Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Chronicles 12:1
Now these [are] they that came to David to Ziklag, while he yet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish: and they [were] among the mighty men, helpers of the war.
1 7. Benjamite Adherents of David
1. to Ziklag ] David at Ziklag was a client of Achish, king of Gath (1Sa 27:5-6), so that the Benjamites in joining him were putting themselves under their hereditary enemies the Philistines. The yoke of Saul seemed heavy even to his own tribe (cp. 1Sa 8:11-18).
while he yet kept himself close ] Render, while he was yet shut up. David was shut in, as in a prison, and unable to move freely through the land of Israel.
helpers of the war ] R.V. his helpers in war.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
This chapter is composed wholly of matter that is new to us, no corresponding accounts occurring in Samuel. It comprises four lists:
(1) One of men, chiefly Benjamites, who joined David at Ziklag 1Ch 12:1-7;
(2) A second of Gadites who united themselves to him when he was in a stronghold near the desert 1Ch 12:8-15;
(3) A third of Manassites who came to him when he was dismissed by the Philistines upon suspicion 1Ch 12:19-22; and
(4) A fourth of the numbers from the different tribes who attended and made him king at Hebron 1 Chr. 12:23-40.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Ch 12:1
Now these are they that came to David to Ziklag.
Good men centres of lawful activity
The good and the great draw others after them; they lighten and lift up all who are within reach of their influence. They are so many living centres of beneficent activity. Let a man of energetic and upright character be appointed to a position of trust and authority, and all who serve under him become, as it were, conscious of an increase of power. (S. Smiles.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XII
The different persons, captains, c., who joined themselves
to David at Ziklag, 1-22.
Those who joined him at Hebron, out of the different tribes
Judah, Simeon, Levi, the house of Aaron, Benjamin, Ephraim,
Manasseh, Issachar, Zebulun, Naphtali, Dan, Asher, Reuben,
&c., to the amount of a hundred and twenty thousand, 23-37.
Their unanimity, and the provisions they brought for his
support, 38-40.
NOTES ON CHAP. XII
Verse 1. Came to David to Ziklag] Achish, king of Gath, had given Ziklag to David, as a safe retreat from the wrath of Saul.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
While he yet kept himself close, or, was shut up, or shut out, from his own land and people; for he speaks not of that time when he was shut up and hid himself in caves in the land of Judah, but when he was at Ziklag.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1-7. Now these are they that came toDavid to ZiklagThere are three lists given in this chapter,arranged, apparently, according to the order of time when the partiesjoined the standard of David.
while he yet kept himselfclose because of Saulthat is, when the king’s jealousy haddriven him into exile from the court and the country.
Ziklag(See on 1Sa27:6). It was during his retirement in that Philistine town thathe was joined in rapid succession by the heroes who afterwardscontributed so much to the glory of his reign.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now these are they that came to David to Ziklag,…. Given him by Achish to live in, when he fled from Saul, 1Sa 27:6
while he yet kept himself close, because of Saul the son of Kish; when he was an exile from his own country, and obliged to live retired in a foreign one, because of Saul’s persecution of him, and seeking to take away his life:
and they were among the mighty men, helpers of the war; not against Saul, with whom David had none, but with the Amalekites, and others, 1Sa 27:8.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Benjamites who came to David to Ziklag. – 1Ch 12:1. Ziklag was originally allotted to the Simeonites by Joshua (Jos 19:5; 1Ch 4:30), but at a later time came into possession of the Philistines, and was assigned and presented by king Achish to David, who had fled for refuge to him, as a dwelling-place for himself and his followers; see 1Sa 27:1-7. As to its situation, which has not yet been with certainty ascertained, see the discussion on Jos 15:31. In it David dwelt for a year and four months, until he went to Hebron on the death of Saul. During this time it was that the warriors of the tribe of Benjamin mentioned in the succeeding register went over to him, as we learn from the words , “he was still held back before Saul,” a concise expression for “while he was still held back before Saul.” This last expression, however, does not signify, “hindered from coming before Saul” (Berth.), but inter Israelitas publice versari prohibitus (J. H. Mich.), or rather, “before Saul, imprisoned as it were, without being able to appear in a manner corresponding to his divine election to be ruler over Israel.” , and they were among the heroes, i.e., belonged to the heroes, the helpers of the war, i.e., to those who helped him in his former wars; cf. 1Ch 12:17., 21f.
1Ch 12:2-4 , “those preparing bows,” i.e., those armed with bows, synonymous with (1Ch 8:40); cf. 2Ch 17:17; Psa 78:9. “With the right and left hand practised upon stones,” i.e., to hurl stones, cf. Jdg 20:16; “and in arrows on the bow,” i.e., to shoot therewith. , of Saul’s brethren, i.e., of the men of the tribe, not “of his nearer relatives,” and consequently of Benjamin, has been added as an explanation; cf. 1Ch 12:29, where and are synonyms. – In 1Ch 12:3. we have the names. , the head, i.e., the leader of this host of warriors; compare 1Ch 5:7, 1Ch 5:12. , cf. Gibeah of Saul or Benjamin, cf. 1Ch 11:31; and for its situation, see on Jos 18:28. , from the priests’ city Anathoth, now Anata; see on Jos 18:24. In 1Ch 12:4 the Gibeonite Ismaiah is called “hero among the thirty, and over the thirty,” – words which can hardly have any other sense than that Ismaiah belonged also to David’s corps of thirty heroes (1 Chron 11), and was (temporarily) their leader, although his name does not occur in 1 Chron 11. It is probable that the reason of the omission was, that at the time when the list was prepared he was no longer alive. , of Gedera, a city of the tribe of Judah in the Shephelah, which, according to Van de Velde ( Reise, ii. S. 166), was probably identical with the village Ghedera, which lies to the left of the road Tel-es-Safieh to Akir, about an hour to the south-west of Jabne. In any case, it corresponds well with the statements of the Onom. As to Gedrus, or Gaedur, see on Jos 15:36. Immediately afterwards in 1Ch 12:7 Gedor is mentioned, a city in the mountains of Judah, to the westward of the road which leads from Hebron to Jerusalem (see on Jos 15:58); and from that fact Bertheau imagines we must conclude that the men of Judah are enumerated as well as the Benjamites. But this conclusion is not valid; for from the very beginning, when the domains and cities were assigned to the individual tribes under Joshua, they were not the exclusive possession of the individual tribes, and at a later period they were still less so. In course of time the respective tribal domains underwent (in consequence of wars and other events) many alterations, not only in extent, but also in regard to their inhabitants, so that in Saul’s time single Benjamite families may quite well have had their home in the cities of Judah.
1Ch 12:5-7 ( Keri ) is a patronymic, which denotes either one descended from Haruph, or belonging to the mentioned in Neh 7:34 along with the Gibeonites. The , Korahites, in 1Ch 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 1Ch 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 (1Ch 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 (Josh 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 , vide 1Ch 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. With that there falls away at once Bertheau’s further conclusion, that the author of the Chronicle has considerably abridged the register, and that from 1Ch 12:4 onwards men of Judah also are named, the list of whom must certainly (?) have been originally introduced by special superscription similar to those in 1Ch 12:8, 1Ch 12:16, 1Ch 12:19. His further reason for his conjecture – namely, that our register makes use of the qualificative epithets, “the Gibeathite,” “the Anathothite,” etc., only in a few special cases-is of no force whatever; for we are not justified in assuming that we may expect to find here, as in the register in 1 Chron 11:26-47, such qualificatives after every individual name. The character of our register cannot be arrived at by a comparison with the list of David’s heroes in 1 Chron 11; it should rather be sought for by comparing it with the succeeding list, whose contents are of a similar kind with its own. David’s chosen corps of thirty heroes was much more important for the history of his reign, than the lists of the men who joined themselves to him and fought on his behalf before he ascended the throne. For that reason the thirty heroes are not only mentioned by name, but their descent also is told us, while that more detailed information is not given with regard to the others just mentioned. Only the names of the Gadites and Manassites are mentioned; of the Benjamites and men of Judah, who came to him in the mountain fastness (1Ch 12:16-18), the name of only one, Amasai, is given; while of the Benjamites who came to Ziklag, 1Ch 12:3-7, such qualificative statements are made in reference to only a few individuals, and in these cases the object probably was to distinguish them from other well-known persons of the same name.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| David’s Army. | B. C. 1055. |
1 Now these are they that came to David to Ziklag, while he yet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish: and they were among the mighty men, helpers of the war. 2 They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of a bow, even of Saul’s brethren of Benjamin. 3 The chief was Ahiezer, then Joash, the sons of Shemaah the Gibeathite; and Jeziel, and Pelet, the sons of Azmaveth; and Berachah, and Jehu the Antothite, 4 And Ismaiah the Gibeonite, a mighty man among the thirty, and over the thirty; and Jeremiah, and Jahaziel, and Johanan, and Josabad the Gederathite, 5 Eluzai, and Jerimoth, and Bealiah, and Shemariah, and Shephatiah the Haruphite, 6 Elkanah, and Jesiah, and Azareel, and Joezer, and Jashobeam, the Korhites, 7 And Joelah, and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham of Gedor. 8 And of the Gadites there separated themselves unto David into the hold to the wilderness men of might, and men of war fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as the roes upon the mountains; 9 Ezer the first, Obadiah the second, Eliab the third, 10 Mishmannah the fourth, Jeremiah the fifth, 11 Attai the sixth, Eliel the seventh, 12 Johanan the eighth, Elzabad the ninth, 13 Jeremiah the tenth, Machbanai the eleventh. 14 These were of the sons of Gad, captains of the host: one of the least was over a hundred, and the greatest over a thousand. 15 These are they that went over Jordan in the first month, when it had overflown all his banks; and they put to flight all them of the valleys, both toward the east, and toward the west. 16 And there came of the children of Benjamin and Judah to the hold unto David. 17 And David went out to meet them, and answered and said unto them, If ye be come peaceably unto me to help me, mine heart shall be knit unto you: but if ye be come to betray me to mine enemies, seeing there is no wrong in mine hands, the God of our fathers look thereon, and rebuke it. 18 Then the spirit came upon Amasai, who was chief of the captains, and he said, Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse: peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers; for thy God helpeth thee. Then David received them, and made them captains of the band. 19 And there fell some of Manasseh to David, when he came with the Philistines against Saul to battle: but they helped them not: for the lords of the Philistines upon advisement sent him away, saying, He will fall to his master Saul to the jeopardy of our heads. 20 As he went to Ziklag, there fell to him of Manasseh, Adnah, and Jozabad, and Jediael, and Michael, and Jozabad, and Elihu, and Zilthai, captains of the thousands that were of Manasseh. 21 And they helped David against the band of the rovers: for they were all mighty men of valour, and were captains in the host. 22 For at that time day by day there came to David to help him, until it was a great host, like the host of God.
We have here an account of those that appeared and acted as David’s friends, upon the death of Saul, to bring about the revolution. All the forces he had, while he was persecuted, was but 600 men, who served for his guards; but, when the time had come that he must begin to act offensively, Providence brought in more to his assistance. Even while he kept himself close, because of Saul (v. 1), while he did not appear, to invite or encourage his friends and well-wishers to come in to him (not foreseeing that the death of Saul was so near), God was inclining and preparing them to come over to him with seasonable succours. Those that trust God to do his work for them in his own way and time shall find his providence outdoing all their forecast and contrivance. The war was God’s, and he found out helpers of the war, whose forwardness to act for the man God designed for the government is here recorded to their honour.
I. Some, even of Saul’s brethren, of the tribe of Benjamin, and a-kin to him, came over to David, v. 2. What moved them to it we are not told. Probably a generous indignation at the base treatment which Saul, one of their tribe, gave him, animated them to appear the more vigorously for him, that the guilt and reproach of it might not lie upon them. These Benjamites are described to be men of great dexterity, that were trained up in shooting and slinging, and used both hands alike–ingenious active men; a few of these might do David a great deal of service. Several of the leading men of them are here named. See Judg. xx. 16.
II. Some of the tribe of Gad, though seated on the other side Jordan, had such a conviction of David’s title to the government, and fitness for it, that they separated themselves from their brethren (a laudable separation it was) to go to David, though he was in the hold in the wilderness (v. 8), probably some of his strong holds in the wilderness of Engedi. They were but few, eleven in all, here named, but they added much to David’s strength. Those that had hitherto come in to his assistance were most of them men of broken fortunes, distressed, discontented, and soldiers of fortune, that came to him rather for protection than to do him any service, 1 Sam. xxii. 2. But these Gadites were brave men, men of war, and fit for the battle, v. 8. For, 1. They were able-bodied men, men of incredible swiftness, not to fly from, but to fly upon, the enemy, and to pursue the scattered forces. In this they were as swift as the roes upon the mountains, so that no man could escape from them; and yet they had faces like the faces of lions, so that no man could out-fight them. 2. They were disciplined men, trained up to military exercises; they could handle shield and buckler, use both offensive and defensive weapons. 3. They were officers of the militia in their own tribe (v. 14), so that though they did not bring soldiers with them they had them at command, hundreds, thousands. 4. They were daring men, that could break through the greatest difficulties. Upon some expedition or other, perhaps this to David, they swam over the Jordan, when it overflowed all its banks, v. 15. Those are fit to be employed in the cause of God that can venture thus in a dependence upon the divine protection. 5. They were men that would go through with the business they engaged in. What enemies those were that they met with in the valleys, when they had passed Jordan, does not appear; but they put them to flight with their lion-like faces, and pursued them with matchless fury, both towards the east and towards the west; which way soever they turned, they followed their blow, and did not do their work by halves.
III. Some of Judah and Benjamin came to him, v. 16. Their leader was Amasai, whether the same with that Amasa that afterwards sided with Absalom (2 Sam. xvii. 25) or no does not appear. Now here we have,
1. David’s prudent treaty with them, v. 17. He was surprised to see them, and could not but conceive some jealousy of the intentions of their coming, having been so often in danger by the treachery of the men of Ziph and the men of Keilah, who yet were all men of Judah. He might well be timorous whose life was so much struck at; he might well be suspicious who had been deceived in so many that he said, in his haste, All men are liars. No marvel that he meets these men of Judah with caution. Observe,
(1.) How he puts the matter to themselves, how fairly he deals with them. As they are, they shall find him; so shall all that deal with the Son of David. [1.] If they be faithful and honourable, he will be their rewarder: “If you have come peaceably unto me, to help me, though you have come late and have left me exposed a great while, though you bring no great strength with you to turn the scale for me, yet I will thankfully accept your good-will, and my heart shall be knit unto you; I will love you and honour you, and do you all the kindness I can.” Affection, respect, and service, that are cordial and sincere, will find favour with a good man, as they do with a good God, though clogged with infirmities, and turning to no great account. But, [2.] If they be false, and come to betray him into the hands of Saul, under colour of friendship, he leaves them to God to be their avenger, as he is, and will be, of every thing that is treacherous and perfidious. Never was man more violently run upon, and run down, than David was (except the Son of David himself), and yet he had the testimony of his conscience that there was no wrong in his hands. He meant no harm to any man, which was his rejoicing in the day of evil, and enabled him, when he feared treachery, to commit his cause to him that judges righteously. He will not be judge in his own cause, though a wise man, nor avenge himself, though a man of valour; but let the righteous God, who hath said, Vengeance is mine, do both. The God of our fathers look thereon and rebuke it.
(2.) In this appeal observe, [1.] He calls God the God of our fathers, both his fathers and theirs. Thus he reminded them not to deal ill with him; for they were both descendants from the same patriarchs, and both dependents on the same God. Thus he encouraged himself to believe that God would right him if he should be abused; for he was the God of his fathers and therefore a blessing was entailed on him, and a God to all Israel and therefore not only a Judge to all the earth, but particularly concerned in determining controversies between contesting Israelites. [2.] He does not imprecate any fearful judgement upon them, though they should deal treacherously, but very modestly refers his cause to the divine wisdom and justice: The Lord look thereon, and judge as he sees (for he sees men’s hearts), and rebuke it. It becomes those that appeal to God to express themselves with great temper and moderation; for the wrath of man works not the righteousness of God.
2. Their hearty closure with him, v. 18. Amasai was their spokesman, on whom the Spirit of the Lord came, not a spirit of prophecy, but a spirit of wisdom and resolution, according to the occasion, putting words into his mouth, unpremeditated, which were proper both to give David satisfaction and to animate those that accompanied him. Nothing could be said finer, more lively, or more pertinent to the occasion. For himself and all his associates, (1.) He professed a very cordial adherence to David, and his interest, against all that opposed him, and a resolution to stand by him with the hazard of all that was dear to him: Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse. In calling him son of Jesse they reminded themselves that he was lineally descended from Nahshon and Salmon, who in their days were princes of the tribe of Judah. Saul called him so in disdain (1Sa 20:27; 1Sa 22:7), but they looked upon it as his honour. They were convinced that God was on his side; and therefore, Thine are we, David, and on thy side. It is good, if we must side, to side with those that side with God and have God with them. (2.) He wished prosperity to David and his cause, not drinking a health, but praying for peace to him and all his friends and well-wishers: “Peace, peace, be unto thee, all the good thy heart desires, and peace be to thy helpers, among whom we desire to be reckoned, that peace may be on us.” (3.) He assured him of help from heaven: “For thy God helpeth thee; therefore we wish peace may be, and therefore we doubt not but peace shall be, to thee and thy helpers. God is thy God, and those that have him for their God no doubt have him for their helper in every time of need and danger.” From these expressions of Amasai we may take instruction how to testify our affection and allegiance to the Lord Jesus. His we must be without reservation or power of revocation. On his side we must be forward to appear and act. To his interest we must be hearty well-wishers: “Hosanna! prosperity to his gospel and kingdom;” for his God helpeth him, and will till he shall have put down all opposing rule, principality, and power.
3. David’s cheerful acceptance of them into his interest and friendship. Charity and honour teach us to let fall our jealousies as soon as satisfaction is given us: David received them, and preferred them to be captains of the band.
IV. Some of Manasseh likewise joined with him, v. 19. Providence gave them a fair opportunity to do so when he and his men marched through their country upon this occasion. Achish took David with him when he went out to fight with Saul; but the lords of the Philistines obliged him to withdraw. We have the story, 1 Sam. xxix. 4, c. In his return some great men of Manasseh, who had no heart to join with Saul against the Philistines struck in with David, and very seasonably, to help him against the band of Amalekites who plundered Ziklag they were not many, but they were all mighty men and did David good service upon that occasion, 1 Sam. xxx. See how Providence provides. David’s interest grew strangely just when he had occasion to make use of it, v. 22. Auxiliary forces flocked in daily, till he had a great host. When the promise comes to the birth, leave it to God to find strength to bring forth.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
To David’s Aid, 1Ch 12:1-7
The men named in these seven verses were early supporters of David, who left their homes and went into exile with him at Ziklag. This was while David was living under the protection of Achish, the king of Gath. They were very useful to him in his wars and came to be numbered among his mighty men. They were excellent bowmen, and being ambidextrous, could hurl stones and shoot arrows equally well.
It is interesting that several of these were of Saul’s own kinsmen, the first two named being from his own capital, Gibeah. Five other Benjamites are also named. Ismaiah, who became one of the captains among the thirty mighty men, came from Gibeon, in western Benjamin. One came from Anathoth, a priest city, near Jerusalem.
Five others were Levite members of the family of Korah, who were later prominent officials in the temple (1Ch 9:19). Three men came from Gedor in the tribe of Judah, while the remaining eight were probably also from Judah. None of the known deeds of the mighty men are ascribed specifically to these, but they must have been brave, loyal, and dependable soldiers for David.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.] This chapter entirely new mattersupplementary to Samuelcontains a list of those who joined David in time of Saul (1Ch. 12:1-22), and of those who came to make him king over Israel (1Ch. 12:23-40).
1Ch. 12:1-7.Benjamin and Judah came to Ziklag. A town which belonged to Simeon (Jos. 19:5), but given to David for residence it fell to Judah. Close, hidden (cf. 1Sa. 17:30). Brethren, i.e., Benjamites, i.e., members of the same tribe; disgusted with his treatment of David or persuaded that God was with him. 1Ch. 12:3. Azmav. (1Ch. 8:13; 1Ch. 8:30; 1Ch. 11:33). 1Ch. 12:4. Geder. (Jos. 15:36). 1Ch. 12:5. The Haruph., sons of Hariph (Neh. 7:24), probably Benjamites. 1Ch. 12:6. Korahites, not of tribe of Levi, but descendants of some Korah of Judah. 1Ch. 12:7. Gedor (ch. 1Ch. 4:4).
1Ch. 12:8-15.Gadites aided David. Hold, cave of Adullam, or a fort in wilderness of Judah (1Sa. 22:5); faces (cf. 2Sa. 1:2-3; 2Sa. 2:18); buckler, lance or spear (1Ch. 12:24). 1Ch. 12:15. Jordan, to help brethren (cf. Jos. 3:15), first month, in spring, when river is swollen; valleys, literally all the valley on both sides Jordan. 1Ch. 12:14. Over, equal to (as in margin).
1Ch. 12:16-18.Men of Judah and Benjamin. 1Ch. 12:17. Meet. David reason to suspect perhaps, feared treachery and required a solemn declaration. 1Ch. 12:18. Came upon, literally clothed. A. spoke not of himself, but as the Spirit of God prompted him.
1Ch. 12:19-22.Men of Manasseh. Seven are given who joined David, when dismissed by Philistines from their army (cf. 1Sa. 29:1-11). 1Ch. 12:21. Band, the troop of Amalek (1Sa. 30:8), which sacked Ziklag during absence of David. 1Ch. 12:22. Host of God, a formula for great things.
1Ch. 12:23-40.Different tribes who attended and made David king at Hebron. 1Ch. 12:24-25. Judah and Simeon, two southern tribes, had already acknowledged David. 1Ch. 12:26-28. Many of the Levites closely associated with these tribes. Jehoiada, father of Benaiah (1Ch. 11:22); leader, commander of priestly troops. Zadok became high-priest at a later time (2Sa. 8:17; 1Ki. 1:8). 1Ch. 12:29. Benjamites few, for greater part still in service of Sauls house. 1Ch. 12:30. Famous, men of name or renown. 1Ch. 12:31. Expressed, i.e., nominated and deputed by the rest of the tribe to go to Hebron and make David king [Speak. Com.]. 1Ch. 12:32. Understanding, best interpreted politically (Est. 1:13) [Speak. Com.]. 1Ch. 12:33. Not of double heart, falling into rank not with double heart, i.e., with firm and faithful mind. Naphtali decided, Dan in full strength, and Asher in great force. 1Ch. 12:37. A large contingent from eastern tribes.
1Ch. 12:38-40.Great majority enthusiastic, agreed in heart, i.e., had a common wish (2Ch. 30:12) to make David king. 1Ch. 12:40. Tribes, near and distant, brought provisions on beasts of burden; every one made it a festival of joy.
HOMILETICS
THE ASSEMBLY AT ZIKLAG.1Ch. 12:1-22
These joined David in the time of Saul, were early helpers in the time of exile and danger.
I. The ingenious tribe (1Ch. 12:1-7). Benjamites, Sauls kinspeople, and for some reason not satisfied with his rule. Several leading men given. Men of great dexterity.
1. Skilful archers. Shooting arrows out of a bow.
2. Famous slingers. Hurling stones.
3. Well disciplined. Active and wonderful in use of right hand and left.
II. The courageous tribe (1Ch. 12:8-14). Gadites.
1. Able-bodied. Men of might and men of war fit for battle.
2. Specially trained. Could handle shield and buckler.
3. Remarkably fleet. Swift as the roes upon the mountains, not in flying from the foe, but in pursuing, so that none escaped. He maketh my feet like hinds feet, &c. (2Sa. 22:34; Hab. 3:19).
4. Splendidly courageous. (a) They went over Jordan in time of floods. (b) They put to flight the people of the valley.
5. Awfully determined. Whose faces were like the faces of lions. Saul and Jonathan swifter than eagles and stronger than lions (2Sa. 1:23).
III. The suspected tribes (1Ch. 12:16-18). Some of Benjamin and Judah. Benjamites probably invited Judahites to go with them to prevent suspicion; their anticipations well founded, as seen by results. David thought they were secret emissaries of Cush (Psalms 7 inscription), but soon persuaded otherwise, by (a) their entire submission, Thine are we David and on thy side; (b) their earnest prayer for his success, Peace be unto thee.
IV. The volunteer tribe (1Ch. 12:19-22). These fell not by lot, but by desertion from one to another. These persons left the service of Saul for that of David. Transfer allegiance from a bad to a good master, from a losing to a winning cause. Nothing else known of these seven captains. But one noble act may immortalise.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Sauls brethren. Some akin to Saul came over to David.
1. A testimony to unblemished character.
2. A protest against grievous wrong (done to David).
3. A determination to share the fortunes of the king. It is God who worketh mens hearts and fashioneth their opinions. Paul had friends in Neros court, and Luther in the Popes [Trapp].
1Ch. 12:2. Both right hand and left. The word left-handed (in Septuagint) in Jdg. 3:15 is rendered both-handed.
1. Some are left-handed, weak and awkward in every good work.
2. Others are right-handed, active, but single-handed after all.
3. Both hands required. Head, hands, heart, and all for Christ. Both hands earnestly for good, not for evil.
Take my hands; and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love.
1Ch. 12:8. Separated themselves.
1. From what connections? Service of Saul and other Gadites who remained with him.
2. For what purpose? To serve David, the anointed king.
3. At what time? When David was in distress and danger. We must come out of the world, separate from evil company, and never be ashamed of Christ and his cause. Thus shall we be renowned and registered with his people.
1Ch. 12:17-18. NoticeI. The earnest appeal.
1. In its spirit. He does not imprecate nor condemn.
2. In its purpose. What are you come for, peace or war?
3. In its requirement. Loyalty to me. II. The grounds of the appeal.
1. Their intimate relation. Both parties descended from the same ancestors and dependent upon the same God. The God of our fathers.
2. His solemn declaration of innocence. Seeing there is no wrong in mine hands.
3. His reliance upon divine interposition. An appeal to God as righteous and omniscient judge to rebuke, avenge, and help. III. The response to the appeal. Amasai gave a beautiful, prompt, and earnest reply.
1. In unconditional submission to the king. Thine, David.
2. In sincere pledge of their services. With thee, son of Jesse.
3. In wishing success to his cause. Peace to thee, everything thy heart desires. Peace to thy helpers, among whom we wish to be numbered.
4. In assurance of divine help. For thy God helpeth thee. IV. The results of the appeal. When David saw the passionate earnestness and the loyal surrender
1. He received them heartily. Then David received them.
2. He trustfully promotes them. And made them captains of the band. Submit to God, follow him implicitly, and you shall be promoted to honour.
1Ch. 12:14-15. Sons of Gad. Honourable mention.
1. High in command. Captains of the host.
2. Physically strong. Least could resist an hundred, &c. (cf. margin and Lev. 26:8).
3. Brave in danger. Exploit well known in crossing Jordan, only needed simple allusion.
4. Victorious in fight. They overcame all in the valleys, east and west of the river.
I sing the warrior and his mighty deeds.
1Ch. 12:18. The spirit came upon (clothed) Amasai. An unusual expression. We hear constantly in O.T. of the Spirit of God, but only here (and possibly in 1Ch. 28:12) of the Spirit absolutely. Clear, however, the two expressions mean the same (cf. Jdg. 6:34 and 2Ch. 24:20). A. spoke not of himself, but as Gods spiritual influence moved him [Speak. Com.]. The need of the Holy Spirit to submit to Christ and recognise him kingto preach his word and carry on his cause. Tarry until ye be endued (clothed) with power from on high (Luk. 24:49).
Angels give thee in command
What to the smallest tittle thou shalt say.
HOMILETICS
THE HOST OF GOD.1Ch. 12:22
In distress David had few friends, 600 who served as guards. When he had to act for God many were disposed to help from different tribes. All welcome. So the army grew like the host of God, great in numbers, valour, and success.
I. Animated by the presence of God. David counted for something. How many do you reckon me? said a leader to his fainting soldiers. What inspiration and strength to have the Captain of salvation with the Church! Wellington, one day in battle, rode into the midst of his wavering men. One who saw him cried, Theres the Duke; God bless him! Then followed a tremendous cheer, and the tide was turned. I am with you always.
II. Increased by the grace of God. God only makes willing in the day of power (Psa. 110:3); the power of his Spirit and word. Numbers not always increase and efficiency. Many desert or weaken the cause. Grace adds such as are being saved (Act. 2:47). The Lord make his people a hundred times so many more as they be.
III. Successful through the help of God.
1. In gathering numbers. Confederates came to David in successive bands day by day, as emergencies required. A gradual, constant accession, incessant progress in the army and cause of Christ.
2. In gaining victories. Everything possible to Davids captains, counsellors, and friends. Men of might and men of war. In service of God warriors numerous as dewdrops of the morning; strong in the strength of the Lord of Hosts; certain to overpower all opposition. There is no disputing, said one to Csar, with him that commands legions. For the Lord your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.
