped the supremacy which was offered to him, having passed through every outward stage of power and honour, and every inward test of heavy trial and varied strife" (Ewald).
2. His anointing (performed by prophet or priest) took place at the instanceof the elders (ver. 3) as the representatives of all the tribes (ver. 1), in accordance with the former summons of Abner, (2Sa_3:17, 2Sa_3:19, 2Sa_3:21) and doubtless after consultation in their national assembly; (1Sa_8:4) now desirous and even eager (after long resistance) to accomplish the purpose of God, having "learnt by experience" the kind of king they needed, and being constrained by the pressure of circumstances.
3. "By his anointing by Samuel he acquired jus ad regnum, a right to the kingdom; and by his present anointing he had a jus in regno, authority over the kingdom" (A. Clarke). It was not merely a designation, but an inauguration to his office; a recognition and acceptance of his Divine appointment, as well as a symbol of his Divine endowment with all needful gifts; (see 1Sa_10:1, 10 16:12) and it distinguished his person as sacred, (1Sa_24:6 1Sa_26:11) inasmuch as he represented the authority and power of the Divine King of Israel. His anointing for the third; time marks one of the greatest days of Israel"s history; (2Sa 9:28 2Sa 10:24 2Sa_11:15) and, in connection with it, observe
I THE REASONS ASSIGNED BY THE ELDERS FOR THEIR PROPOSAL.
1. His personal relationship. "Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh", (Gen_29:14) expressive of their claims upon him, and of his qualification to rule over them; to understand their wants, sympathize with their aspirations, and promote their welfare. (Deu_17:15) "The elders speak as if they had not been very sure whether they were to regard David as a Hebrew, or as a naturalized Philistine; but now their doubts are gone, they dwell on his blood relationship to them as a conclusive evidence that he would be out and out a Hebrew that, therefore, he was worthy of the Hebrew crown" (Blaikie). So "in all things it behoved" the Captain of our salvation "to be made like unto his brethren". (Heb_2:17)
1. His proved ability and eminent services (ver. 2), indicative of his proper calling and the general esteem in which he was held; (1Sa_16:5) "the bond of fellowship and love which had bound him to them, even under Saul, as leader in their military undertakings.
2. His previous designation. "According to the word of the Lord by Samuel"; (1Ch_11:3) making it their duty to seek his leadership as well as his to undertake it. "Why should they refer to God"s choice of David?
(1) Because, although they had known all along that David had been fore-appointed to the throne, they had yet been struggling against that arrangement; and so it was fitting now that they should express their repentance and declare their readiness to receive him in God"s name, and as from God"s hand.
(2) Because they wished to remind him and themselves that the royal king of their nation was Jehovah, and that he and they were in allegiance to him" (W.M. Taylor). He did not "take this honour unto himself" without being "called of God" and desired by the people. It sought him rather than he it. And the grounds of his acceptance of it were (as is not always the case with those who assume royal office) unselfish, patriotic, and devout.
II THE COVENANT MADE BY THE KING WITH THE ELDERS. "And King David made a covenant with (to) them before the Lord" (ver. 3). This covenant, agreement, or promise (whatever may have been its precise terms):
1. Expressed directly and chiefly an engagement, on his part, to rule over them according to the Divine will (Deu_17:16-20; 1Sa_10:25) He was by no means to be an absolute and irresponsible monarch, or "a king ruling arbitrarily as in heathen kingdoms, where at most a few nobles, the populace, or an imperfect oracular system limited his power;" but to be subject to the Law and to the voice of prophecy.
2. Involved the obligation, on their part, to obey him according to the same will. (2Sa_3:21) "The Law of God was the rule and square of his government, whereunto both prince and people are sworn; which was a bridle against his absolute power or their rebellious manners" (Guild).
3. Was ratified in the most solemn mannerin a form in which the theocratic principle is distinctly recognized." "The end and cause why God imprints in the weak and feeble flesh of man the image of his own power and majesty is not to puff up flesh in the opinion of itself; neither yet that he that is exalted above others should be lifted up by presumption and pride, and so despise others; but that he should consider he is appointed lieutenant of One whose eyes continually watch upon him and see and examine how he behaves himself in his office" (John Knox).
III THE SPIRIT DISPLAYED BY THE PEOPLE, not only by the presence of the elders but also by that of the armed hosts, the flower of the nation, who marched to Hebron from all parts of the country, numbering (in addition to his "mighty men," 1Ch_11:10-47; 2Sa_23:8-39; and those who had come to him during his exile, (1Ch_12:1-22) 339, 600, with two hundred chiefs of Issachar "and all their brethren," one thousand chiefs of Naphtali, and Zadok and twenty-two chiefs. (1Ch_12:23 1Ch_12:40) "All these men of war that could keep rank came with a perfect heart to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel; and all the rest also of Israel were of one heart to make David king.
1. Voluntary submission. "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power". (Psa_110:3)
2. National unanimity; such as is celebrated in Psalm 133. (written subsequently), "Brotherly love
Behold! how good and lovely it is That (those who are) brethren should also dwell together!
1. Enthusiastic devotion. "And there they were with David three days, eating and drinking; for their brethren had prepared for them," etc.
2. Abonnding joy. "For there was joy in Israel." This "gathering of the people" (Gen_49:10) was a most memorable one (vers. 4, 5). In it the good hidden in their reprehensible desire for a king (1Sa_8:4-22) becomes apparent; we see the fruit of past labour, conflict, chastisement, and the seeds of future enterprise, success, advancement. "The kingship, as administered by David, appears neither as a necessary evil nor an improved constitution, but as a new ethic potency" (Oehler, "Theology of the Old Testament" sec 165). "His career constitutes the culmination of that general advancement towards which the people of Israel had been aspiring with increasing energy for more than a century" (Ewald). D.
HOMILIES BY G. WOOD Vers. 1-3.
Tardy acceptance of a divinely appointed ruler.
Abner and Ishbosheth being dead, and Mephibosheth incapable from his lameness, the eleven tribes that for upwards of seven years had not only held aloof from David, but waged war with him, now come to the conclusion that it is best to become his subjects, and again be united with Judah in one kingdom. They accordingly make their submission to him and solemnly accept him as their sovereign.
I THE GROUNDS OF THEIR ACCEPTANCE OF HIM.
1. Close relationship. "Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh". (comp. Eph_5:30) God has given to us a King who is one with us in nature. The Ruler of the Church, yea, of all things, is a Man; the throne of the universe is filled by a human form (see Heb_2:5, et seq.) a fact which endears the Christ to his willing subjects.
2. Previous service. (Ver. 2.) "In time past," etc. In which service David had both displayed and increased his capacities for ruling men. With this may be compared Christ"s period of service when on earth, especially during his public ministry and last sufferings. By these he was trained and prepared for his throne (made "perfect through sufferings,"; (Heb_2:10) and it is in and by these that he reveals himself and attracts the hearts of men.
3. Divine appointment. (Ver. 2.) "The Lord said to thee, Thou shalt feed "shepherd," "be the shepherd of" my people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain literally, "foremost man, leader" over Israel." A king is to be as a shepherd to his subjects, not only ruling them, but caring for, watching over, protecting, guiding, uniting them; guarding and preserving the weak from violence and oppression, as a shepherd his lambs. The image was natural to the Hebrews, and runs through the Scriptures, extending even to the visions of heaven. (Rev_7:17) The king was also to be leader in peace or war, ever "to the front," worthy to be followed, first and foremost in all noble deeds, accepting courageously the perils of such a position. David was such a king, imperfectly; Christ is such a King, perfectly. Both were divinely designated to the office of Ruler of God"s people, Kings by Divine right in the strictest sense. As such David is here recognized at length by the tribes of Israel, as before by the tribe of Judah. As such the Lord Jesus is recognized by his followers. These reasons had existed and should have been as powerful immediately after Saul"s death; but they had not been allowed to operate. But the experience of these tribes whilst holding aloof from David, their present disorganized condition, possibly also their knowledge of the benefits of David"s rule to Judah, combined to open their eyes, and so impress these considerations on their hearts as to produce a general willingness to accept him whom they had been rejecting. And thus it is with many in respect to the great King. His claims are known, but other lords are preferred, until, after delay more or less protracted, they become convinced of their sin and folly, and surrender themselves to him. Let those who are thus procrastinating beware lest they become convinced too late.
II THE SOLEMNITIES BY WHICH THEIR ACCEPTANCE OF DAVID, AND HIS OF THEM, WERE SIGNIFIED,
1. A mutual covenant. He engaging to rule them, and they to serve him according to the Law of God. (Deu_17:14-20) In like manner, when men receive Christ as their King, promising loyalty and obedience, he on his part promises to be to them all that his gospel represents him. These Israelites, indeed, may have imposed special stipulations not expressed in the Law; but we, in accepting Christ, have simply to submit to the terms of the Divine covenant, as we are not in any degree independent parties.
2. The anointing of David as king. The third time he was anointed once by Samuel, once by the tribe of Judah, and now by the rest of the tribes. For the people could in a measure give him authority over them. But our King Jesus can receive no authority from us. He is the Christ (the Anointed) of God; we have simply to recognize his Divine authority.
1. The presence of God was recognized. "Before the Lord." This was fitting, as he was supreme Monarch, to whom both king and people were bound to submit, whose blessing was necessary to render the union happy; and an engagement made as in his sight would be felt as peculiarly binding.
2. So should we, in accepting Christ, place ourselves in the presence of God, first in secret, then in his house, and at the Lord"s Table.
3. A joyful feast concluded the proceedings. (see 1Ch_12:39, 1Ch_12:40) It was to the whole people a suitable occasion for rejoicing. They were again one nation. Their union would be cemented by eating and drinking together. They would the better retain the feeling of union when they had separated to their various localities and homes, and would be the better prepared to perform their common duties to the king and the nation. Thus also our Lord enjoins his subjects to eat and drink together in his Name, that they may recognize each other as his, rejoice together in their privileges, and be more closely united to him and the whole "Israel of God.
In conclusion:
1. Happy is the nation whose rulers and subjects alike recognize God as thesupreme Ruler over them, and his will as their supreme law; act as in his sight, and invoke his blessing.
2. Closer union amongst Christians must spring from more thoroughacceptance of the royal authority of Christ. They are one in him, and they will become more completely, more consciously, and more manifestly one in proportion as they, all alike, renouncing merely human authorities, come to Christ himself, listen to him, and submit to his authority in all things. G.W.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Then came all the tribes of Israel to David…
2Sa_5:1-12
Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spake saying, Behold we are thy bone and thy flesh.
Read full note →
David king over all Israel
It was probably very soon after the death of Ishbosheth that this visit of the tribes of Israel to Hebron occurred. Now, in this request the elders urged three reasons why David should be their king.
1. Blood-relationship: We are thy bone and thy flesh. It was with these words that Laban welcomed his nephew Jacob to Haran (Gen_29:14); with these words also Abimelech sought the allegiance of the men of Shechem (Jdg_9:2).
2. David had been, under Saul, their leader in war, and as he had been a victorious leader they are ready to acknowledge him as their king.
3. He had been called of God to be a shepherd and a prince over Israel.
As the representatives of the tribes the elders come to Hebron with this petition, and a covenant is entered into before the Lord.
1. All the tribes of Israel were now united and the family circle was one under David.
2. There was peace in Israel, instead of the long, bitter strife of so many years.
3. Their anointed king was he whom God had selected, so that, instead of fighting against the Divine purpose, they were now in harmony with that purpose, and the smile of Jehovah rested on their union.
4. The future was bright before them. So long as they were contending with one another they had no strength to overcome the enemies of God, and the Jebusites could not be driven out of Jerusalem. But now, the tribes united, led by such a prince as David and with God on their side, they were strong to conquer all their enemies.
There are two profound thoughts in this closing verse:
1. The recognition by David of the hand of God in his position as king over Israel.
2. The recognition of the truth that the purpose of this providence was for the temporal and spiritual interests of the people of God. The people are not created for the king, but the king for the people. (A. E. Kittredge, D. D.)
David king ever Israel
I. Look at Israel in those years of waiting for their king. Near five centuries before the founding of the kingdom, the rule which was to govern the conduct of their coming king had been lodged in the archives of their nation. He had been seen at the helm of human affairs, of whom it was written: He worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. The steppings of God are not swift enough for us. Time spent waiting for deliverance or advancement seems lost time. We forget that preparation is demanded for all promotions, all changes that are radical. Because Israel would not wait for God to choose for them a king in his own time, he gave them Saul, of their own choosing. They, however, found little comfort in him. His life was one long tragedy. Human wisdom is often folly. That which we judge will be for our large advantage often proves our peril. There is no safety but in waiting for God to go before and lead.
