2 Samuel 5:1

2 Samuel ONE FOLD AND ONE SHEPHERD2 Samuel 5:1 - 2 Samuel 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 { 1 Samuel 29:1 - 1 Samuel 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 2 Samuel 5:1 with 2 Samuel 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.

(1) All the tribes. —Not only as represented by their elders ( 2Samuel 5:3 ), but by the large bodies of their warriors enumerated in 1Chronicles 12:23-40 . It is to be noticed, then, that the “children of Judah” ( 1Chronicles 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 ( 1Chronicles 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. Genesis 29:14; Judges 9:2; 2Samuel 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.

2 Samuel 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.

Ch. 2 Samuel 5:1-5 . David anointed king over all Israel 2 Samuel 5:1-3 = 1 Chronicles 11:1-3 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 1 Samuel 10:17 . we are thy bone and thy flesh ] An expression denoting close relationship in virtue of common descent. Cp. Genesis 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 Deuteronomy 17:15 : with the second compare ch. 2 Samuel 3:18 .