THE ASSEMBLY AT HEBRON.1Ch. 12:23-40
This was seven years after Sauls death. They should have come sooner, says Trapp; but better late than never. Briefly classify and describe different tribes.
1. Judah, the equipped tribe. Ready armed (1Ch. 12:24); expecting and prepared to fight. Though fewer than others, they entertained those from afar. Given to hospitality.
2. Simeon, the tribe of valour. Mighty men of valour for the war (1Ch. 12:25).
3. The Levites, the priestly tribe (1Ch. 12:26-28). Earnest, led by famous men and recognised the providence of God in call of David. Priestly troops required now to fight and to pray.
4. Benjamites, the tribe small in number. Affection for their kin and jealousy for their honour kept many in army of Saul. All must be left for Christ. Kindred should never over-rule conscience.
5. Ephraim, the renowned tribe. Famous throughout the house of their fathers (1Ch. 12:30).
6. Manasseh, the deputed tribe. Expressed by name (1Ch. 12:31). Deputed by the rest of the tribe to represent them [Speak. Com.].
7. Issachar, the intelligent tribe (1Ch. 12:32).
(1) Men of political sagacity. Had understanding of the times. No longer a strong ass (Gen. 49:14).
(2) Men of insight. Knew what Israel ought to do in their critical condition.
(3) Men of authority. For all their brethren were at their command. Some knew how to rule and the rest how to obey.
8. Zebulon, the enthusiastic tribe (1Ch. 12:33).
(1) Sincere in heart. Not of double heart, not of doubtful and divided mind.
(2) Fixed in purpose. Not of distracted mind, divided purpose, and half a heart; but one in effort and interest.
(3) United in discipline. They could keep rank, in the march and on the field. Ever obedient to command and united with the companies.
9. Other tribes are given (1Ch. 12:34-37). Naphtali very decided (1Ch. 12:34). Dan in great strength (1Ch. 12:35). Asher expert, able to marshal war (1Ch. 12:36). Eastern tribes grouped together, make a large contingent and well-equipped (1Ch. 12:37). Thus came friends and adherents, to make David king and render loyal obedience to him.
FITNESS FOR THE SERVICE OF THE GREAT KING
Each tribe noted for some special quality. Sum all up and describe qualifications needful in Gods service.
I. Intelligence is required. Knowledge enough for personal salvation and for communication. Ignorance is unfitness and must never be excused. Knowledge must be the minds nutriment, vigour of mind; must become wisdom and power in action. Many generals opposed to Napoleon were acquainted with military science, but he excelled where victory depended upon wise movement and sudden thought. We must understand the times in which we live and the duties we have to perform.
II. Courage is required. Woe be to fearful hearts and faint hands, says the son of Sirach. A stout heart a great blessing. Cheering to see men in humble life and public conflict suffering in patience and triumphing in their integrity. Instances of courage in daily life and fields of action. The heroic example of other days is in a great part the source of the courage of each generation; and men walk up composedly to the most perilous enterprises, beckoned onwards by the shades of the brave that were [Helps]. Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed.
III. Unity is required. Divided counsel leads to broken ranks. Party spirit and envy will frustrate design. Rank must be kept in Christian efforts and co-operation given in national interests. United we stand, broken we are scattered from the field. Tacitus said of Germans what the world says of Christians, Whilst fighting separately, all are conquered together. One body, one spirit.
IV. Enthusiasm is required. This makes up for lack in numbers and weapons. Ardour is a help in life, a useful and energetic motive-power. How often does it cool down by time, get repressed by toil and sneers! To succeed, enthusiasm must be contagious in our ranks and never die out. Every great and commanding movement in the annals of the world is the triumph of enthusiasm [Emerson]. Stir up (blow up, keep alive, as a dull fire) the gift of God within thee (2Ti. 1:6). Thus are we to qualify and equip ourselves for the warfare of life. Men of understanding, mighty men of valour, and ready armed; unity, spiritual sagacity and enthusiasm, all needful in leaders of tribes and soldiers of the host of God.
THE PROPRIETY OF CONSIDERING TIMES AND CIRCUMSTANCES.1Ch. 12:32
From the character here given of the men of Issachar we shall take occasion to showI. That our conduct must often be affected by times and circumstances of whatever nature. 1, Civil; 2, Social; 3, Personal. But your conduct must be influenced by them in temporal matters. There is still reason to inquireII. How far it may be properly affected by them in the concerns of religion.
1. That we may attend to times, &c., is certain (example of Christ and apostles).
2. But how far is not easy to determine. III. What there is in the times, &c., of the present day to affect our conduct. Application: suggest a caution or two.
1. Guard against yielding to any corrupt bias.
2. The future judgment will be according to motives.
3. Seek for wisdom that is profitable to direct [C. Simeon, M.A.].
THE JOYOUS ENTERTAINMENT.1Ch. 12:38-40
Supplies of provisions furnished in abundance by neighbours and others from distant parts. All enthusiastic for David, and wished to feast on a liberal and magnificent scale worthy of the occasion.
I. The cause of joy. Three reasons for it.
1. United under one king. End of divided rule. Prospect of settlement under strong government.
2. A king chosen of God. Divine frown, clouds and darkness taken away. A king given under different circumstances, a man after Gods own heart.
3. Universal loyalty to the chosen king. All joined in the choice, submission, and gratitude.
II. The manifestation of joy. A cause or religion without expression or room for joy neither suits the wants of man nor accords with the will of God.
1. In unity of purpose. To make David king.
2. In sincerity of feeling. With a perfect heart. No deception, no half-hearted, no double-hearted. Were of one heart and one soul. This oneness expressed in thought and act towards each other and towards their sovereign.
3. In social fellowship. Three days feasting. Not selfish, individual joy; but domestic, social, and national.
III. The extent of the joy. All the men of war and all the rest of Israel (1Ch. 12:38). The soldier and the priest, the weak and the strongall ages, all classes participatednone shut out from national feasting and rejoicing. This suggests the pure and unmixed joy in crowning and serving Christ as our kingthe perfect happiness and order when he shall become the chosen of all nations, kindreds, and tribes. The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
1Ch. 12:28. Zadok the warrior priest (cf. 2Sa. 8:17; 1Ki. 1:8). Notice
1. His profession. A soldier and priest. The cause, a holy war.
2. His qualifications. (a) A young man. (b) Mighty of valour. The need of young, valiant men, religious and devoted to God. The history of heroes is the history of youth [Lord Beaconsfield].
1Ch. 12:32. Understanding. Noscentes scite tempora, such as well knew what was to be done and when to do it, by a singular sagacity, gotten by long experience, rather than by skill in astrology. See Est. 1:13. David set a high price upon these; so doth God on such as regard and use the season of well-doing [Trapp].
1Ch. 12:33. Not of a double heart. Heb., without a heart and a heart; plain-hearted; non aliud in ore promptum, aliud in pectore conclusum habentes; downright dealers [Trapp].
1. Men of fluctuating sentiments. A double-minded man (having two minds) is unstable in all his ways (Jas. 1:7).
2. Men of compromising habits. Woe be to the sinner that goeth two ways (Sir. 2:12).
3. Men of hypocritical worship. Come not unto the Lord with a double heart (Sir. 1:28).
Unity of purpose. Its strength and advantage. Napoleon gained his victories by consolidation. Austria and Russia attacked in columns and separate bodies; he concentrated his forces and fell on one point like an avalanche. So it must be with the Church. Scepticism will never be broken, Popery will never be dissipated, till the whole Christian Church is more thoroughly at one with each other [Dr. Cumming].
1Ch. 12:38. Under discipline. I. What keeping rank involves.
1. Obedience to authority.
2. Regard to the general peace of the whole.
3. Mutual help. II. The importance of keeping rank in church life and action [Bib. Museum].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 12
1Ch. 12:1. These came to David. The good and the great draw others after them; they lighten and lift up all who are within reach of their influence. They are so many living centres of beneficent activity. Let a man of energetic and upright character be appointed to a position of trust and authority, and all who serve under him become, as it were, conscious of an increase of power [S. Smiles].
Whose spirit lent a fire
Even to the dullest peasant in his camp
[Shakespeare].
1Ch. 12:8. Separated themselves.
The man whom I
Consider as deserving of the name,
Is one whose thoughts and actions are for others,
Not for himself alone; whose lofty aim,
Adopted on just principles, is neer
Abandoned while earth or heaven afford
The means of its accomplishment
[Blanchard].
1Ch. 12:32. Men of understanding. Happy are those that, knowing in their births they are subject to uncertain changes, are still prepared and armd for either fortune; a rare principle, and with much labour learnd in wisdoms school [Massinger].
1Ch. 12:40. Joy in Israel. Joy is regarded as a happy accident of the Christian life, an ornament and luxury rather than a duty [Dr. Dale]. Joy in the Lord is strength, positive actual power for ministry. It creates around us the most favourable atmosphere for evoking our resources; raises our entire nature to the highest pitch of energy, and gives unwonted elasticity and capacity of tension to all our faculties. When the heart is brimming over with gladness, labour is acceptable, opposition helpful, duty a delight, and responsibility a privilege [Dr. Clifford]. The joy of the Lord is your strength [stronghold, marg.] (Neh. 8:10).
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
4. DAVIDS MEN IN SAULS DAY (1Ch. 12:1-22)
TEXT
1Ch. 12:1. Now these are they that came to David to Ziklag, while he yet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish; and they were among the mighty men, his helpers in war. 2. They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in slinging stones and in shooting arrows from the bow: they were of Sauls brethren of Benjamin. 3. The chief was Ahiezer; then Joash, the sons of Shemaah the Gibeathite, and Jeziel, and Pelet, the sons of Azmaveth, and Beracah, and Jehu the Anathothite, 4. and Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a mighty man among the thirty, and over the thirty, and Jeremiah, and Jahaziel, and Johanan, and Jozabad the Gederathite, 5. Eluzai, and Jerimoth, and Bealiah, and Shemariah, and Shephatiah the Haruphite, 6. Elkanah, and Isshiah, and Azarel, and Joezer, and Jashobeam, the Korahites, 7. and Joelah, and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham of Gedor.
8. And of the Gadites there separated themselves unto David to the stronghold in the wilderness, mighty men of valor, men trained for war, that could handle shield and spear; whose faces were like the faces of lions, and they were as swift as the roes upon the mountains: 9. Ezer the chief, Obadiah the second, Eliab the third, 10. Mishmannah the fourth, Jeremiah the fifth, 11. Attai the sixth, Eliel the seventh, 12. Johanan the eighth, Elzabad the ninth, 13. Jeremiah the tenth, Machbannai the eleventh. 14. These of the sons of Gad were captains of the host: he that was least was equal to a hundred, and the greatest to a thousand. 15. These are they that went over the Jordan in the first month, when it had overflowed all its banks; and they put to flight all them of the valleys both toward the east and toward the west.
16. And there came of the children of Benjamin and Judah to the stronghold unto David. 17. And David went out to meet them, and answered and said unto them, If ye be come peaceably unto me to help me, my heart shall be knit unto you; but if ye be come to betray me to mine adversaries, seeing there is no wrong in my hands, the God of our fathers look there-on, and rebuke it. 18. Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, who was chief of the thirty, and he said, Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse: peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thy helpers; for thy God helpeth thee. Then David received them, and made them captains of the band.
19. Of Manasseh also there fell away some to David, when he came with the Philistines against Saul to battle: but they helped them not; for the lords of the Philistines upon advisement sent him away, saying, He will fall away to his master Saul to the jeopardy of our heads. 20. As he went to Ziklag, there fell to him of Manasseh, Adnah, and Jozabad, and Jediael, and Michael, and Jozabad, and Elihu, and Zillethai, captains of thousands that were of Manasseh. 21. And they helped David against the band of rovers: for they were all mighty men of valor, and were captains in the host. 22. For from day to day men came to David to help him, until there was a great host, like the host of God.
PARAPHRASE
1Ch. 12:1. These are the names of the famous warriors who joined David at Ziklag while he was hiding from King Saul. 2. All of them were expert archers and slingers, and they could use their left hands as readily as their right! Like King Saul, they were all of the tribe of Benjamin. 37. Their chief was Ahi-ezer, son of Shemaah from Gibe-ah. The others were: His brother Joash; Jezi-el and Pelet, sons of Azmaveth; Beracah; Jehu from Anathoth; Ishmaiah from Gibeon (a brave warrior rated as high or higher than The Thirty); Jeremiah; Jahaziel; Johanan; Jozabad from Gederah; Eluzai; Jerimoth; Bealiah; Shemariah; Shephatiah from Haruph; Elkanah, Isshiah, Azarel, Jo-ezer, Jashobe-amall Korahites; Jo-elah and Zebadiah (sons of Jeroham from Gedor).
813. Great and brave warriors from the tribes of Gad also went to David in the wilderness. They were experts with both shield and spear and were lion-faced men, swift as deer upon the mountains. Ezer was the chief; Obadiah was second in command; Eliab was third in command; Mishmannah was fourth in command; Jeremiah was fifth in command; Attai was sixth in command; Eliel was seventh in command; Johanan was eighth in command; Elzabad was ninth in command; Jeremiah was tenth in command; Machbannai was eleventh in command. 14. These men were army officers; the weakest was worth a hundred normal troops, and the greatest was worth a thousand! 15. They crossed the Jordan River during its seasonal flooding and conquered the lowlands on both the east and west banks.
16. Others came to David from Benjamin and Judah, 17. David went out to meet them and said, If you have come to help me, we are friends; but if you have come to betray me to my enemies when I am innocent, then may the God of our fathers see and judge you. 18. Then the Holy Spirit came upon them, and Amasai, a leader of The Thirty, replied, We are yours, David; We are on your side, son of Jesse, Peace, peace be unto you, And peace to all who aid you; For your God is with you. So David let them join him, and he made them captains of his army.
19. Some men from Manasseh deserted the Israeli army and joined David just as he was going into battle with the Philistines against King Saul. But as it turned out, the Philistine generals refused to let David and his men go with them. After much discussion they sent them back, for they were afraid that David and his men would imperil them by deserting to King Saul. 20. Here is a list of the men from Manasseh who deserted to David as he was en route to Ziklag; Adnah, Jozabad, Jedia-el, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, Zillethai. Each was a high-ranking officer of Manassehs troops. 21. They were brave and able warriors, and they assisted David when he fought against the Amalek raiders at Ziklag. 22. More men joined David almost every day until he had a tremendous armythe army of God.
COMMENTARY
The record in this chapter has to do with those friends who joined themselves to David and who were associated with him when he occupied the village of Ziklag in Sauls day. There is also a review of those leaders and tribes pledging their faithfulness to David at the time when he was anointed king of all Israel. When David went to the Philistines rather late in his experiences with Saul he was given the village of Ziklag where he and his soldiers and their families could make their encampment (1Sa. 27:2-6). He remained in this territory for a year and four months (1Sa. 27:7). Although the exact site of Ziklag has not been determined in our day, it was known to be in the south of Judah on the border of the Philistine country. At Ziklag David experienced one of the most serious crises through which he was ever to pass as a leader in Israel. Presuming that the Philistines would let him and his men go to war with them against Saul and Israel (1 Samuel 29), he had left his wives and the wives and families of his soldiers back at Ziklag unprotected. When the Philistine officers superior to Achish demanded that David and his men be dismissed from their army, David returned to Ziklag. Upon his arrival in the village he was shocked to learn that in his absence a band of Amalekites had raided the encampment and had escaped with wives, children, cattle and anything else they could carry. It was at this time (1Sa. 30:1-6) that Davids soldiers were just about ready to turn on their leader and stone him. All of them were deeply grieved over the loss of wives and families. David strengthened himself in Jehovah his God and weathered this storm. He was then able to lead his men in speedy pursuit of the Amalekite raiders and miraculously they were able to re-possess every person and everything which had been stolen. So David was reinstated in his office as a leader in Israel.
This account in chapter 12 is particularly valuable because this information is not repeated.[27] A matter of primary concern in 1Ch. 12:1-7 is the listing of Davids warriors from the tribe of Benjamin. That there should be such able soldiers in Davids camp from Benjamin is all the more remarkable because king Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin. Sauls own people lost faith in him some considerable time before he died on Mount Gilboa. The kind of weapons used by soldiers at this time in history is a matter of interest. The bow and arrow was an ancient hunting and military device. The bow was made of elastic wood or of bronze. No doubt, bows were of different sizes, depending on the strength of the men who carried them. The bowstring was usually made from the intestines of oxen or camels. The arrows were constructed from reeds or light weight wood. Arrow heads were made of stone, bronze and iron. The quiver would usually be carried on the back or at the soldiers left side. The sling was used by the soldier, the shepherd, and the hunter. It was a leather thong, or it might be woven from rushes, hair, or the sinews of animals. The middle of the throng was wider than the ends. In this hollow place the stone was set. With the ammunition in position, the slinger would hold both ends of the weapon in his hand. He would swing it around his head until it attained the desired velocity. The stone was sent on its way as one end of the thong was released just at the right instant. The Benjamites were especially skilled in the use of the sling. They were said to be able to sling a stone at a hair-breadth and not miss (Jdg. 20:16). They could do this with the left hand. One of the remarkable details in this account (1Ch. 12:2) is that Davids soldiers from Benjamin could with equal expertness employ bow or sling with the right or the left hand. Several villages in Benjamin were represented by these warriors such as Gilbeah (Sauls home town), Anathoth, Gibeon. These men were with David in Ziklag.
[27] Cook, F. C., The Bible Commentary, p. 340.
The Gadites (1Ch. 12:8-15) were from beyond the Jordan to the east. Like the men from Benjamin, the Gadite warriors had worthy credentials. They were men of valor, men trained for war. They could handle shield and spear. They had faces like lions. No enemy could frighten them or make them retreat. They were agile and could run like the deer. All of these qualifications required constant training. These men were certainly well conditioned physically and mentally for the work that was theirs to do. One soldier from among the Gadites was the equal of a hundred ordinary men. An outstanding Gadite warrior might be worth more than a thousand ordinary soldiers. There is no further detail with regard to 1Ch. 12:15. At some time of real distress the Gadite warriors had opportunity to demonstrate their prowess as soldiers. The enemy had fled before them.
1Ch. 12:16-18 tell of an incident when certain warriors out of Benjamin and Judah came to David when he was hiding out in the territory of Judah. When David met them he advised them if they had come to cast their lot with him, they would be graciously received. He warned them, however, that if they intended to deal treacherously with him, as others of his supposed friends had done, the wrath of Jehovah would be unleashed against them. This incident reflects experiences David had known among his own people at Keilah and at Ziph. The chief spokesman here is named Amasai. He may have been the same person named in 1Ch. 2:17, Amasa, the son of Abigail, Davids sister. David was immediately informed that these brethren had come to assist him. The Spirit of Jehovah took control of Amasai and taught him what to say. So he spoke words of peace and David gladly received these men into his camp. They were given positions of leadership among Davids warriors.
Warriors from the tribe of Manasseh cast their lot with David (1Ch. 12:19-22). As David turned back from following the Philistines into the final battle against Saul and as he returned to Ziklag, these Manassehite soldiers joined Davids men. These helpers were especially valuable at this time because David had to pursue the band of rovers, the Amalekites. These were important days in Davids life. Every day more and more soldiers were joining his ranks. His army was about to become like the army of God. This is just another way of saying that the small band of guerillas which he had gathered around him early has now become a well-organized task force.
The historian now calls the roll of the tribes of Israel. Each tribe can answer for itself as soldiers have come from every part of the kingdom to join themselves to Davids army accepting him as their commander-in-chief (1Ch. 12:23-40). The situation described here has to do with the time when Saul had died and David had come to Hebron where he was anointed king of Israel. The tribes presented warriors according to the following schedule:
Judah
6,800
Benjamin
3,000
Zebulun
50,000
Simeon
7,100
Ephraim
20,800
Naphtali
38,000
Levi
4,600
Manasseh (W)
18,000
Dan
28,600
Aaron
3,700
Issachar
200
Asher
40,000
Reuben-Gad-Manasseh (E) 120,000
This gave David control over an army that numbered about 340,000 men. This compares with 603,550 soldiers in Israels army at Sinai in Moses day (Num. 1:46), When David took the last census near the close of his life, he numbered 1,300,000 warriors (2Sa. 24:9). These 340,000 who now accept his generalship stand in sharp contrast to the 400 who first joined him as he fled from Saul. It is of interest to note that all of the tribes of Israel are represented among those who provide warriors for David. Even the tribe of Levi, which was exempt from military service, along with the house of Aaron, sent men for Davids army.
The purpose of this assembly at Hebron was to turn the kingdom of Saul over to David according to Jehovahs word (1Ch. 12:23). Jehoiada was the father of Benaiah and he presented himself as the leader of the house of Aaron. Zadok was the high priest. He was the son of Ahitub (2Sa. 8:17). He came as the leader of the Levites. The tribe of Issachar sent two hundred chieftains. No doubt they sent warriors too, but the number of warriors is not indicated. The warriors representing Zebulun were well qualified for any military assignment (1Ch. 12:33). They were not of a double heart. They had no second thoughts about what they ought to do when they heard the call to battle. The tribes beyond the Jordan had sent 40,000 men with Joshua in his day to help in the conquest of Canaan (Jos. 4:13). It had been feared that they might refuse to help their brethren take Canaan. Now in this later day they sent 120,000 warriors to serve under David. They were a part of the kingdom and wanted full representation.
The genuine military ability of all these soldiers is carefully emphasized. They could order the battle array (1Ch. 12:38). The marvelous unity and happy disposition of the whole assembly promised better days and a new era for Israel. A divided kingdom was united. David had the potential for making a great king. It was a time for feasting. There was joy in Israel (1Ch. 12:40).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) To Ziklag.A place within the territory of Judah allotted to Simeon (Jos. 19:5; 1Ch. 4:30). The Philistines seized it, and Achish of Gath gave it to David, whose headquarters it remained sixteen months, until the death of Saul.
While he yet kept himself close.The Hebrew is concise and obscure, but the Authorised Version fairly renders it. David was still shut up in his stronghold, or restrained within bounds, because of, i.e., from dread of King Saul. Or perhaps the meaning is banished from the presence of Saul.
Helpers of the war.The helpers in war, allies, or companions in arms of David. They made forays against Geshur, Gezer, and Amalek (1Sa. 27:8; comp. also 1Ch. 12:17; 1Ch. 12:21 below).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(1-7) Men of Benjamin and Judah who joined David at Ziklag. (Comp. 1 Samuel 27)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1. Ziklag See on 1Sa 27:5-12.
While he yet kept himself close because of Saul Rather, while he was yet shut up from the presence of Saul; that is, during the time of his exile, when, on account of Saul’s designs against his life, (1Sa 27:1,) he dared not appear in the presence of that monarch, nor publicly move through the coasts of Israel.
Helpers of the war Assistants of David in such wars as are referred to in 1Ch 12:15; 1Ch 12:21 ; 1Sa 23:5; 1Sa 27:8; 1Sa 30:8-18.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ch 12:32 And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.
1Ch 12:32
1Ch 12:40 Moreover they that were nigh them, even unto Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought bread on asses, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen, and meat, meal, cakes of figs, and bunches of raisins, and wine, and oil, and oxen, and sheep abundantly: for there was joy in Israel.
1Ch 12:40
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Companies that came to David at Ziklag
v. 1. Now, these are they that came to David to Ziklag, v. 2. They were armed with bows, v. 3. The chief was Ahiezer, then Joash, the sons of Shemaah v. 4. and Ismaiah the Gibeonite, a mighty man among the thirty and over the thirty, v. 5. Eluzai, and Jerimoth, and Bealiah, and Shemariah, and Shephatiah the Haruphite,
v. 6. Elkanah, and Jesiah, and Azareel, and Joezer, and Jashobeam, the Korhites, v. 7. and Joelah, and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham of Gedor.
v. 8. And of the Gadites, v. 9. Ezer, the first; Obadiah, the second; Eliab, the third; v. 10. Mishmannah, the fourth; Jeremiah, the fifth; v. 11. Attai, the sixth; Eliel, the seventh; v. 12. v. 13. Jeremiah, the tenth; Machbanai, the eleventh.
v. 14. These were the sons of Gad, captains of the host, v. 15. These are they that went over Jordan in the first month, when it had overflown all his banks, v. 16. And there came of the children of Benjamin and Judah to the hold unto David, v. 17. And David went out to meet them, and answered and said unto them, If ye be come peaceably unto me to help me, mine heart shall be knit unto you, v. 18. Then the spirit came upon Amasai, v. 19. And there fell some of Manasseh to David when he came with the Philistines against Saul to battle, v. 20. As he went to Ziklag, v. 21. And they helped David against the band of the rovers, v. 22. For at that time day by day there came to David to help him,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
This chapter is retrospective, and the contents of it are not found elsewhere. It is occupied, first (1Ch 12:1-22), with the names and some accounts of those who had come to the help of David in three great crises in time past, to join themselves to him and his cause. And afterwards (1Ch 12:23-40), with an enumeration of those representatives from the tribes who came (1Ch 11:1, 1Ch 11:3) to support the proceedings of the occasion when he was being made king of the whole people. Thus the chapter would divide really into four parts, to which the following sections will be found sufficiently to answer: viz. 1Ch 12:1-7; 8-18; 19-22; 1Ch 23:1-32 -40.
1Ch 12:1
To Ziklag. The occasion referred to is evidently that recorded in 1Sa 27:1, 1Sa 27:2, 1Sa 27:6, 1Sa 27:7; 1Sa 30:1, 1Sa 30:26; and generally in those and the intermediate chapters. David stayed at Ziklag a year and four months, a period which closed for him with the death of Saul. Ziklag, in Joshus’s original allotment, was the possession of Simeon (Jos 19:5). It was situated south of Judah, and came into the hands of Judah when Achish made it a gift to David for a rest-deuce (1Sa 27:5-7). The site of it has not been identified in later times. It witnessed one of the narrowest and most remarkable of the escapes of David, on an occasion which brought danger, not so much from acknowledged foes, as from the maddened grief and despair of his own friends and people (1Sa 30:3-6). The whole scene of the broken-hearted grief of David and his people, when, on discovering the successful raid of the Amalekites upon Ziklag, “they lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep,” is one of the most dramatic on record. The rapid reverse to good fortune, when David turns away their heedless anger against himself and proposal to stone him, by pursuing and overcoming the enemy, and recovering their captives and their goods near the brook Besor, completes the effectiveness of the scene. The middle voice form of expression in this verse, kept himself close, means to say that David was, by fear of Saul and by force of his enemies, more or less hemmed up in Ziklag.
1Ch 12:2
Of Saul’s brethren of Benjamin. It would be better to read these words as the commencement of the next verse. Prominence is given to the fact that this set of helpers of David, counting in all twenty-three, comprised Benjamitesmen of the same tribe with Saul (1Ch 12:29). They had seen and been impressed by the wrongness and cruelty of Saul, and found themselves unable to keep in sympathy with him. Of such were Eleazar, Ilai, and Ithai, mentioned in the preceding chapter (1Ch 11:12, 1Ch 11:29, 1Ch 11:31, respectively). The Benjamites were noted both for their use of the bow, and of their own left hand (Jdg 3:15, Jdg 3:21; Jdg 20:15, Jdg 20:16; 1Ch 8:39, 1Ch 8:40; 2Ch 14:8).
1Ch 12:3
The sons of Shemaah the Gibeathite. The Peshito-Syriac has instead of . This has the effect of making Joash the son of Ahiezer, and it makes Shemaah a third name in the list. This name has in the Hebrew the form for the article before it, and should appear in our version either as “Has-Shemaah,” or “the Shemaah.” The name, together with that of Azmaveth, is found in 1Ch 8:13, 1Ch 8:36, as belonging to the Benjamite tribe. The name Jeziel is omitted in the Syriac Version, and the two names Pelet and Berachah appear as sons of Azmaveth (1Ch 11:33; 2Sa 23:31, where the Baharmite means the Baharumite, i.e. the man of Bahurim, in Benjamin). The Antothite; that is, native of Anathoth. The place is not given in Jos 18:1-28.; but it was a “priests’ city” with “suburbs,” belonging to Benjamin (1Ch 11:28; Jos 21:18; 1Ki 2:26; Jer 1:1; Jer 29:27).
1Ch 12:4
Among the thirty, and over the thirty. Yet the name of Ismaiah does not appear in the list of the preceding chapter, nor in its parallel; nor is it possible to identify it with any that does appear there. The suggested explanation is that he was in the first edition of that list, and died early. The expression, “among the thirty, and over the thirty,” may possibly mean that, from distinction as one of them, he was promoted above them to be leader of them. Josabad the Gederathite. The name should be spelt Jozabad. The Gederah here suggested cannot to all appearance be that of Jos 15:36, in the Shephelah of Judah, as Jozabad was a Benjamite. If otherwise, it must be supposed to have come in some way into the possession of Benjamin.
1Ch 12:5
Jerimoth. This name is found also among Benjamites (1Ch 7:8). Bealiah. This name comprises both the word Baal, and Jah! Haruphite. The Masoretic word is (Neh 7:34). The sons of Hariph (Neh 7:24) may have belonged to the tribe of Benjamin.