II. Notice Gods choice of David as king. In the midst of the commotion and desolation of Israel, Samuel was commanded to go to Bethlehem, and there anoint one of the sons of Jesse. No explanation was given of the meaning of that anointing. Neither Jesse nor David understood it, though both must have had conception of some great honour indicated. The choice was of God. Mighty changes were to take place in the rule of Israel; a mighty man was required. He was found. God always has instruments at hand for use.
III. Notice Davids preparation for the kingship. God was preparing him, through the persecutions of enemies and the treachery of friends, by a long and painful discipline, for the kingship of Judah, at Hebron. There he reigned seven and a hail years, when the throne of Israel became vacant. Purified in the furnace of affliction and humiliations, grown strong in faith through wonderful deliverances and exaltations, he was ready for the place which God had made ready for him.
IV. Notice Davids exaltation to the throne. (Monday Club Sermons.)
David a type of Christ
David is made fully king. He has been, so to say, partially king; now his kingship is to be completed. It is legitimate to inquire into the typology of the whole case. Being the father of Christ according to the flesh, it will be to our edification to ask where the lines coincide, where they become parallels, and where they again touch one another. The study will be at once interesting and profitable.
1. David was thirty years old when he began to reign (v. 4). How old was Christ when he entered his public ministry? Was he not thirty years old? The full meaning of this it is impossible to find out; nevertheless the coincidence itself is a lesson: we stop, and wonder, and think. Providence thus reveals itself little by little, and we are permitted to take up the separate parts, bring them together, and shape them into significance.
2. And they anointed David king over Israel (v. 3.) Is that the word which is used when men are made kings? Is there not another word which is employed usually? Do we not say, And they crowned the king? The word here used is anointed--a better word, a word with more spiritual meaning in it, and more duration. The oil penetrated; the oil signified consecration, purity, moral royalty. There was a crown, but that was spectacular, and might be lost. Was not Jesus Christ anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows? Have not we who follow Him and share His kingship, an unction, or anointing, from the Holy One, through whom we know all things?
3. David reigned forty years. Forty is a perfect number. There are many numerals which represent perfectness, and forty--the four tens--is one of them. Or making the whole life seventy years we come again upon another aspect of perfectness: perfectness in the life and in the royalty: perfectness in both senses and in both aspects. And is not Jesus Christ to come to a perfect reign? Has He not His own forty and His own seventy--His own secret number, which represents to Him mysteriously the perfectness of His reign? He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet.
4. The Jebusites mocked David when he would go and reign in Jerusalem; they said, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither (v. 6). In other words: If you can overcome the lame and the blind, you may enter into Jerusalem, but other soldiery we will not interpose: even they will be strong enough to break the arms of David. Has no defiance been hurled at the Messiah? Has He not been excluded from the metropolis of the world? Are there not those who have mocked Him and wagged their heads at Him? Are there not those who have spat upon His name, and said, We will not have this man to reign over us? Let history testify, and let our own conscience speak.
5. David advanced more and more. The tenth verse has a beautiful expression: And David went on, and grew great. The words are short, but the meaning is boundless. David was a persistent man--he went one It is the man who steadfastly goes on, who enters the city and clears a space for himself, in all departments and outlooks of life. And is not Jesus Christ going forth from conquering to conquer? Is He not moving from land to land, from position to position. And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ. Go on thou mighty Son of God!
6. Then we read in the eleventh verse, And they built David a house. Even those who were averse to Him came to this at the last. And is no house being built for Christ? Once He said, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head. Is it to be always so? or is not the whole earth to be the house of the living Christ, the sanctuary of the crowned Lord? This is the voice of prophecy; this is the testimony of all history: in this inspiration we pray our bolder prayer and utter our grander hope. Jesus shall reign, and a house shall be built for Him, and it shall be called the house of God.
7. But when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines came up to seek David; and David heard of it, and went down to the hold (v. 17). Christ has enemies to-day. There are Philistines who are banded against Him: they want to deplete His name of all spiritual meaning, to take away from Him all the glory of His miracles, to deny even His incarnation, to treat Him as a myth, a vision, or a dream; but still He goes down to the hold, and still He advances His position.
8. Having overthrown the Philistines in one conflict, we read in the twenty-second verse, And the Philistines came up yet again. These words have modern meaning--namely, the words yet again. The enemy is not easily foiled. One repulse is not enough. The victory is not secured until the enemy is under foot--no truce, no compromise, no modification, no temporising, no living by mutual concession. (J. Parker, D. D.)
King David a type of Christ
David, as king, was an illustrious type of Christ. I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. (Psa_2:6.) All Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the deliverer. (Rom_11:26.) Jesus was recognised as The Son of David; He is King of the Jews; King of kings, and of His kingdom there shall be no end. This passage suggests several analogies between King David and King Jesus.
1. David was king by Divine ordination (v. 2, 12.) And so Christ was elected from eternity to be the Monarch of mankind, was predicted of old. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. (Dan_4:3; Dan_4:34.) It was asserted by Himself, My kingdom is not of this world. He claimed kingship of Divine origin and authority.
2. David was ordained to be king for two purposes: Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel. It is the function of a shepherd to feed; of a captain to guide and protect. So Christ is the good Shepherd and the Captain of Salvation. He supplies the need of His people, and leads them to victory.
3. David was qualified by kindred relationship. We are thy bone and thy flesh. So Jesus took our nature, in all things was made like unto His brethren. He is not ashamed to call us brethren. His humanity, linked with His deity, qualified Him to be the Mediator between God and men; the Shepherd-King of His people; the Man Christ Jesus.
4. David was king by mutual covenant. The Son of David is proclaimed from heaven as King of men; and He engages to rule in equity, and to guard His people from harm. We, on our part, accept Him as our Lord: we declare that we desire Him to rule over us; there is a mutual covenant. He says, Ye are My people; and we say, Thou art our King.
5. David assailed the strong fortress of his foes. Davids greater Son lays siege to the human heart, fortified against Him by unbelief and sin. He summons it to surrender; brings the battery of truth against its walls; promises pardon if it will open its gates.
6. David conquered the-fortress and dwelt in it. So Jesus has entered many a heart by its opened doors, and has proved His power to subdue the most determined resistance. He then makes it His abode.
7. David enlarged the captured city. He built round about. Thus the kingdom of Davids Son is constantly being enlarged. Faith in the soul grows as seeds. The leaven leavens the whole lump. Every part of our nature progressively owns the sway of its Lord.
8. The King of Tyre sent cedar-trees and carpenters to help to build Davids house. So the Gentiles built up the Church of Christ. Earthly wealth is consecrated to His service. Not Tyre alone, but every people and clime shall help in raising up Jerusalem, and making Zion a praise throughout the earth.
9. David reigned in Hebron and Jerusalem forty years. Davids Son reigns everywhere, and His kingdom shall have no end. He shall reign for ever and ever.
10. David had the joy of being assured that God had exalted His throne. He perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel. And Davids Son shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied. Lessons:--Let us individually enter into covenant with Christ as our King. Let us open our hearts for Him to dwell in. Though blind and lame, He will heal us, and help us to fight His battles and share His triumph. (N. Hall, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain
CHAPTER V I.
DAVID KING OF ALL ISRAEL.
Read full note →
2Sa_5:1-9.
AFTER seven and a half years of opposition,* David was now left without a rival, and the representatives of the whole tribes came to Hebron to anoint him king. They gave three reasons for their act, nearly all of which; however, would have been as valid at the death of Saul as they were at this time. (*There is difficulty in adjusting all the dates. In chap. 2:10 (2Sa_2:10), it is said that Ishbosheth reigned two years. The usual explanation is that he reigned two years before war broke out between him and David. Another supposition is that there was an interregnum in Israel of five and a half years, and that Ishbosheth reigned the last two years of David's seven and a half. The accuracy of the text has been questioned, and it has been proposed (on very slender MS. authority) to read that Ishbosheth reigned six years in place of two.)
The first was that David and they were closely related - "Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh;" rather an unusual reason, but in the circumstances not unnatural. For David's alliance with the Philistines had thrown some doubt on his nationality; it was not very clear at that time whether he was to be regarded as a Hebrew or as a naturalized Philistine; but now the doubts that had existed on that point had all disappeared; conclusive evidence had been afforded that David was out-and-out a Hebrew, and therefore that he was not disqualified for the Hebrew throne.
This conclusion is confirmed by what they give as their second reason - his former exploits and services against their enemies. "Also, in time past, when Saul was king, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel." In former days, David had proved himself Saul's most efficient lieutenant; he had been at the head of the armies of Israel, and his achievements in that capacity pointed to him as the fit and natural successor of Saul.
The third reason is the most conclusive - "The Lord said to thee. Thou shalt feed My people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel." It was little to the credit of the elders that this reason, which should have been the first, and which needed no other reasons to confirm it, was given by them as the last. The truth, however, is that if they had made it their first and great reason, they would on the very face of their speech have condemned themselves. Why, if this was the command of God, had they been so long of carrying it out? Ought not effect to have been given to it at the very first, independent of all other reasons whatsoever? The elders cannot but give it a place among their reasons for offering him the throne; but it is not allowed to have its own place, and it is added to the others as if they needed to be supplemented before effect could be given to it. The elders did not show that supreme regard to the will of God which ought ever to be the first consideration in every loyal heart. It is the great offence of multitudes, even among those who make a Christian profession, that while they are willing to pay regard to God's will as one of many considerations, they are not prepared to pay supreme regard to it. It may be taken along with other considerations, but it is not allowed to be the chief consideration. Religion may have a place in their life, but not the first place. But can a service thus rendered be acceptable to God? Can God accept the second or the third place in any man's regard? Does not the first commandment dispose of this question: "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me"?
"So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and King David made a league with them in Hebron before the Lord; and they anointed David king over Israel."
It was a happy circumstance that David was able to neutralize the effects of the murders of Abner and Ishbosheth, and to convince the people that he had no share in these crimes. Notwithstanding the prejudice against his side which in themselves they were fitted to create in the supporters of Saul's family, they did not cause any further opposition to his claims. The tact of the king removed any stumbling-block that might have arisen from these untoward events. And thus the throne of David was at last set up, amid the universal approval of the nation.
This was a most memorable event in David's history. It was the fulfillment of one great installment of God's promises to him. It was fitted very greatly to deepen his trust in God, as his Protector and his Friend. To be able to look back on even one case of a Divine promise distinctly fulfilled to us is a great help to faith in all future time. For David to be able to look back on that early period of his life, so crowded with trials and sufferings, perplexities and dangers, and to mark how God had delivered him from every one of them, and, in spite of the fearful opposition that had been raised against him, had at last seated him firmly on the throne, was well fitted to advance the spirit of trust to that place of supremacy which it gained in him. After such an overwhelming experience, it was little wonder that his trust in God became so strong, and his purpose to serve God so intense. The sorrows of death had compassed him, and the pains of Hades had taken hold on him, yet the Lord had been with him, and had most wonderfully delivered him. And in token of his deliverance he makes his vow of continual service, "O Lord, truly I am Thy servant; I am Thy servant and the son of Thine handmaid; Thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to Thee the sacrifices of praise, and will call upon the name of the Lord."
We can hardly pass from this event in David's history without recalling his typical relation to Him who in after-years was to be known as the ''Son of David." The resemblance between the early history of David and that of our blessed Lord in some of its features is too obvious to need to be pointed out. Like David, Jesus spends His early years in the obscurity of a country village. Like him, He enters on His public life under a striking and convincing evidence of the Divine favour - David by conquering Goliath, Jesus by the descent of the Spirit at His baptism, and the voice from heaven which proclaimed, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Like David, soon after His Divine call Jesus is led out to the wilderness, to undergo hardship and temptation; but, unlike David, He conquers the enemy at every onset Like David, Jesus attaches to Himself a small but valiant band of followers, whose achievements in the spiritual warfare rival the deeds of David's ''worthies" in the natural. Like David, Jesus is concerned for His relatives; David, in his extremity, commits his father and mother to the king of Moab: Jesus, on the cross, commits His mother to the beloved disciple. In the higher exercises of David's spirit, too, there is much that resembles the experiences of Christ. The convincing proof of this is, that most of the Psalms which the Christian Church has ever held to be Messianic have their foundation in the experiences of David. It is impossible not to see that in one sense there must have been a measureless distance between the experience of a sinful man like David and that of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Divinity of His person, the atoning efficacy of His death, and the glory of His resurrection, Jesus is high above any of the sons of men. Yet there must likewise have been some marvellous similarity between Him and David, seeing that David's words of sorrow and of hope were so often accepted by Jesus to express His own emotions. Strange indeed it is that the words in which David, in the twenty-second Psalm, pours out the desolation of his spirit, were the words in which Jesus found expression for His unexampled distress upon the cross. Strange, too, that David's deliverances were so like Christ's that the same language does for both; nay, that the very words in which Jesus commended His soul to the Father, as it was passing from His body, were words which had first been used by David.
