1 Chronicles 12:5

12:1-22 Here is an account of those who appeared and acted as David's friends, while he was persecuted. No difficulties or dangers should keep the sinner from coming to the Savior, nor drive the believer from the path of duty. Those who break through, and overcome in these attempts, will find abundant recompence. From the words of Amasai we may learn how to testify our affection and allegiance to the Lord Jesus; his we must be throughly; on his side we must be forward to appear and act. If we are under the influence of the Spirit, we shall desire to have our lot among them, and to declare ourselves on their side; if in faith and love we embrace the cause of Christ, he will receive, employ, and advance us.

Verse 5. - Jerimoth . This name is found also among Benjamites ( 1 Chronicles 7:8 ). Bealiah . This name comprises both the word Baal , and Jah ! Haruphite . The Masoretic word is חחֲרִיפי ( Nehemiah 7:34 ). The sons of Hariph ( Nehemiah 7:24 ) may have belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. 1 Chronicles 12:5

(5) Jerimoth. —A Benjamite name ( 1Chronicles 7:7-8 ). Bealiah.—Baal is Jah. (Comp. Note on 1Chronicles 8:33.) Such names indicate that “Baal” was once a title of the God of Israel. The Haruphite.—Nehemiah 7:24 mentions the “sons of Hariph” just before the “sons of Gibeon.” The Hebrew margin here is “Hariphite.”

The skill of the Benjamites as archers is noted in 1 Chronicles 8:40 , and 2 Chronicles 14:8 . Their proficiency in using the left hand appears in the narrative of Judges ( Judges 3:15 , and marginal reference) where their special excellency as slingers is also noticed. Even of Saul's brethren - Compare 1 Chronicles 12:29. Even of Saul's own tribe there were some who separated themselves from his cause, and threw in their lot with David.

4. Ismaiah the Gibeonite—It appears that not only the Canaanites who were admitted into the congregation (Jos 9:1-27), but people of the tribe of Benjamin, were among the inhabitants of Gibeon. The mention of "the Gederathite," probably from Gederah (Jos 15:36), in the lowlands of Judah; of the Korhites (1Ch 12:6), from Korah (1Ch 2:43), and of Gedor (1Ch 12:7), a town in Judah, to the southwest of Beth-lehem (compare 1Ch 4:4), shows that this first list contains men of Judah as well as Benjamin [Bertheau].

החרוּפי (Keri החריפי) is a patronymic, which denotes either one descended from Haruph, or belonging to the חריף בּני mentioned in Nehemiah 7:34 along with the Gibeonites. The קרחים, Korahites, in 1 Chronicles 12:6 are, without doubt (cf. Delitzsch, Ps. S. 300), descendants of the Levite Korah, one division of whom David made guardian of the thresholds of the tent erected for the ark of the covenant on Zion, because their fathers had been watchers of the entrance of the camp of Jahve, i.e., had in that earlier time held the office of watchers by the tabernacle; see on 1 Chronicles 9:18 . The names Elkanah and Azareel are thoroughly Levitic names, and their service in the porter's office in the holy place may have roused in them the desire to fight for David, the chosen of the Lord. But there is no reason why we should, with Bertheau, interpret the words as denoting descendants of the almost unknown Korah of the tribe of Judah ( 1 Chronicles 2:43 ), or, with the older commentators, refer it to some other unmentioned Benjamite who bore this name.

The explanation of the connection existing between these Levitic Korahites and the Benjamites, which is presupposed by the mention of them among the Benjamites, may be found in the fact that the Levites received no tribal domain of their own, and possessed only cities for dwelling in in the domains of the other tribes, with whom they were consequently civilly incorporated, so that those who dwelt in the cities of Benjamin were properly reckoned among the Benjamites. At the partition of the land under Joshua, it is true, only the priests received their cities in Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin; while, on the contrary, the Kohathites, who were not priests, among whom the Korahites were, received their cities in the tribal domain of Ephraim, Dan, and half-Manasseh ( Joshua 21:9-26 ). But when the tabernacle was transferred from Shiloh to Nob, and afterwards to Gibeon, the Korahite doorkeepers must, without doubt, have migrated to one of the Levitic cities of Benjamin, probably for the most part to Gibeon, and who were reckoned among the Benjamites. As to הגּדור מן, vide 1 Chronicles 12:4 . If this be so, there remains no cogent reason for supposing that in our register, besides the Benjamites, men out of other tribes are also introduced.