1Ch 12:6
Jashobeam. Possibly the same with him of 1Ch 11:11; 1Ch 27:2. Korhites. Some authorities are as positive that this name designates Levitic Korahites, as others are sceptical about it. Bertheau explains the name as meaning descendants of Korah of Judah (1Ch 2:43). Others surmise that a Benjamite Korah, otherwise unknown to us, is pointed to. There does not seem any intrinsic difficulty in supposing that these were some of the Levite Korahites, whose proper and allotted abode was in Benjamin, or perhaps in Judah.
1Ch 12:7
Of Gedor. The place apparently here spoken of (yet see 1Ch 8:31; 1Ch 9:37) is unknown, and it is to be observed that in the Hebrew the article precedes the word (). If it be the Gedor in Judah (1Ch 4:4), it is to be noted still that Jeroham is a name of a Benjamite (1Ch 8:27).
1Ch 12:8
As 1Ch 12:1 is introduced by the description of those who came together “to David to Ziklag” at a certain time, so it seems evident that this verse introduces the mention of certain others who befriended David at another time, by coming to him into the hold to the wilderness. These others were Gadites in part, and the hold none more likely than that of Adullam (1Ch 12:16 of last chapter), although the word here employed () for “hold” is a different form of the word () found both there and in the parallel (2Sa 23:14). There is, however, nothing to negative the choice of other spots and occasions (1Sa 22:5; 1Sa 23:14, 1Sa 23:19, 1Sa 23:24, 1Sa 23:29, Authorized Version; 1Sa 24:1, Authorized Version). This graphic description of the military and indeed native qualities of these Gadites, is in harmony with many other glimpses we get of them and their character (1Ch 5:19-22; 2Sa 1:23; 2Sa 2:18).
1Ch 12:9-13
The eleven names of these verses are all known elsewhere, but none of them as designating the same persons.
1Ch 12:14
One of the least was over an hundred. This, evidently an incorrect translation, is easily superseded by the correct literal version, One to a hundred the little one, and the great one one to a thousand. The preposition lamed prefixed to the two numerals, “hundred” and “thousand,” will signify either that the “little one was as good as a hundred, and the great one as good as a thousand;” or that the “little one was rare as one of a hundred, and the great one rare as one of a thousand.”
1Ch 12:15
In the first month. This corresponds with our end of March. The interesting incident of this verse is unrecorded in detail elsewhere (Jos 3:15; Jer 12:5; Jer 49:19; Jer 50:44).
1Ch 12:16
In addition to the Gadites, some others of Benjamin and Judah join David.
1Ch 12:17
The solemn tone of David’s language recorded here, and the beautiful pathos and religious appeal of the last two sentences of the verse, bespeak sufferings and disappointments experienced by David heretofore through deception. It is, however, noticeable that there is no direct testimony of anything of this kind, least of all of any flagrant instance of it, on the part of such detachments of friends as had come to him; and that, though they had occasionally been contributed from sources not the most desirable (1Sa 22:2).
1Ch 12:18
The response of the band, by the mouth of Amasai was worthy of the character of the appeal that David made, both in its heartiness and its high tone. Amasai. Possibly the same with Amasa (1Ch 2:17), the son of Abigail (David’s sister), wife of Jether (2Sa 17:25; 2Sa 18:6; 2Sa 19:13; 2Sa 20:10). Ewald discusses this point (‘Genesis Int.,’ 2:544). He was made captain of the host by Absalom, afterwards by David, and Joab put an end to his life. The Spirit (see Num 11:26; Neh 9:30). The more literal translation of the verb came upon is clothed. Most interesting and instructive is the subject of the gradually developing manifestation of the agency of the eternal Spirit from the beginning of the world. Through the ascending illustrations of his natural work in creation (Gen 1:2), his relation to human bodily life (Gen 2:7; Job 27:3), his intellectual work of various kinds (Gen 41:38; Exo 28:3; Num 24:2; Jdg 9:29), we are led on to his highest spiritual functions.
1Ch 12:19
And there fell of Manasseh to David. Of this use of there are many other examples (2Ch 15:9; Jer 37:14; Jer 39:9). The phrase does not correspond with our own idiom of “falling to” one’s lot, but with that of” falling away” from the service or love of one to another, i.e. deserting. The occasion hero spoken of is described in full in 1Sa 29:2-11.
1Ch 12:20
Although those of Manasseh who wished to ally themselves with David did notmost providentially for David and his Ziklag peoplehave the opportunity of aiding him when, on the eve of Gilboa, he was about to aid Achish the prince of the Philistines against the Israelites and Saul, yet their help must have come in useful when, on his return “to Ziklag on the third day,” he found what the Amalekites had done, and pursued them (1Sa 30:1-6, 1Sa 30:11-25). Seven is the number also of Eastern Manasseh mentioned in 1Ch 5:24. Nothing is now said of the men belonging to them joining with them. Jozabad. One manuscript quoted by Kennicott has for this name on its first occurrence Jechabar. It is scarcely likely that the same name should appear twice in this short list, without some qualifying mark being put to one of the two. Nothing else is known of these seven cap-talus of the thousands of Manasseh.
1Ch 12:21
The band. The band referred to is evidently that of Amalek in 1Sa 30:8, 1Sa 30:9. Were captains; better, became captains.
1Ch 12:22
The host of God. A forcible comment on the metaphorical use of this phrase is found in 1Sa 14:15; Authorized Version, “a very great trembling” is the translation of Hebrew “trembling of God.” The for with which this verse commences probably explains the call there was for many and able “captains” for a host becoming daily larger.
1Ch 12:23
The bands; rather, the chief men, or captains, by one or the other of which words this same term has been several times hitherto rendered in the immediate context (yet see Jdg 9:37, Jdg 9:44, and Jdg 5:30 for yet a third signification). There follow (1Ch 12:24-37) the numbers of each tribe (the full thirteen being enumerated) who “came with a perfect heart to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel.” The large numbers of some of the joyful pilgrims to Hebron, as for instance of the trans-Jordanic tribes, the very small number that came of the tribe of Judah (in fact, lowest but one, i.e. Benjamin, and yet nearest home), and of some others, help to invest with doubt the numerals of this passage, although it is not at all difficult to suggest some very passable explanations of these phenomena. This doubt is not lessened by the total, which, according to this list, must make a figure between three hundred and forty thousand and three hundred and fifty thousand men. To the host have to be added, as we are expressly told, the “asses, camels, mules, and oxen,” which carried the “bread, meat, meal, cakes of figs and bunches of raisins, and wine, and oil, and oxen, and sheep in abundance,” for the consumption of the host during their “three days'” stay “with David,” and their journeys to and fro. In the presence of such numbers, and the celebration of such an occasion, Hebron must indeed have beheld the reflection of its own probable meaning, of the “fellowship” or “community” of society. To turn the kingdom of Saul to him (so 1Ch 10:14). The phrase is not a common one. According to the word of the Lord (so 1Ch 11:3; 1Sa 16:1, 1Sa 16:12, 1Sa 16:13).
1Ch 12:24, 1Ch 12:25
David had already found friends and adherents in these two southern tribes of Judah and Simeon.
1Ch 12:27
Jahoiada. He was probably the father of Benaiah (see 1Ch 11:22; 1Ch 18:17; 1Ch 27:5; 2Sa 8:18). The Aaronites. This is, of course, equivalent to saying “the priests,” i.e. the priestly troops, of whom Jehoiada was leader.
1Ch 12:28
Zadok. This is the first men. tion of Zadok. He was, no doubt, the chief priest, son of Ahitub, of 2Sa 8:17; 1Ki 1:8; 1Ch 24:3; 1Ch 29:22. He is leader of the Levites.
1Ch 12:29
Had kept the ward; rather, had kept on the side of; the Hebrew, ; Vulgate, adhuc sequebatur. The proposed translation of by “still” (‘Speaker’s Commentary,’ in loc.) is very doubtful. The for hitherto of this verse explains the reason of the comparatively small number Of the Benjamites.
1Ch 12:31
West Manasseh is here treated of.
1Ch 12:32
Had understanding of the times (2Ch 2:12; Est 1:13; Job 24:1). Compare Tacitus, “gnarus temporum” (‘Agricola,’ 6). This verse does not tell the number of the “children,” but only of the “heads” of Issachar. It is possible that the number has slipped out. The description of the characteristics of Issachar here seems an advance upon that of Gen 49:14, Gen 49:15.
1Ch 12:33
Not of double heart. This phrase should be connected closely with the preceding clause, of which it is the termination, the sense being that they were the men to face battle with no doubtful heart.
1Ch 12:34-36
Naphtali, Dan, and Asher all show to advantage, in number at all events.
1Ch 12:37
The east of Jordan group muster a high number, and of well-equipped men.
1Ch 12:39
The supplies for eating and drinking were no doubt found chiefly in kind. To sum the number of the men here described, we should require to allow for those of Issachar and of the Aaronites and Zadokites added to the Levites (1Ch 12:26-28). That grand total will not amount to the six hundred thousand of Exo 12:37.
1Ch 12:40
Moreover, they that were nigh them. The meaning is that not only the “brethren” of Judah and of the nearer neighbourhood of Hebron joined to entertain and to show hospitality to the immense throngs of visitors, but that others did so in ever-widening circles, even as far as the remoter Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali. For there was joy in Israel. The joy must have been largely enhanced by the national consciousness of divided rule coming to an end, and of the cloud and frown of the Divine countenance having cleared mercifully away. All now could join to show loyalty and to feel it towards one king, of whom they had reason to believe that he was the chosen of God as of themselves.
HOMILETICS
1Ch 12:17.-The suspicion that has power to propitiate favour.
There is very great distinction to be drawn between suspicion and suspiciousness. The latter describes the character, expresses a characteristic, and reveals a tendency or bias that can find no admirer, unless it be a man of taste the most vitiated and unlovely. The former may be easily enough the necessity of accident or circumstance, It may possibly mark out the person who on occasion manifests it as deserving and plaintively claiming sympathy and help. The fact of its being betrayed rather than stifled, and the manner in which it expresses itself when it does so, may set up additional pleas for kindly interpretation, nudge some way further than merely to extenuate it. Habitual suspiciousness, then, must be either the result of the badness of inborn qualityinto the mysteries of which suggestion this is not the place to enteror the outgrowth of a life and of circumstance in nothing more unhappily placed than in producing this as their natural fruit, While of She suspicion that may avail even to ingratiate a man with the best of his fellows, silently beseech kindness and fidelity and propitiate favour, we have a touching example in the history of the text. Notice the explaining, justifying, and redeeming features of this suspicion.
I. THE SUSPICION TO WHICH DAVID GIVES EXPRESSION AROSE IN THE MIDST OF CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH INVOLVED THE QUESTION OF LIFE OR DEATH. This question of life or death was that which actually caused the suspicion. He who felt it and spoke it was in supreme danger. The disposition of frankness, generosity, forgivingness, must be brought to think, calculate, be cautious under certain circumstances. If otherwise, that disposition is no longer entitled to its old honourable titles, but to titles of far less repute, not lovely, not of good reportsuch as recklessness, or at least heedlessness. The very perfection of the former will be tarnished if they are not answerable to certain kinds of consideration. Forgivingness in itself is ever one of the noblest dispositions, but it is not under all conceivable circumstances to be exercised and to become forgiveness. The highest teaching, that of the New Testament and of Jesus, runs counter to this, and the sternest and deepest facts of human condition in the presence of God, and placed under the light of Christ’s atonement, disown it. For then forgiveness would both come of indifferent and insufficient estimate of the just and the right, and would be adapted to give fearful encouragement and incentive to the same. So in the same way, confidence is not to be reposed with an equal unhesitatingness in all cases, just because confidingness is an engaging quality and graces the character, while suspicion does the reverse. In the higher moral aspects and relations of our merely human life we constantly recognize this as a principle. And in the highest spiritual aspects and relations of our life its illustrations are inevitable and are arresting even to the point of admiration. There is a sense in which the supreme issues of life or death have been felt by the holiest men who have lived to warrant the expression, for the moment, of some doubt, until the tremblingness of the human heart and the feebleness of the human hand have really felt the force of the Divine presence and the comfort of the Shepherd’s “crook and staff.” Many of the supreme facts of our present life, if not all of them, bring us very near indeed to those of our spiritual “unseen” life. But even far within these limits human hearts ask large things of one another, and invoke an immensity of trust and repose an immensity of trust not unfrequently where it is little recognized, little honoured. One walks out with his life in his hand and a weight on his heart almost intolerable, to meet another whose mirth it may be to make mischief, and to hear his sentence and receive his destiny to all human intents from light lip and unthinking heart. This sobers human trust and checks the luxuriant growth of mutual confidence, and justifies David when he prefers to express, rather than seem to disdain, his already hard-bought experience of human compassions and” tender mercies,” and finally, sometimes turns the action of suspicion toward men into the virtue of deeper trust toward God.
II. THE SUSPICION TO WHICH DAVID GIVES EXPRESSION WAS NOT ONE THAT GREW OUT OF A HEART THAT KNEW IT BECAUSE ITSELF DID THE DEEDS OF IT AND SCENTED ITS OWN REWARD, BUT FROM ONE CONSCIOUS OF INTEGRITY. David directly appeals to Heaven in attestation of his not having earned any faithless treatment at the hands of Saul, and of any such as might possibly be emissaries of Saul. It is a great thing to be able to make such an appeal honestly and with the firmness that comes of the inner answer of a good conscience. It would have been very different, it was very different, with Jacob. When, after an absence of twenty-one years from his father’s house, he must now return and meet Esau, he met him with ill-suppressed suspicion and very natural distrust, and the worst misery of which was that they were self-inflicted and richly merited. A similar proneness to suspicion, a similar distrust of every unwonted whisper of the winds of providence, or unwonted sign of a fellow-creature’s countenance or tone of his voice, evidently dogged the steps and days and very hours of those of Joseph’s brethren who had been “verily guilty concerning” him. For all such suspicion there is no redeeming word to be spoken, except that it is of that retribution which, partial though its manifestations be at present, helps to establish thoughtful men’s faith in the great throne of righteousness, justice, and judgment. But far otherwise is it now with David’s suspicion. “If,” says he, “ye be come to betray me to mine enemies”there was the fear and the mistrust and the suspicion”seeing there is no wrong in mine hands”there is the fearless assertion of innocence”the God of our fathers look thereon, and rebuke it.” So does this sort of suspicion issue, in appealing to the omniscience of God, in leaving the matter of avenging and rebuking to God, and in committing his own cause and himself to the care and love of him that judgeth righteously.
III. THE SUSPICION TO WHICH DAVID GIVES EXPRESSION WAS ONE BORN OF A HEART THAT NEVERTHELESS YEARNED TO TRUST, TO REPOSE CONFIDENCE, TO LOVE WITH THOROUGH UNION. David any way incurs the risk of going forth to meet these volunteers. It would have been madness to do so had Saul himself been in the company. When Saul was most in David’s hand and within his power, it is noticeable that, with all his generous and God-taught sparing of him, David does not neglect the manifestly necessary precaution as to himself and his own safety. The oft-aimed javelin, though it had missed its literal aim, had not missed mark altogether. It had fixed what might sometimes, what under other circumstances often has been worse than any javelin in the breast or heart, viz. a lifelong cause for caution and distrust. But let there be any justifiable doubt, any reasonable ground for hope in fair play and sincerity, and it is not David’s heart that will be slow to respond to it, hazard its genuineness, and welcome its approach. What an honest speech his is! Nothing disguised, he acknowledges he needed “help.” “To help me” is his humble confession, untinged by haughtiness. And nothing affected, warrior though he was, good with every weapon, the sling and stone upward, yet his heart’s deepest desire is peace: “If ye be come peaceably.” And nothing ungenuine; his own individuality is not sheltered under the cloak or behind the bulk of a big-sounding “cause” or “principle,” or other professed issue at stake. No; he says, “If ye be come unto me.” But what then? what of all this? Why, “Mine heart shall be knit unto you,” my heart shall be one with you. There is no offer to make any other bargain. There is no condition of any sufficient credentials, and such as will bear searching and microscopic examination. He takes an honest face, an honest tone, an open offer, a loving heart, one that is prepared to trust and longs to trustsuspicion its strange and unwelcome work. And this constitutes for him the inner gift and discernment, to recognize their counterparts in others. And his gladdened ear hears the cheers of his own catchword, “peace,” twice re-echoed for himself, and again “one cheer” for his “helpers.” While God’s Name and praise and faithful promise close the matter of the dialogue: “Thy God helpeth thee,” Happy if every beginning of suspicion ended with such confidence!
1Ch 12:18.-The Spirit that taught to speak and taught to hear aright.
The words of Amasai, the uttering of which is especially ascribed to the impulse of the Spirit, must be worthy of some particular notice. They may be depended upon for containing and being ready to convey some instructive lessons or illustrations of important principle. The caution or suspicion of David at a moment of such uncertainty for him has been accounted for and justified. Amasai’s answer that moment to the doubting language and bearing of David should properly decide all either one way or the other, if he is to be depended on to speak truth and without dissembling. But how did David know this? Could he unerringly read the signs and trust his own power to discern? There are moments when honesty and truth may be said to be unable to do anything else than recognize honesty and truth; they know their own face as a man knows his own face in a mirror. Tone also tells the truth, that mere words may not be depended upon to tell, and certainly tone and look and manner all added are very reliable witnesses one way or the other, witnesses of sincerity or insincerity. Any way, it is scarcely open to us in any fairness to suppose that David would, by carelessness or by self-confidence, lose the second moment the very advantages which his caution and venial suspicion show that he was in quest of the former moment. So we may suppose at all events that the same Spirit who taught Amasai to speak aright taught David to hear aright. At the same time, that Spirit himself seldom moves without signs accompanying and following. Some evidences of this may be observable as we proceed. Notice
I. SOME EVIDENCES OF SINCERITY STAMPED ON THE ANSWER OF AMASAI.
1. Its promptness. There was no hesitation, no casting about for words, no lingering to contrive safe words A falsehood is often boldly spoken, and the tongue of insincerity is practised in glibness and smoothness. But this will generally be in paths already well known, and not as now, when perhaps the last thing to have been expected from the lip of David was the boldness that was required for the outspeaking of suspicion.
2. Its unqualified frankness. No limping sentence, no lame engagement, no offer nor attempt at contract or bargain, but uncompromising self-surrender: “Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse.” Such is the style of these men and of zealous fidelity of service.
3. The absence of the slightest appearance of feeling offended. There might have seemed room in such a case, some plausible room, for betraying a sense of affrontedness. Honest men come up to offer their allegiance, love, and very life, and they are met with question sceptical of their honesty. This was a growingly good sign of their sincerity, for the affronted man often enough knows, as often as any bystander, that there is no affront; that that which may sound like affront or look like it is the necessity of wisdom and of the position, and he betrays himself in seeing the affrontbetrays that he wishes to take it.
4. The discrimination shown in the selection of one word used in this reply. “Peace” is the key-word of their reply. David had saidhad happened to sayno, had designed to say, “If ye be come peaceably unto me to help me.” Everything lay really in that word “peaceably.” And the men questioned, perceived, and felt it, and Amasai, led by the Spirit, answers both to the spirit and to the letter of the somewhat plaintive melancholy “if” of David. “Peace” is the burden of his response.
5. The heart and earnestness thrown into the reply, “Peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers.” David’s was a question of peace for himself, and of help for himself. But such is the confidence in their cause and in themselves as honest men, that those who come to him engage and assure “Peace, peace” for him and for those who should help him. This looks like men thoroughly conversant with their subject and thoroughly confident in it. They seem to want to say that there is no stint of peace; their persuasion of it is such that they are sure it is “enough” for him and “enough for all.”
6. The piety and right sound practical theology thrown into it. The answer does not “heal slightly.” It does not promise “peace” from a barren source. It does not rest its own confidence on man. “For thy God helpeth thee” is the assigned ground of Amasai’s confidence, that peace dawning splendidly and surely now for David and for his cause. These men themselves had done right to wait till they were sure that the call was of God, and that God was with David, and that the cause of David was the cause of God. And as soon as they were convinced of this they came to David. And they came to help, nerve, and brace up his own faith, while they would say to him, “If God be with thee, who can be against thee?” “If God be with thee, what but peace can attend thy steps and those of all thy helpers?”
II. SOME EVIDENCE OF A GOOD TRUSTFUL HEART IN DAVID.
1. He also makes no delay. He receives them who had answered so well and so much to the point. He receives them “graciously.” And became then and there a feeble, humble, but real type of him who “receives graciously’ all who humbly and with the spirit of self-surrender and faithful service come to him.
2. He heartily trusts. As they had with heart replied to him, and with enthusiasm proffered to join him and his cause, he throws at once to the winds the last symptom of a suspicion, and reposes a hearty trust in the new-comers. “He made them captains of the band.” There were trust and promotion at the same time. It is not one of the least interesting parts of the study of the manner of Jesus’ miracles to observe how against those occasions on which for some good reason he saw fit to keep even an earnest supplicant waiting, there were others in which alike with signal promptness he blessed them, and with signal trust and condescension called them to his service. It now needed no condescension on the part of David, but it did need trust, and he finally acquits himself herein of any suspicion of possessing a heart that loves suspicion.
1Ch 12:40.-The earnest of human joy.
When the joy of a vast number of people finds expression in unison it must needs be exceedingly impressive. Were it possible to hear at once that consentaneous volume of sound of gladness, it would be nothing less than overpowering in its effect. Or, if it were possible to see at a glance all the signs and all the manifestations of the sparkling gladness, no scene of outer nature could be supposed so dazzling, so bewildering. But in the known harmonious joy of a vast multitude of people, it is not the mere effect upon our sense of the expression of it or the manifestation of it that would invest it with its most real and in fact most solemn force. This would rather be due to the suggestions thickly, richly clustering round about it. Whence it grew, what it had intrinsically in it, and to what it was promising to grow, would assuredly be some of the first of the thought which we should thereupon think. And these deeper, less visible feeders of our own joy would prove the more lasting and the more significant account of the deep feeling wrought within us. The point of Scripture narrative at which we are now arrived reveals to us a whole nation in the crisis of its joy. There are peculiarities about that joy very possibly of a merely temporary character, but there are others that are good for study, as permanent in their nature and as having the efficacy of principles. Let us take note.
I. OF SOME OF THE CAUSES OF THIS “JOY IN ISRAEL? The nearer causes are not doubtful. For:
1. The people were glad to have reached the termination of a period harassed by suspense. For some years now they had not lived under any certain satisfactory rule. If their armies had gone out best equipped and full of courage in their cause, they were still not confident that the cause was a safe one, a right one, one that would command the presence among them of the supreme Leader of their hosts, who taught their hands to war and their fingers to fight. And if they were awhile at peace at home, they had no guarantee that the time of peace was one of growth and sound healthy prosperity. The family, the business establishment, is ever in uncertainty, and there is an absence of satisfaction if the parent or the master is all uncertain in habit, in character, in principle.
2. They were glad to have a king who was introduced to them under far different and far better auspices than ever their former king had been. Some years had now elapsed since Saul took office, and though he was anointed by Divine command, yet the distinct announcement was made of a deep disapproval in one sense on the part of the only real King. Under dark omens their visible monarchy opened upon Israel. And the thoughtful and deeper-seeing of the wise and good, the “Israelites indeed” among them, will have early wakened to the process that was going on, and to that fulfilment of Divine forebodings that was transpiring in the overcast periods of Saul’s defection. But now part of their punishment had already fallen, and for a time they had reason to think that fairer things were before them. They with reason thought that the king of their own enthusiastic choice this day was also “the man after God’s own heart.” They knew he was not an untried man. They knew rather how tried he had been and also bow he had been tried, and how he had borne and acquitted himself in the trial, so as to command the growing honour, esteem, and love of all the people. How tremendous the difference and the consequences of the difference between a good leader, parent, teacher, master, ruler, and a bad or indifferent one I No man is so obscure, so stripped of all surroundings, as to be absolutely bereft of influence and “to live to himself” alone, but they whose very life-place and life-business are to “lead” or “shepherd” in any way are in the very opposite extreme of such a supposition, and the consequences of just what they are, what they say, what they do, are incalculable in momentousness and in responsibility. And an unwilling people show now that they had become very fully alive to this fact.
3. All Israel were glad because all Israel were now again one and at one in the matter of their king and leader. One tabernacle and one court, one palace, one king, one administration of justice, now again they can call theirs. They do not feel the humiliation, the disgrace, the practical disadvantage of the contrary of these. One of the keenest reproaches which the enemies of Israel must have often flung in their face was their divided state under so much of Saul’s nominal kingship and for a few years subsequently.
II. OF SOME OF THE DEEPER ELEMENTS FIXING THE CHARACTER OF THIS JOY. One of these did no doubt at this time play a considerable part, though the people were largely unconscious of it. For:
1. Even the mistaken aspiration and that which was counted to them as a sin, to have a visible king, did for all that mark an aspiration, and this also was counted to them and counted for good so far as ever they permitted it. The very language in which they originally worded their desire was remarkable, in this respect, though somewhat less so in that they quoted as some precedent the fashion of surrounding nationsno models for them. “Make us a king to judge us, that we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles” (1Sa 8:5-20). The large multitude of people in different tribes sharply outlined, and in families surprisingly registered, were feeling for something the reverse of classificationthe oneness of national life. And at present they found the spiritual effort by itself severe. They craved some embodiment of the ideas and feelings which were now strongly working within them. And their sin in desiring in aid hereof a visible judge, warrior, king, was in kind but like the sin of all those who do not rise to their opportunity and who do live below their time of day, their light, their revelation. God is ever, by providence and by word, pronouncing our human nature to be capable of doing better things than it does, and of rising to higher things than it consents to acknowledge by corresponding effort. However on the lower level this people may be beheld, and beheld with some sympathy, as they now yearned for a closer brotherhood, a more homogeneous development of national life, a semblance still of the perfect model, of which, however strangely, they “judged themselves unworthy.” They took, or certainly seemed to themselves to take, a great step in advance in this respect when to-day they not only rejoiced around a king, one of their own choice and of God’s distinctest choice as well, but when all of them were united thus to rejoice. There were no longer two kings, one nominal, the other real, nor a people divided into two at least, and an army in two camps, but when “all Israel” felt and showed and spoke the great joy with heartfelt, spontaneous unanimity.
2. Akin to this, less acknowledged but not less potent stimulus of a united nation’s joy, may be ranged the various life, and character, and age, and condition, all fairly represented, which swelled the bulk of it. All classes of citizen life, and the priest and the warrior; all conditions of the life of that time, and the rich and the poor; all ages of lifetime, the man laden with memories and the young man, the strong and the weak;none were shut out from this joy. And thus this multifarious composition of it helped to fix the joy.
III. OF SOME OF THE LASTING SUGGESTIONS OF IT.
1. May it not justly suggest the thought of the fulness and special bliss there is about unselfish joy. Our individual joy is often tainted with selfishness, or self-regard only. Our domestic joy is not unfrequently tarnished by it. Most of the organizations of which we form parts are open to fostering in some degree the same partial fellowship of joy. But a general national joy largely escapes this snare of partial measure.
2. Does it not opportunely suggest the large reserve of capacity of joy there must be at present in human nature? We have just enough, we may be thankful to believe, to supply to us the requisite light and heat in the history of most men, but there is more cloud and darkness, more rain and cold, than there is of the real experience and outburst of joy. We have no right to be unthankful for what our inner sky is, and for the amount of peace and serenity, warming betimes into cheerfulness and into genialness, granted to us. But where the most and the best of these are true, we can never mistake them for the surrender of our powers, susceptibility, and very self to the amplitude of joy, of which they are capable even here. But least of all is it common to find the maximum of joy spread at the same time over the maximum of people.
3. And does it not betoken something of the rapture of expectant humanityhumanity perfected, redeemed, sanctified? God is full of joy. We cannot dare, to form an idea of him antagonistic to such a principle. “Fallen short of his glory, as we now are, we have become almost too complacently reconciled to the forfeit paid, to the present toned-down temper of life, to its present strong admixture of sorrow, woe, darkness, and we may detect ourselves sometimes thinking this to be the essential condition instead of the severe rebuke rising gradually into the beneficial discipline of life. But no; “we look for new heavens and a new earth,” in which, as surely as “righteousness shall dwell, so surely shall joy reign for ever and everse How universal, how impartial, how perfect in all highest elements of it, will be that harmony of human joy, when the kingdoms of this world shall have all merged in the kingdom of the one great King, eternal, immortal, invisible, and he shall have become the Chosen of all nations, of every tribe and family”great David’s greater Son!”
HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON
1Ch 12:8-15.- The Gadites.
Like gathers to likethe brave to the brave, the good to the good. It is human nature at its best which recognizes and rejoices in superiority. Homage and obedience should be freely rendered where they are justly claimed and truly deserved. Observe the qualities and exploits of these sons of Gad who gathered to David and offered him their swords. They were men of might, bold as lions, swift as eagles; men skilful in the use of their weapons, apt for war, brave in danger, “good at need;” men whose deeds were in the lips of a nation, memorable and unforgotten. We may discern in the qualities of these valiant Gadites the qualities which (mutatis mutandis) should characterize Christians as the soldiers of Christ and combatants in the “holy war.”