But it does not concern us at present to look so much at the general resemblances between David and our blessed Lord, as at the analogy in the fortunes of their respective kingdoms. And here the most obvious feature is the bitter opposition to their claims offered in both instances even by those who might have been expected most cordially to welcome them. Of both it might be said, ''They came unto their own, but their own received them not." First, David is hunted almost to death by Saul; and then, even after Saul's death, his claims are resisted by most of the tribes. So in His lifetime Jesus encounters all the hatred and opposition of the scribes and Pharisees; and even after His resurrection, the council do their utmost to denounce His claims and frighten His followers. Against the one and the other the enemy brings to bear all the devices of hatred and opposition. When Jesus rose from the grave, we see Him personally raised high above all the efforts of His enemies; when David was acknowledged king by all Israel, he reached a corresponding elevation. And now that David is recognized as king, how do we find him employing his energies? It is to defend and bless his kingdom, to obtain for it peace and prosperity, to expel its foes, to secure to the utmost of his power the welfare of all his people. From His throne in glory, Jesus does the same. And what encouragement may not the friends and subjects of Christ's kingdom derive from the example of David! For if David, once he was established in his kingdom, spared no effort to do good to his people, if he scattered blessings among them from the stores which he was able to command, how much more may Christ be relied on to do the same! Has He not been placed far above all principality and power, and every name that is named, and been made "Head over all things for the Church which is His body"? Rejoice then, ye members of Christ's kingdom I Raise your eyes to the throne of glory, and see how God has set His King upon His holy hill of Zion! And be encouraged to tell Him of all your own needs and the troubles and needs of His Church; for has He not ascended on high, and led captivity captive, and received gifts for men? And if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, will you not ask, and shall you not receive according to your faith? Will not God supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus?
From the spectacle at Hebron, when all the elders of Israel confirmed David on the throne, and entered into a solemn league with reference to the kingdom, we pass with David to the field of battle. The first enterprise to which he addressed himself was the capture of Jerusalem, or rather of the stronghold of Zion. It is not expressly stated that he consulted God before taking this step, but we can hardly suppose that he would do it without Divine direction. From the days of Moses, God had taught His people that a place would be appointed by Him where He would set His name; Jerusalem was to be that place; and it cannot be thought that when David would not even go up to Hebron without consulting the Lord, he would proceed to make Jerusalem his capital without a Divine warrant.
No doubt the place was well known to him. It had already received consecration when Melchizedek reigned in it, "king of righteousness and king of peace." In the days of Joshua its king was Adonizedek, "lord of righteousness" - a noble title, brought down from the days of Melchizedek, however unworthy the bearer of it might be of the designation, for he was the head of the confederacy against Joshua (Jos_10:1; Jos_10:3), and he ended his career by being hanged on a tree. After the slaughter of the Philistine, David had carried his head to Jerusalem, or to some place so near that it might be called by that name; very probably Nob was the place, which, according to an old tradition, was situated on the slope of Mount Olivet. Often in his wanderings, when his mind was much occupied with fortresses and defenses, the image of this place would occur to him; observing how the mountains were round about Jerusalem, he would see how well it was adapted to be the metropolis of the country. But this could not be done while the stronghold of Zion was in the hands of the Jebusites, and while the Jebusites were so numerous that they might be called "the people of the land."
So impregnable was this stronghold deemed, that any attempt that David might make to get possession of it was treated with contempt. The precise circumstances of the siege are somewhat obscure; if we compare the marginal readings and the text in the Authorized Version, and still more in the Revised Version, we may see what difficulty our translators had in arriving at the meaning of the passage. The most probable supposition is that the Jebusites placed their lame and blind on the walls, to show how little artificial defense the place needed, and defied David to touch even these sorry defenders. Such defiance David could not but have regarded as he regarded the defiance of Goliath - as an insult to that mighty God in whose name and in whose strength he carried on his work. Advancing in the same strength in which he advanced against Goliath, he got possession of the stronghold. To stimulate the chivalry of his men he had promised the first place in his army to whoever, by means of the watercourse, should first get on the battlements and defeat the Jebusites. Joab was the man who made this daring and successful attempt. Reaping the promised reward, he thereby raised himself to the first place in the now united forces of the twelve tribes of Israel. After the murder of Abner, he had probably been degraded;but now, by his dash and bravery, he established his position on a firmer basis than ever. While he contributed by this means to the security and glory of the kingdom, he diminished at the same time the king's personal satisfaction, inasmuch as David could not regard without anxiety the possession of so much power and influence by so daring and useful, but unscrupulous and bold-tempered, a man.
The place thus taken was called the city, and sometimes the castle, of David, and it became from this time his residence and the capital of his kingdom. Much though the various sites in Jerusalem have been debated, it is surely beyond reasonable doubt that the fortress thus occupied was Mount Zion, the same height which still exists in the south-western corner of the area which came to be covered by Jerusalem. This seems to have been the only part that the Jebusites had fortified, and with the loss of this stronghold their hold of other parts of Jerusalem was lost. Henceforth, as a people, they disappear from Jerusalem, although individual Jebusites might still, Hke Araunah, hold patches of land in the neighbourhood (2Sa_24:16). The captured fortress was turned by David into his royal residence. And seeing that a military stronghold was very inadequate for the purposes of a capital, he began, by the building of Millo, that extension of the city which was afterwards carried out by others on so large a scale.
By thus taking possession of Mount Zion and commencing those extensions which helped to make Jerusalem so great and celebrated a city, David introduced two names into the sacred language of the Bible which have ever since retained a halo, surpassing all other names in the world. Yet, very obviously, it was nothing in the little hill which has borne the name of Zion for so many centuries, nor in the physical features of the city of Jerusalem, that has given them their remarkable distinction. Neither is it for mere historical or intellectual associations, in the common sense of the term, that they have attained their eminence. It would not be difficult to find more picturesque rocks than Zion and more striking cities than Jerusalem. It would not be difficult to find places more memorable in art, in science, and intellectual culture. That which gives them their unrivalled pre-eminence is their relation to God's revelation of Himself to man. Zion was memorable because it was God's dwelling-place, Jerusalem because it was the city of the great King. If Jerusalem and Zion impress our imagination even above other places, it is because God had so much to do with them. The very idea of God makes them great.
But they impress much more than our imagination. We recall the unrivalled moral and spiritual forces that were concentrated there: the goodly fellowship of the prophets, the noble army of the martyrs, the glorious company of the apostles, all living under the shadow of Mount Zion, and uttering those words that have moved the world as they received them from the mouth of the Lord. We recall Him who claimed to be Himself God, whose blessed lessons, and holy life, and atoning death were so closely connected with Jerusalem, and would alone have made it forever memorable, even if it had been signalized by nothing else. Unless David was illuminated from above to a far greater degree than we have any reason to believe, he could have little thought, when he captured that citadel, what a marvellous chapter in the world's history he was beginning. Century after century, millennium after millennium has passed; and still Zion and Jerusalem draw all eyes and hearts, and pilgrims from the ends of the earth, as they look even on the ruins of former days, are conscious of a thrill which no other city in all the world can give. Nor is that all. When a name has to be found on earth for the home of the blessed in heaven, it is the new Jerusalem; when the scene of heavenly worship, vocal with the voice of harpers harping with their harps, has to be distinguished, it is said to be Mount Zion. Is not all this a striking testimony that nothing so ennobles either places or men as the gracious fellowship of God? View this distinction of Jerusalem and Mount Zion, if you choose, as the result of mere natural causes. Though the effect must be held far beyond the efficacy of the cause, yet you have this fact: that the places m all the world that to civilized mankind have become far the most glorious are those with which it is believed that God maintained a close and unexampled connection. View it, as it ought to be viewed, as a supernatural result; count the fellowship of God at Jerusalem a real fellowship, and His Spirit a living Spirit; count the presence of Jesus Christ to have been indeed that of God manifest in the flesh; you have now a cause really adequate to the effect, and you have a far more striking proof than before of the dignity and glory which God's presence brings. Would that every one of you might ponder the lesson of Jerusalem and Zion! O ye sons of men, God has drawn nigh to you, and He has drawn nigh to you as a God of salvation. Hear then His message! "For if they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we refuse Him that speaketh from heaven."
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain 2Sa_5:1. “Then, etc. “The tenor of the history leads…
CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES—
2Sa_5:1. “Then, etc. “The tenor of the history leads us to hold with Ewald that the recognition of David as king over all Israel occurred immediately after Ishbosheth’s death, against Stähelin, who thinks that there was an interval of several years after his death, during which all the tribes gradually came over to David.” (Erdmann.) “Thy bone,” etc., i.e., thy blood relations descended from one common ancestor. “The alliance of David with the Philistines had raised so painful a suspicion respecting his patriotic attachment to Israel, and his protracted residence within the Philistine territory had led to so widespread a belief that he had become a naturalised Philistine, as to have created powerful obstacles to the universal recognition of his claims to the throne. The people of Israel had, to a large extent, taken up this impression, and acted in opposition to him as a supposed alien. But time, as well as the tenor of David’s administration in Judah, had dispelled their doubts and proved him to their satisfaction to be in heart and soul an Israelite.” (Jamieson.)
Read full note →
2Sa_5:2. “Leddest out,” etc. Most expositors refer this to David’s military leadership “The Lord said” (see on 2Sa_3:17) “feed,” or, shepherd, i.e., rule them. “This is the first time we find a governor described in Scripture as pastor of the people; afterwards the name is much used by the prophets, particularly Eze_34:23, and in many other places.” (Patrick.) The designation is also used in Homer. “Captain,” rather leader, prince. “The first and third grounds answer exactly to the precept in Deu_17:15, ‘Thou shalt make him king over thee whom the Lord thy God shall choose;’ out of the midst of thy brethren shalt thou make a king over thee.” (Erdmann.) “A league,” etc. “The relation of both parties to the Lord is indicated by the phrase ‘before the Lord.’ ” (Erdmann.) “There was probably gradually established among king and people some recognition of mutual rights and duties—an unwritten, or, possibly in part, a written law. This would not be out of harmony with the theocratic conception of the government. Philippson points out some apparent indications (as 1 Kings 12) of such a law.” (Transr. of Lange’s Commentary.) See also notes on 1Sa_10:25. “They anointed David.” “To which the chronicler adds (1Ch_11:3) ‘according to the word of the Lord by Samuel,’ an explanatory addition referring to the Lord’s command to Samuel to anoint David king over Israel. David’s anointing by Samuel is now confirmed by the anointing of the people, they having expressly and solemnly recognised his Divine call to be king over Israel.” (Erdmann.)
2Sa_5:4. “Thirty years old.” “The age of David shows that the events related from 1 Samuel 13 to the end of the book did not occupy above ten years—four years in Saul’s service, four years of wandering, one year and four months among the Philistines, and a few months after Saul’s death.” (Biblical Commentary.)
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—2Sa_5:1-5
DAVID CHOSEN KING OVER ALL ISRAEL
I. Those who prove their right to rule by their conduct will in due time find subjects to maintain their sovereignty. The divine right of kings must be sought and found in what men are and in what they have done or can do. Those who claim to be leaders and rulers of men claim to be God’s vicegerents, and as such must produce their credentials—proofs of intellectual and moral worth. If no man can represent a human monarch without credentials, much more are they to be demanded when a man assumes the headship of a nation or a community and claims authority over it in the name of the King of kings. And those of character and ability are the only ones that will be accepted in the long run, and none but these will command an allegiance worth having. David had to wait long before the whole nation recognised his right to reign, but in all these years of waiting he was adding to his credentials, and by a series of brave and righteous deeds was increasing the strength of his claim to the throne until it became irresistible, and the whole nation was forced to acknowledge that he whom God had chosen to shepherd it was fully worthy of the high honour to which he was called. So it has ever been and will be. Although no prophet is sent to anoint the head of him whom God now calls to similar service, yet every divinely appointed king of men, possessing as he does these qualifications to rule, will in due time be placed upon a throne by willing subjects.
II. The special qualifications demanded by God in a king or ruler. God expresses His idea of the relationship of a king to His people by the use of the word shepherd, and thus entirely removes the office from that of the despot who uses his people for his own selfish ends instead of using his life for their welfare. We learn from the words of Jacob, in Gen_40:23 sq., what were the duties of an Eastern shepherd, and how stern was the life he led—how far removed his lot was from one of indolence and self-indulgence. This is the symbol which the Divine King uses when speaking of David, and repeats constantly in the Old Testament writings to show what He demands from those whom He calls to rule. Such a call does not mean exemption from care and toil, but a large increase of such burdens. In His eyes the honour is not in being served, but in rendering service, and the larger sphere and the more elevated position involve heavier duties and larger qualifications. Shepherds of men are expected to be willing to follow the example of the Great Shepherd, who proved Himself the true King of men by giving Himself for the flock. And for this work a special knowledge is also needed. As a man must be possessed of some special knowledge to be a successful shepherd, so a ruler of men must be possessed of special knowledge. Christ is the pre-eminent ruler of men because He knows them—because He needs not that any should “testify of any man” whom He is shepherding. (Joh_2:25; Joh_10:14). And it behoves him who is called by God to be an under-shepherd to make men in general—and especially those under his care—the objects of his thoughtful study, that he may become acquainted with their dispositions and needs. To do this he must have also a loving sympathy with them. We are none of us strangers to the feeling of regard which often springs up in men towards animals dependent on them, and therefore we can imagine that a faithful shepherd has some affection for his sheep. This is indispensable in human shepherds, for to love men is to understand them, and to love them is to be willing to suffer for them, and will beget love in return in any men worthy of the name. The Great Shepherd had as much love for men as He had knowledge of them, and therefore “all kings shall fall down before Him, all nations shall serve Him.” (Psa_72:11). Every elevation in life brings with the honour a due proportion of increased duties and responsibilities, and such an exaltation as that which David experienced was heavily weighted with them.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
2Sa_5:5. During all this time he was sedulously engaged in completing the discipline of the rough men who had shared his desert fortunes, and preparing them for the higher service on which they were afterwards to enter. Can we imagine a position better adapted for this purpose? For was it not the most sacred place in the whole country? Was it not on that very ground … that for more than two centuries their ancestors had guarded their high deposit, maintained the divine testimony, and manifested the divine order of human life? Did not the treasured sepulchre there, upon that hill, which was already ancient and worn, with the passing of eleven centuries over its covered surface, contain their dust?—Drew.
Not all at once did David pass from the shepherd life of Bethlehem to the throne of Jerusalem. There was a long, and weary, and trying road to be traversed by him after his anointing by Samuel, before he reached the lofty elevation for which he was designated and consecrated by the prophet’s oil. He was not cradled in luxury, nor dandled in affluence, but his character was hardened by trial, and his judgment was matured by frequently recurring emergency. From the very first, indeed, he was “prudent in matters,” but such a history as his could not but stimulate and sharpen his natural abilities. His military genius, which was destined yet to show itself on many a glorious field as he extended his dominion “from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the land,” had been quickened and developed by his experiences in the long war with the house of Saul; and his knowledge of human nature, an acquirement so needful for one who was to be a ruler of men, had been increased by his dealing with his followers in the hold, and with his enemies in diplomacy; while, best of all, his confidence in God had been strengthened by his manifold trials, in and through which he had been sustained by the divine grace, and out of which he had been delivered by the divine hand. But it is not different yet. Success is not usually a sudden thing, or, if it be so, it is not a whole-some thing. Generally speaking, it is a matter of time, and trial, and diligence, and study. The heat of the conservatory, which brings the flower rapidly to maturity, does also nurse it into weakness, so that its beauty is only short-lived; but the plant that grows in the open air is strengthened while it grows, and is able to withstand even the biting winter’s cold. Resistance is necessary to the development of power; and the greatest misfortune that can befall a youth is to have no difficulties whatever with which to contend. It is by overmastering obstacles that a man’s character is mainly made. Hence, let no one be discouraged who is called in early life to struggle with adversity. He is thereby only making himself for his future life-work. Not in a day, nor in a year, nor in many years, do we reach the throne of our individual power, the sphere of our personal and peculiar labour. We graduate up to it through trial, and each new difficulty surmounted is not only a new step in the ladder upward, but also a new qualification for the work that is before us.…
Nor does this principle hold merely of the early part of our earthly life as related to the later. It will be illustrated also in our earthly life as connected with a heavenly. If we be Christ’s, it is no doubt true that He is preparing a place for each of us; but it is just as true that, through the discipline of our daily difficulties, he is preparing each of us for our own particular place; and the characters we are forming here will find their appropriate employment and development in the work which in heaven will be assigned to us.… Thus by the leverage of this principle we lift our earthly lives up to the very level of heaven itself; and every experience we are passing through now becomes a preparation for our eternal royalty at Christ’s right hand.—Taylor.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain 2Sa 5:12
2Sa 5:12
I. Two memorable passages in the history of David,—the establishment of his capital, and the removal of the ark to the hill above it,—illustrate the principles upon which his kingdom stood, and show wherein it differed from the great Asiatic empires which were then contemporary with it. The civic life, the life of cities, was with other nations the beginning, with the Jews it was the result of a long process. In the first, you have a despotism, which becomes more expansive and more oppressive from day to day; in the other case, you have a struggle, sometimes a weary struggle, but it is the struggle of spirits, it is a struggle for life. The ark spoke to the Israelites of a permanent Being, of a righteous Being, always above His creatures, always desiring fellowship with them, a fellowship which they could only realise when they were seeking to be like Him. Their king ruled so long as his throne was based upon righteousness; the moment he sought for any other foundation, he would become weak and contemptible. All David’s discipline had been designed to settle him in this truth. He was the man after God’s own heart, because he so graciously received that discipline and imbibed that truth. The signal sin of his life confirmed it still more mightily for himself and for all ages to come.
Read full note →
II. The discipline which followed upon David’s sin was not for him more than for his people, nor for his people more than for all ages to come. That which enabled David, crushed and broken, to be more than ever the man after God’s own heart, was also that which fitted him to be a ruler,—-by understanding the only condition on which it is possible for a man to exercise real dominion over others, viz. when he gives up himself, that they may know God and not him to be their sovereign. One of the best proofs that his schooling was effectual is this, that all his family griefs, his experience of his own evil, the desertion of his subjects, did not lead him to fancy that he should be following a course acceptable to God if he retired to the deserts instead of doing the work which was appointed for him. He found out the necessity of seeking God continually, because he learnt how weak he was, and how little he could be a king over men when the image of the Divine kingdom was not present to him.
III. We might have expected to see David’s sun setting in splendour, to be told of some great acts, or hear some noble words which would assure us that he died a saint. The Bible does not in the least satisfy this expectation. We must turn elsewhere than to the Old or New Testament for deathbed scenes. Its warriors fight the good fight. We know that in some battle or other they finish their course. When or how, under what circumstances of humiliation or triumph, we are not told. Not by momentary flashes does God bid us judge of our fellow-creatures, for He who reads the heart, and sees the meaning and purpose of it, judges not by these.
F. D. Maurice, Prophets and Kings of the Old Testament, p. 53.
References: 2Sa 5:19.—F.W. Krummacher, David the King of Israel, p. 267. 2Sa 5:23.—Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 40. 2Sa 5:24.—S. Cox, Expositions, 3rd series, p. 441; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iii., No. 147; Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 30; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 406. 2Sa 6:5.—Parker, vol. vii., p. 233. 2Sa 6:6, 2Sa 6:7.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. vii., p. 281. 2Sa 6:14, 2Sa 6:15.—F. W. Krummacher, David the King of Israel, pp. 280, 300. 2Sa 6:15.—J. Ker, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 162; T. Coster, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxii., p. 132. 2Sa 6:20.—G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 217; Parker, vol. vii., p. 234. 2Sa 6:20, 2Sa 6:21.—J. M. Neale, Sermons for the Church Year, vol. ii., p. 127. 2Sa 6:20-22.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vi., p. 321. 2Sam 6—Parker, vol. vii., p. 117. 2Sa 7:1, 2Sa 7:2.—Plain Sermons by Contributors to the "Tracts for the Times" vol. ii., p. 41. 2Sa 7:2.—S. Martin, Rain upon the Mown Grass, p. 56. 2Sa 7:12-16.—J. G. Murphy, Book of Daniel, p. 32. 2Sa 7:18.—J. Van Oosterzee, Year of Salvation, vol. ii., p. 454. 2Sa 7:18-20.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xx., No. 1166. 2Sa 7:19.—Parker, vol. vii., p. 235. 2Sa 7:25.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ii., No. 88; Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 15. 2Sa 7:27.—Ibid., Sermons, vol. xxiv., No. 1412; Ibid., My Sermon Notes, Genesis to Proverbs, p. 67. 2Sam 7—W. M. Taylor, David King of Israel, p. 169. 2Sam 7-8.—Parker, vol. vii., p. 128. 2Sa 8:6.—J. Irons, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. xvi., p. 105. 2Sa 8:15.—F. W. Krummacher, David the King of Israel, p. 340; W. M. Taylor, David King of Israel, p. 180. 2Sa 9:1.—W. Walters, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxi., p. 248. 2Sa 9:7.—F. W. Krummacher, David the King of Israel, p. 326. 2Sa 9:8.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 148. 2Sa 9:13.—Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 148. 2Sa 9:2-7.—W. M. Taylor, David King of Israel, p. 196. 2Sam 9—Ibid., p. 169. 2Sam 9—Parker, vol. vii., p. 139. 2Sa 10:10.—Old Testament Outlines, p. 02.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain Subdivision 3. (2Sa 5:1-25; 2Sa 6:1-23; 2Sa 7:1-29; 2Sa…
Subdivision 3. (2Sa 5:1-25; 2Sa 6:1-23; 2Sa 7:1-29; 2Sa 8:1-18; 2Sa 9:1-13.)
David in the fullness of power and glory.
Read full note →
What follows in the next subdivision, though most certainly a picture of a glorious day to come, is yet but a gleam of light also, and no more. What earthly history could furnish any more stable one of the reign of the divine-human King? If past or present could furnish more than this, it would not be the unique wonder and glory that it is. Ah, no! We may be sure that the clouds will soon return after the sun. And so it is. The man after God’s own heart falls from his proud position, all the lower for the height from which he falls. Amnon, Absalom, Adonijah, become but the living contradiction of what their names express. And so all mere human glory passes, to leave only the harp of prophecy to take up the broken notes of songs that have been and weave them into a harmonious anthem of a joy that yet shall be.
But let us seek to possess ourselves of what is here, remembering that even typically it is only half the story of that glorious reign, which we must go on to the books of Kings and Solomon to find completed. Here we have the establishment of the kingdom, there its after-character; here Melchizedek in the significance of his name as "king of righteousness," there the "king of Salem, that is, king of peace"; here, therefore, the man of war, though far from being merely that. But as "judgment shall return to righteousness," so, conversely, righteousness shall return to judgment. The kingdom will be a display of power such as the world has never witnessed; the king, the "lion of the tribe of Judah"; the sceptre, a "rod of iron." And this indicates, indeed, the "regeneration" of the earth (Mat 19:28), when righteousness shall reign; but not the "new" state, in which righteousness shall "dwell." (2Pe 3:13.) The millennium is the last of earthly dispensations, not the fixed eternal blessedness beyond. The millennium has an end; and that which has its end and passes away shows by that fact its imperfection. Still the hand that rules lacks no element of perfection; and the end of the millennium is the subduing of all things to God in such sort that the separate kingdom having attained its purpose, all things can be delivered up into the hands of God the Father, that God may be all in all. (1Co 15:24-28.)
Section 1.
There are three sections here: the first showing us the throne of David set up, in accord with and subjection to the divine throne (2Sa 5:1-25; 2Sa 6:1-23); the second, its establishment and growth under his hand (2Sa 7:1-29; 2Sa 8:1-14); the third, its internal administration and character (2Sa 8:15-18; 2Sa 9:1-13.).
(1, a.) To pursue now the story here. What Abner was not permitted to accomplish is now done by the united voice of the people. All the tribes now, as that of Judah before, assemble at Hebron to make David king. They own at last what he had been to them even in Saul’s reign, and Jehovah’s promise concerning him, so that their acknowledgment of David is a return of heart to Jehovah also. He makes a covenant with them before Jehovah, -it would have spoiled the type to say that they made a covenant with him, -and they anointed him king over them. Thus it will be when they own Christ their King in days to come.
David is thirty years old when he begins to reign, the time in His days on earth when Christ was anointed and thus came to His title, -"Christ" and "Anointed" being the same thing. It was the recognized time for entering on Levite and priestly service. This 30 is 10 x 3, the number of responsibility multiplied by that of divine manifestation. This is indeed what, whether as King or Priest, He assumes as His task, and nothing less could have accomplished anything for man. Forty years David reigns: for, as we know, the millennial reign he represents is not the eternal state, and is, therefore, as dispensational, a time of testing for man still. As to the other numbers I have no knowledge of their meaning.
(b.) The taking of Zion follows immediately after the anointing; and Zion becomes the city of David, permanently associated with his name. Not only so, it is named in Scripture as the place of the divine choice and abode. David, as we find presently, brought the ark to Zion; and in Psa 132:1-18, in answer to the prayer, "Arise, Jehovah, unto thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength," the divine answer is, "Jehovah has chosen Zion: He hath desired it for his habitation; this is my rest for ever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it." The royal throne and the divine throne are thus in the same place, although they may also be distinguished as by Micah, for whom Zion and the mountain of the house have their separate designation. (Mic 3:12.)