I. THE SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS ARE DEVOTEDLY ATTACHED TO THEIR COMMANDER. As the Gadites “separated themselves unto David,” so Christians are drawn by the Divine Spirit to the standard of Immanuel. It is distinctive of Christianity that it involves personal attachment and allegiance to the Redeemer. Christ is “the Captain of our salvation.” To him we owe our loyalty; at his summons we draw the spiritual sword; in his cause we fight.
II. THE SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS ARE DIVINELY QUALIFIED FOR THE CONFLICT. Their heavenly Leader alike provides them with weapons and breathes courage into their souls. When he enlists them in his spiritual host, he disciplines and trains them for the warfare. He imparts those moral qualities of endurance and boldness, promptness and devotion, by which alone they can be qualified to “fight the good fight of faith.”
III. THE SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS ARE EXPECTED, BY DIVINE AID, TO ACHIEVE GREAT EXPLOITS. The enemy is indeed formidable, his opposition is fierce. “We wrestle with principalities and powers.” Within and without we encounter a foe whose craft and power we must not under-estimate. Yet have the soldiers of Christ no reason for discouragement. The weapons of their warfare, though not carnal, are mighty. Their Leader has conquered, and has taken his seat upon his victorious throne; and thence he inspirits, directs, and helps them. The giant forms and mighty forces of error and ignorance, of superstition and infidelity, of vice, crime, and sin, are all destined to give way before the onset of the spiritual forces of Immanuel. It is a “holy war” to which Christians are summoned. Certain victory awaits the faithful combatant.
CONCLUDING APPEAL. Christ calls upon every hearer of the gospel to enlist under his banner.
The Son of God goes forth to war,
A kingly crown to gain;
His blood-red banner streams afar:
Who follows in his train?”
T.
1Ch 12:18.–Loyalty.
It was the suspicion and the adjuration of David that called forth this passionate language of devotion and loyalty on the part of Amasai, the spokesman of the men of Benjamin and Judah. When these men came forward, offering their swords to the valiant son of Jesse, he appears to have suspected them of treacherous designs. If language could prove their sincerity, the language recorded in the text must have had this effect: “Thine are we, David, and on thy side, peace be unto thee, and to thine helpers; for thy God helpeth thee.” It is remarkable that this utterance is declared to have been prompted by “the Spirit,” i.e. of God himself, who is the Author of truth, sincerity, and fidelity. If we take this language as appropriate, when addressed by Christians to their Divine Lord, it brings before our minds the nature and obligation of Christian loyalty.
I. CHRISTIANS RECOGNIZE IN THEIR SAVIOUR THE “HELP Or THE LORD.” This is the literal meaning of the name “Jesus,” i.e. “the Help or Salvation of Jehovah.” David’s Son and David’s Lord is “mighty to save;” in him the Lord has indeed “laid help upon One who is mighty.”
II. CHRISTIANS ACKNOWLEDGE THE ROYAL AUTHORITY OF CHRIST. He was King, even when Here upon earth m his humiliation, even when crowned with thorns, when his sceptre was a reed, when he wore the purple robe laid over his shoulders in mockery. How much more manifestly is he King, now that he is in glory! Every loyal subject of the Lord Christ delights to acknowledge his sovereignty, to do him homage, to offer him tribute, to obey his will.
III. CHRISTIANS OFFER TO CHRIST THEIR HEARTS AND THEIR SERVICE. “Thine are we.” Such is the exclamation of the true soldiers of the cross. We are his by every bend. He has a right to our love, our life, our all. Let him be enthroned in our spirits; let him rule in our life; let his love inspire our devotion; let his law direct our active service.
IV. CHRISTIANS DESIRE AND PRAY FOR THE PROSPERITY OF CHRIST‘S CAUSE. “Peace,” said the Benjamite to David, “Peace be unto thee, and to thine helpers!” If our hearts are given to Christ, nothing will be so dear to us as the progress of his kingdom, the prosperity of his cause, the honour of his gracious Name. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” “Prayer also shall be made for him continually, and daily shall he be praised.”T.
1Ch 12:22.-A great work needs great help.
The way in which David was prepared for the sovereignty over Israel is very remarkable. He himself was disciplined by adversity for days of power and prosperity. And the people were gradually, during the later years of Saul’s life and reign, made ready for the transfer of their allegiance to his nobler successor. His life as an outlaw was one of many dangers and perplexities and straits. But during this period many able and valiant men became acquainted with the daring and sagacious chief, learned to trust in him, attached themselves to his camp, and qualified themselves for posts of honour and authority in the kingdom that was to be founded by the son of Jesse. It was “at that time,” that, “day by day, there came to David to help him, until it was a great host [or, ‘camp’], like the camp of God.”
I. IN ACCOMPLISHING A GREAT WORK, PROVIDENCE MAKES USE OF AN INDIVIDUAL AS THE CENTRE OF INFLUENCE AND AS THE LEADER OF OTHERS. Israel was to be consolidated into a mighty nation, and God chose David to do the work. He qualified him by his Spirit; gave him valour and prudence and the power of attracting others and attaching them to himself. And when God would restore humanity to its intended purpose, and establish his kingdom upon earth, he “set his King upon his holy hill of Zion.” He chose to accomplish the great end by means of the Son of man, David’s Son and David’s Lord.
II. GOD GATHERS MEN AROUND THIS INDIVIDUAL BY THE ATTRACTION OF SYMPATHY AND FELLOWSHIP. David’s fellow-countrymen recognized in him the qualifications necessary for a leader, a commander, a king. The valiant and capable, the flower of the youth, were drawn to him by the bends of a mighty attraction. He could never have done the work entrusted to him if he had been left alone. But he found lieutenants, counsellors, friends, with whose help everything became possible which was possible to man. This was an emblem of the power which Christ possesses to attach men’s souls to himself. “I,” said he, “if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto myself.” It was so at the beginning. The apostles were Christ’s lieutenants and captains in his holy war. The early history of the Church tells how capable and devoted men were raised up, to teach and preach, to organize and administer, to write and expound, to suffer, to witness, and to die. And from that time there has never been an era in which noble, brave, self-denying men have not been drawn to the Saviour by the magnetism of the Spirit’s influence, and qualified to render service to the Church and to its Lord.
III. THESE HELPERS COME SUCCESSIVELY AND CONSTANTLY, AS NEED REQUIRES. David’s confederates came in successive bands, as emergencies arose in which they were needed. His heart must have been cheered as they came, unexpectedly and yet most welcome, “day by day.” A gradual and constant accession was thus made to his following, and to his power to rule when the right time came. It is the same in the kingdom of Christ, which “cometh not with observation,” but the history of which is, nevertheless, one of incessant progress. In many ways God is bringing souls to the camp of his Son. And his warriors shall be numerous as the dewdrops of the morning, as the stars in the heavenly host of God.
IV. BY THE AGENCY OF NUMEROUS AND MIGHTY HELPERS THE GREAT WORK IS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED. The preparations made, according to the text, issued in the establish, ment of a throne and dominion. And Christ’s kingdom is to come on earth, not by the agency of angels or by the instrumentality of miracles, but by the consecrated adhesion of devoted, fearless, and self-denying spirits. In every congregation may many come, day by day, to Christ, to help him in his kingdom and his warfare!T.
1Ch 12:32.–Men of understanding.
The position of Issachar among the tribes was one central and desirable. Some of the richest land in Palestine fell to their lot, and they seem to have enjoyed material prosperity. The strong ass crouched between burdens is emblematical alike of plenty and of toil. How to connect Issachar’s prosperity in husbandry with the characteristics of the text is by no means easy, perhaps not possible. But it is high praise which the chronicler accords to this tribe, or to “the heads“ or leaders among themthey were “men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do.”
I. THE GIVER OF WISDOM IS GOD. He is “the Father of lights.” “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God.” From him alone counsel and guidance proceed. By his Spirit he enlightens men. Hence the reasonableness and the importance of prayer.
II. THE MEANS OF GAINING WISDOM ARE WITHIN MEN‘S REACH. NO doubt there are certain natural qualifications; yet these may either be left undeveloped, or may be cultivated. Observation, conversation with the learned, the wise, and the experienced, reading, practical conduct of affairs,all these are means of acquiring wisdom, Nor must we overlook one potent agency”Years, that bring the philosophic mind.”
III. PRACTICAL LIFE IS THE GREAT SPHERE OF WISDOM. The text alludes to present necessities. Issachar had “understanding of the times.” True wisdom does not lie in comprehending past states of society, so much as in realizing the characteristics and needs of our own days. The text alludes also to action. Historical and scientific and speculative knowledge are all good. But knowledge reduced to practice is wisdom. What Israel ought to do; this was what the wise men of this tribe were competent to decide. We may set aside all the explanations of this passage which represent the men of Issachar as versed in astronomy, chronology, or other studies. There can be no doubt the reference is to political sagacity, military promptness, and practical habits. These men recognized in David a faculty for ruling, strongly, justly, and religiously; and accordingly they were forward to give in their adhesion to the son of Jesse, to repair to Hebron, and take part in the election and installation of the new king.
LESSONS.
1. Remember that we are made for action; knowledge is valuable as qualifying for practical life.
2. Wisdom, qualifying for the duties of our several stations, is within all men’s reach.
3. Statesmen especially should make it their study to know what the nation ought to do.T.
1Ch 12:33.-Singleness of heart
Several of the tribes who joined in electing David king are characterized by the chronicler in a few graphic words. It was good testimony which was borne to the warriors of Zebulun, that “they were not of double heart.” Not in war only, but in all the affairs of life, and especially in religion, it is a weakness to be double-hearted; it is strength to have a single heartto be, as in the Hebrew, “without a heart and heart.”
I. DESCRIBE THE CHARACTER AND POSITION OF THE DOUBLE–HEARTED.
1. Those may be assigned to this class who are undecided whether to serve God or the world. As a matter of fact, those who are in such a state of mind are decided, for the present, against God. “He that is not with me is against me.” It is a pitiable, weak, unhappy condition, and none should remain in it for a single day. “If the Lord be God, serve him; but if Baal, then serve him.”
2. Those also may be termed double-hearted who are attempting to serve both God and the world. There are misguided persons who flatter themselves that they can rank with both the opposing forces. Christ has spoken very plainly upon this matter, saying, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon,” “No man can serve two masters, for he will love the one and hate the other.”
3. There are those who profess to serve God, but, in reality and in their heart of hearts, are serving the world. These profess a single eye to God’s glory; but in truth they are ever seeking, as the great aim of their life, their own glory, or wealth, or pleasure, or ease. These are hypocrites; against such the censure and condemnation of Christ are stern and unmistakable.
II. DESCRIBE THE GUILT AND MISCHIEF OF DOUBLE–HEARTEDNESS.
1. It is dishonouring to God, who has a just claim upon a perfect allegiance and service, By every claim we are his, and his only, and to withhold from him aught .that is ours is an infringement upon his rights. His demand is a just and unvarying one: “My son, give me thine heart.”
2. It is evidence of ingratitude towards Christ. When the Lord Jesus undertook our redemption, he did not leave his work half finished, for he did not undertake it with half a heart, with a divided purpose, a distracted love. Shall we give a divided heart to him who gave himself for us.
3. It is disastrous in its effect upon those who witness its exhibition. How many young minds have been prejudiced against religion by the double-heartedness of its professors! And what mischief has been wrought in society by such a spectacle! How often has it shaken the confidence and deterred the progress of inquirers into Christianity!
4. It is deteriorating to the character of those who are tempted into it. What more contemptible than vacillation? “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” The longer the habit is persevered in, the more mischievous are its consequences to its victim. He cannot but sink in his own esteem and lose the strength which is imparted by self-respect.
LESSONS.
1. Remind those of double heart of the fearful danger to which this sin exposes them.
2. Warn Christians against the temptations of sin and the world.
3. Encourage the young to give their whole heart to their God and Saviour.T.
1Ch 12:38.–Union.
Too often the counsels of Israel were divided, and their true interest frustrated by party spirit, by envy, by faction. The occasion before us was one of national harmony and co-operation. To make David king the people were of one heart. A lesson this as to the spirit and the attitude becoming in the Church of Christ.
I. THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN UNITY. The unity to be desired is not nominal or formal, but real. This unity consists of:
1. Submission to one Lord. As Israel did homage and rendered obedience to one king, David, so we, as Christians, are bound to be subject to the authority of our rightful Prince, even Christ, David’s Son and David’s Lord.
2. Acknowledgment of one faith. The unity of the faith is real. All who are Christ’s receive the truth of Christ, and hold it fast for his sake. A common principle, a common sympathy, a common aim, impart unity to those who cherish them.
3. Reception of one baptism. The same Spirit descends, in copious showers, upon all the followers of Jesus Christ, making them partakers of the same purity and the same spiritual life.
II. THE PROOFS AND SIGNS OF UNITY. Unity consists in one attitude towards Heaven, but it declares itself by certain palpable manifestations amongst Christians. Especially mutual love, confidence, and helpfulness, and common sacrifices of prayer and praise, and common labours for the world’s enlightenment and salvation.
III. THE BLESSED RESULTS OF UNITY. These are:
1. Happiness. Discord is fruitful of misery; harmony of felicity and joy. A united Church is a happy Church.
2. Strength. L’union fait la force. Israel under David was powerful, because all were of one mind and heart. So in the Church of the living God. A united Church is a strong Church. Its enemies cannot reproach or despise it.
3. Efficiency. Christ, the great Head and High Priest of the Church, saw this. Hence the language of his prayer: “That they all may be one that the world may know that thou hast sent me.” Oh that the whole world were “of one heart” in acknowledging Jesus as King of kings, in crowning him Lord of all!T.
1Ch 12:40.-Joy in Israel.
After the reign of Saul, with all its caprice, violence, and irreligiousness, it was with something more than a feeling of relief that Israel welcomed the accession of his successor. The unity of the people was manifested in the large and representative assembly that gathered together at Hebron, and the cordial sympathy of the absent in the presents and tribute forwarded from all parts of the land. The feasting was prolonged for three days; for the tables were abundantly furnished by the contributions of the several tribes, even from those in the northern districts of Palestine. Let us regard the “joy in Israel’ as emblematic of that which pervades Christendom in the acknowledgment of Christ’s Divine and regal authority.
I. THE OCCASION of this joy. It is the sovereignty of the Messiah, “I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion.” Christ is the rightful King of humanity. He is the acknowledged and actual King of his ransomed Church. “He shall reign until he hath put every enemy under his feet.” Surely a race, distracted by lawlessness and rebellion, may well rejoice when assured that a King so mighty and so wise ascends his rightful throne.
II. THE SUBJECTS of this joy. “Let Israel be glad.” They who own Jesus as King are the proper persons to offer the sacrifices of rejoicing. How many are the admonitions we find in Scripture to rejoice in the reign of Immanuel! “Let all the children of Judah be joyful in their king!” With shouts of acclaim and songs of welcome do Christ’s people exalt him to the throne of their loyal hearts.
III. THE MANIFESTATIONS of this joy. Joy is not wont to be silent. The elders and chief captains of Israel held high festival because David accepted the crown. And Christ’s true subjects cannot do other than speak forth his praise and celebrate his exploits.
IV. THE RESULTS of this joy. If we feel the gladness which Christ’s kingship is fitted to awaken, we shall find it easy to submit and to obey; we shall learn that “the joy of the Lord is our strength;” we shall have some earnest of the higher and immortal joy which shall fill the courts of heaven.
LESSONS.
1. A rebuke to gloomy Christians. Your faith, if you have any, must be feeble indeed if joy is a strange emotion to your heart.
2. An encouragement to rejoicing Christians to turn their joy into motive power, that they may aid in the culture of holiness and in the achievements of Christian service.T.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
1Ch 12:1-15, 1Ch 12:19-22.-The service of the supreme King.
In the attitude of David and in the services rendered to him at this juncture in his history we have hints as to our true bearing toward the King of kings at all times.
I. THAT WE MAY SOMETIMES SERVE GOD BEST BY PATIENT WAITING. For some years after David knew that he was to be King of Israel, he had to “bide his time.” His duty was to “keep himself close” (1Ch 12:1). Any positive effort to acquire the royal seat would have been premature; it would have been disloyal, and would only have defeated his own end. There are times when we have to wait for opportunity to offer (e.g. the missionaries of Madagascar until the death of the cruel Ranavalona). Patience as well as zeal is a factor in the service of the Supreme. “All things come to him who knows how to wait.” Our eagerness must not run into impatience; activity should be early, but not premature.
II. THAT IN THE ACTIVE SERVICE OF GOD WE SHOULD EMPLOY ALL OUR AVAILABLE RESOURCES. The men of Benjamin “could use both the fight hand and the left,” etc. (1Ch 12:2). “Of the Gadites there separated themselves men of might, and men of war, fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler,” etc. (1Ch 12:8). These soldiers of the army of David were men that were thoroughly and perfectly equipped for their work. No mere “food for powder” were they; they were trained and skilled, competent to do all that was possible in the military achievements of the age. As soldiers in the nobler spiritual campaign for which we have enlisted, we are to be masters of the art of war; we are to be able to do all that is possible to skilled and faithful men. To be this we must:
1. Serve with all our spiritual faculties; cultivate strength and speed, be as the lion for one and as the roe for the other; we must summon all our mental and moral capabilities to the workmemory, reflection, reason, imagination, emotion, etc.; we must employ argument, wit, illustration, remonstrance, entreaty, etc.
2. Turn our physical as well as our spiritual faculties to account.
3. Know how to defend as well as to attack, how to use shield as well as sword (1Ch 12:8).
4. Lay hold on favourable occasion (1Ch 12:15, 1Ch 12:19-21). And in thus putting out all our talents (Mat 25:14-30) we must remember that
(1) only patient continuance in holy effort will make us skilful and serviceable; the Benjamites must have had to go through much discipline before they could shoot as well with one hand as with the other. We must not be daunted or discouraged by the crudeness or even the clumsiness of our first attempts.
(2) Faithful service will make its mark on ourselves as well as others (1Ch 12:8); we shall acquire the lion-face, the countenance which will say, without words, “Let no man trouble me; for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Thus will the strength of our soul pass into our eye, and body and spirit will be allies in the cause of the King,
III. THAT WE MUST BE READY TO TAKE THE PLACE FOR WHICH GOD HAS FITTED US. “Of the sons of Gad, one of the least was over an hundred, and the greatest over a thousand” 1Ch 12:14). It is in our human nature to covet the highest place; but we are to learn of Christof his example and of his Wordto take with cheerfulness the humbler seat. And we may do this, not only because it is essentially Christian, but also because
(1) it is right and reasonable that they who have the greater qualifications should occupy the more responsible posts; and because
(2) it will contribute to our own peace and joy of heart to have as much as, but no more than, we are able to execute placed in our hands.
IV. THAT THE CAUSE OF GOD IS ONE THAT GATHERS STRENGTH BY CONTINUAL ACCESSION. (1Ch 12:22.) There may come times in the history of the great spiritual struggle in which the Church is occupied when large accessions are made to the ranks of God. But this triumph has been preceded by long, incessant toil; moreover, it is not the rule, but the exception. “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation;” it is “day by day” that souls come in, until the army of the great King is made and the “host of God” is complete.C.
1Ch 12:16-18.-The offer of the upright, etc.
These verses suggest
I. THE OFFER OF THE UPRIGHT. (1Ch 12:17.) David made this offer to the men of Benjamin and Judah in good faith. He did not mean one thing in the moment of danger, and another in the hour of security. He fully intended the thing he said; he was prepared, in the event of this band of men coming over to his side, to regard them with perfect favour and to give them a good place in his ranks. The maintenance of all our social activities depends on trustworthiness between man and man; therefore on honesty of thought arid integrity of word and deed in ordinary as well as extraordinary occasions. When uprightness is gone and confidence undermined, all security has vanished and everything is in confusion. The engagements of daily life, of trade and commerce, of all human industry, rest on morality and ultimately on religion.
II. THE RESOURCE OF THE DEVOUT. (1Ch 12:17.) When David “went out to meet” those men, he placed himself (as I read the story) in their power. He made them an offer which they might accept or not. Accepting it, they would reinforce his army and strengthen his position; refusing it, they might avail themselves of his venture and get him into their power. This latter alternative he vigorously deprecates; but if they should abuse his confidence he has one resourcethe appeal to God. “If ye be come to betray me to mine enemies the God of our fathers rebuke it.” In the last extremity the devout man can fall back on Divine interposition: “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us… and he will deliver us” (Dan 3:17). Things can never be so bad with the servants of righteousness but they have one valuable resourcethe appeal to God, his rebuke of the guilty, his succour of the upright. But it is only those who can say, “Seeing there is no wrong in mine hands,” who have a consciousness of rectitude and reconciliation, that have this refuge in the hour of need.
III. THE DECISION, INVOCATION, AND ACQUISITION OF THE WISE. (1Ch 12:18.)
1. The decision of the wise. Those who know what it is best to do will join themselves, not to the cause of the man who has forsaken God and whom he has forsakenthe party of Saul, but to the side of him who serves God and whom he helpsthe party of David. He whom “his God helpeth” is the champion to whom we should attach ourselves and our interests.
2. The invocation of the wise. “Peace, peace be unto thee and unto thine helpers.” The thoughtless and “shallow-hearted’ may wish for their friends the cup of pleasure, or a sceptre of power, or a wreath of glory; the wiser heart desires peace. There is no blessing so true, profound, abiding, as peace of mind, rest of heart, stillness of soul in God. 3 And this is the acquisition of the wise. “Peace be unto thee,… for thy God helpeth thee.” If God be the Helper of our soul, as he is ready to be, as he will be to those who earnestly and perseveringly seek his aid; if he grant the helpful influence of his illumining, renewing, sanctifying, comforting Spirit, there will be peace, “great peace”the “peace which passeth understanding,” the peace of Christ himself (Joh 14:27).C.
1Ch 12:23-31, 1Ch 12:33-40.-Joy in (the) Israel (of God).
A right joyous scene was that described in the concluding verses of this chapter, Never, probably, in the three and thirty years of his subsequent life did David sit down to his table in the royal palace at Jerusalem with so much gladness of heart as he did this day at Hebron. Never, probably, did the thousands of Israel gather at such a jubilant assembly as when they met “to make David king,” and were with him “three days eating and drinking” (1Ch 12:38, 1Ch 12:39). The event justified their joy. They had every promise of national peace, prosperity, security. They were on the eve of a new era, in which their race would take a position and enjoy a heritage to which it had long looked forward, which had been long delayed, but which should now meet and crown their brightest hopes. They had four elements of strength; four sources, therefore, of satisfaction.
1. Large numbers. (1Ch 12:24-37.) “Six thousand eight hundred; seven thousand one hundred,” etc.in all more than three hundred and thirty thousand.
2. Discipline and equipment. The bands were “ready armed” (1Ch 12:23, 1Ch 12:24, 1Ch 12:37, 1Ch 12:38); many were “mighty men of valour” (1Ch 12:30); many were “expert in war” (1Ch 12:33, 1Ch 12:35, 1Ch 12:36).
3. Enthusiasm. “They were not of double heart;” they were undivided, single- minded, thorough (1Ch 12:33, 1Ch 12:38).
4. Wisdom. For they were doing the right thing for their country’s we] fare; they were acting “according to the word of the Lord“ (1Ch 12:23). Here was the strongest of all reasons for congratulation and joy, the surest pledge of national prosperity. That there may be “joy in the Israel of God,” in the Christian Church, that there may be a sense of assured victory and of security, there need be these four elements of strength; they are all of value, though not of equal worth.
I. THERE IS STRENGTH IN NUMBERS IN THE CAUSE OF CHRIST. A great multitude of men may be of very little account; a miscellaneous assembly is not an army. Nevertheless, it is better that the people of the Lord should be counted by thousands rather than by hundreds. There is more heart to praise God when the church is filled than when it is scantily attended. Many labourers are better than few in the harvest-field of Christian toil (Mat 9:37, Mat 9:38).
II. THERE IS GREATER STRENGTH IN DISCIPLINE AND CONSEQUENT PREPAREDNESS. Ten men well armed and “expert in war” will do more than ten times their number unarmed or ill armed and without knowledge of the way to strike; this is true in moral as well as in material contests, in Christian effort as well as in the “science of war.” Christ has need, not only of those who, untrained, do the best they can at the moment, but of those also who, by careful discipline of mind and heart, have “bought up the opportunity,” and can do wellcan speak nobly, can devise skilfully, can execute admirably in the day of conflict.
III. THERE IS EQUAL STRENGTH IN ENTHUSIASM. Not to “have a heart and a heart”, but to be of one undivided mind, one fixed, ardent, resolute soul; to be fired by an earnest purpose; to be eager for the work; to be inspired by an impelling, exalting devotion to the great King;this is the source of power; this will carry everything before it. And yet is there one other element of more essential moment still.
IV. THE GREATEST SOURCE OF STRENGTH AND SECURITY IS IN A WISE OBEDIENCE, Everything will fail, however large the number, careful the culture, fervent the spirit, if there be not the “doing of the will of the Father who is in heaven”if the commandment of Christ be disregarded. “Should it be according to his mind,” it will be well; otherwise the brightest hopes will disappear in the darkness. In all our projects, methods, enterprises for the extension of his kingdom, we must proceed “according to the Word of the Lord” (1Ch 12:23). Then will the issue be like that at Hebron on this gladsome occasion. We do not feast now as then, “three days eating and drinking,” but we have, or may have, our joyous times, when the work and the will of the Lord are done, when a sense of unity and security is in the soul, and we look forward to a bright and victorious future in the service of the Son of David.C.
1Ch 12:32.–Spiritual sagacity.
It is a very high encomium which the sacred writer passes on these “children of Issachar,” that they were men “that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do.” They were men that had insight, who could see beneath the surface, who could look on beyond the events of the hourmen of sagacity and penetration. Such men are always needed.
I. THE SAGACITY THAT WAS NEEDED THEN. What was most urgently required of the leaders of the tribes in those early times was:
1. Which dynasty to supportwhether the house of Saul or that of David. When so much hung on the will of the reigning monarch, that was a vital question.
2. What steps to take to establish the national unity. In presence of the unconquered Philistines and of other neighbouring powers, this unity of Israel was of immense, indeed of essential, importance.
3. What attitude to assume toward the national enemieswhether of submission, compromise, or unmitigated hostility.
4. What position to take up respecting non-Mosaic usageswhether to permit the adoption of any social, political, religious customs by Israel, or to abide with strict severity by the letter of the Sinaitic commandment. Such were the questions which then demanded a practical answer, and concerning which the men of Issachar “had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do.”
II. THE SAGACITY THAT IS NECESSARY NOW. Those men of God, those servants of Jesus Christ, who can be said to deserve this eulogy are they who have the sagacity to discern:
1. What special perils are threatening the integrity or progress of the Church of Christ, and how they shall be averted.
2. What particular aspect of Christian truth needs to be insisted on and enforced at the hour to which the Church has come.
3. How to present the old and everlasting truth in the language, and how to accommodate the forms of Christian worship to the tastes, of the time without compromise and unfaithfulness.
4. What is the next citadel of error or evil which the tribes of Christian Israel shall attack.
5. How to apply Christian ethics to the domestic, social, commercial, political questions of the hour.
6. What is the relation which the Church of Christ shall assume or resume to the statewhether of government, alliance, or independence and separation.
7. What form the unity of the Church shall takewhether organic and visible or spiritual and invisible.
8. What are the best remedial measures that can be taken for the elevation of the ignorant and immoral, and for the ingathering of the heathen into the fold of Christ.C.
HOMILIES BY F. WHITFIELD
1Ch 12:1-22.–David’s mighty men: the Gadites, Benjamites, and Judah.
This chapter contains three lists of those who joined the standard while he yet kept himself close because of the jealousy of Saul. While he was in the Philistine town of Ziklag these joined him in rapid succession, and they afterwards contributed so much to the glory of his reign. Preferring the exile and reproach of David to the honour of the court of Saul they gave up all for love to him. 1Ch 12:1-15 give us the first list; 1Ch 12:16-22 the second list; 1Ch 12:23-40 the third list. The children of Benjamin joining his standard must have been peculiarly grateful to David. These were of the kindred of Saul, and included probably many of his relatives. They could only have joined David’s standard under the influence of the Spirit of God, perceiving the evident withdrawal of God’s favours from Saul and his favour to David. It was a public and emphatic protest by those who had means of knowing David better than others of the excellence of his character and the grievous wrong done by outlawing one who had rendered such eminent services. We see how David was naturally suspicious of these Benjamites joining him. In order to remove David’s suspicion of their being traitors from the house of Saul, they had probably asked the children of Judah to accompany them (1Ch 12:16-18). The Spirit of God, speaking through Arousal, removed all fears. David’s confidence in God in an extremity which might have been fatal to his life and the existence of his kingdom, is instructive. He casts himself upon God. A “good conscience” enables him to do this, “seeing there is no wrong in mine hands.” With a “good conscience” towards God, men may never fear in any emergency, however trying. The Spirit of the Lord will always lead the way. Though the cloud may hang very long and look very dark, the result is as certain as the most certain thing in the world. To such a soul there will be one final issue”peace peace” (1Ch 12:18); yes, “perfect peace” (Isa 26:3) to all such.W.