The name Zion is generally given as "sunny"; but it may just as well signify "fixed." Either sense may be quite appropriate; while the last connects more plainly with what the voice of the Lord has declared regarding it. In contrast with Ephraimitic Shiloh, and consequent upon the failure of the nation and the priesthood there, Zion with David himself are emphatically marked out as objects of Jehovah’s choice, in the seventy-eighth psalm: grace manifests itself thus amid the ruin, to the people of God.
But again the Jebusite, the "treader-down," has been at work, and the Lord used the term to express the condition of Israel’s city during the times of Gentile supremacy: "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled." (Luk 21:24.) Thus the Jebusite period has come back, and will last until the true David shall come in power. But what is that which has maintained Jebusite dominion over the place of Israel’s and Jehovah’s throne? But one answer is possible here: it is sin which alone can have done so, the sins of God’s people themselves. And so inveterate has sin proved in their case, that the Jebusite may seem justified in his taunt, "Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither," as much as to say, "David shall not come in hither." Here is, indeed, the real question. Blind has Israel been as to all God’s dealings with them: lame, for any walking in paths to which the voice of God for so many generations has been calling them! Well might it seem as if their doom were settled now, and their hope gone. Yet the very name of Zion is a perpetual reminder of promise that abides and which will be fulfilled yet in David’s victory. God has said of Zion, "Here will I dwell, for I have desired it": it is the "fixed" place of His abode.
The smiter of the Jebusite must smite, therefore, the blind and the lame, and reach the watercourse, the stream of living water. Let us note, however, that in the text the order of the two latter is inverted: the watercourse is the way of reaching the blind and the lame, as spiritually it surely is. It is remarkable that it has been found quite recently that by the watercourse (by its subterranean channel) the place of the citadel can yet be, though with difficulty, reached. Thus nature bears testimony with Scripture still. David, therefore, takes the stronghold and dwells in it, and builds it up anew. And he goes on and becomes great, for the God of hosts is with him: the higher kingdom and the lower are now united.
Following this we have the first brief notice of Hiram, in which we find a Gentile power greeting and sending aid to the king of Israel. "The daughter of Tyre is" here "with a gift." But this is to find more prominence and significance in the day of Solomon.
(c.) There are still more marriages contracted by David, and sons and daughters born to him in Jerusalem. Eleven are named, but without mention of their mothers. There are but two of whom we find anything recorded afterwards, and only one in the present history. None the less must there be purpose in their enumeration here.
Of these eleven sons, judging by their numerical significance, there are two series, 4 and 7; and this is confirmed by 1Ch 3:1-24, where we find that the first four were all sons of Bathshua or Bathsheba: the latter means "daughter of the oath"; the former "daughter of salvation." But the two are one, as Zacharias’ song declares: "the oath which He sware to our father Abraham, that He would grant unto us, that we being delivered from the fear of our enemies, might serve Him without fear." Notice that, with one exception, the names of mother and children are practically here: —
1. Shammua, "heard," or "obeyed": -"might serve Him."
3. Nathan, "he has given": -"that He would grant unto us."
4. Solomon, "peaceful": -"that we being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear."
One name only remains unaccounted for in the song, and that the history accounts for fully. It is the second name, Shobab, "turning back," which the cry of the Psalms acknowledges as God’s work: "Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts; cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved." (Psa 80:19.) Altogether it is clear, therefore, that these four names express, as Bathsheba’s sons should do, the fruits of the "covenant of promise": and this is also what a first series, as such, might express. They show us Christ as "Minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers" (Rom 15:8), and that in the full character of One who has now "the government upon His shoulder." (Isa 9:6.) All this is in perfect keeping.
The remaining seven sons seem to give the testimony borne by that salvation which the people experience; and this is a great point: we are thus "in the ages to come" to show forth the exceeding riches of His grace, in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." (Eph 2:7.) This reflex influence of His work is thus a ministry of grace to the whole universe; and the number of perfection, 7, is exactly the number to express this. We may be sure, however, that we shall be able but poorly to give even the outlines here.
The first son now is Ibhar, "election ," or "He chooses." The fountain of all blessing is in God Himself, in His will alone. This is evidently the fundamental necessity, if He is to be glorified at all. What is merely casual, or what is otherwise produced, we cannot trace to Him, cannot glorify Him for: this needs no argument.
The second son is Elishua, "my God is salvation": the method as well as the will is from Him. It is the blessedness of the gospel that God is thus exalted in it.
The third son, Nepheg, "sprout," shows the activity of life, and therefore of the Spirit of life. Thus the subjective work in the soul is also His, -the internal work is a salvation, as well as the sin-bearing work of the cross.
The fourth son, Japhia, is "lustrous, shining," the creature clothed with the glory of the light, the reflection of that which has shone upon it. Christ Himself is the pledge and assurance of this, and by occupation with Him it is that it is produced. In it we are still in the weakness of creaturehood, receptive merely: the experience on our part is of what He is. And what a testimony to His grace that He can thus stoop, in the delight of His love, to glorify the objects of His choice!
The next three names all speak directly of God: first —
Elishama, "God heareth": the creature, thus laid hold of by His love, is for Himself; and, having heard His creative voice, is privileged to respond and be heard again. Thus the joy of such intercourse begins, no more to end, and —
Eliada, "God knoweth," carries it on to full communion. For such "knowing" is approbation, as when the "Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; and hearing with such knowledge implies the victory found over the evil that has brought in distance between the soul and Him, as it does also the nearness bred of likeness. And of such victory the last name seems now to remind us —
Eliphelet, "my God is escape," or complete deliverance. How the complete end gained will emphasize that escape! All words are utterly feeble here.
(2) We have next David’s conflict with the Philistines, Israel’s constant enemies from the times of the judges, and who had given Saul his final overthrow. David, on the other hand, gains two great victories, each of which has surely its lesson for us. In each case they "spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim," the giants with whom we find them so much associated, and who give a monstrous, satanic character to them. When man looms large, even heathenism imagines its God-defying Titans, if these are not rather the distorted traditions of true history. David, in meeting them, clings to God and to His word, and Jehovah breaks forth upon them like a water-burst. In truth that is the way in which the power of error is to be met. When the heavens are opened and pour down their spiritual floods, then the hosts of superstition and formalism are defeated, the blocked channels are cleared, and the barriers reared by ecclesiasticism swept away.
David names the place Baal-perazim, the "place of breaches," or "burstings forth"; and he and his men take away the images of the Philistines, thus returning upon them the captivity of the ark in Samuel’s day. But the dumb idols can be treated as the useless lumber that they are, and can make no reprisals.
The second battle is still in the valley of Rephaim; but David is now commanded to make a circuit round the Philistines, and come upon them over against the baca-trees (trees of "weeping"), and the sound of marching in the tops of the trees would show him when to attack, Jehovah having gone out before him. The baca-trees are said to be so called from exuding a tear-like sap wherever a leaf is torn from them. Can these weeping trees be a symbol of how the life of Christ is manifested as to the present state of things in sorrowing, not rejoicing? -this thus revealing the Lord as against the world-church, which suffers not with Him, but reigns?
These two battles would show us, then, the twofold controversy between Christ and the modern Philistinism which is against His Spirit in its dry form and externalism, and against His sympathies in its contentment with a world that crucified Him. Thus it cannot come into blessing, but must be swept away. David smites his enemies, therefore, from Geba to Gezer, as judgment from the Lord will come upon that which exalts itself and is in independence of Him. (See p. 66, n.)
(3) And now we have the ark established in its place in connection with the throne in Zion; not, indeed, its full place, -the temple could not yet be built, nor by David: the reason of which we shall find in the next chapter. But the ark is the throne of the Lord; and it must be shown that the throne upon earth is in accord with and in subjection to the higher throne. Thus David becomes but a servant in the presence of the ark.
Yet servant as he really desires to be, he makes a great mistake,which involves serious consequences. It is strange, indeed, that, in a matter such as he had now before him, David should neither inquire of God, nor think of the directions given in the law as to the carriage of that with which it was known that God had been pleased so intimately to connect the manifestation of His presence. It is stranger still, and reveals sadly the state of things in Israel, that of all those set apart to the service of the sanctuary, there was no priest or Levite to inform a well-intentioned king regarding the prescribed way of acting. Terribly had the Philistines suffered for dishonor done the ark. Terribly had the men of Beth-shemesh suffered. Yet the Philistines’ own expedient -confessedly only that -for ascertaining in the best way they knew whether it was Jehovah’s hand that had smitten them, is what David adopts in bringing the ark to Zion! True it was that He had allowed the Philistines to get their lesson in this way; and this, there can be little doubt, encouraged the adoption of it: but there could be no justification of such imitation. God had spoken: there was the most shameful ignorance or carelessness as to it; and this just where, in the most solemn manner, they were professing to put themselves under His yoke! How could He. in this great object-lesson before the eyes of the whole nation, allow this to be as a precedent for the future, and make light of His own dishonor?
They go beyond the Philistines even, as such imitators generally do. The Philistines had assumed, at least, that if Jehovah were God, the cattle would act obediently to Him without their guidance, and even in contradiction to their own natural instincts. But the Israelites, having committed the ark to the ox-cart, must have Uzzah and Ahio to guide the oxen. They had not faith in their own contrivance, and are already committed to the perilous work of trusting to their own management of difficulties that may arise. Alas, had they not learnt more in all the years that the ark had been in the house of Abinadab? And what, then, does this argue as to them?
Yet all for a while goes well. There are rejoicings and abundant demonstrations of loyalty on the part of the people, till at the prepared threshing-floor the oxen stumble, and Uzzah puts forth his hand and takes hold upon the ark to steady it. Uzzah means strength": he had not measured himself before God, nor learnt the source of strength. The act revealed what the ark was to him, the habit of a soul ignorant of God and of itself, while most self-conscious. He is smitten; and the "prepared" threshing-floor becomes Perez-uzzah, the "breaking of strength."
It is strange that in the service of the sanctuary one like David should be so more than dull; yet similar things abound with us today. The fact of good intention, of a thing, too, right in the main being before the soul, oft hinders even the need being felt of seeking the mind of the Lord or of testing everything by the word of God. If the thing sought be in itself good, why scrutinize methods so severely? How little do we understand the irreverence that lurks under the appearance of honest devotedness, where man’s wisdom is assumed competent to think for Him, or man’s strength competent to work His will! How often thus we have our Uzzahs smitten, just when we imagine our service must be accepted of Him!
Then comes the reaction upon this vain confidence: "David was afraid of Jehovah that day, and said, How shall the ark of Jehovah come to me?" So we pass from one extreme to the other; and in proportion to the buoyancy of our first confidence is apt to be the depth of our despair. The consciousness of haying sought to do the Lord’s will in that which has turned out so unhappily shrouds His dealings with us in gloom and mystery. Where we expected to find the signs of gracious acceptance and approval, on the other hand we have been smitten by Him. And how shall we stand before a God like this?
Yet the matter is simple, as we have seen. How could He accept the complete setting aside of His word, the adoption of Philistine methods and worse, where He had plainly intimated His will? -and this done in the most public way, and by the whole body of His people? "If thou shalt take forth the precious from the vile," is the principle that applies here. The desire to serve Him is ever precious to Him, and yet there may be that in the service which He can only testify against. Oh that the church of God would listen to this voice today, amid the innumerable self-imagined plans whereby it is sought to serve God, but whereby His word is improved upon and supplemented until it is lost and set aside, and His name dishonored in the very offering we bring to Him.
But can we define more closely the special form of evil that is presented here? What does the ark of God upon the ox-cart speak of precisely? The ark was the throne of God in Israel: He dwelt, or had His seat, between the cherubim; there the glory rested, and thence the voice of the Lord gave forth its utterances. The dictates of this throne were addressed to men, to a redeemed people, separated from the apostasies of the nations round to know and serve Him alone, as alone worthy to be served, His service not slavery but the most ennobling freedom. As His people they had been brought out of darkness into light, out of debasing impurity into "holiness of truth," the reproach of Egypt rolled away from them. Hence the only suited carriage for the ark was upon the shoulders of the Levites, the willing yoke-bearers of His glorious chariot of salvation. Redeemed men, subject to Himself alone, are still those who occupy a place of which that in Israel was but a type, a shadow. To these He has in His precious grace committed Himself, that their willing hearts may bear Him through the world. To them He still says, "Take my yoke upon you: my yoke is easy, and my burden light."
The ox-cart was a human invention, in place of this. It was dead machinery instead of living service. At least there was no intelligence, no moral principle, no spiritual consecration in it. The beast might and did, according to this idea, need a director; and this was proved in the most unhappy way in Uzzah: the man was more out of his place than the beast was; and the bolt of divine judgment fell on him. Directors and machinery are common enough today, whereby the work of the Spirit is assumed by those who heedlessly intrude into His place; and men, alas, oftentimes are compelled to become machines, their consciences subjected to other heads than Christ, their work made task-work, often the "burden" anything but "light." Let honest hearts apply this, as they surely may.