1Ch 12:18.–David’s mighty men: motive for service.
Let us now glance at the motive of these noble men who joined David’s standard. Despising the court of Saul and all its honours, they were drawn to David. His exile and reproach were dearer to them than it all. And why? Instructed by the Spirit of God, they recognized the Lord’s anointed. They looked not at the present, but forward to that hour when the king should reign. For this they counted all the honours of Saul as worthless. They esteemed David’s reproach because they had respect to his future glory, Need I say what this teaches? The people of God now are gathered round Jesus, the rejected One, the Exile from this world. They esteem the reproach of Christ, for they have respect to the recompense of the reward. “Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.” They “know whom they have believed.” “The heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing.” The world has set itself against Christ. Yet they know, notwithstanding all this, that “the Lord hath set his King on his holy hill of Zion.” Jesus is that King. And his love has drawn them out from this world’s ruler and god, and with joy they move onward under the “Captain of their salvation.”W.
1Ch 12:23-40.–David’s mighty men: description and character.
What is the character of these followers of David? Are they mere followers? Nay, in very deed they are soldiers, warriors to the very death. They fight David’s battles. They stand in the breach, in the forefront. They “loved not their lives to the death,” “warring a good warfare” in the service of him who loved them and attachment to whom has drawn them out. Mark their character: “men of valour;” “ready armed;” “expert in war;” “famous in the house of their fathers;” not “double-hearted;” of “one heart;” of “perfect heart;” men who could “keep rank;” who could use “all instruments of war;” who “could use both hands;” who were “swift as roes”; who had “faces like lions;” and “men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do.” Blessed and noble warriors gathered round the exiled David! No wonder it is called “a great host, like the host of God.” It is such the true David seeks now. These are the men who do honour to our exiled “King of kings and Lord of lords.” These are they who shall reign in glory with him ere long. They are men who sit not down at ease because they are just saved from hell. They do not make salvation from everlasting death their end, but their beginningtheir motive, their power, their strength for the fight. They know what the Spirit meant when he said, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my throne.” Thank God, we have such men in the Church now, though very few. Reader, are you one of them? Oh, rest not satisfied with being just saved! Aim at these features. Be not of “double heart.” Aim at “one-heartedness”at a perfect heart. Be “ready armed.” Be able to “keep rank,” to walk with those who walk with God. Use “both hands”every affection, every desire, every aim, every pound. Let everything, little and great, in your hourly history be consecrated to God. Have a “face like a lion” against all evil, and stand up for Christ. Be as “swift as a roe” for everything that concerns your Saviour’s glory and the blessing of others. “Run swiftly” the race set before you, “looking unto Jesus.” And ask God that, when the Church is trembling, and truth is failing, and hearts on all sides are quaking, and the true Israel of God knoweth not what to do, you may have “understanding of the times, to know what you ought to do.”W.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK
1Ch 12:16-18.–Friends in adversity.
David appeared to have reached an extremity when he was compelled to escape from Gath and find shelter in the cave, hold, or possible fortress of Adullam. His fortunes then seemed to be at their lowest, and at first he must have felt utterly friendless and forsaken. Soon, however, his immediate relatives heard where he was, and presently those discontented with Saul’s rule gathered to him. The verses on which we are now dwelling narrate an incident connected with this assembling of people round David, and the point of interest is that among them some Benjamites came, who should properly have belonged to the party of Saul, and David found it necessary to put their friendliness to some testing. The incident may introduce the subject of human friendship. We note
I. TIMES OF ADVERSITY TAKE AWAY OUR SEEMING FRIENDS. Many so-called friends are but “fair-weather friends,” sharers of our prosperity and success. Really friends for the sake of what they can get by it. Illustration may be found in the parable of the prodigal son. When his money was gone his friends had gone too.
II. TIMES OF ADVERSITY FIND OUT THE TRUE AMONG OUR FRIENDS, The test shows which are the faithful ones. They are not often the boastful and forward ones. Often they are those whom we have almost neglected. The true brother is “born for adversity,” and only blossoms out in the shady night-times of calamity.
III. TIMES OF ADVERSITY SURPRISE US WITH THE FRIENDS THEY BRING TO US. Beyond proving who are our real friends, they actually bring us new and unexpected friends, such as are really concerned for us and are full of earnest purpose to help us. Often we say that it is worth while getting into trouble, if only for the sake of the friends we find and prove.
IV. TIMES OF ADVERSITY, ABOVE ALL THINGS ELSE, PROVE THE FAITHFULNESS OF OUR BEST FRIEND; he of whom it may truly be said, “He sticketh closer than a brother.” He is indeed the Example of the man in adversity; and from his case we see how all forsook him and fled, even St. John not venturing to plead for him. And so Paul at the judgment-seat was alone, but he found the faithfulness of the best Friend: “Nevertheless the Lord stood by me.”R.T.
1Ch 12:22, 1Ch 12:23.–One increasing, another decreasing.
So constant and so extensive were the accessions to David’s party, that any observer would have said, “It is evident that Saul is going down and David is going up. This David is the man of the future.” When it is seen in which direction the tide is flowing, every one hurries to take advantage of it, hoping to float on it to his own fortune. But this very common process, which may be observed in the various spheres of life any day, is here connected with the Divine purposes and promises. Silently, it may even be said naturally, the nation was coming round to the acceptance of God’s arrangement for it. Men may say that the political change was sufficiently accounted for by political considerations. Scripture shows us in all the outworkings of the Divine will (1Sa 16:13). The instance in which the rising of one and the decline of another was piously and submissively accepted by the declining one, is that of our Lord and John the Baptist. It is John himself who, clearly seeing the preparatory character of his own work, and the permanent glory of the mission of the Lamb of God, says, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” This success of one and failure of another, this success of one resting upon the very failure of another, is one of the most ordinary facts of life. It may be painful and oppressive, or it may become a cause of submissive joy, according to the side from which we view it.
I. IT WILL BE PAINFUL TO US IF WE ARE MORE CONCERNED FOR SELF THAN FOR GOD. If a man limits his vision to his own immediate and personal interests, anything like failure must be to him unmitigated distress. He knows no side whence relief can come. Failure can take on no gracious shapes; it can be nothing but miserable failure. Yet is “success for self” the end of life? Can we isolate ourselves from the Divine plan for all? Would it really be well for the individual if he could? And may not God’s great plan for the whole involve, in its outworking, some disabilities for the few?especially if he counts the highest good, the only real good, to be good of character, not of circumstances? If we are more anxious for God than for self, then it need never be hard for us, at his bidding and under his lead, to step down into seeming failure, second places, and disabilities. We may see others go on before us to places of honour, quietly assured that our God knows they may serve him up there better than we could do.
II. IT WILL BE PAINFUL TO US IF WE FAIL TO RECOGNIZE THAT ONE MAN‘S WORK PREPARES FOR ANOTHER. And so that which seems low down, simple, and humble in character, may be truly honourable and important, because of its preparatory character. David was humbled by God’s refusal to allow him to build his temple; but David could prepare for, and so have a true part in, the success of Solomon. The same may be said of John the Baptist. It did not matter that his particular mission failed when its work was done, and it had prepared the way for the Messiah. Those who only do preparing work must fully accept the fact that, in the world’s eye, their life will seem to be a failure; it may even be so to their own view, but God “soeth not as man seeth,” and has his gracious ways of setting “last ones first.”
III. IT WILL BE PAINFUL TO US IF WE FAIL TO REALIZE THAT REWARDS COME FOR WHAT A MAN IS, AND NOT MERELY FOR WHAT HE DOES. Herein Divine rewards so materially differ from human ones. Man can only recognize what is done, or attained, and he gives his rewards for achievement. God searches into the motive and the character, and gives his rewards for what the man is proved to be in the doing. Success is not necessary to the best character; finer qualities gain expression and culture in failure, disappointment and trouble. Results may be reached under conditions that involve no nobility of character. It is still very largely true that “deep in the valleys rest, the Spirit’s gifts most holy,” and heaven may have its welcome rather for poor disabled Lazarus at the gate than for prosperous and luxurious Dives on the silken couch at the sumptuous board. God sets some of us low down and keeps us there, because he puts faithfulness far above success.
IV. IT WILL BE PAINFUL TO US IF WE REFUSE TO ADMIT THAT DIVINE JUDGMENTS COME IN THE REMOVAL OF MEN FROM PLACES OF HONOUR AND TRUST; as was the case with King Saul. So now, God deals with his people; sickness sets them aside from the path of ambition. Their best efforts again and again end in failure. And true hearts will not fail to see in such things Divine judgments; solemn recognitions of failings in motive and spirit; holy callings back to the humble and trustful reliances; awakenings to the conviction that a man prospers only “as his soul prospers.” Then, when others go on past us to wealth, position, and honour, when they increase and we decrease, may we even rejoice? Yes; if we really care more for God than for self, and more for others than for self. We should be ever ready to stand in the chiefest places, if God would have us stand in them. But we should be quite as willing to stand down and let another take our place, if God would set him up. The disabilities of life may involve our “decreasing;” but the time must come when from our hands the tools and the weapons must fall, and, empty handed, we pass into the eternal world. Then others must step into our places, and it will be well for us if, when our works are burned up, we ourselves are saved, “yet so as by fire.” Of this we may be sure, if we failed to win or to keep what we thought our right place in this world, in the next God will put us just where we should be in view of what, in character and spirit, we have been able to win through the failures or successes of our human life.R.T.
1Ch 12:23-40.-The hearts of all men are in God’s hands.
When the proper time came for the promise made to David to be fulfilled, no efforts were needed to secure the throne. One difficulty after another faded away. One section after another of the people came to offer their allegiance. And the signs of God’s gracious moving of men’s hearts towards David in due time were seen, in the devotion of themselves and their wealth and property to his service. The men of might came, and offered him their weapons, their skill, and their lives. The men of understanding came, and offered him their counsel and powers of rule and magistracy. The men of wealth came, and offered abundant provisions for the host thus gathering round David (1Ch 12:40). Compare the consecration of property in the early Pentecostal days. Often in life we are made to feel that the circumstances of life are in God’s hands, and we recognize his wonder-working in the removal of our difficulties and the opening of our path; but even when we seem to be hindered by the action of our fellow-men, we do not see that their hearts are in God’s hands, and that, in answer to our prayer and in fulfilment of his purposes, he can move men’s feelings and sway them as he may please. Yet this is the fuller and truer view of life; until we can worthily realize this we do not truly say, “Our times are in thy hands.” “He maketh the wrath of man praise him, and the remainder of wrath he can restrain.”
I. A MAN‘S HEART CONTROLS HIS USE OF HIS THINGS. TO the Divine view, “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” By the term “heart” is included a man’s plans, purposes, and feelings. It may stand for his disposition. Then illustrate how all conduct, relations, and uses of property, etc; are toned by the heart of the covetous, the selfish, the prejudiced, the envious, the suspicious, or the unforgiving man. It is hopeless work to try and change the fixed habits of any man’s life. Our hope lies in change of heart, and that will ensure the needed change in the outward relations. Therefore our Lord proposes, in his redemptive work, to recover and set fight the very heart of men. His law is thus expressed: “Ye must be born again.”
II. A MAN‘S HEART IS OPEN TO DIVINE INFLUENCES. We often feel how difficult it is, as we say, to get at a man. Do what we will, we seem to be outride him. Now, the heart is just the sphere that is always open to Divine influence. It may please God to withdraw and hold himself aloof from a man; but if he pleases to enter, no man can shut his heart’s door against him. He may enter for conviction and for judgment, as well as for persuasion and guidance. If men’s attitude towards us is a cause of trouble, we may be comforted by the assurance that the Master of all human hearts, who is our God, permits it only as long as he pleases, and will change it when he thinks best. With this assurance, no wrong-doing of our fellow-men need unduly distress us.
III. A MAN IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS DEALING WITH GOD‘S INWARD LEADINGS. This, indeed, is his deepest responsibility. He has an inward voice; he is hound to heed it above all. He has Divine impulses; does he crush them or follow them? Heart-hardening chiefly comes in one way, by resisting the Divine lead; or, in New Testament phraseology, “quenching the Spirit;” “resisting the Holy
resisted;
(2) covered over with self-interests;
(3) neglected; or
(4) watched for; and
(5) followed.
IV. HEART–IMPULSES, DULY FOLLOWED, FIND EXPRESSION IN CONDUCT; as all these men came, bringing themselves and all they had to David, when they were under Divine constrainings. So we shall be ready to give self and wealth to all holy uses, if we are inwardly moved of God. Illustrate from the Lord Jesus: “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.” St. Paul’s “The love of Christ constraineth us.” Learn what is the sphere of our prayer for othersviz, that God would move their hearts; and what is our hope in doing Christian work, it is “touched hearts.”R.T.
1Ch 12:32.-Understanding of the times.
It is remarked as peculiarly the characteristic of the men of Issachar, that they had “understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do.” We should call them “men of political sagacity.” “They excelled in moral and political prudence and wisdom, so as to know what, in any season of emergency, the particular posture of affairs required to be done.” We are to understand that these wise men approved of the elevation of David to the throne. The whole of human capacity is for Divine uses. Every faculty and power should be laid on the Divine altar. Some powers are natural, others are developed by the circumstances and experiences of life; but all may be and should be cultivated into the highest practical efficiency. No man has the right to withhold from the service of his fellow-men, and so from the service of God, any talent, faculty, capacity, or power of influence that he may possess. Among the Divine trusts are the gifts and insight of the statesman, and these find spheres in the lesser scenes of local government and. social order, as well as in the state. Men are fitted in the lesser places for the greater. And their influence in every sphere bears directly on the moral and social, and often also upon the religious, good of the people. The work of the statesman may be thus defined, and each point may be illustrated from times and men taken from ancient and modem history.
1. To see below the surface-appearances and the loud outcries of partisans, what is the real want of the times.
2. To devise the schemes which will hopefully meet both the present necessity and demands, and also provide for possible, but at present unforeseen, developments.
3. To choose the time for action which may prove most efficient, and to wisely delay, even at the peril of being misrepresented.
4. To estimate fairly the wholes, not the parts, of a subject; and so to act for all parties and above party. Such men are raised up in every age. Their service fits into the Divine plan for the race. This gift is also from the Lord, and what the world so greatly needs is its use in full loyalty to him.R.T.
1Ch 12:33-38.–Single-mindedness.
Two significant expressions, are used:
(1) “They were not of double heart;”
(2) “Came with a perfect heart.
Scripture ever makes much of sincerity, whole-heartedness. The prophet complains of the people that . “their heart is divided.” This is a most searching reproach, “They feared the Lord, and served other gods.” Our Lord pleaded with men on the impossibility of “serving God and Mammon.” And the Apostle James has severe reproaches for the “double- minded man” Practical life supports Scripture in its commendation of single-minded-ness. The men who do one thing, and put their hearts rote the doing, are the men f influence and success; the kind of men we are always looking for in every department of life; the good servants and the good masters in every sphere. Those who under- take too much, and are ever skipping from one thing to another, make nothing successful, and fail to win and hold our confidence. The point of excellence in the men introduced in these verses is that “they would set the battle in array with no double heart;” and, in respect of allegiance to David, never permitted the slightest suspicion of their integrity to arise. The word “perfect” is often used in Scripture as the equivalent of “whole,” “entire,” “complete.” “Mark the perfect man;” “Be ye therefore perfect;” “As many as be perfect.”
I. SINGLE–MINDEDNESS IS A GREAT SECRET OF SUCCESS IN LIFE, More so now than ever it was, seeing that advanced civilization demands division of labour, and a man can only hope to reach efficiency in one department. Remarkable instances of success achieved on single lines and in particular departments are constantly being given. In science men gain the power of efficiency and exactness by keeping to one branch of a subject; and whatever may be the line in which a young man begins his business or studious life, he should be encouraged to keep on in it and achieve success in it. The law of triumph isThis one thing; and this earnestly.
II. SINGLE–MINDEDNESS IS THE CONDITION OF ACCEPTANCE WITH GOD, Illustrate by Elijah’s appeal, “How long halt ye between two opinions?” Or, “How long will ye be like a restless bird, hopping from twig to twig?” Or from Balaam, who wanted to obey God, but wanted also the offered rewards. Or from Ananias and Sapphira, who wanted the credit of unusually devoted disciples, but wanted also to keep their property. Sincerity assures the Divine regard. This is the first condition of acceptance. Recognizing this, David prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me.” And the apostle has a striking Greek term for the proper attitude of a Christian: he is one who does not fear to be judged standing out in the sunlight (eilikrineis). But this sincerity costs the earnest man his gravest anxieties, because
(1) of the peril of self-deception;
(2) the subtleties of the temptations offered by the self; and
(3) the constant discovery of mixed motives even in the holiest things.
Impress that the unity of our whole being in the love and service of One so worthy, and able so thoroughly to absorb all, as the Lord Jesus Christ, ensures this single-mindedness as nothing else can. It should not be difficult for any of us to be wholly his, and accept our life as the sphere of a single-minded and sincere obedience to him. Remember Wellington’s answer to the officer who attempted to argue a point with him, “Sir, we do not wish you to argue, but to obey.” He had one thing to do,enough if he did it well. Compare St. Paul’s “To me to live is Christ.”R.T.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
. Supplementary List of Brave Men who held to David during the Reign of Saul:
1Ch 12:1-22
1Ch 12:1.And these are they that came to David to Ziklag, while banished from Saul the son of Kish; and they were among the heroes, helpers of the war. 2Armed with bows, using both right hand and left with stones and with 3arrows on the bow:Of the brethren of Saul of Benjamin. The chief Ahiezer and Joash, sons of Hashmaah the Gibeathite; and Jezuel1 and Pelet the 4sons of Azmaveth; and Berachah, and Jehu the Antothite. And Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a hero among the thirty, and over the thirty;2 and Jeremiah, and Jahaziel, and Johanan, and Jozabad the Gederathite. 5Eluzai, and Jerimoth, 6and Bealiah, and Shemariah, and Shephatiah the Haruphite.3 Elkanah, 7and Ishiah, and Azarel, and Joezer, and Jashobam, the Korhites. And Joelah and Zebadiah the sons of Jeroham of Gedor.4
8And of the Gadites, separated themselves unto David at the hold in the wilderness, valiant heroes, men of the host for battle, handling shield and spear,5 with faces like lions, and like roes on the mountains for swiftness. 9, 10Ezer the chief, Obadiah the second, Eliab the third. Mishmannah the 11, 12fourth, Jeremiah the fifth. Attai the sixth, Eliel the seventh. Johanan the eighth, Elzabad the ninth. 13Jeremiah the tenth, Machbannai the eleventh. 14These were of the sons of Gad, heads of the host: one for a hundred, the least, and the greatest for a thousand. 15These are they that went over Jordan in the first month, when it had overflown all its banks;6 and they put to flight all the valleys to the east and to the west.
16And there came of the sons of Benjamin and Judah to the hold unto David. 17And David went out before them, and answered and said unto them, If ye be come peaceably unto me to help me, my heart shall be at one with you; but if to betray me to my enemies, with no wrong in my hands, the God of 18our fathers look on and rebuke it. And the spirit came upon Amasai the chief of the thirty,7 Thine are we, David, and with thee, son of Jesse; peace, peace be to thee, and peace to thy helpers; for thy God helpeth thee; and David received them, and made them captains of the troop.
19And of Manasseh some fell to David, when he came with the Philistines against Saul to battle; but they helped him not: for on advisement, the lords of the Philistines sent him away, saying, At the peril of our heads he 20will fall to his master Saul. When he went to Ziklag, there fell to him of Manasseh, Adnah, and Jozabad, and Jediael, and Michael, and Jozabad, and Elihu, and Zillethai, captains of the thousands of Manasseh. 21And they helped David against the troop; for they were all valiant heroes, and they 22became captains in the host. For day by day they came to David to help him, until the camp was great, like a camp of God.
. Supplementary Data concerning the Number of the Warriors who made David King in Hebron: 1Ch 12:23-40
23And these are the numbers of the heads of those armed for the host who came to David to Hebron, to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according to 24the word of the Lord. The sons of Judah, bearing shield and spear, were 25six thousand and eight hundred, armed for the host. Of the sons of Simeon, 26valiant heroes for the host, seven thousand and one hundred. Of the sons of Levi, four thousand and six hundred. 27And Jehoiada was the leader of the Aaronites, and with him three thousand and seven hundred. 28And Zadok, a valiant young man, and his fathers house twenty and two captains. 29And of the sons of Benjamin, brethren of Saul, three thousand; for hitherto the most part of them kept the ward of the house of Saul. 30And of the sons of Ephraim, twenty thousand and eight hundred valiant heroes, famous men of their father-houses. 31And of the half-tribe of Manasseh, eighteen thousand, who were expressed by name, to come to make David king. 32And of the sons of Issachar, men having understanding of the times, to know what Israel had to do, their heads were two hundred, and all their brethren were at their 33command. Of Zebulun, those going to the host, ordering the battle with all weapons of war, fifty thousand, arraying themselves8 with a single heart. 34And of Naphtali, a thousand captains, and with them, with shield and spear, thirty and seven thousand. 35And of the Danites, ordering the battle, twenty and eight thousand and six hundred. 36And of Asher, those going to the host 37to order the battle, forty thousand. And beyond the Jordan, of the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, with all weapons of war for the battle, a hundred and twenty thousand.
38All these men of war, keeping rank,9 came with true heart to Hebron to make David king over all Israel; and all the rest10 of Israel also were of one 39heart to make David king. And they were there with David three days eating 40and drinking; for their brethren had prepared for them. Moreover, they that were nigh them, even to Issachar, and Zebulun, and Naphtali, brought bread on asses, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen, bread of meal, fig and raisin cakes, and wine, and oil, and oxen, and sheep abundantly; for there was joy in Israel.
EXEGETICAL
Preliminary Remark.The whole of the twelfth chapter is peculiar to the Chronist. Standing after that which is related in 1Ch 11:4 ff., it has the nature of an appendix, in the form of several military lists referring to the force of David before and at his accession to the sole sovereignty. The first of these lists consists properly of three smaller onesa. That of the Benjamites and Jews that came to David during his residence at Ziklag: 1Ch 12:1-7; b. That of the Gadites and some other men from Judah and Benjamin who passed over to him during his residence in the hold: 1Ch 12:8-18; c. That of the Manassites who joined themselves to David shortly before the battle with the Philistines, and the death of Saul at Gilboa: 1Ch 12:19-22. To these lists referring to the Sauline period is then subjoined that of the contingents from all the tribes present at the anointing in Hebron: 1Ch 12:23-40.
1. The Benjamites and Jews who came to Ziklag: 1Ch 12:1-7.And these are they that came to David to Ziklag. Ziklag, belonging to the tribe of Simeon (1Ch 6:30; Jos 19:5), assigned by Achish to David as a residence, was in a site not certainly determined. The sojourn of David there until his anointing at Hebron lasted (1Sa 27:7) a year and four months.While banished from Saul ( ) that is, while his return to Israel as king was still hindered by Saul: inter Israelitas publice versari prohibitus (J. H. Michaelis).And they were among the heroes, helpers of the wars. They belonged to the heroes who served and stood by him in his earlier wars; comp. 1Ch 12:17-18; 1Ch 12:21-22.
1Ch 12:2. Armed with bows, or aiming with the bow; not really different from bending the bow ( ), 1Ch 8:40; comp. 2Ch 17:17 and Psa 78:9.Using both right and left with stones (in slinging, Jdg 20:16) and with arrows on the bow, namely, to shoot and surely hit with them.Of the brethren of Saul of Benjamin. The second restriction serves to explain the first: do not mean near or blood relations. Comp. Gibeath-Saul, 1Sa 11:4, Isa 10:29, and as denoting the same place, Gibeath-Benjamin, 1Sa 10:16; 1Sa 15:34, or Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin, 1Ch 11:31.
1Ch 12:3. Sons of Hashmaah the Gibeathite, from the Gibeah of Benjamin just mentioned.
1Ch 12:4. And Ishmaiah the Gibeonite. That this Gibeonite (this Benjamite of Gibeon; comp. 1Ch 8:29, 1Ch 9:35, with 2Sa 21:2 ff.) Ishmaiah is described first as a hero among the thirty, and then as a leader over the thirty, may be explained by assuming a temporary command over this company. The absence of his name in 1 Chronicles 11, must be explained by this, that he was no longer alive at the time when this list was composed, and was therefore among the earliest members of the corps of the thirty.And Jozabad the Gederathite; perhaps from Gederah (now Ghedera, one hour south-west of Jabneh), a Jewish locality in the Shephelah, Jos 15:36. That Jozabad, though coming from Gederah, belonged to some family of Benjamites dwelling there, is an unnecessary assumption of Keil. The following verses, especially the Geder, 1Ch 12:7, rather show that those here enumerated were by no means exclusively Benjamite.
1Ch 12:6. Elkanah . . . the Korhites. To think of another Korah as the ancestor of the Korhites than the known descendant of Levi is unnecessary; these may be Korhitic Levites settled in Benjamin who are here in question; and the names Elkanah and Azarel having a genuine Levitical ring, make it very probable that they are such; comp. Keil on the p. and Del. Psalter, p. 300. Yet it is possible that they may be descendants of the Jewish Korah mentioned ii. 43 (so Berth., Kamph., etc.).
1Ch 12:7. And Joelah . . . of Gedor, without doubt the Jewish city mentioned 1Ch 4:4, south-west of Bethlehem; so that here also non-Benjamites are included in the series, notwithstanding the announcement, 1Ch 12:2, which leads us to expect only Benjamites. Whether this contradiction between the announcement and the contents of the list arises from the whole series of names being greatly abridged and composed out of two originally distinct lists, one of pure Benjamites, and another containing Jews, as Berth, thinks, appears doubtful; comp. Keil, p. 134.
2. The Gadites and some other Jews and Benjamites who joined themselves to David while in the Hold: 1Ch 12:8-18.a. The Gadites: 1Ch 12:8-15.And of the Gadites (that is, of those belonging to the tribe of Gad, while the others adhered to Saul) separated themselves unto David at the hold in the wilderness. This was during the first year of his flight before Saul, 1Sa 22:1 ff. (so pointed for , on account of the close connection of the two following words) denotes properly: to the hold towards the wilderness. A definite single hold (= ; comp. 1Ch 11:16) is here as little intended as in 1Ch 12:16, but rather the greater number of those holds of the wilderness of Judah (comp. , 1Sa 23:14; 1Sa 24:1) in which David dwelt at that time; thus is here general, as , 1 Sam. 24:23.Men of the host for battle, practised in war; comp. 1Ch 7:11. On the following handling () shield and spear, comp. 1Ch 12:24 (bearing shield and spear) and Jer 46:3; for the comparison of the warriors with lions and roes, 2Sa 1:23; 2Sa 2:18. The expressions in the description of their power and fleetness, 1Ch 12:8, remind us of such as are used in the historical books of heroes in the time of David, and are without doubt drawn from the source which our author here used (Berth.).
1Ch 12:13. Machbannai the eleventh, literally, the eleven; comp. 1Ch 24:12.
1Ch 12:14. Heads of the host (so 1Ch 12:21 b), that is, chief warriors, not leaders.One for a hundred the least, and the greatest for a thousand. The smallest of them was equal to one hundred other warriors, and the strongest to a thousand,an expression of manifestly poetical colouring, reminding us of Lev 26:8 and of 1Sa 18:7; 1Sa 21:11, which our author certainly found in his source. The Sept, and the most of the older Rabbis rightly understood the passage, but the Vulg. wrongly: novissimus centum militibus prerat et maximus mille, for which instead of , and another order of words, should be expected.
1Ch 12:15. These are they that went over Jordan, at the time when they separated themselves from the other Gadites of the host of Saul, and were forced to break through this to reach David. Their flight fell in the first month, that is, in the spring, when the Jordan was greatly swollen, and had overflown its bank. So much greater was the heroic deed.And put to flight all the valleys to the east and to the west, on both sides of the river, just as if its overflowing waters were not present. , properly valleys, here inhabitants of the valleys, Hitzig (Gesch. Isr. p. 29) conceives to be the name of a people, that occurs also Jer 49:4 (comp. Jer 47:5), and is identical with the Anakim, Jos 15:14, and with the Amoriteswith the latter really, with the former even in name (?). See, on the contrary, Keil on Jer. p. 480.b. The men of Benjamin and Judah: 1Ch 12:16-18.And there came of the sons of Benjamin and Judah. The names of these other followers of David when persecuted by Saul the Chronist does not give, either because his source did not contain them, or because they may have been included for the most part in the lists already communicated in 1 Chronicles 11. Amasai only, the leader of this troop, is named.