The ox is indeed the type of the laborer in the Word, as the apostle assures us (1Co 9:8-10); but the ox treading out the corn is a totally different thing from bearing the ark of the Lord. The substitution of beast for man is what is here in question; and thus the beast must be taken as beast, -as implying what, if man come into it, speaks of degradation for him. This is perfectly clear. And yet the very threshing-floor to which the apostle and the law in Deuteronomy refer is that which would appear to be the occasion of the catastrophe. The blind animal instincts cause the oxen to swerve aside. The leader, seeing no more than the machine, supposes all to be in danger; and now the judgment falls.
Thus for the present the ark is not brought to Zion, but carried aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. The names here are so remarkable, both in themselves and in their connection, that one cannot but believe them to be designed to attract our notice and furnish a spiritual lesson. Obed-edom, as we see by the reference to the blessing on him elsewhere (1Ch 26:4-5), was a Korahite Levite, and thus his house was not unsuited for the reception of the ark. Yet his name means "servant of Edom" (typically of the flesh), and his place of former residence or birth, most probably the latter, is Gath, the "winepress," -type, as we know, of divine wrath.* That we were indeed "by nature children of wrath" is no strange thing to be told of any of God’s Levites; and the apostle adds (Eph 2:3), "fulfilling the desires of the flesh," -we were Obed-edoms. Thus also we are now Korahites, saved as the children of Korah were in the wilderness, from their father’s penalty.
{* Gath-rimmon has been suggested, as being a Kohathite city of the tribe of Dan; but why should he not have been born in Gath, the Philistine city? This, while surely possible, would be much more likely to mark him as an individual.}
How beautiful it is to see that while David asks, in fear, "How shall the ark of Jehovah come to me?" the house of an Obed-edom can receive it,with nothing but blessing "Jehovah blessed Obed-edom and all his house." How His grace rebukes our unbelieving fears with blessing! And once again David is encouraged to bring up the ark to the city of David; but there are now those that bear the ark: God’s word kept, everything prospers.
Burnt-offerings and peace-offerings are the due accompaniment, for without that which these signify there could be no dwelling of God with man. David himself, girded with a linen ephod, dances before the ark. He is now the link between Israel and God, and in glad subjection to the higher kingdom. At the end he blesses the people, therefore, in the name of Jehovah of hosts, and distributes to them all portions. We see the shadow of the Melchizedek king, the opposite of Saul and his independence, whom we find reproduced in the pride of his daughter. But Michal is therefore without children to the day of her death. The spirit of independence is, of necessity, barren: that of service is the truly royal spirit, as surely as "the less is blessed of the better."
Section 2.
The next section shows us the establishment and growth of David’s kingdom: on the divine side, the promise of perpetuity to his line, -an absolute promise, in view of all human instability and failure; on the human side, its extension by the putting down of enemies on every side. The first is not that chronologically merely, but in importance, and the foundation of all the rest.
(1) David is on his throne and in peace; he has rest from all his enemies round about. He dwells in his house of cedar, and thinks it an unseemly thing that Jehovah’s ark should dwell within curtains. We see once more how a man’s heart may be right with God, and his thoughts wrong. He discloses his mind to Nathan the prophet, and Nathan at first approves his purpose: "Go, do all that is in thy heart; for Jehovah is with thee." But the word of God is something very different from the best thoughts of the best people; and Nathan has presently a very different word put into his lips by the Lord. Here too the Lord shows David that his thoughts are wrong, spite of all the piety of them, by this conclusive fact, that they had not been formed upon any previous intimation of His will. Can a man think for God? Can we anticipate His mind? It is impossible: all that the most fervent spirit can rightly do is reverently to follow it. Hence David must be wrong, and every one else, who would add one jot or tittle to the perfect word of God. How easy, in this way, to decide at once concerning multitudes of thoughts that fill men’s minds today! And yet how little is such a principle accepted, even with the children of God! "Add not to His words, lest He reprove thee," is as important as "do not diminish": and, indeed, to do the former we must do the latter. Is Scripture able to furnish the man of God " thoroughly" and "to all good works"? As surely as this is true, so surely must we refuse whatever even man’s piety may put forth, if the word of God is not the source of it.
Thus Jehovah says: "Shalt thou build me a house to dwell in? for I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, but have been walking in a tent and in a tabernacle. In all places wherein I have walked among all the children of Israel, spake I a word with any of the rulers of Israel whom I commanded to tend my people Israel, saying, Why build ye me not a house of cedar?"
How fruitful a principle, if we would consider it! And not having its application, as so much else, to the cold and indifferent, for they are not the people who come forward of themselves to build a house to the Lord; but to the earnest and zealous-hearted.
But this does not mean that the earnestness and zeal are not acceptable to God: they surely are. He goes on therefore here, while refusing the offer of David, to give Himself to David an assurance that what he had thought to do for Him, Himself would do for David: "also Jehovah telleth thee that He will make thee a house." A son shall be raised up to him, in whom the kingdom shall be established, and who shall fulfill the desire now in David’s heart; and his line shall be continued, and his throne established forever.
Solomon is first in view in this promise, as we know; but Christ the only One in whom it can be properly fulfilled, even to the building of a house for the Lord. The son near at hand is but the shadow of the greater One afar off; and the house made with hands only a brief anticipation of the glorious House against which the gates of hades never shall prevail. Thus we see how the instability of the mere human seed cannot avail to alter the word which has gone out of Jehovah’s lips. Chastening with the rod of men would as surely come as the need for chastening on their part; but the house and the kingdom abide forever, as sure as the pledged word that never fails can make it.
{*2Sa 7:23. In the Hebrew text, "for you," -a difference of one letter from "for them".}
The declaration is so plain that there is little to be said about it in such interpretative notes as we are giving here. It is plain that we have such a full declaration of divine grace in a promise which, ministered through David, is the only hope of the world as well, that man’s self-righteousness so ready to manifest itself even in a saint, is abashed and humbled. David, from a would-be worker, is brought to sit before God in rest and adoration. Even his prayer is only now, "Do, Lord, what Thou hast said Thou wilt do!" He can suggest nothing, add nothing, to dim the glory of this abundant grace.
(2) We are now shown the extension of David’s power over the nations round. However great, it is but the faint and passing image of what will be, when the King of glory comes. Still it is a type, and must be read as that; or what great interest is there for us in the list of these powers subdued? Nor is this to set aside the letter, which is only certified to us the more as we see the divine wisdom which has guarded and guided the historian. This verification of the outward fact by the manifestation of the inner spirit which gives it vitality and organic place in connection with the whole revelation of God, has been sadly lost sight of through the abuse and contempt of allegorization: that is, of the prophetic character of divine history.
The first conquest is that of the Philistines: "David took the bridle of the metropolis out of the hand of the Philistines." This cannot mean that he took away their dominion over Israel, which was certainly already at an end. It must speak, one would say therefore, of their internal self-government, one city having a controlling power over the rest. The loss of this would deprive them of their internal unity, of such coherence as would make them formidable. It is striking to find in Chronicles (1Ch 18:1) that this metropolis was Gath, whose champion David had long before defeated. And what could have the place among the Philistine cities that Gath, the "wine-press" of wrath would have? Let Goliath be slain, their arms are defeated; let Gath be taken, their strength is prostrate.
The second conquest is that of Moab: "and he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, making them lie down on the ground: and he measured two lines to put to death, and one full line to keep alive; and the Moabites became David’s servants, bringing gifts." It is certain that mere profession (which Moab represents) will not come to an end at the appearing of Christ: "Strangers shall feign to me; as soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places." So says, prophesying of Another, this very David (2Sa 22:45-46); and here there is a line to put to death and to keep alive; but the exposition of this naturally comes elsewhere.
We have now, in the third place, the conquest of Syria, by which the empire of David is extended as far as the Euphrates. And indeed it seems to have been with him a deliberate purpose to take possession of the country as far as the limit of the promise to Abraham (Gen 15:1-21). This seems the real meaning of what even the Revised Version gives as "went to recover his dominion at the River," but which most certainly says nothing of the kind. It is literally "to extend his hand to the River." I have merely substituted "power" for "hand," as plainly its force. With this meaning it becomes clear that the expression would rather apply to David than to Hadadezer, as with the other it must read the reverse way. David had no dominion to recover at the River, while, on the other hand, the Syrian king’s territory was at least close by; and while Hadadezer’s extension of his territory northward to the Euphrates would hardly have brought him into conflict with David, whose kingdom was to the south, it is quite easy to see that David, coming north to the River, would find the kingdom of Zobah in his way.
The occasion of the attack seems given later as arising out of the Ammonite war. Here we have but a general summary of conquest, hardly chronological. Whatever its historical significance, a spiritual one we have the amplest reason to expect. This career of subjugation and spoil, one can see indeed how another witness would be given in it, such as Egypt, the wilderness, and Joshua’s victories, had given before, to the power of one true God over the multitudinous and degrading deities of the heathen. A rude hand was needed to break these barriers to the reception of the truth, of which Israel was the divinely ordained depository; and the judgments inflicted by their means was a mercy, after all, which every thinking mind must recognize as that.
Typically we have already traced, to some extent, what Aram or Syria represents (p. 198-200, n.). It is man, whom God has exalted in Christ, in His own gracious and wonderful way, but who, on the other hand, by self-exaltation debases himself to his own ruin. This last is what we are made to see in the historical Aram. The world is indeed ever illustrating it in different ways: "man’s day" is a day of human aggrandizement with that of which he has robbed God, and of self-exaltation by that with which God’s mercy has enriched him. And therefore the day of the Lord must be "upon all that is proud and haughty, and upon all that is lifted up, . . . and the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day." (Isa 2:12; Isa 2:17.)
Aram, the "high," seems even specifically to point out the various qualities of self-exaltation. Aram-naharaim, or Mesopotamia (Aram of the two rivers), like another Egypt, shows us, as already pointed out, that which is bred of the constant stream of mercies by which man is sustained, their continual flow unknown as from those far-off heavens from which they come: so that they can even say, at last, "My river is mine own, and I have made it."
Aram-Rehob or beth-Rehob, near akin to this, speaks of "enlargement," growth of resources, influence, power; —
Aram-Zobah, of establishment, "stability"; —
Aram-Dammesek, Syria of Damascus, if we may accept Gesenius as to it, of "activity"; —
Aram-Maachab, of "bruising," oppression, the tyranny of power.
There is no need to dwell upon these here. It is easy to understand that the world in this form must be brought down in the day of Christ, and be .compelled to yield what it has falsely claimed as its own. Its riches must be dedicated to the Lord; its glory pass to Him who is the "King of glory."
Hadad-ezer (in other places Hadarezer) is a worthy king of Zobah. The variation slight as it is in Hebrew (the lack of a mere shoulder to a "d" makes it "r,"), I cannot but believe to be designed. Hadar means "glory, honor," and is the more common form; but Hadad is "shouting, noise": vox et praeterea nihil, -sound, and nothing else. This kind of satire is often found in the changes in Hebrew names. Hadarezer means "glory is help," the first word being perhaps the name of their sun-deity, while certainly there has been always abundant idolatry of this kind among men. He is the son of Rehob, "enlargement," and has a plentiful following, and gold shields upon his servants; but his gold is this time no defense: it is sanctified to the Lord, with much brass from his towns Betah, "security," and Berothai, "my hewings."
Nor can the Syrians of Damascus help: in Damascus itself David puts garrisons. How differently will the world’s "activity" manifest itself in the day that our David does this!
Toi, king of Hamath, however, has been in conflict with Hadadezer, and has evidently suffered at his hand. Toi means "wanderer," the very opposite of the stability of Zobah; Hamath is generally taken to mean "enclosure, fortress." Joram, his son’s name, I cannot take as the mere equivalent of Jehoram: it signifies "caused to be exalted." The consciousness of instability and wandering prepares the soul for the apprehension of the grace that exalts, and makes the enclosure of sheltering strength most needful to it. Thus the names combine easily, and we need not wonder to find Toi, the "wanderer," seeking David. All the gifts and spoil of the world are consecrated to Jehovah by him: for the kingdom of Christ subdues all to God at last, "that God may be all in all."
{*2Sa 8:13. In the Hebrew copies here, "Aram," (Syria,) a difference only of the shoulder of a "d," which if lost would make it "r." Syria was not near the valley of salt, which is at the south end of the Dead Sea. The Septuagint reads, "Edom," and 1Ch 18:12, and Psa 60:1-12, title, evidently speak of the same event.}
Edom comes last for judgment, which, from our knowledge of its spiritual significance, is not difficult to understand. Edom, the old "Adam" nature in man, is the evil hardest and last of all to be subdued. In the barren valley of salt Edom is finally subjugated and garrisoned throughout; and the Edomites become David’s servants. As at the beginning we all were Edomites that now know Christ, there need be no difficulty about this. This is the end of the general sketch of the extension of the kingdom. "And God preserved David whithersoever he went."
Section 3.
We come now to look at the kingdom internally; and we have first the administration of righteousness, and the order established for that; and then, at more length, its salvation-character, -of which Mephibosheth is a beautiful illustration.
(1) United Israel is under his hand, and to all his people judgment and justice are dispensed. This is, above all, the character that David represents to us, as we have seen. Alas, that he fails signally at times in this, we know too; but it is the general character of his reign, and that which he stands for typically; the lessons of his failure we shall find in full elsewhere. Here, for the type’s sake, all this is excluded.
As to detail here, we have but the names of those put in charge in their various departments; and if we have not skill to read the names, or refuse this "allegorizing," these will be barren enough, nay, would lead us sometimes in an opposite direction. We already know, and shall more fully as we read on, how different might be the actions of the men from the beauty of their names. But the history is at this point purposely idealized, for it is Christ who is before the mind of the Spirit; and thus His inspired mouthpiece is kept from the intrusion of what would spoil the picture.
Take, for instance, the very first name here in proof; a name of chief importance, if its position counts for anything: what is Joab, the son of Zeruiah, according to his acting in the history? Yet the thought represented by his name is exactly according to its foremost place in this catalogue. Joab means "Jehovah is Father," and as the son of Zeruiah, "balm of Jah," speaks, as we have seen, of the cross as the procuring cause of such relationship being enjoyed. It is striking that here is one of those double meanings which often confirm and throw light upon each other; for Zeruiah may also mean "straitened" or "distressed of Jah": and so in both ways the Cross is indicated.
Joab is over the host: for all the wars of the kingdom of Christ are governed by this one aim, to bring in the Father’s kingdom. The prayer that He taught His disciples was "Father, thy kingdom come!" The iron sceptre having done its work, He will "deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father." Thus that which He bids them pray for He Himself accomplishes. For this He puts down all rule and all authority and power. "And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject to Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all." (1Co 15:24-28.) Joab is surely, then, without possibility of contradiction, "over the host."
Secondly: "Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder." The office here intended is not certain, hut the word is literally "remembrancer," which might be equivalent to or include that of historian; but would seem, first of all, to be that of king’s referee and counselor. Jehoshaphat means "Jehovah has judged," and answers admirably to his office: Jehovah’s judgment thus being the rule for guidance at all times. But Jehoshaphat is himself the son of Ahilud, which means "the brother," or "kin of the one born," a blessed and wonderful thought; in this connection how tender an one! that as man is even naturally the "offspring of God," so He is in that sense akin to the feeble creature He has made. His judgments are, indeed, the fruit of this kinship: He remembers this link of His own establishment in all His dealings with them. How should His judgments be thus endeared to us!
Thirdly: we have the priesthood, twofold, embracing the lines of Eleazar and Ithamar both (see p. 298, n.), and Eleazar’s given the first place in Zadok, a fact which shows the ideal picture that is given us here: for Zadok really only acquired the first place in the beginning of Solomon’s reign, after Abiathar had joined the conspiracy of Adonijah. Yet for the type Zadok had to come first, -who, as the "righteous," reminds us from this side of the Melchizedek character of priesthood in Christ. As heir of Eleazar’s line, he is also the true representative of the risen Priest; while a descendant of Ithamar would have been entirely out of place here.
Zadok is the son of Ahitub, "brother of goodness," as the Lord’s priesthood as the righteous One is yet the fruit of his human kinship with us assumed in love.
In the line of Ithamar, where we expect to find "Abiathar the son of Ahimelech," we find instead "Ahimelech the son of Abiathar," and this is supported by 1Ch 24:6, where the same inversion obtains. Fausset suggests that father and son had both names, which Mar 2:26 may in part confirm. Ahimelech means "brother of the king," Abiathar, "father of excellence."
In the fourth place, the scribe’s name is Seraiah, "Jah rules."
In the fifth we find Benaiah the son of Jehoiada over the Cherethites and Pelethites, or, probably, as Gesenius says, "executioners and couriers." Here again divine names are prominent: Benaiah, "Jah has built"; Jehoiada, "Jehovah knows." Do they show us that the execution of judgment is controlled by His purpose to build up and bless, this building up being the fruit of His own perfect knowledge? All these names, it is evident, speak as with one consent of righteous, wise, and beneficent government; and when it is added that "David’s sons were chief rulers" -cohanim, the same word as for "priests," but here applied to the representation of another in civil affairs, as the priest in sacred (see vol. 1. p. 227, n.) -we have only to turn back to the meanings of these sons’ names (2Sa 3:1-5; 2Sa 5:13-16, n.) to find a host of witnesses to the character of the kingdom represented here. As has been said, the history is carefully idealized that the type may not be marred. When we come to the details of actual history, things will be seen far otherwise; but the Spirit will not be hindered from presenting to us this view of a perfect kingdom, which Christ alone will actually consummate. That to which Scripture uniformly looks on is the glory of Christ.
(2) But Christ’s kingdom is not simply a reign of righteousness; it is emphatically for salvation. As in the grand picture of Psa 72:1-20: "He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor. . . . He shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor also, and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy." This salvation side of the kingdom must now be represented in the picture, or it would not be an adequate representation at all. What worthy idea of God but must take in His grace? And so it is, accordingly: we have one of those touching exhibitions of what David himself calls "the kindness of God," with which all Scripture is full. May it wake up our hearts to praise!
"And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?"
How had the house of Saul collapsed, when it was necessary even for David to ask such a question! But a few years since, Saul was the king of Israel, able to speak of his power to give fields and vineyards to his followers, and to make them captains of hundreds and of thousands. Now his own place knows him no more; and the one who sits on his throne, and desires to do kindness to his house, does not know where to find a member of it!
Saul had been the enemy and bitter persecutor of David, and this desire is the expression of grace indeed, although, as he says, there is one for whose sake he acts, and to whom he had pledged himself in covenant. But this covenant itself was the fruit of love alone. Jonathan had made no great sacrifice for David, -had not shared his fortunes, nor procured for him any mitigation of his sufferings. But David is faithful to his oath and to his love: he could not have been in any wise the figure even of our David, had he not been so.
His question elicits a reply from a certain Ziba, a servant of Saul’s house: "Jonathan has yet a a son who is lame of his feet." And in answer to further inquiry, he learns that he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel in Lodebar. Thus Mephibosheth is introduced to us.
Mephibosheth, in perfect harmony with what we hear from him on this occasion, means "shame out of the mouth." He is the picture of one convicted and self-condemned, impotent and corrupt, as his own figure is, "a dead dog." His impotence is still further emphasized in his lameness, -lame of both feet. In his infirm and solitary condition, he is a perfect contrast with the servant Ziba, with his fifteen sons and twenty servants, but who is still himself, as is the legalist ever, a servant only; and with that curious ambiguity about his name, which Scripture uses so often and so forcefully; for this may mean "planted," or as two words, "drought comes": and this is the legal contingency.
Mephibosheth is of the house of the failed Saul, and yet the son of Jonathan, whose name, "Jehovah has given," reminds us of the unrepenting call and gifts of God, who calls still the "weak things of the world," yea, the base, the despised, and "things that are not," so that he "out of whose mouth" is the confession of his "shame" is still the Mephibosheth, the heir of the covenant of grace.
He is found in the house of Machir, "one who recollects," (and so comes really to himself) the son of Ammiel, of "the people of God," in Lodebar, where "the word is his"* -applies itself, and comes home to him. Brought into David’s presence, he hears the word of restoring grace that enriches him, and bows his heart in gratitude. His place is henceforth to be at the king’s table, as one of his sons. This is the communion to which God brings us as His people; while the mere servant remains the servant. How beautiful in its simplicity is the repetition at the close of this story, "Mephibosheth dwelt at Jerusalem: for he did eat continually at the king’s table; and he was lame in both his feet."
Thus are saved the poor and needy; thus David shows the "kindness of God"; of which, however, all these things are but the faintest shadows. Yet they remind us of that by which, in the ages to come, He shall "show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus."
{*2Sa 9:4. Lo-debar is given in the lexicons as "no pasture," and might translate the word in 2Sa 17:27, but not here, if we allow the ordinary reading, where twice over the "lo" means "to him" or "his." The spiritual meaning seems to agree with this.}
The Books of the Kings.
F. W. Grant.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain 2 Samuel
2 Samuel
ONE FOLD AND ONE SHEPHERD
Read full note →
2Sa 5:1 - 2Sa 5:12.
The dark day on Gilboa put the Philistines in possession of most of Saul’s kingdom. Only in the south David held his ground, and Abner had to cross Jordan to find a place of security for the remnants of the royal house. The completeness of the Philistine conquest is marked, not only by Abner’s flight to Mahanaim, but by the reckoning that David reigned for seven and a half years and Ishbosheth two; for these periods must be supposed to have ended very nearly at the same time, and thus there would be about five years before the invaders were so far got rid of that Ishbosheth exercised sovereignty over his part of Israel. It is singular that David should have been left unattacked by the Philistines, and it is probably to be explained by the friendly relations which had sprung up between Achish, king of Gath, and him {1Sa 29:1 - 1Sa 29:11}. However that may be, his power was continually increasing during his reign at Hebron over Judah, and at last Abner’s death and the assassination of the poor phantom king, Ishbosheth, brought about the total collapse of opposition.
I. This passage deals first with the submission of the tribes and the reunion of the divided kingdom. A comparison of 2Sa 5:1 with 2Sa 5:3 shows that a formal delegation of elders from all the tribes which had held by Ishbosheth, came to Hebron with their submission. The account in I Chronicles is a verbatim copy of this one, with the addition of a glowing picture of the accompanying feasting and joy. It also places much emphasis on the sincerity of David’s new subjects, which needed some endorsement; for loyalty which has been disloyal as long as it durst, may be suspected. The elders have their mouths full of excellent reasons for recognising David’s kingship,-he is their brother; he was their true leader in war, even in Saul’s time; he has been appointed by God to be king and commander. Unfortunately, it had taken the elders seven and a half years to feel the force of these reasons, and probably their perceptions would still have remained dull if Abner and Ishbosheth had lived. But David is both magnanimous and politic, and neither bloodshed nor reproaches mar the close of the strife. Seldom has so formidable a civil war been ended with so complete an amnesty. Observe the expression that David ‘made a league with them. . . before the Lord.’ The Israelitish monarch was no despot, but, in modern language, a constitutional king, between whom and his subjects there was a compact, which he as well as they had to observe. In what sense was it made ‘before the Lord’? The ark was not at Hebron, though the priests were; and the phrase is at once a testimony to the religious character of the ‘league’ and to the consciousness of God’s presence, apart from the symbol of His presence. It points to a higher conception than that which brought the ark to Ebenezer, and dreamed that the ark had brought God to the army. Modern theories of the religious development of the Old Testament ask us to recognise these two conceptions as successive. The fact is that they were contemporaneous, and that the difference between them is not one of time, but of spiritual susceptibility. Who anointed David for this third time? Apparently the elders, for priests are not mentioned. Samuel had anointed him, as token of the divine choice and symbol of the divine gifts for his office. The men of Judah had anointed him, and finally the elders did so, in token of the popular confirmation of God’s choice.
So David has reached the throne at last. Schooled by suffering, and in the full maturity of his powers, enriched by the singularly varied experiences of his changeful life, tempered by the swift alternations of heat and cold, polished by friction, consolidated by heavy blows, he has been welded into a fitting instrument for God’s purposes. Thus does He ever prepare for larger service. Thus does He ever reward patient trust. Through trials to a throne is the law for all noble lives in regard to their earthly progress, as well as in regard to the relation between earth and heaven. But David is not only a pattern instance of how God trains His servants, but he is a prophetic person; and in his progress to his kingdom we have dimly, but really, shadowed the path by which his Son and Lord attains to His,-a path thickly strewn with thorns, and plunging into ‘valleys of the shadow of death’ compared with which David’s darkest hour was sunny. The psalms of the persecuted exile have sounding through them a deeper sorrow; for they ‘testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ.’ ‘No cross, no crown,’ is the lesson of David’s earlier life.