1Ch 12:17. And David went out before them, or to meet them; comp. 1Ch 14:8.My heart shall be at one with you. , a phrase occurring only here, not essentially different from , 1Ch 12:38 (comp. 1Ch 12:33).But if to betray me to my enemies. , with accus, of the object, means, to practise fraud on any one. For the following, compare, on the one hand, Job 16:17, Isa 53:9; on the other hand, 2Ch 24:22. For the phrase: the God of our fathers, namely, of the patriarchs Abraham, etc., comp. Exo 3:13; Ezr 7:27; 2Ch 20:6; Mat 22:32.
1Ch 12:18. And (the) Spirit came upon Amasai the chief of thirty. Here, as in the parallel Jdg 6:34, the Spirit of God is meant (comp. 2Ch 24:20), as the principle of higher inspiration to great and bold deeds. The Amasai of our passage is perhaps not different from Amasa (with instead of at the end) the son of Abigail, sister of David, 1Ch 2:17, who, at a later period, in the time of Absalom, performed a not unimportant part as commander (first under Absalom, and then under David), till Joab murdered him (2Sa 17:25; 2Sa 19:14; 2Sa 20:4 ff.). Much less probable is the identity assumed by others of this Amasai with Abshai the brother of Joab (1Ch 2:16, 1Ch 11:20).Thine are we, David, to thee we belong, and with thee, we hold, Notwithstanding this simple and obvious completion, the Sept, has wholly misunderstood the words , and made of them .For thy God helpeth thee. This refers to the past aid which David had received from God (1Sa 18:12 ff.), but also to the further aid in prospect, which was to be imparted to him in future.And made them captains of the troop, appointed them leaders of the several divisions of his army,that army () of all kinds of people that had gathered about him; comp. 1Sa 22:2; 1Sa 27:8, etc.
3. The Seven Manassites who joined themselves to David before the Last Battle of Saul with the Philistines: 1Ch 12:19-22.And of Manasseh some fell to David. , as in 2Ki 25:11;1Sa 29:3; comp. at the close of the verse. For the historical situation, comp. 1Sa 29:2-11.For on advisement, , on consultation, as Pro 20:18.At the peril of our heads, literally, for our heads, for the price of them; comp. 1Sa 29:4.
1Ch 12:20. When he went to Ziklag, and thus before the great battle of Gilboa in which Saul fell; comp. 1Sa 29:11.Captains of the thousands of Manasseh, of the great military divisions (regiments) into which the tribe of Manasseh was divided; comp. Num 31:14; Num 31:26; Num 27:1, and 1Ch 15:25.
1Ch 12:21. And they helped David against the troop, namely, his present foes, the Amalekites; comp. 1Sa 30:8; 1Sa 30:15, where the here used (for which the Sept. perversely read a n. pr. ) appears more definitely as the army of the Amalekites. Moreover, the seven here named Manassites only are the immediate and direct subject of the sentence, not all the heroes named from 1Ch 12:1 to 1Ch 12:20 (as Berth, thinks), though certainly the whole force of David (600 strong, 1Sa 30:9) was drawn out to fight with Amalek. But that by only the seven Manassites can here be meant is shown by the following words: and they became captains in the host, which cannot apply to the whole troop.
1Ch 12:22. Until the camp was great, like a camp of God; comp. Gen 32:2 and phrases like mountains, cedars of God, Psa 36:7; Psa 80:11. The phrase is only rhetorical, not idealizing or exaggerating (Keil); it extends also clearly beyond the time when David had only 600 followers to the time when thousands, and then hundreds of thousands, followed him. The following description seizes the moment when out of the thousands of the first seven years of his reign at Hebron came the hundred thousands and more.
4. The Number of the Warriors who made David King over all Israel: 1Ch 12:23-40.And these are the members of the heads of those armed for the host, or for military service (comp. Num 31:5; Jos 4:13). The heads of those armed are here not the captains or leaders (Vulg. principes exercitus, Berth., etc.), but the sums or masses of the warriors, as Jdg 7:16; Jdg 7:20; Jdg 9:34; Jdg 9:37; Jdg 9:44, 1Sa 11:11, or perhaps also the polls (Jdg 5:30); so that would be the number of polls. For it cannot he proved (against Berth.) that only , and not also , can have this sense; and the following is not a list of leaders, but a poll list, that also originally bore this form, though the abbreviating changes of our author make it difficult to prove.To turn the kingdom of Saul to him; comp. 1Ch 10:14, and for the following, 1Ch 11:3; 1Ch 11:10.
1Ch 12:24. The sons of Judah, bearing shield and spear; comp. on 1Ch 12:8. The enumeration begins with the two southern tribes, Judah and Simeon; next gives the priestly tribe of Levi, whose chief force lay at that time in and about Judah; and then, proceeding from south to north, names first the other western tribes, and then the three eastern ones.
1Ch 12:26. And Jehoiada was the leader of the Aaronites, literally, the leader of Aaron, that is, not the high priest (who was at that time Abiathar, 1Sa 23:9), but the head of the family of Aaron. Perhaps this was Jehoiada the father of Benaiah, 1Ch 6:22.
1Ch 12:28. And Zadok, a valiant young man, perhaps that descendant of Eleazar (5:34) whom Solomon, 1Ki 2:26, made high priest. That the house of this Zadok, at the time of Davids elevation, counted twenty-two chiefs or heads of families, proves how flourishing this branch of the Aaronites was at that time.
1Ch 12:29. And of the sons of Benjamin, brethren of Saul, three thousand. This number is indeed surprisingly small, but certainly original. The writer accounts for it also, first briefly, by the characteristic addition , then more fully by the remark, for hitherto ( , as 1Ch 9:18) the most part of them kept the ward of Sauls house; that is, the most of them were still devoted to the interest of the kindred house of Saul ( , as Num 3:38; comp. 1Ch 23:32; 2Ch 23:6), so that they turned to David only slowly, and when Ishbosheth was dead.
1Ch 12:30. Famous men of their father-houses, arranged according to their father-houses. The Ephraimites, on the whole, though their number was above 20,000, are called celebrated, famous men (comp. Gen 6:4), perhaps because they were distinguished by their warlike bravery, and had not merely a few able heroes or leaders.
1Ch 12:31. And of the half-tribe of Manasseh, the western half. The being expressed by name ( , as Num 1:17; 1Ch 16:41) points to the formation of a list by the tribe authorities, in which all those warriors of the tribe were entered who were chosen to take part in the elevation of the new king at Hebron. All the other tribes may have formed similar lists for this purpose.
1Ch 12:32. And of the sons of Issachar, men having understanding of the times, to know what Israel had to do. This applies, not to the whole tribe, but only to the 200 heads of their forces; and it denotes, not every kind of activity in astronomical or physical science (Chald., several Rabbis, Cleric), but only that those leaders saw what was most advisable to be done in the condition of the times (Starke), that they were prudentes viri, qui quid, quando et quomodo agendum esset, varia lectione (?) et usu rerum cognoscebant (L. Lavater). Men understanding, literally, knowing judgment, ; comp. 2Ch 2:12 and the similar , Dan 1:4. To know what Israel had to do, in the present case, means to whom it had to apply as its king and supreme ruler. These men of Issachar were not dull and narrow bony asses (Gen 49:14), but prudent judges of the signs of their time (Mat 16:3).And all their brethren were at their command. , literally, by their month, namely, guided; comp. Gen 41:40; Num 4:27; Deu 21:5.
1Ch 12:33. Ordering the battle with all weapons of war, practised in the conflict with all kinds of weapons; comp. 1Ch 12:6.Arraying themselves with a single heart, literally, and to band together with not heart and heart. For , with some critical evidence (see Crit. Note), to read is unnecessary and untenable, from the recurrence of in 1Ch 12:38. From this parallel passage, this verb must mean, to take rank for war, to stand in order of battle. For , to denote double-mindedness or a divided heart, comp. Psa 12:3 and 1Ch 12:38; and .
1Ch 12:38. All these men of war, keeping rank; Sept. . The change of into (see Crit. Note) is unnecessary, and as little demanded by in 1Ch 12:33; 1Ch 12:35-36 as by ; comp. on 1Ch 12:33. All these points naturally to the whole troops enumerated from 1Ch 12:24 on.And all the rest of Israel, etc. On , one, united heart, comp 2Ch 30:12.
1Ch 12:39. And they were there with David three days, eating and drinking. Comp, the festivals described 1Sa 30:16, 1Ki 1:25; 1Ki 1:40, etc., and also from the most recent oriental history; for example, the enormous feast (100,000 sheep and wethers, 20,000 oxen, 40,000 gallons honey-wine, etc.) that was given in connection with the elevation of Kassai to be emperor (negus) of Abyssinia (Feb. 1872).For their brethren had prepared for them (victuals), namely, the Jews about Hebron. Comp. on this , Gen 43:16; 2Ch 35:14, etc.
1Ch 12:40. Moreover, they that were nigh them (comp. Deu 13:8), all the neighbouring tribes of Judah on this side the Jordan; and not merely those immediately adjacent, but also the tribes in the middle, and some of those in the north of Palestine.Brought bread (victuals) on asses, and camels, and mules, etc. Observe the purely epical character of the representation, that points to a very ancient historical source used by the Chronist.Fig and raisin cakes. For the masses of dried figs () and raisins (), as indispensable dainty additions to feasts, comp. 1Sa 25:18; 1Sa 30:12; Jer 40:10; Jer 40:12; Amo 8:1 f.; also Celsius, Hierobot. i. 377 ff.; Winer, Realw., Art. Feigenbaum.
Apologetic on 1Ch 12:23 ff.
With respect to the credibility of the numbers of our section, it is to be remarked in general, that the sum total of about 340,000 men,11 resulting from the data relative to the military contingents of the several tribes, agrees, on the whole, with other known data concerning the sum of the people of Israel equipped for war (for example, the 600,000 men in the time of Moses, the 800,000 Israelites and 500,000 Jews in the census of David), as, indeed, a full call of all those fit to bear arms could not be expected on the present occasion. On the contrary the relation of the numbers in the several tribes presents much that is surprising. The strength of the three eastern tribes (120,000), exceeding a third of the sum total, and the likewise considerable strength of Zebulun (50,000), Naphtali (37,000), and Asher (40,000), seem to contrast in a manner scarcely conceivable with the small contingents of Judah, Simeon, Levi, and Benjamin. But1. With regard to Benjamin, the ground of his only small share in the festivities at Hebron is expressly stated, and in a way entirely satisfactory, and admitting of no further objection. 2. The number of the Levites is, in 1Ch 12:27-28, not fully given, inasmuch as of the third division of them, the house of Zadok, only the number of the chiefs (22) and not that of the common order is stated (as in Issachar only the number of the chiefs or heads is expressed, 1Ch 12:32). 3. Of Judah and Simeon are certainly only comparatively very small numbers given, for this reason, that the warriors of this tribe had long since, seven years before, ranged themselves on the side of David, and therefore, in the review on the occasion of the solemnities of his anointing, did not need to be represented in their full military strength (which would have reached in itself to between 100,000 and 200,000 men). These warriors of Judah and Simeon had rather to act as commissaries, to make provision for the greater bodies of troops; and most of them were to be sought, not among the (1Ch 12:24-25 ff.), but among the 4. Yet highly surprising is the numerical relation of the middle and northern tribes west of the Jordan, namely, the smallness of Ephraim (20,800) beside Zebulun and Naphtali. But if we consider that Ephraim, which had 40,500 men at the first census under Moses at Mount Sinai, had diminished to 32,500 at the second on the steppes of Moab, this tribe may not at this time have been very strong in men-at-arms, as it may have suffered and been weakened most of all the tribes in the last wars of Saul with the Philistines, and in the battles of Abner for the recovery of the region occupied by the Philistines for Ishbosheth. Moreover, perhaps Ephraim, in his jealousy of Judah, dating from the time of the Judges, might not be altogether inclined to make David king over all Israel. That, however, Zebulun and Naphtali are here so numerously represented, though they played no important part in the history of Israel, is not enough to cast suspicion on the numbers given. As Zebulun under Moses numbered 57,400, and afterwards 60,500, and Naphtali then 53,400, afterwards 45,400 men-at-arms (comp. Numbers 1-3. with Numbers 26), the former might send 50,000, the latter 37,000, men to David at, Hebron (Keil). The subsequent smallness and insignificance of these tribes (comp Evangelical-Ethical Reflections on 1 Chronicles 1-9, No. 2, p. 92) is simply explained by their only imperfect restoration after the destruction of the kingdom of Israel by Shalmaneser.The credibility of the data of our list cannot in general be doubted according to all this, that is, irrespective of particular corruptions of the text that are always to be admitted as possible. It would much more present matter for well-founded doubts if the numerical strength of the several tribes attested in it were exactly proportional to the data of Numbers regarding the early relations of the military divisions. The appearance of something surprising in the present numerical data speaks directly for their true historical origin, and imposes the greatest caution on the modern critic of the contents of our chapter, that exhibit so many traces of fresh originality and high antiquity. This also may perhaps be urged as a proof of the essentially unchanged transmission of the present documents from the author, that the tribe of Dan, which is elsewhere often omitted, as it seems intentionally, by the Chronist, is here expressly mentioned, and in no disparaging way; comp. 1Ch 12:35 with Introd. 6, No. 1, p. 24, and with the remarks on 1Ch 6:46 and 1Ch 7:12.
Footnotes:
[1] Keri: Jeziel ().
[2]With the fourth verse closes in the mss. and older editions, even that of R. Norzi, so that the whole chapter contains forty-one verses.
[3] Keri: the Hariphite (); comp. , Neh 7:24.
[4]For is certainly to be read ; comp. 1Ch 4:4.
[5]For the Bibl. Venet. Rabb. has : so some old prints, but not the mss.
[6]The Kethib , if correct, would be the plur. of , and occur only here. With the Keri comp. Jos 3:15; Jos 4:18; Isa 8:8.
[7] Kethib: ; Keri, as usual: . The Sept. and Vulg. agree with the Kethib.
[8]For nine mss., the Sept. (), and the Vulg. read .
[9]These mss. change into unnecessarily. See Exeg. Expl.
[10] , defective for , occurring only here; hence some mss. have the scr. plena.
[11]
Namely, from
Judah,
6,800
men.
Simeon
7,100
men.
Levi,
4,600
men.
Also with
Jehoiada,
3,700
men (with 22 chiefs of the house of Zadok)
From
Benjamin,
3,000
men.
Ephraim,
20,800
men.
Half-Manasseh,
18,000
men.
Issachar,
?
men (200 chiefs and all their brethren).
From Zebulun,
50,000
men.
Naphrali,
37,000
men. (with 1000 chiefs).
Dan,
28,000
men.
Asher,
40,000
men.
From
the three eastern Tribes,
120,000
men.
Sum,
339,00
men (with 1222 cheifs and heads).
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
This Chapter, in prosecuting David’s history, treats of the companies that came to join David, and the augmentation of his army.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The continued accumulation of David’s forces, serves to remind us of the wonderful accession of converts to the Lord Jesus from every part. Oh! how truly lovely is it to behold souls flying to Christ, as a cloud, and as doves to their window. If David waxed stronger and stronger, surely our Almighty David’s kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and that which shall endure to everlasting ages.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Skilled Hands
1Ch 12
THIS chapter is supplemental to the preceding, and has been described throughout as peculiar to the chronicle. Here we have two registers: the first is of the warriors who went over to David during his outlaw career, and the second is of the tribal representatives who crowned David at Hebron. There are two or three resting-places even in this chapter of names, where we may tarry for a moment and partake of spiritual refreshment. These resting-places are the more remarkable as occurring in a chapter which is largely filled with such names as Ahiezer, Shemaah, Jeziel, Berachah, Ismaiah, Johanan, Josabad, Eluzai, Jerimoth, and many others. We seem to be wandering in very stony places, hence any sprig of flower is the more remarkable, and any pool of clear water the more valuable and precious.
Take the second verse for example, where we read:
“They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of a bow.” ( 1Ch 12:2 )
On what comparatively small points fame often seems to rest. We have noticed before how many men there are in Scripture whose names seem to be preserved in association with some trifling eccentricity or local speciality of circumstances. In times of conflict and danger, however, it was no small qualification to be able to use both the right hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of a bow. How few men know that they have a left hand; how very much are the operations of life confined to one side of the body; men speak of the right hand and the right eye as if they were crowned with a special kind of honour; other men seem to have cultivated both sides of the body with equal success, so that they are what are termed all-round men, able to do double work, and proving themselves to be most useful in complicated and unforeseen circumstances. We hardly yet know how many faculties we have. Physiologists delight to tell us that there are muscles in the body whose very existence we had not suspected, and they call us to this or that kind of unusual exercise, in order that such muscles may be excited and developed. Whilst all this may be perfectly true regarding the body, the use which we wish to make of the incident is purely spiritual. All faculties are needed in this great warfare to which we are called. It is the peculiarity of Christian service that all our faculties can be utilised within its lines. Yet have we not practically forbidden the use of certain faculties in seeking to complete our Christian avocation? We have given a high place to Reason, and a higher place still to Faith, and we have set Reverence in great honour, and crowned Veneration as the chief of worshippers. All this is right; so obviously right that it needs no vindication. But man is more than rational and reverent. His faculties are well-nigh innumerable. What place have we assigned to Imagination in the Church that marvellous faculty which makes new heavens and a new earth, which turns the dust of the ground into men, and makes men sons of God; the creative faculty which turns bread into flesh, wine into blood, and sees in all the processes of nature a many-coloured and eloquent parable? We have been unjust to Imagination. We have treated Imagination as a trespasser, and thus have acted to our souls as a man would act towards an eagle who cut off the wings of the great flier. Even wit and raillery have their place in Christian teaching. Some men can bring wicked customs into ridicule who cannot set up against them a continuous and conclusive argument. Some men are gifted with the power of banter, so that by throwing anti-Christian contentions into grotesque forms, and reducing them to absurdity, they may do more by their raillery than others can do by formal and elaborate logic. Others again may have the faculty or power of amusing men, and so withdrawing them from cruel or brutal engagements to exercises that are innocent, and which may in due time create a desire for something higher than themselves. The Christian ministry should represent a marvellous piece of mosaic; or, to change the figure, a very intricate but beautiful and exquisite piece of machinery. Continually there is a danger that the ministry should be regarded as being only orthodox when of one and the same pattern, when using the same vocal tones, walking in the same literary paths, and practically saying the same thing without variety and without passion. Have we not many members in one body? and yet the body is one. The eye cannot say to the ear, I have no need of thee; nor can the hand do without the services of the foot. If we be many members therefore and one body, shall we not, in the Christian ministry, find the thinker, the teacher, the expositor, the eloquent orator, the burning evangelist, the tender and gracious suppliant, the sympathising visitor, the friend who has no power but that of suggestive teaching, so that the very grasp of his hand would seem to communicate energy and hope? There is indeed a danger of becoming envious of men who accomplish more than we can. This is pitiful everywhere, but doubly pitiful and inexcusable in the Christian Church. We are inclined to mock each other’s superiority, or to make the least of it, or to charge it to false motives. The man who can hurl stones with only one hand is apt to depreciate the man who can hurl stones with both hands. The enemy has no stronger ally, no better or more reliable colleague, than the man who, whilst professing to be a brother, plays the part of a sneerer or traducer.
In the eighth verse there are further discriminations of faculties and their uses
“And of the Gadites there separated themselves unto David into the hold to the wilderness men of might, and men of war fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as the roes upon the mountains…. These were of the sons of Gad, captains of the host: one of the least was over an hundred, and the greatest over a thousand” ( 1Ch 12:8 , 1Ch 12:14 .)
In the nineteenth verse we come upon a baser sort of men
“And there fell some of Manasseh to David [ 1Ch 12:20 ; 2Ki 25:11 ], when he came with the Philistines against Saul to battle: but they helped them not: for the lords of the Philistines upon advisement [i.e., with forethought and after deliberation ( Pro 20:18 )] sent him away, saying, He will fall to his master Saul to the jeopardy of our heads.” ( 1Ch 12:19 )
In the twenty-second verse we read:
“For at that time day by day there came to David to help him, until it was a great host [camp], like the host of God.” ( 1Ch 12:22 )
In Gen 32:1-2 we read “And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God’s host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim,” that is, two camps. The verse points to the inclusion of considerable accessions to David’s forces which followed upon the defeat and death of Saul. The point of beauty in the verse would seem to be in the words “day by day.” All the forces did not come at the same hour. Some came on the first day, some on the second, some on the third; yea, day’ by day, as the need deepened the hosts came as if specially sent from God. Our Lord teaches us to pray “Give us this day our daily bread.” Daily help for daily need should be the confidence of every Christian soul. “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” It is true that tomorrow will bring its own burden, it is also true that tomorrow will bring its own strength. Why do we project ourselves into the future, and try to live tomorrow within the limits of to-day? Christ endeavoured to teach us a contrary lesson, and he plied both our reason and imagination with many arguments and appeals; yet even now we treat tomorrow as if Christ had not laid down a doctrine concerning it, or made any promise that God would meet us then as certainly as he meets us now. Is it not the very law of life and progress that day by day we receive new accessions of strength and light and confidence? Who can tell how the mind grows, how ideas multiply, how sources of comfort reveal themselves, how pools of water are found in the burning desert? Who has not often said that he could not imagine himself doing this or that, but somehow, when the need arose, the faculty was awakened or the resources were assured? Men are continually surprising themselves by what they are enabled to do and to bear; and yet, should there come a moment of danger, and should they be called down from their enthusiasm, they soon sink into unbelief or indifference. “Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Lord has many things to say unto us, but we cannot bear them now. To-morrow we shall be stronger, tomorrow we shall be wiser, tomorrow we shall be nearer heaven. The only way in which we can affect tomorrow is by living wisely to-day. To-day is the seedtime; tomorrow will be the harvest; and according to the seed we sow will be the harvest we reap. There is, therefore, a sense in which tomorrow is quite in our own hands, and that is in the sense of so using to-day that we shall have no fear of tomorrow bringing forth an evil harvest, because we know that we have sown the field of to-day with earnest labour, earnest prayer, ungrudging sacrifice, and that by the eternal law of God such seed must bring forth precious fruit.
We have seen what mighty men David had around him men of valour, ambidextrous men, men of the lion face, men who never went forth but to victory; we see however in the thirty-second verse that David had men who were not only valiant but wise.
“And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do” [literally, “And of the sons of Issachar came men, sage in discernment for the times, so as to know what Israel ought to do”]. ( 1Ch 12:32 )
It has been thought that the tribe of Issachar had skill in astrology, so that they could read in the heavens what seasons were auspicious for action. On the other hand, it has been thought that the meaning of the text is limited to the fact that the men of Issachar showed political sagacity in going over to David. It is noted that no similar phrase occurs elsewhere in the Old Testament. Taking this text as it stands, it leads us to see how important it is that men should study the times in which they live, and adapt their work to the conditions which constitute their opportunity. It is in vain that we endeavour to sew new cloth on to old garments, or to put new wine into old bottles. It is perfectly possible to be changing always as to mere position, attitude, direction, and yet to be never changing as to inner doctrine and moral purpose. Why should men think that the church is in danger, when it is only some old leaves that are being shed from the tree which the Lord himself has planted? Why should men think themselves reverent, simply because they are vainly endeavouring to make old methods suit new necessities? He is the wise man who considers all the features of a case, and adapts the treasure of which he is possessed to meet new desires and new demands. There may be change without change; in other words, the change may be but superficial, whilst the immutable may be within, giving order and dignity and energy to all that is attempted from without. Love is eternal, but its expression admits of continual variety. Prayer never changes as to its spirit and intent, yet every day may find it laden with new expressions, because human history has revealed wants which had not before been even suspected. He who understands every time but his own, will do no permanent work for society. He is like a man who knows every language but his native tongue, and is therefore unable to speak to the person standing at his side. To know everything but human nature is to be supreme in ignorance. The parent does not stand upon some high law of physiology, and command his child to show the phenomena which have justified that law, or resulted in its enactment; he studies the child’s particular want, or peculiar temperament, or special circumstances, and says the law was made for the child, not the child for the law. The Apostle Paul became all things to all men, that by all means he might win some. Conservatism is madness, when it will not study the law of the times and adapt itself to passing conditions.
In the thirty-third verse we find another description of men :
“Of Zebulun, such as went forth to battle, expert in war [rather, “arrayed for battle with all harness of battle”], with all instruments of war, fifty thousand, which could keep rank: they were not of double heart.” ( 1Ch 12:33 )
“All these men of war, that could keep rank [literally, “arrayers of battle,” men that could set the battle in array], 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.” ( 1Ch 12:38 )
“If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only.” Given a consecrated and undivided heart; given an army animated by such a heart, and the enemy will flee away, and the host of God will bring to Zion banners inscribed with Victory.
Prayer
Almighty God, may we read the word with our heart, and see its beauty, and answer all its solemn appeal. The word was written for us; it is a word sent to our life, bringing with it life and truth and love, and high vision, and glorious possibility of destiny. It is written with the finger of God. No man can erase the writing; it abides the fire; it outlasts the ages; it is grand with the quietness of Godhead. It is thy word, it is all thine; we cannot add to it, and we cannot take from it, without showing the mischievousness of our attempts. We would receive thy word in all its fulness, read it with simple hearts, accept it with the trust of little children. We would prove its inspiration by living in its strength, enjoying its comfort, and magnifying its statutes and precepts. Help us to learn the doctrine by doing the will: show us how obedience explains what is written, and how to the broken heart hardly any light is refused all heaven stoops to the contrite spirit to bless it with gospels and promises. Give us the understanding heart, the open mind, the unsophisticated spirit; then shall we see much, and learn much, and do it with tender obedience to God. Let thy word always be amongst us as bread and water. Jesus said: I am the Bread of life. Jesus said: I am the Water of life. Bread of heaven, feed us, till we want no more! Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XIV
ZIKLAG, ENDOR, AND GILBOA
1Sa 27:1-31:13
Let us analyze David’s sin of despair, and give the train of sins and embarrassments that follow. The first line tells us of his sin of despair, 1Sa 27:1 : “And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul.” It is a sad thing to appear in the life of David, this fit of the “blues” that came on him, and was utterly unjustifiable. In fact, he is done with Saul forever. Saul will never harm him again, and he is very late in fearing that he will one day perish by the hand of Saul. It reminds us of Elijah under the juniper tree, praying that he might die in his despair, when God never intended him to die at all but to take him to heaven without death. It was unjustifiable because the promises to him were that he should be king, and he should not have supposed that God’s word would fail. It is unjustifiable because up to this time he had been preserved from every attack of Saul, and the argument in his mind should be, “I will be preserved unto the end.”
The distrust of God sometimes comes to the best people. I don’t claim to be among the best people. I am an average kind of a man, trying my level best to do right, and generally optimistic and no man is ever whipped until he is whipped inside, and it is a very rare thing that I am whipped inside. Whenever I am it lasts a very short time. I don’t stay whipped long. But we may put it down as worthy of consideration in our future life that whenever we get into the state of mind the Israelites were in about the Canaanites that we are “mere grasshoppers in their sight and in our own sight,” then our case is pitiable. Let us never take the grasshopper view of ourselves.
That was the first sin, the succumbing of his faith; the temporary eclipsing of his faith. The next sin is this: “There is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the land of the Philistines.” Had he forgotten about God? Had he forgotten that he had tried that Philistine crowd once and had to get away from there without delay? Had he forgotten when he went over into Moab and was told by the prophet to get back to his own country? God would take care of him. That sin is the child of the other.
His third sin was that before taking such a decisive step he didn’t ask God a very unusual thing for him. Generally when anything perplexed him he called for the Ephod and the high priest and asked the Lord what he should do, but he is so unnerved through fear of Saul that he does not stop to ask what God has to say, and so that is a twin to the second sin, that was born of the original one. Without consulting anybody he gathers up his followers with their women, children, and everything that they have, and goes down to Gath, and there commits his next sin. He makes an alliance with the king of Gath and becomes tributary to him.
That in turn leads to another sin. He is bound to fight against the enemies of God’s cause, and so, occupying a town, Ziklag, bestowed upon him by the Philistine king, he marches out secretly and makes war on the Geshurites and Ginzites and Amalekites, and for fear that somebody would be spared to tell the Philistines that he was killing their allies, he kills them all, men, women, and children. Now, if he had been carrying out a plan of Jehovah he would have been justified, but the record says that he did it for fear that if he left any one of them alive they would report the fact to King Achish of Gath. His next sin is to tell a lie about it. We call it “duplicity,” but it was a sure-enough lie. He made the impression on Achish’s mind when he went out on this expedition that he was going against Judah, which pleased the Philistine king very much, for if he was fighting against Judah, then Judah would hate him and the breach would be widened between him and his own people.
We now come to another sin. Each sin leads to another. The Philistines determined to make a decisive war against Saul, and not to approach him in the usual way, but to follow up the boundary of the Mediterranean Sea and strike across through the very center of Palestine and cut the nation in two from the valley of Esdraelon. So Achish says to David, “You must go with us. You are our guest and ally and occupying a town I gave you.” So David marches along with his dauntless 600, and evidently against the will of his own men, as we will see later. He does go with the Philistines to the very battlefield, and when they get there the Philistines, seeing that he is with the court of the king, object to’ his presence and will not allow him to go to the battle with them. So he returned to the land of the Philistines.
I have no idea that he ever intended to strike a blow against Saul. I feel perfectly sure of it. When the battle was raging he would have attacked the Philistines in the flank with his 600 men, but he made the impression on the mind of the king that he would fight with them against Saul. The providence of God kept him from committing that sin.
These are the six sins resulting from getting into the wrong place just one time. I don’t say he won’t get into the place again, but this time he certainly was cowed. A man can’t commit just one sin. A sin can outbreed an Australian rabbit. The hunter sometimes thinks he sees just one quail, but when he flushes him, behold there is a pair or maybe a covey! There is a proverb that whoever tells a lie ought to have a good memory, else he will tell some more covering that one up, forgetting his first statement. I am sorry to bring out this charge against David, but I will have a much bigger one to bring out before we are done with him. He is one of the best men that ever lived, but all the good men that I know have their faults.
I have never yet been blest with the sight of a sinless man. I know there are some people who claim to be perfect and sinless, but I don’t know any who really are. A great modern sermon was preached on this despair of David, taking that first line as a text: “I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul.” The preacher was John McNeil, who is called the “modern Spurgeon.” He has charge of one of the livest churches in London and has published several volumes of sermons. This is the first in one of his books, and it is a great one.
This sin of David was punished in two ways. While he was off following the Philistines to the battlefield, these same Amalekites that he had been troubling so much, swooped down on Ziklag the town given to David by Achish and there being no defenders present, nobody but the women and children, they burned the town. They didn’t kill any one, but they took all the women and the children and the livestock and the furniture and everything made as clean a sweep as you ever saw, including both of David’s wives, Ahinoam and Abigail. The second punishment was that his own men, who didn’t want to go up with the Philistines, wanted to stone him for what bad happened when he was gone. His life was in danger.
But he recovered himself from this sin. When he saw the destruction of Ziklag and the temper of his men, the text says that David “greatly encouraged his heart in God and called for the high priest and the Ephod.” What a pity he hadn’t called for him sooner! But God is quick to answer readily, and forgive his erring children, and to put away their sin, and the answer comes through the Ephod to David’s questions: “Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them?” and God’s answer comes as quick as lightning, “Pursue them, for you shall overtake them and you shall recover all.” That was a very fine reply for a sinner to get when his troubles arose from his own sin, and so he does pursue them with his 600 men, and David in pursuit of a foe was like the Texas rangers. If a man’s horse gave out they left it. If a man himself gave out they left him. They just kept pursuing until they found and struck the enemy. That was the way with David.
A third of his force, 200 of his brave men, when they got to a certain stream of water, could not go any farther. He had to leave them and go with just 400 men. Out in the desert he finds a slave of one of the Amalekites, an Egyptian, starving to death. He had had nothing to eat for three days. David fed him, and asked him if he would guide them to the camp of the Amalekites. He said he would if they would never let his master get him again, and David came upon them while they were feasting and rejoicing over the great spoils. He killed all of them except about 400 young men who rode on camels. They got away. Camels are hard to overtake by infantry. They are very swift. And your record says that David recovered every man, woman, and child and every stick of furniture, besides all the rich spoils these desert pirates bad been gathering in for quite a while, cattle and stock of every kind.
David made the following judicious uses of the victory:
1. On the return, when they got to where those 200 were left behind, certain tough characters in his army did not want the 200 men to share in the spoils. They could have their wives and children, but nothing else. David not only refused to follow that plan, but established a rule dating from that time, that whoever stayed behind, with the baggage must share equally with those that went to the front. These men did not want to stay, but they couldn’t go any farther.
At the battle of San Jacinto, Houston had sternly to detail a certain number of his men to keep the camp, and they wept because they were not allowed to go into the battle. Those men that were detailed to stay in camp ought to be counted as among the victors of the battle of San Jacinto, and history go counts them.
2. The second judicious use that he made of the spoils captured from these Amalekites was to send large presents to quite a number of the southern cities of Judah that had been friendly to him and his men. He was always a generoushearted man. That made a good deal of capital for David. Even had he been acting simply as a politician, that was the wisest thing he could have done. But he simply followed his heart.
There were great accessions to David at Ziklag. The text tells us, 1Ch 12:1-7 , that there were about twenty-three mighty men, some of whom were Benjamites, who had come from Saul’s tribe, and they were right-handed and left handed. They could shoot an arrow with either hand. They could use either hand to sling a stone, and among these twenty-three were some of the most celebrated champions of single combat ever known in the world’s history. One of them, Jashobeam, in one fight killed 300 men with one spear.
SAUL AND THE WITCH OF ENDOR It is important for us to note just here the Mosaic law against necromancy, or an appeal to the dead by the living through a medium, i.e., a wizard, if a man, or a witch, if a woman, and wherein lies the sin of necromancy, which relates exclusively to trying to gather information from the dead. The law of Moses, in the book of Deuteronomy, is very explicit that no Israelite should ever try to gather information from the dead through a wizard or a witch, and the reason is that hidden things belong to God and revealed things to us and our children. The only lawful way to information concerning what lies beyond the grave is an appeal to Jehovah, and if God does not disclose it, let it alone. The prophetic teaching on this subject is found in the famous passage in Isaiah: “Woe to them that seek to wizards and witches that chirp and mutter. Why should the living seek unto the dead instead of unto the living God?”
Early in his reign Saul had rigidly enforced the Mosaic law putting the wizards and witches to death, or driving them out of the country.
There are several theories of interpretation concerning the transaction in 1Sa 28:11-19 , but I will discuss only three of them. Saul himself goes to the witch of Endor and asks her to call up Samuel, making an inquiry of the dead through a medium, wanting information that God had refused to give him. These are the theories:
1. Some hold that there was no appearance of Samuel himself nor an impersonation of him by an evil spirit; that there was nothing supernatural, but only a trick of imposture by the witch, like many modern tricks by mediums and spirit rappers, and that the historian merely records what appeared to be on the surface. That is the first theory. That is the theory of the radical critics, who oppose everything supernatural, and you know without my telling you what my opinion is of that theory. There are indeed many tricks of imposture by pretended fortunetellers, and some of them are marvelous, but such impostures do not account for all the facts.
2. Others hold that there was a real appearance of Samuel, but -the witch didn’t bring him up; she was as much if not more, startled than Saul when he came; that God himself interfered, permitting Samuel to appear to the discomfiture of the witch, who cried out when she saw him, and to pronounce final judgment on Saul. They quote in favor of this theory Eze 14:3 ; Eze 14:7-8 : “Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them? . . . For every one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that separateth himself from me, and taketh his idols into his heart, and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet to inquire for himself of me; I, Jehovah, will answer him by myself; and I will set my face against that man, and will make him an astonishment, for a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people.” They interpret this passage to mean that when a man violated God’s law,. as Saul and this witch did, that God took it upon himself to answer, and answered through Samuel.
That theory is the Jewish view throughout the ages. According to the Septuagint rendering of 1Ch 10:13 , “Saul asked counsel of her that had a familiar spirit, and Samuel made answer to him.” It further appears to be the Jewish view by the apocryphal book Sirach 46:20, which says, “After his death Samuel prophesied and showed the king his end, and lifted up his voice from the earth in prophecy.” The Jewish view further appears in Josephus who thinks that Samuel was really there, but that God sent him; not that the witch had brought him up or could do it. This view was adopted by many early Christian writers; for example, Justin Martyr, Origen, and Augustine, all great men, and this view is held more and more by modern commentators, among them, for instance, Edersheim, in his History of Israel, and Kirkpatrick in the “Cambridge Bible,” and Blaikie in the “Expositor’s Bible,” and Taylor in his History of David and His Times. All those books I have recommended; they all take that second view.
3. Now here is the third theory of interpretation. First, there is such a thing as necromancy, in which, through mediums possessed of evil spirits which spirits do impersonate the dead and do communicate with the living. This theory holds that the case of Saul and the witch of Endor is in point that an evil spirit (for this woman is said to have had a familiar spirit; she was possessed with an evil spirit and the business of these evil spirits in their demoniacal possession is to impersonate dead people;) caused the semblance of Samuel to appear and speak through his mouth. This theory claims that the scripture in Job 3:17 , to wit: “When the good man dies he goes where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest,” would be violated if this had really been Samuel, who said, “Wherefore hast thou disquieted me?” And whoever this man was that appeared did say that.
If God had sent him he could not very well have used that language. God had a right to do as he pleased, but Saul had no right to try to call back a dead man to get information from him. This theory also claims that the prophecy pronounced by that semblance of Samuel was not true, but it would have been true if Samuel had said it. That prophecy says, “Tomorrow thou and thy sons shall be with me,” but Saul didn’t die until three days later; on the third day the battle of Gilboa was fought, and that Samuel, neither dead nor alive, would have told a falsehood. Very many early Christian writers adopt this theory, among them Tertullian and Jerome, the author of the Vulgate or Latin version of the Bible, and nearly all of the reformers, Luther, Calvin, and all those mighty minds that wrought out the reformation. They took the position that the evil spirit simulated Samuel. Those who hold to this theory further say that unless this is an exception, nowhere else in the Word of God is any man who died mentioned as coming back with a message to the living except the Lord; that he is the first to bring life and immortality to light through the gospel after he had abolished death. They do not believe that the circumstances in this case warrant an exception to the rule that applies to the whole Bible, and particularly they quote the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man asks that Lazarus might go back to the other world with a message to his brethren, and it was refused on the ground that they have Moses and the prophets, and if a man won’t hear Moses and the prophets neither would he hear though one rose from the dead. That makes a strong case.
Certainly the first theory is not true, and the other two theories are advocated with such plausibility and force that I will leave you to take whatever side you please. My own opinion is that Samuel was not there, but on a matter of this kind let us not be dogmatic. Let us do our own thinking and we will be in good company no matter which of these last theories we adopt.
A great many years ago, when spirit rapping was sweeping over the country, it was a custom among Methodist preachers to tell about visitations they had from the dead, and warnings that they had received, and J. R. Graves fought it. He said that it was against the written law of God, the law of Moses and the prophets, and our Lord and his apostles, and that we didn’t need any revelations from dead people, whereupon a Methodist preacher named Watson challenged him to debate the question and they did debate it. Graves stood on this position: There isn’t a case in the Bible where one who died was allowed to come back with a message to the living but Jesus only, and he is the only traveler that has ever returned from that bourne to throw light on the state of the dead. In the debate, of course, the central case was that of Saul, the witch of Endor and Samuel. If Watson couldn’t maintain himself on that it was not worth while to go to any other case. Watson quoted the appearance of Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration. Graves said, “Yes. They did appear, but they had no message for living people; none for the apostles.” Then he finally made all of his fight on this case. I read the debate with great interest. It was published, but it is out of print.
GILBOA The description of the battle and the results are so explicit in the text that I refer the reader to the Bible account of this great battle. But we need to reconcile 1Sa 31:4-6 , and 1Ch 10:4-6 . Both of these assert that Saul committed suicide fell on his sword and died and that he did die (2Sa 1:6-10 ), where that Amalekite who brought the news to David of the battle says that he found Saul wounded, and that Saul asked the Amalekite to kill him, and that the Amalekite did kill him. The Amalekite brought also to David a bracelet and a crown that belonged to Saul. You are asked to reconcile these two statements. Did Saul commit suicide? We know he tried to do it, but did he actually commit suicide, or did that Amalekite, after Saul fell on his sword, find him still alive and kill him? My answer is that the Amalekite lied. The record clearly says that Saul did kill himself, and his armor-bearer saw that he was dead, and every reference in the scriptures is to the death by his own hand except this one. This Amalekite, knowing that Saul and David were in a measure rivals, supposed that he might ingratiate himself with David if he could bring evidence that he had killed Saul.
There is no doubt that this Amalekite was there and found Saul’s body, and no doubt he stripped that dead body of the bracelet and the crown, but his story was like the story of Joe in the “Wild Western Scenes.” An Indian had been killed, stabbed through the heart, and the heart blood gushing all over the man who slew him. The fight was so hot that Joe, being a coward, stayed there fighting the dead Indian, and so they found him there stabbing and saying that the man that had first stabbed him through thought he had killed him, but that he was not dead and had got up and attacked him, and he had been having a desperate fight with the Indian.
The news of this battle sadly affected Jonathan’s son. Everybody that heard of the battle started to flee across the Jordan, and the nurse picked up Jonathan’s child and in running dropped him and he fell, and became a cripple for life. We will have some very interesting things about this crippled child after a while.
The gratitude and heroism of the men of Jabeshgilead are worthy of note.
The Philistines had cut off Saul’s head and sent it back to the house of their god, and took his armor and hung up his body and the body of his son Jonathan and the bodies of the two brothers of Jonathan on the wall of Bethshan, and when the men of Jabeshgilead (who had been delivered by Saul as the first act of his reign, and who always remembered him with gratitude) heard that Saul was killed, they sent out that night their bravest men and took those bodies down, carried them over the Jordan, burned them enough to escape recognition, and buried their bones under a tree. A long time afterwards David had the bones brought and buried in the proper place. I always think kindly of those men of Jabeshgilead.
David’s lament over Saul and Jonathan is found in 2Sa 1 . That lamentation, expressed in the text, is one of the most beautiful elegaic poems in the literature of the world. It is found on page 104 of the textbook. It is not a religious song. It is a funeral song, an elegy, afterward called “The Bow,” and David had “the song of the bow” taught to Israel, referring to Jonathan’s bow. I give just a little of it: Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, Who clothed you in scarlet delicately, Who put ornaments of gold upon your apparel. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!
Now the tribute to Jonathan: Jonathan is slain upon thy high places. I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: Very pleasant hast thou been unto me. Thy love to me was wonderful, Passing the love of women.
Every admirer of good poetry bears tribute to this exquisite gem, and it has this excellency: It forgets the faults and extols the virtues of the dead. Saul had done many mighty things. That part of Gray’s Elegy, “No further seek his merits to disclose,” compares favorably with this. It is the only elegy equal to David’s.
QUESTIONS
1. Analyze David’s sin of despair, and in order, the train of sins and embarrassments that follow.
2. What great modern sermon was preached on the despair of David, taking this line for a text: “I shall one day perish by the and of Saul”?
3. How was this sin of David punished?
4. How does he recover himself from this sin?
5. What judicious uses of the victory did he make?
6. What were the great accessions to David at Ziklag?
7. What is the Mosaic law against necromancy, or an appeal to the dead by the living through a medium, i.e., a wizard, if a man, or a witch, if a woman, and wherein lies the sin of necromancy?
8. What is the prophetic teaching on this subject?
9. What had Saul done to enforce the Mosaic law?
10. What are the theories of interpretation concerning the transaction in 1Sa 28:11-19 ?
11. Describe the battle of Gilboa and the results.
12. Reconcile 1Sa 31:4-6 and 1Ch 10:4-6 .
13. How did the news of the battle affect Jonathan’s son?
14. Describe the gratitude and heroism of the men of Jabeshgilead.
15. How did David lament over Saul and Jonathan, 2Sa 1 ?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
1Ch 12:1 Now these [are] they that came to David to Ziklag, while he yet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish: and they [were] among the mighty men, helpers of the war.
Ver. 1. Now these are they that came to David to Ziklag. ] God left not David in his low estate, but provided him a place of repose, and some to comfort him and stand by him in his straits. Saul “saw this, and was grieved: he gnashed with his teeth,” &c. Psa 112:10
While he yet kept himself close.
Helpers of the war.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
1 Chronicles Chapter 12
In the 1Ch 12 we have another account, deeply interesting – not those that had been the companions so signal for their mighty deeds, but those that gathered round him. First of all, “These are they that came to David to Ziklag,” that is, just before the close of all, when the kingdom was upon the point of turning. And a very beautiful thing it is to see that when God is about to work anything special on the earth, He knows how to give the secret of it to His people. There was a providential working on God’s part, but there was a spiritual working in the hearts of His people.
It is the very same thing now in the consciousness that the kingdom of the Lord is at hand, in the deeper feeling of it, in the way in which it affects souls, far beyond anything that was ever known; not excitement, not people merely in a panic be cause the end is at hand, or persons fixing a date, to be disappointed and perhaps give up their faith, but persons who calmly rest upon His Word. Perhaps they could not particularly say why; but this they know, that, whereas they did not attach any importance to the scriptures that speak of His coming, now they do. This is not without the Spirit of God. So with the men of Israel. There was a movement of heart, even while Saul was still alive. There was a rush to David after Saul was dead; but I do not speak of that. This is a very different and a lower thing altogether. But the movement of heart to gather the men of Israel to David in sympathy, before it could be a matter of external allegiance, is a matter much to be noted. These then are described.
“Now these are they that came to David to Ziklag, while he yet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish; and they were among the mighty men, helpers of the war. They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of a bow, even of Saul’s brethren of Benjamin.” 1Ch 12:1 , 1Ch 12:2 . The first men that are named were the very last that man would have expected – the men of Benjamin. It is not that there were so many. They were slow afterward. Even when David came to the throne, the men of Benjamin still hung on to the house of Saul. They were slow as a whole, as a tribe, but God showed His sovereignty and His gracious purpose by calling “of Saul’s brethren” from out of that very tribe, and who are the very first that He names as “of Benjamin.” Thus we must never be disheartened; we must never suppose that any circumstances can hinder the way of God. God will bring out to the name of the Lord Jesus in the very last spot that you expect. We must leave room for the power of the Word of God, and also, above all, for His own grace, His own magnifying of Himself and His call. The men of Benjamin are the first, then, that are named as having joined themselves to David. “The chief was Ahiezer, then Joash, the sons of Shemaah the Gibeathite.”
Then further we find Gadites. “And of the Gadites there separated themselves unto David into the hold to the wilderness men of might, and men of war fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as the roes upon the mountains…. These are they that went over Jordan in the first month, when it had overflown all its banks.” It was even more difficult then than at any other time. “And they put to flight all them of the valleys, both toward the east, and toward the west. And there came of the children of Benjamin and Judah to the hold unto David. And David went out to meet them, and answered and said unto them, If ye be come peaceably unto me to help me, mine heart shall be knit unto you; but if ye come to betray me to mine enemies, seeing there is no wrong in mine hands, the God of our fathers look thereon, and rebuke it. Then the spirit came upon Amasai, who was the chief of the captains, and he said, Thine we are, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse; peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers; for thy God helpeth thee. Then David received them, and made them captains of the band.” Then we find of Manasseh also, they helped David; “for at that time,” we are told, “day by day there came to David to help him.”
But from the 23rd verse we have another. The crisis was come; Saul was gone. “And these are the numbers of the bands that were ready armed to the war, and came to David to Hebron, to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according to the word of Jehovah.” Now it was not so much the anticipation of faith; it was the manifest following of the word of the Lord. Saul was gone. There was no question that ought to have exercised a heart. And we find, singular to say, “The children of Judah that bare shield and spear were six thousand and eight hundred.” One of the greatest of the tribes, taken all and all, the greatest tribe of the twelve, the very one, too, that David belonged to, yet there were only “six thousand and eight hundred ready armed to the war.” “Not by might nor by power.” How different where man is in question. Take the false prophet of Mecca. Who were those that were his first band? His own family. Take any that are false; it is their own friends, their own companions, some tie of flesh and blood. But with David the first band, we are taught, were those who were most opposed; and, further, the least comparatively in numbers were those that were of his own kith and kin – only six thousand eight hundred. And when you come to lock at the others, you will find it is more remarkable.
Why, even of Simeon, a tribe not to be named with Judah, there were “mighty men of valour for the war seven thousand and one hundred.” “Of the children of Levi,” although they were properly outside such work, and were more connected with the service of the temple, “four thousand and six hundred. And Jehoiada was the leader of the Aaronites.” Even they, you see, felt the all-importance of this that was at hand. “And with him were three thousand and seven hundred,” so that between the two there were evidently more. “And Zadok, a young man mighty of valour, and of his father’s house twenty and two captains. And of the children of Benjamin, the kindred of Saul, three thousand; for hitherto the greatest part of them had kept the ward of the house of Saul”; that accounts for the smallness of number there.
But there is no account of Judah; it is simply left out. The fact is that God would not have His king trust to links of flesh and blood. “And of the children of Ephraim twenty thousand and eight hundred, mighty men of valour, famous throughout the house of their fathers. And of the half tribe of Manasseh eighteen thousand, which were expressed by name, to come and make David king. And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to knew what Israel ought to do” – a great change in Issachar. In the prophecy of Jacob he was merely “an ass crouching down between two burdens,” but now the men of Issachar had profited. They were men that had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do. “The heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.” Of` Zebulun, a comparatively unimportant tribe in Israel, there were no less than fifty thousand “such as went forth to battle, expert in war, with all instruments of war . . . which could keep rank. They were not of double heart.” And of Naphtali a thousand captains, and with them with shield and spear thirty and seven thousand. And of the Danites expert in war twenty and eight thousand and six hundred. And of Asher, such as went forth to battle, expert in war, forty thousand. And on the other side of Jordan, of the Reubenites and the Gadites, and of the half tribe of Manasseh, with all manner of instruments of war. for the battle, an hundred and twenty thousand.”
It is very evident that, excepting Benjamin, which, for the reason that is stated, was altogether exceptional and who held fast in the greater part to the house of Saul, Judah stands extremely short in all this list. So it was that God would not permit that the king of His purpose should be beholden to the strength of man or the ties of nature. But whatever might be the shortcoming here and there, and the differences among them, “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.” That is, it was not divided heart. It was set upon God’s purpose; and not only those who were there, but those who through circumstances were absent. “And there they were with David three days, eating and drinking; for their brethren had prepared for them.” And so the scene of festivity and joy is brought before us. There was joy in Israel.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
these are they. These not included elsewhere: showing the independence of Chronicles, Saul the son of Kish. See note on 1Ch 8:33.
mighty men. Hebrew. gibbor. App-14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Now in chapter twelve.
These are they which came to David to Ziklag, because he yet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish: and they were among the mighty men, the helpers of the war. They were armed with bows, they could use both the right hand and the left hand in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of the bow, even of Saul’s brethren of Benjamin ( 1Ch 12:1-2 ).
And so these guys had practiced throwing with the sling with both hands. In case one hand gets injured or something then you use the other, keep going at it. And they… to throw the sling with the left hand was sort of a special kind of an art in those days. The guys were sort of set apart, and they developed with practice, they developed great accuracy with the sling.
A sling is an interesting little weapon, actually, and you can develop quite a bit of accuracy with a sling. And of course, the stone that you can use in a sling is much larger than a stone in a slingshot. If you’re using a slingshot, then you need small, little stones like marbles. But with a sling, you can actually… the best stones are about so big around. And so you can do a lot more damage with a sling than you can with a slingshot, and you can become extremely accurate. Because you get your two leather strips, and of course, you have a leather pouch in which you set your stone, about the size of your hand. And you set the stone in that leather pouch. And then one of your leather straps is longer than the other. And you take the longer one and wrap it around your hand and you hold it with your three fingers. And the other leather strap is long enough that you hold it with your two fingers like so. And then you get this thing swinging, and of course, the longer your straps, the greater distance you can actually throw these rocks in. You can throw these rocks a huge distance if you get these, get some really long straps and get a big enough rock it will get that thing swinging out there. You get the momentum going as you swing it around in the air. And then on the last swing, you take it around and you let it fly over your head, and you bring it with an overhand thrust. And you let go when you bring it over your head, with the overhand thrust; you let go of these two fingers, the finger and the thumb. You let go of the one strap, and I’ll tell you, that rock shoots out of there. And you can throw them just a long distance, three hundred feet or more, these huge stones with the sling. So it is quite a weapon. And these fellows would practice not only with their right hands, they practice throwing with their left hands, too, these slings. And so it was really a very effective weapon in battle, because you could start wiping out your enemy much further than you could throw a rock. And so, of course, it was with the sling that David wiped out the giant.
Now these men that came to David were skilled with the use of the sling and also with shooting arrows. And then also came to David while he was in the land of the Philistines, in verse eight, those from the tribe of Gad.
Now these men who came from the tribe of Gad were men of might, men of war, fit for battle, they could handle the shield and the buckler, and their faces were like the faces of lions ( 1Ch 12:8 ),
So I would imagine that they just had full beards and looked real tough.
and they were as swift as deer upon the mountains ( 1Ch 12:8 );
Of course, in those days I imagine that they actually were in much better physical shape generally than we are, because they didn’t have cars and bicycles and stuff like that. They had to run or walk wherever they went. I go over to Israel today and I watch these shepherds as they walk up the hillsides and as they are following their flocks and so forth. And I think they must be in great shape, because if you don’t think so, you go out and try run up the hillsides like they do, and you’ll really be panting before long.
But you really get in good shape, and these men were all in tremendous physical condition. Fast, fleet-footed and powerful guys, and they began to gather unto David.
And then we are told of those that came from the tribe of Benjamin, in verse sixteen.
David went out to meet them, and he said unto them, If you come peaceably to help me, my heart will be knit to yours: but if you come to betray me to my enemies, seeing that I haven’t done any wrong, then the God of our fathers look upon it, and rebuke it. And the spirit came upon Amasai, who was the chief of the captains, and he said to David, Thine are we, and we are on your side, thou son of Jesse: peace be to thee ( 1Ch 12:17-18 ),
Now here David, of course, becomes a beautiful type of Christ who have been anointed to be king over Israel, and yet, Saul had despised him and rejected him and had forced him out of the land. And David is now waiting for God to give the kingdom over to him. But while he is waiting, men began to pledge their allegiance and loyalty to David. They began to gather unto David. Even as the scripture said, “Therefore let us go out of the camp that we might be identified with Jesus Christ” ( Heb 13:13 ). And so they began to leave the camp and come out to David, and day-by-day they gathered until it became a mighty host like the host of God. And so they were men who made their commitment. “We’re yours. We belong to you. We’re on your side.”
And so then, when Saul was slain, these are the men that made David. They came down to Hebron and they said to David, “Come and rule over us.”
From the tribe of Judah there were sixty-eight hundred. From the tribe of Simeon, there were seven thousand one hundred. From the tribe of Levi four thousand six hundred men. From the tribe of Benjamin, three thousand. From the tribe of Ephraim, twenty-eight thousand came down. From the half the tribe of Manasseh eighteen thousand. From the tribe of Zebulun, men of war, all with arm for war, fifty thousand, that were able to keep rank: and they were not of double heart ( 1Ch 12:24-26 , 1Ch 12:29-31 , 1Ch 12:33 ).
That says a lot of a person. One of the weaknesses is a person who is doubleminded or a person who has double allegiance. These men were not of double heart that came from Zebulun, fifty thousand of them.
From Naphtali a thousand captains, with thirty-seven thousand men. From the tribe of Dan expert in war came twenty-eight thousand, six hundred men. From the tribe of Asher, those that went forth to battle, forty thousand men. And from the other side of the Jordan river, the Reubenites, all armed for war; and the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, there came a hundred and twenty thousand men. All men of war, that could keep rank, they came with a perfect heart [complete heart] to Hebron, to make David the king over all of Israel: and the rest of Israel were with one heart to make David king ( 1Ch 12:34-38 ).
Don’t you imagine that, as they came there from Hebron back to Jerusalem that they were a tremendous host of guys, as they gathered to David. Now they had a big party down in Hebron. They started bringing donkey loads of food and bread from all over the place to feed these. You know, these many guys come to visit you, you got to feed them, and can you imagine the logistics involved in feeding a crew like this? And so they brought, it says, the bread on donkeys and camels and mules and they had a big party and all. And it says,
there was joy in Israel ( 1Ch 12:40 ). “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
1Ch 12:1-7
Introduction
The Men Who Came to David During His Days at Ziklag, and in His Days in the Wilderness Strongholds. Also the Military Strength that Came to Him at Hebron
1Ch 12:1-7
THE GIBEONITES COME TO DAVID
“Now these are they that came to David at Ziklag, while he yet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish; and they were among the mighty men, his helpers in war. They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in slinging stones and in shooting arrows from the bow: they were of Saul’s brethren of Benjamin. The chief was Ahiezer; then Joash, the sons of Shemaah the Gibeathite, and Jeziel, and Pelet, the sons of Azmaveth, and Beracah, and Jehu the Anathothite, and lshmaiah the Gibeonite, a mighty man among the thirty, and over the thirty, and Jeremiah, and Jahaziel, and Johanan, and Jozabad the Gederathite, Eluzai, and Jerimoth, and Belaiah, and Shemariah, and Shephatiah the Haruphite, Elkanah, and Isshiah, and Azarel, and Joezer, and Jashobeam, the Korahites, and Joelah, and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham of Gedor.”
The significance of this paragraph is that some of Saul’s kinsmen defected to David at Ziklag, even a prominent citizen of Saul’s home town, a Gibeonite. The material in this chapter is found nowhere else in the Scriptures. The men named here were competent and able soldiers. We reject the snide unbelieving comment of Curtis and Madsen that, “Since on the death of Saul, the tribe of Benjamin remained faithful to his house, how much less can we believe that such desertions to David took place during his lifetime.” Such a comment is important only because it alerts us to the fact that the authors of it were unbelievers in the ultimate sense of the word. Foolish indeed are those who trust such writers to interpret the Holy Scriptures for them.