II. We have, next, the first victory of the reunited nation. Hebron was too far south for the capital of the whole kingdom. Jerusalem was more central, and, from its position, surrounded on three sides with steep ravines, was a strong military post. David’s soldier’s eye saw its advantages; and he, no doubt, desired to weld the monarchy together by participation in danger and triumph. The new glow of national unity would seek some great exploit, and would resent as an insult the presence of the Jebusites in their stronghold. The attack on it immediately follows the recognition of David’s kingship. It is not necessary here to discuss the difficulties in 2Sa 5:6 - 2Sa 5:8; but we note that they give, first, the insolent boast of the besieged, then the twofold answer to it in fact and in word, and last, the memorial of the victory in a proverb. Apparently the Jebusites’ taunt is best understood as in the margin of the Revised Version,’ Thou shalt not come in hither, but the blind and the lame shall turn thee away,’ They were so sure that their ravines made them safe, that they either actually manned their walls with blind men and cripples, or jeeringly shouted to the enemy across the valley that these would do for a garrison. The other possible meaning of the words as they stand in the Authorised Version would make ‘the blind and lame’ refer to David’s men, and the taunt would mean, ‘You will have to weed out your men. It will take sharper eyes and more agile limbs than theirs to clamber up here’; but the former explanation is the more probable. Such braggart speeches were quite in the manner of ancient warfare.
2Sa 5:7 tells what the answer to this mocking shout from the ramparts was, David did the impossible, and took the city. Courage built on faith has a way of making the world’s predictions of what it cannot do look rather ridiculous. David wastes no words in answering the taunt; but it stirs him to fierce anger, and nerves him and his men for their desperate charge. The obscure words in 2Sa 5:8, which he speaks to his soldiers, do not need the supplement given in the Authorised Version. The king’s quick eye had seen a practical path for scaling the cliffs up some watercourse, where there might be projections or vegetation to pull oneself up by, or shelter which would hide the assailants from the defenders; and he bids any one who would smite the Jebusites take that road up, and, when he is up, ‘smite.’ He heartens his men for the assault by his description of the enemy. They had talked about ‘blind and lame’; that is what they really are, or as unable to stand against the Israelites’ fierce and sudden burst as if they were: and furthermore, they are’ hated of David’s soul.’ It is a flash of the rage of battle which shows us David in a new light. He was a born captain as well as king; and here he exhibits the general’s power to see, as by instinct, the weak point and to hurl his men on it. His swift decision and fiery eloquence stir his men’s blood like the sound of a trumpet. The proverb that rose from the capture is best read as in the Revised Version: ‘There are the blind and the lame; he cannot come into the house.’ The point of it seems to be that, notwithstanding the bragging Jebusites, he did ‘come into the house’; and so its use would be to ridicule boasting confidence that was falsified by events, as the Jebusites’ had been. It was worth while to record the boast and its end; for they teach the always seasonable lesson of the folly of over-confidence in apparently impregnable defences. It is a lesson of worldly prudence, but still more of religion. There is always some ‘watercourse’ overlooked by us, up which the enemy may make his way. Overestimate of our own strength and its companion folly, flippant underestimate of the enemy’s power, are, in all worldly affairs, the sure precursors of disaster; and in the Christian life the only safe temper is that of the man who ‘feareth always,’ as knowing his own weakness and the strength of his foe, and thereby is driven to that trust which casts out fear.
On the other hand, David’s exploit reads us anew the lesson that to the Christian soldier there is nothing impossible, with Jesus Christ for our Captain. There are many unconquered fortresses of evil still to be carried by assault, and they look steep and inaccessible enough; but there is some way up, and He will show it us. For our own personal struggle with sin, and for the Church’s conflict with social evils, this story is an encouragement and a prophecy.
Jerusalem was captured by a reunited nation with its king at its head. As long as our miserable divisions weaken and disgrace us, the Church fights at a disadvantage; and the hoary fortresses of the foe will not be won till Judah ceases to vex Ephraim, and Ephraim no more envies Judah, but all Christ’s servants in one host, with the King known by each to be with them, make the assault.
III. We have, lastly, the growth of the kingdom. I pass over topographical questions, which need not concern us here. The points recorded are David’s establishment in the stronghold, his additions to the city, his increasing greatness and its reason in the presence and favour of ‘the God of hosts,’ the special instance of this in the friendly intercourse with Hiram of Tyre and the employment of Tyrian workmen, and the recognition of the source and the purpose of his prosperity by the devout king. We see here the conditions of true success,-’The Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.’ We see also the right use of it,-’David perceived that the Lord had established him king.’ He was not puffed up into self-importance by his elevation, but devoutly and clearly saw who had set him in his lofty place. And, as he traced his royalty to God, so he recognised that he had received it, not for himself, but as a trust to be used, not in self-indulgence, but for the national good,-’and that He had exalted his kingdom for His people Israel’s sake.’ Whosoever holds firmly by these two thoughts, and lives them, will adorn his position, whatever it may be, and will be one of God’s crowned kings, however obscure his lot and small his duties. He who lacks them will misuse his gifts and mar his life, and the more splendid his endowments and the higher his position, the more conspicuous will be his ruin and the heavier his guilt.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain David is anointed King, captures Jerusalem, and smites the…
David is anointed King, captures Jerusalem, and smites the Philistines
1. There was no longer any member of the house of Saul who could take the lead.
Read full note →
2. Feed] lit. 'act as shepherd to' (cp. 2Sa_7:7;). 'Shepherd' became a technical term for a ruler (Jer_3:15). The figure is developed in Ezekiel 34.
4. The capture of Jerusalem marks a most important point in the history of Israel. Hitherto, the national life had had no real centre; the residence of a judge or a prophet or a king would be a temporary rallying place, such as the 'palm-tree of Deborah,' Shiloh (see on 1Sa_7:1), Mizpah, Gibeah (of Saul), Nob or Hebron. From this time, the centre is fixed, and, at least for the southern kingdom, all the other cities grew less and less important in comparison with the new capital. Its position, however, in the midst of the rocky, barren ridge running down central Palestine, made it always more suitable for a fortress than a commercial and wealthy capital, such as Solomon tried to make it.
6. Except thou take away the blind and the lame] RM 'but the blind and the lame shall turn thee away.' The Jebusites considered their city so strong that it needed no other defenders.
7. The strong hold of Zion] called later on the 'city' (i.e. citadel) 'of David,' because he built and fortified it. It is to be noticed that the city of David does not mean the city of Jerusalem but the fort on Mt. Zion. David does not yet venture to live in Jerusalem itself, outside the fort.
The city of Jerusalem is built on high ground, which is shaped like a cloven tongue; and it is probable that the 'city of David' occupied the eastern 'tip,' behind which rose in later times the Temple. Gradually the city spread to the western 'tip' of the tongue. 'Millo' appears to be the name of the part of the city which was not fortified; its meaning is uncertain; later on it also was included within the fortifications. The original 'city of David' is thus a triangle, two sides of which are naturally protected, and the third, probably at this time, as later, artificially. Below the height on which the fort is built is the Kidron valley.
8. LXX reads 'Whosoever smites the Jebusite, let him slay with the sword both the lame and the blind, and those who hate David's soul.' 1Ch_11:6-9 reads, 'Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain,' and adds, 'And Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, and was made chief' (RV).
9. Millo] see on 2Sa_5:7 and Jdg_9:6.
11. Hiram] If we accept the statements of Josephus, this Hiram was the father of Solomon's friend (1Ki_5:1). Tyre] the leading city of Phœnicia. They built] For the skill of the Phœnicians in masonry and building see 1Ki_5:7.
14-16. The list of David's sons is given also in 1Ch_3:5.; 1Ch_14:4. The variations are interesting and instructive.
14. Nathan] one of the ancestors of the Messiah (Luk_3:31).
17. This was a united and determined effort to crush David before he became too powerful.
The hold] It is uncertain what place is meant.
18. The valley of Rephaim] a valley SW. of Jerusalem, separated by a slight, rocky ridge from the valley of Hinnom.
20. Baal-perazim] Perazim means 'breaches.' Hence the play upon words. 'The Lord has made a breach.. like the breach.. he called the name.. Breaches.' It is common to find the names of places compounded with the name of the Baal to whom they were considered to belong: e.g. Baal-Peor, Baal-Gad, Baal-Perazim. Here the Baal is, of course, Jehovah.
21. Their images] They had brought them into the battle to secure victory: cp. 1Sa_4:3. Burned them] RV 'took them away,' i.e. as trophies.
23. Thou shalt not go up] LXX adds 'to meet them.'
24. The sound of a going] RV 'the sound of marching.' It was the heavenly host marching to join in the attack on the Philistines.
25. Geba] LXX and Chronicles both have Gibeon, which is doubtless correct. This battle is apparently referred to in Isa_28:21, where also we have Gibeon.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain 1. David Anointed King over all Israel
II. DAVID KING OVER ALL ISRAEL AND THE EVENTS OF HIS REIGN
1. David Anointed King over all Israel
Read full note →
CHAPTER 5:1-5
1. David anointed king over all Israel (2Sa 5:1-3)
2. Duration of his reign (2Sa 5:4-5)
The events of the reign of David over Judah had a beneficial effect upon all Israel. After Ish-bosheth’s death all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron. It is a blessed scene when they appear to anoint him King over all Israel. 1 Chronicles 12 should here be consulted. In that chapter the names of those are given who stood by David. In verse 38 we read: “All these men of war, that could keep rank, came with a perfect heart to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel; and all the rest also of Israel were of one heart to make David king.” The coming of all Israel to Hebron was one of the most magnificent spectacles in the history of the nation. One only needs to take a pencil and add the numbers mentioned in 1Ch 12:24-37 to find what a great army had gathered to make David king. There were 1222 chiefs and 339,600 men. Here we see a united Israel swept by a tremendous enthusiasm. Now they own him as their own bone and flesh; the victories of the past are remembered as well as the divine promise that he, David the Bethlehemite, should be the shepherd of Israel as well as their captain.
But there is coming for Israel a greater day than the day in Hebron, when they anointed David king. It foreshadows but faintly the glorious day when their long rejected King-Messiah, the Son of David, comes again. Then they will own Him and He will own them. They will also know and remember all God has done through Him. He will then indeed be the Shepherd and King of Israel. All this and much more is foreshadowed in David’s coronation and his reign. David is the type of the coming reign of our Lord as “King of Righteousness” while Solomon and his reign typify Him as “King of Peace.” And David made a covenant with them in Hebron as the Lord Jesus will enter into covenant with the nation in the day of His return.
Then the duration of David’s reign is given. Seven years and six months he reigned over Judah and over all Israel and Judah 33 years. The record here does not speak of the great feast which was made at Hebron. We find this also mentioned in 1Ch 12:39-40. It is typical of the time of joy and rejoicing in Israel and throughout the world, when the true King has come. Then the great feast of which Isaiah speaks will take place (Isa 25:6-10).
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain David Anointed King over all Israel
David Anointed King over all Israel
v. 1. Then, after the death of both Abner and Ishbosheth, came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spake, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh, they were all kinsmen of blood by descent from a common ancestor, David not being a foreign usurper, a stranger coming into the country from elsewhere.
Read full note →
v. 2. Also in time past, when Saul was king over us, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel, 1Sa 18:13-16, he had been the most trusted leader in their military campaigns; and the Lord said to thee, Thou shalt feed My people Israel, like a shepherd taking the most tender care of the sheep entrusted to him, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel, their prince in defending them from their enemies. This was the last and strongest ground for their proposal, the Lord’s immediate call, as based upon the word of God to Samuel, 1Sa 15:28; for the prophets of Naioth in Ramah undoubtedly made this fact known. Note that the king’s function as shepherd of the people is mentioned first, a hint for the rulers of all times.
v. 3. So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron, as the representatives of the tribes; and King David made a league with them in Hebron before the Lord, a covenant in the presence of God, David accepting their promise of obedience and assuring them of a just and merciful reign. And they anointed David king over Israel, the anointing by Samuel, 1 Samuel 16, l. 12, being now confirmed by that of the entire people.
v. 4. David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
v. 5. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah. Cf 1Ch 29:27. After the long years of suffering, privations, and persecutions, David now enjoyed the fulfillment of God’s promise to him. In the midst of all tribulations and afflictions the believers still look up to God, knowing that they mill yet bless Him who is the help of their countenance and their God.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 we are your flesh and bone
we are your flesh and bone
This phrase means "a relative." AT: "we are related to you" or "we are of the same family" - (See: Idiom)
Read full note →
In the recent past
This is historical information. Saul had been their king before David. (See: Background Information)
You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become ruler over Israel
These two clauses mean basically the same thing and emphasize that Yahweh had chosen David to be king. (See: Parallelism)
You will shepherd my people Israel
Here ruling over the people is spoken of as shepherding them. AT: "You will care for my people Israel" or "You will rule over my people Israel" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
tribe
Israel
David
Hebron
flesh
Saul (OT)
king
Yahweh
shepherd
people of God
rule
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 5:1-25 After the murder of Abner and Ishbosheth, the…
5:1-25 After the murder of Abner and Ishbosheth, the elders of the northern tribes accepted David as their king. David thus obtained an extended empire (5:1-5), a new capital city (5:6-10), a new palace (5:11), a new family (5:13-16), and renewed confidence (5:17-25).
5:1 your own flesh and blood: Years of civil war had set brother against brother, resulting in much bloodshed (see 3:1).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.