The occasions for these desertions to the cause of David was the period of David’s residence at Ziklag, as related in 2 Samuel 27-30. (See my commentary under those references.)
The Chronicler stressed the skill, training, competence and high social standing of several of the persons mentioned. Some writers have attempted to downgrade David’s `six hundred men’ as “Debtors, discontented and desperate men,” but this is merely a part of their evil campaign against the whole Book of Chronicles. Why? Chronicles is an effective denial of their favorite fairy tale that denies the Books of Moses.
Myers pointed out the real reason for the desertion of many of the very best men in all Israel to the cause of David, as follows: “The best and most capable men became his followers, because they recognized in him the chosen vessel of Jehovah.”
E.M. Zerr:
1Ch 12:1. David had fled to the land of the Philistines as a final escape from Saul, and had been given Ziklag as his own residence (1Sa 27:1-7). It was natural that many of his asso dates would come to him, to render whatever service they could.
1Ch 12:2. It is noteworthy that some of these men were relatives of Saul, the very man from whom David had fled. This shows the sentiment that was held for him in his flight from Saul.
1Ch 12:3. These men were of the tribe of Benjamin, but the “ite” appellative is added to designate the town or other location of each one’s residence.
1Ch 12:4. Ismaiah is named as a special man in that he outranked the 30 of whom he was one.
1Ch 12:5-7 – No particulars are given as to the deeds or rank of these men, but their being included by the inspired writer is proof of their importance.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Here the story is continued; it thrills with the enthusiasm of the multitudes as they marched under the standard of the new king. Over the list of names flashes light from certain outstanding statements concerning them. In verse two it declares that these men “could use both the right hand and the left.” This speaks of the careful training they had received. A little later we have a poetic and remarkable description of the companies gathered around David (verse 1Ch 12:8). They were “mighty men of valour . . . trained for war.” This suggests disciplined strength. They were men who could use shield and spear, that is, who were able to act on both the defensive and the offensive. Their faces were like lions; they had become a kingly race. They were “as swift as the roes upon the mountains,” which describes their perfect fitness. They were, moreover, men of differing capacities, all of which were consecrated to David. Among the sons of Issachar were men who had understanding of the times. Among the sons of Zebulun were men able in the art of war and incapable of treachery.
All these were united by common devotion. Thus the new king entered on his kingdom under the most auspicious circumstances.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
2. Davids Warriors and Friends
CHAPTER 12
1. The Benjamite warriors with David at Ziklag (1Ch 12:1-7)
2. The other warriors (1Ch 12:8-22)
3. Those who came to make him king (1Ch 12:23-40)
And now those are given by name who stood by David, when he was an outcast, rejected and persecuted by Saul. They were mighty men, his helpers in war. The leading company were of Benjamin, the tribe to which Saul belonged. These joined him when he was at Ziklag. In the wilderness of Judah certain of the Gadites separated themselves unto him, whose faces were like the faces of lions and they were as swift as the roes upon the mountains. May we remember again that all this is written for our learning. Our Lord is rejected and we can stand by Him, as these mighty men stood by David. Men with faces like lions, bold and courageous, are needed, as well as those as swift as the roes upon the mountains, in doing His bidding in true service. They braved the floods of Jordan and swept all hindrances out of the way to reach David, and when David spoke to them to ascertain why they had come, the Spirit of God sent through Amasai a message which must have greatly cheered his heart. Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse. May we say to Him whose we are and whom we serve, Thine we are, O Lord, and on Thy side, Thou Son of God. Other valiant men of Manasseh also joined him and helped him greatly.
Then a wonderful gathering took place. From everywhere they gathered to make David king. Even from the most northern parts of the land, from issachar, Zebulun and Naphtali they came for one of the greatest events which happened in Israels history. If we tabulate the figures given in verses 23-37 we have the following results:
Of Judah
6,800 Men
Of Simeon
7,100 Men
Of Levi
4,600 Men
With Jehoiada, the prince (not high-priest of Aaron)
3,700 Men
Zadok and his fathers house
22 chiefs.
Of Benjamin
3,000 Men
Of Ephraim
20,800 Men
Of half Manasseh
18,000 Men
Of Issachar
200 leaders.
Of Zebulun
50,000 Men
Of Naphtali
37,000 Men
1,000 chiefs.
Of Dan
28,600 Men
Of Asher
40,000 Men
Of the 2-1/2 tribes east of Jordan
120,000 Men
Total
339,600 Men
1,222 chiefs. etc.
This immense company of people came and they had all one desire and one thought, to make David king. They were not of a double heart. There was no dissenting voice; they were of one heart, they came with a perfect heart to make David king.
A great feast was kept. They brought bread on asses and on camels and on mules and on oxen, and meat, meal, cakes of figs, and bunches of raisins, and wine and oil and oxen and sheep abundantly. There was joy in Israel. But how much greater will be the joy, and what a feast will be made, when He is made King, not alone over Israel, but when He will be enthroned as King of kings and Lord of lords!
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
these are: 1Sa 27:2, 1Sa 27:6, 2Sa 1:1, 2Sa 4:10
while he yet: etc. Heb. being yet shut up, Sometimes, in the East, when a successful prince endeavoured to extirpate the preceding royal family, some of them escaped the slaughter, and secured themselves in an impregnable fortress, or in a place of great secrecy; while others have been known to seek an asylum in a foreign county, from when they have occasioned, from time to time, great anxiety and great difficulties to the usurper of the crown. The expression shut up, so often applied to the extermination of eastern royal families – Deu 32:32. 1Ki 14:10, 1Ki 21:21. 2Ki 9:8, 2Ki 14:26, strictly speaking, refers to the two first of these cases; but the term may be used in a more extensive sense, for those who, by retiring into deserts, or foreign countries, preserve themselves from being slain by the men who usurp the dominions of their ancestors. Thus the term is here applied to David, though he did not shut himself up, strictly speaking, in Ziklag. It is described as a town in the country, and was probably an unwalled town; and it is certain that he did not confine himself to it, but, on the contrary, was continually making excursions from thence.
Saul: 1Ch 8:33, 1Ch 9:39
the mighty: 1Ch 11:10, 1Ch 11:19, 1Ch 11:24, 1Ch 11:25
Reciprocal: Gen 49:8 – thy hand Jos 15:31 – Ziklag 1Sa 30:26 – to his friends 2Sa 2:3 – his men 1Ch 4:30 – Ziklag
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Ch 12:1. Now these are they that came to David, &c. This author thought fit to do those the honour of having their names recorded, (which was omitted in the book of Samuel,) who came and joined themselves to him when he was in exile; and were afterward great assistants to him in his wars. While he kept himself close Or was shut out from his own land and people: for the writer speaks not of that time when he was shut up, and hid himself in caves in the land of Judah, but when he was at Ziklag.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ch 12:14. Over a thousand. David at Ziklag had but six hundred men; the query is, whether these had already been captains over a thousand, or whether David after his coronation promoted them to that rank?
1Ch 12:17. If to betray me: for these were Sauls brethren! God moved their hearts to fulfil his pleasure, for they saw that David would rise to the throne.
1Ch 12:22. Like the host of God, who is the Lord of hosts, whose army is greater than that of all princes. This figure of speech shows how men ran to David after the noble action of taking away Sauls spear, and sparing his life.
1Ch 12:32. The children of Issachar that had understanding of the times, by the study of astronomy and gentile literature.
1Ch 12:33. Expert in war. In Sauls time the young men of Israel, almost without exception, learned the arts of war.
REFLECTIONS.
We have here a farther account of Davids rise to the throne. It could not but be whispered about that he was to succeed his father-in-law in the kingdom, and that Saul had acknowledged it in his last interview with David. Thus the son of Jesse rose in the estimation of his country, while Saul became more and more insupportable by his melancholy and violent temper. Thus those Benjamites, all valiant men, by an act of faith came to Ziklag, and risked their fortune with the hero of Israels hope. David, apprized of their approach, went out to meet them, but with caution, for this tribe had aided Saul when pursuing him in the wilderness. Thus it is that Christs kingdom shall rise, while the kingdom of darkness is troubled and falls into decay. Happy are the men who, seeing the evil approach, shall risk their all to pay an early homage to the Lord. They shall be considered as the kings best friends, and shall feast in his presence with exceeding joy.
After a lapse of six years and a half, in which David had reigned over Judah, we have next a most glorious view of the armies of all Israel coming to Hebron to make him king. The civil authorities, the twelve armies, besides the four thousand six hundred armed levites; and with Zadok, twenty two captains of Aarons house, attended the coronation, to add the utmost lustre to the august occasion. Of the civil authorities, not less than two hundred attended from the tribe of Issachar; and it is proper to notice this, for the kings elected merely by the cheers of the army have never been considered as having legal claims to the crown. Viewing therefore all the circumstances of this coronation, the cordial congratulations of the whole nation, and the grand military fte which followed, we do not recollect any ancient monarch who received his crown with so great a lustre. All this is but a faint figure of the coronation of our great captain, when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. He, like David, shall receive the crown on the fairest grounds of equity. It was because he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, that the Father hath highly exalted him, and given him a name above every name.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ch 12:1-40. Davids Supporters.An enumeration of those who rallied round David during his outlaw life in Ziklag (cf. 1Sa 27:5 f.), and a list of those who were instrumental in setting him upon the throne.
1Ch 12:2. they were of Sauls brethren of Benjamin: cf. 1Ch 12:16 ff., 1Ch 12:29; it is difficult to believe that Saul was deserted by his own kinsfolk (see 2Sa 2:25; 2Sa 2:31) in any great numbers. Benjaminites occupied positions of importance in post-exilic times (see Neh 11:7-9), which probably has something to do with the Chroniclers assertions.
1Ch 12:15. in the first month . . .: i.e. Nisan (= April (approximately).
1Ch 12:18. the spirit came upon: lit. clothed (Jdg 6:34*).Thine are we . . . thy God helpeth thee: a poetical fragment, probably old, even though it does not occur in 2 S.
1Ch 12:23 ff. Cf. 1Ch 11:1-3.
1Ch 12:29. of the children of Benjamin . . . the greatest part of them: but see 2Sa 2:9 f.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
12:1 Now these [are] they that came to David to {a} Ziklag, while he yet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish: and they [were] among the mighty men, helpers of the war.
(a) To take his part against Saul: who persecuted him.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
DAVID
1. HIS TRIBE AND DYNASTY
KING and kingdom were so bound up in ancient life that an ideal for the one implied an ideal for the other: all distinction and glory possessed by either was shared by both. The tribe and kingdom of Judah were exalted by the fame of David and Solomon: but, on the other hand, a specially exalted position is accorded to David in the Old Testament because he is the representative of the people of Jehovah. David himself had been anointed by Divine command to be king of Israel, and he thus became the founder of the only legitimate dynasty of Hebrew kings. Saul and Ishbosheth had no significance for the later religious history of the nation. Apparently to the chronicler the history of true religion in Israel was a blank between Joshua and David; the revival began when the Ark was brought to Zion, and the first steps were taken to rear the Temple in succession to the Mosaic tabernacle. He therefore omits the history of the Judges and Saul. But the battle of Gilboa is given to introduce the reign of David, and incidental condemnation is passed on Saul: “So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against the Lord, because of the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and also for that he asked counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire thereby, and inquired not of the Lord; therefore He slew him and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.”
The reign of Saul had been an unsuccessful experiment; its only real value had been to prepare the way for David. At the same time the portrait of Saul is not given at full length, like those of the wicked kings, partly perhaps because the chronicler had little interest for anything before the time of David and the Temple but partly, we may hope, because the record of Davids affection for Saul kept alive a kindly feeling towards the founder of the monarchy.
Inasmuch as Jehovah had “turned the kingdom unto David,” the reign of Ishbosheth was evidently the intrusion of an illegitimate pretender; and the chronicler treats it as such. If we had only Chronicles, we should know nothing about the reign of Ishbosheth, and should suppose that, on the death of Saul. David succeeded at once to an undisputed sovereignty over all Israel. The interval of conflict is ignored because, according to the chroniclers views, David was, from the first, king de jure over the whole nation. Complete silence as to Ishbosheth was the most effective way of expressing this fact.
The same sentiment of hereditary legitimacy, the same formal and exclusive recognition of a de jure sovereign, has been shown in modern times by titles like Louis XVIII and Napoleon III. For both schools of Legitimists the absence of de facto sovereignty did not prevent Louis XVII and Napoleon II from having been lawful rulers of France. In Israel, moreover, the Divine right of the one chosen dynasty had religious as well as political importance. We have already seen that Israel claimed a hereditary title to its special privileges; it was therefore natural that a hereditary qualification should be thought necessary for the kings. They represented the nation; they were the Divinely appointed guardians of its religion; they became in time the types of the Messiah, its promised Savior. In all this Saul and Ishbosheth had neither part nor lot; the promise to Israel had always descended in a direct line, and the special promise that was given to its kings and through them to their people began with David. There was no need to carry the history further back.
We have already noticed that, in spite of this general attitude towards Saul, the genealogy of some of his descendants is given twice over in the earlier chapters. No doubt the chronicler made this concession to gratify friends or to conciliate an influential family. It is interesting to note how personal feeling may interfere with the symmetrical development of a theological theory. At the same time we are enabled to discern a practical reason for rigidly ignoring the kingship of Saul and Ishbosheth. To have recognized Saul as the Lords anointed, like David, would have complicated contemporary dogmatics, and might possibly have given rise to jealousies between the descendants of Saul and those of David. Within the narrow limits of the Jewish community such quarrels might have been inconvenient and even dangerous.
The reasons for denying the legitimacy of the northern kings were obvious and conclusive. Successful rebels who had destroyed the political and religious unity of Israel could not inherit “the sure mercies of David” or be included in the covenant which secured the permanence of his dynasty.
The exclusive association of Messianic ideas with a single family emphasizes their antiquity, continuity, and development. The hope of Israel had its roots deep in the history of the people; it had grown with their growth and maintained itself through their changing fortunes. As the hope centered in a single family, men were led to expect an individual personal Messiah: they were being prepared to see in Christ the fulfillment of all righteousness.
But the choice of the house of David involved the choice of the tribe of Judah and the rejection of the kingdom of Samaria. The ten tribes, as well as the kings of Israel, had cut themselves off both from the Temple and the sacred dynasty, and therefore from the covenant into which Jehovah had entered with “the man after his own heart.” Such a limitation of the chosen people was suggested by many precedents. Chronicles, following the Pentateuch, tells how the call came to Abraham, but only some of the descendants of one of his sons inherited the promise. Why should not a selection be made from among the sons of Jacob? But the twelve tribes had been explicitly and solemnly included in the unity of Israel, largely through David himself. The glory of David and Solomon consisted in their sovereignty over a united people. The national recollection of this golden age loved to dwell on the union of the twelve tribes. The Pentateuch added legal sanction to ancient sentiment. The twelve tribes were associated together in national lyrics, like the “Blessing of Jacob” and the “Blessing of Moses.” The song of Deborah told how the northern tribes “came to the help of the Lord against the mighty.” It was simply impossible for the chronicler to absolutely repudiate the ten tribes; and so they are formally included in the genealogies of Israel, and are recognized in the history of David and Solomon. Then the recognition stops. From the time of the disruption the Northern Kingdom is quietly but persistently ignored. Its prophets and sanctuaries were as illegitimate as its kings. The great struggle of Elijah and Elisha for the honor of Jehovah is omitted, with all the rest of their history. Elijah is only mentioned as sending a letter to Jehoram, king of Judah; Elisha is never even named.
On the other hand, it is more than once implied that Judah, with the Levites, and the remnants of Simeon and Benjamin, are the true Israel. When Rehoboam “was strong he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.” After Shishaks invasion, “the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves.” {2Ch 12:1; 2Ch 12:6} The annals of Manasseh, king of Judah, are said to be “written among the acts of the kings of Israel.” {2Ch 33:18} The register of the exiles who returned with Zerubbabel is headed “The number of the men of the people of Israel.” {Ezr 2:2} The chronicler tacitly anticipates the position of St. Paul: “They are not all Israel which are of Israel”: and the Apostle might have appealed to Chronicles to show that the majority of Israel might fail to recognize and accept the Divine purpose for Israel, and that the true Israel would then be found in an elect remnant. The Jews of the second Temple naturally and inevitably came to ignore the ten tribes and to regard themselves as constituting this true Israel. As a matter of history, there had been a period during which the prophets of Samaria were of far more importance to the religion of Jehovah than the temple at Jerusalem; but in the chroniclers time the very existence of the ten tribes was ancient history. Then, at any rate, it was true that Gods Israel was to be found in the Jewish community, at and around Jerusalem. They inherited the religious spirit of their fathers, and received from them the sacred writings and traditions, and carried on the sacred ritual. They preserved the truth and transmitted it from generation to generation, till at last it was merged in the mightier stream of Christian revelation.
The attitude of the chronicler towards the prophets of the Northern Kingdom does not in any way represent the actual importance of these prophets to the religion of Israel; but it is a very striking expression of the fact that after the Captivity the ten tribes had long ceased to exercise any influence upon the spiritual life of their nation.
The chroniclers attitude is also open to criticism on another side. He is dominated by his own surroundings, and in his references to the Judaism of his own time there is no formal recognition of the Jewish community in Babylon; and yet even his own casual allusions confirm what we know from other sources, namely that the wealth and learning of the Jews in Babylon were an important factor in Judaism until a very late date. This point perhaps rather concerns Ezra and Nehemiah than Chronicles, but it is closely connected with our present subject, and is most naturally treated along with it. The chronicler might have justified himself by saying that the true home of Israel must be in Palestine, and that a community in Babylon could only be considered as subsidiary to the nation in its own home and worshipping at the Temple. Such a sentiment, at any rate, would have met with universal approval amongst Palestinian Jews. The chronicler might also have replied that the Jews in Babylon belonged to Judah and Benjamin and were sufficiently recognized in the general prominence given to these tribes. In all probability some Palestinian Jews would have been willing to class their Babylonian kinsmen with the ten tribes. Voluntary exiles from the Temple, the Holy City, and the Land of Promise had in great measure cut themselves off from the full privileges of the people of Jehovah. If, however, we had a Babylonian book of Chronicles, we should see both Jerusalem and Babylon in another light.
The chronicler was possessed and inspired by the actual living present round about him; he was content to let the dead past bury its dead. He was probably inclined to believe that the absent are mostly wrong, and that the men who worked with him for the Lord and His temple were the true Israel and the Church of God. He was enthusiastic in his own vocation and loyal to his brethren. If his interests were somewhat narrowed by the urgency of present circumstances, most men suffer from the same limitations. Few Englishmen realize that the battle of Agincourt is part of the history of the United States, and that Canterbury Cathedral is a monument of certain stages in the growth of the religion of New England. We are not altogether willing to admit that these voluntary exiles from our Holy Land belong to the true Anglo-Saxon Israel.
Churches are still apt to ignore their obligations to teachers who. like the prophets of Samaria, seem to have been associated with alien or hostile branches of the family of God. A religious movement which fails to secure for itself a permanent monument is usually labeled heresy. If it has neither obtained recognition within the Church nor yet organized a sect for itself, its services are forgotten or denied. Even the orthodoxy of one generation is sometimes contemptuous of the older orthodoxy which made it possible; and yet Gnostics, Arians and Athanasians, Arminians and Calvinists, have all done something to build up the temple of faith.
The nineteenth century prides itself on a more liberal spirit. But Romanist historians are not eager to acknowledge the debt of their Church to the Reformers; and there are Protestant partisans who deny that we are the heirs of the Christian life and thought of the medieval Church and are anxious to trace the genealogy of pure religion exclusively through a supposed succession of obscure and half-mythical sects. Limitations like those of the chronicler still narrow the sympathies of earnest and devout Christians.
But it is time to return to the more positive aspects of the teaching of Chronicles, and to see how far we have already traced its exposition of the Messianic idea. The plan of the book implies a spiritual claim on behalf of the Jewish community of the Restoration. Because they believed in Jehovah, whose providence had in former times controlled the destinies of Israel, they returned to their ancestral home that they might serve and worship the God of their fathers. Their faith survived the ruin of Judah and their own captivity; they recognized the power, and wisdom, and love of God alike in the prosperity and in the misfortunes of their race. “They believed God, and it was counted unto them for righteousness.” The great prophet of the Restoration had regarded this new Israel as itself a Messianic people, perhaps even “a light to the Gentiles” and “salvation unto the ends of the earth.” {Isa 49:6} The chroniclers hopes were more modest; the new Jerusalem had been seen by the prophet as an ideal vision; the historian knew it lay experience as an imperfect human society: but he believed none the less in its high spiritual vocation and prerogatives. He claimed the future for those who were able to trace the hand of God in their past.
Under the monarchy the fortunes of Jerusalem had been bound up with those of the house of David. The chronicler brings out all that was best in the history of the ancient kings of Judah, that this ideal picture of the state and its rulers might encourage and inspire to future hope and effort. The character and achievements of David and his successors were of permanent significance. The grace and favor accorded to them symbolized the Divine promise for the future, and this promise was to be realized through a Son of David.
DAVID
2. HIS PERSONAL HISTORY
IN order to understand why the chronicler entirely recasts the graphic and candid history of David given in the book of Samuel, we have to consider the place that David had come to fill in Jewish religion. It seems probable that among the sources used by the author of the book of Samuel was a history of David, written not long after his death, by some one familiar with the inner life of the court. “No one,” says the proverb, “is a hero to his valet”; very much what a valet is to a private gentleman courtiers are to a king: their knowledge of their master approaches to the familiarity which breeds contempt. Not that David was ever a subject for contempt or less than a hero even to his own courtiers: but they knew him as a very human hero, great in his vices as well as in his virtues, daring in battle and wise in counsel, sometimes also reckless in sin, yet capable of unbounded repentance, loving not wisely, but too well. And as they knew him, so they described him; and their picture is an immortal possession for all students of sacred life and literature. But it is not the portrait of a Messiah; when we think of the “Son of David,” we do not want to be reminded of Bathsheba.
During the six or seven centuries that elapsed between the death of David and the chronicler the name of David had come to have a symbolic meaning, which was largely independent of the personal character and career of the actual king. His reign had become idealized by the magic of antiquity; it was a glory of “the good old times.” His own sins and failures were obscured by the crimes and disasters of later kings. And yet, in spite of all its shortcomings, the “house of David” still remained the symbol alike of ancient glory and of future hopes. We have seen from the genealogies how intimate the connection was between the family and its founder. Ephraim and Benjamin may mean either patriarchs or tribes. A Jew was not always anxious to distinguish between the family and the founder. “David” and “the house of David” became almost interchangeable terms.
Even the prophets of the eighth century connect the future destiny of Israel with David and his house. The child, of whom Isaiah prophesied, was to sit “upon the throne of David” and be “over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with judgment and with righteousness from henceforth even forever.” {Isa 9:7} And, again, the king who is to “sit in truth judging, and seeking judgment, and swift to do righteousness,” is to have “his throne established in mercy in the tent of David.” When {Isa 16:5} Sennacherib attacked Jerusalem, the city was defended {Isa 37:35} for Jehovahs own sake and for His servant Davids sake. In the word of the Lord that came to Isaiah for Hezekiah, David supersedes, as it were, the sacred fathers of the Hebrew race; Jehovah is not spoken of as “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,” but “the God of David.” {Isa 38:5} As founder of the dynasty, he takes rank with the founders of the race and religion of Israel: he is “the patriarch David.” {Act 2:29} The northern prophet Hosea looks forward to the time when the children of Israel shall return, and seek the Lord “their God and David their king”; {Hos 3:5} when Amos wishes to set forth the future prosperity of Israel, he says that the Lord “will raise up the tabernacle of David”; {Amo 9:11} in Micah “the ruler in Israel” is to come forth from Bethlehem Ephrathah, the birthplace of David; {Mic 5:2} in Jeremiah such references to David are frequent, the most characteristic being those relating to the “righteous branch, whom the Lord will raise up unto David,” who “shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute judgment and justice in the land, in whose days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely”; in Ezekiel “My servant David” is to be the shepherd and prince of Jehovahs restored and reunited people; {Eze 34:23-24} Zechariah, writing at what we may consider the beginning of the chroniclers own period, follows the language of his predecessors: he applies Jeremiahs prophecy of “the righteous branch” to Zerubbabel, the prince of the house of David: similarly in Haggai Zerubbabel is the chosen of Jehovah; {Hag 2:23} in the appendix to Zechariah it is said that when “the Lord defends the inhabitants of Jerusalem the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.” {Zec 12:8} In the later literature, Biblical and apocryphal, the Davidic origin of the Messiah is not conspicuous till it reappears in the Psalms of Solomon and the New Testament, but the idea had not necessarily been dormant meanwhile. The chronicler and his school studied and meditated on the sacred writings, and must have been familiar with this doctrine of the prophets. The interest in such a subject would not be confined to scholars. Doubtless the downtrodden people cherished with ever-growing ardor the glorious picture of the Davidic king. In the synagogues it was not only Moses, but the Prophets, that were read; and they could never allow the picture of the Messianic king to grow faint and pale.
Davids name was also familiar as the author of many psalms. The inhabitants of Jerusalem would often hear them sung at the Temple, and they were probably used for private devotion. In this way especially the name of David had become associated with the deepest and purest spiritual experiences.
This brief survey shows how utterly impossible it was for the chronicler to transfer the older narrative bodily from the book of Samuel to his own pages. Large omissions were absolutely necessary. He could not sit down in cold blood to tell his readers that the man whose name they associated with the most sacred memories and the noblest hopes of Israel had been guilty of treacherous murder, and had offered himself to the Philistines as an ally against the people of Jehovah.
From this point of view let us consider the chroniclers omissions somewhat more in detail. In the first place, with one or two slight exceptions, he omits the whole of Davids life before his accession to the throne, for two reasons: partly because he is anxious that his readers should think of David as king, the anointed of Jehovah, the Messiah; partly that they may not be reminded of his career as an outlaw and a freebooter and of his alliance with the Philistines. It is probably only an unintentional result of this omission that it enables the chronicler to ignore the important services rendered to David by Abiathar, whose family were rivals of the house of Zadok in the priesthood.
We have already seen that the events of Davids reign at Hebron and his struggle with Ishbosheth are omitted because the chronicler does not recognize Ishbosheth as a legitimate king. The omission would also commend itself because this section contains the account of Joabs murder of Abner and Davids inability to do more than protest against the crime. “I am this day weak, though anointed king; and these men the sons of Zeruiah are too hard for me,” {2Sa 3:39} are scarcely words that become an ideal king.
The next point to notice is one of those significant alterations that mark the chroniclers industry as a redactor. In 2Sa 5:21 we read that after the Philistines had been defeated at Baal-perazim they left their images there, and David and his men took them away. Why did they take them away? What did David and his men want with images? Missionaries bring home images as trophies, and exhibit them triumphantly, like soldiers who have captured the enemys standards. No one, not even an unconverted native, supposes that they have been brought away to be used in worship.
But the worship of images was no improbable apostasy on the part of an Israelite king. The chronicler felt that these ambiguous words were open to misconstruction; so he tells us what he assumes to have been their ultimate fate: “And they left their gods there; and David gave commandment, and they were burnt with fire.” {2Sa 5:21 1Ch 14:12}
The next omission was obviously a necessary one; it is the incident of Uriah and Bathsheba. The name Bathsheba never occurs in Chronicles. When it is necessary to mention the mother of Solomon, she is called Bathshua, possibly in order that the disgraceful incident might not be suggested even by the use of the name. The New Testament genealogies differ in this matter in somewhat the same way as Samuel and Chronicles. St. Matthew expressly mentions Uriahs wife as an ancestress of our Lord, but St. Luke does not mention her or any other ancestress.
The next omission is equally extensive and important. It includes the whole series of events connected with the revolt of Absalom, from the incident of Tamar to the suppression of the rebellion of Sheba the son of Bichri. Various motives may have contributed to this omission. The narrative contains unedifying incidents, which are passed over as lightly as possible by modern writers like Stanley. It was probably a relief to the chronicler to be able to omit them altogether. There is no heinous sin like the murder of Uriah, but the story leaves a general impression of great weakness on Davids part. Joab murders Amasa as he had murdered Abner, and this time there is no record of any protest even on the part of David. But probably the main reason for the omission of this narrative is that it mars the ideal picture of Davids power and dignity and the success and prosperity of his reign.
The touching story of Rizpah is omitted; the hanging of her sons does not exhibit David in a very amiable light. The Gibeonites propose that “they shall hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord,” and David accepts the proposal. This punishment of the children for the sin of their father was expressly against the Law and the whole incident was perilously akin to human sacrifice. How could they be hung up before Jehovah in Gibeah unless there was a sanctuary of Jehovah in Gibeah? And why should Saul at such a time and in such a connection be called emphatically “the chosen of Jehovah”? On many grounds, it was a passage which the chronicler would be glad to omit.
2Sa 21:15-17 we are told that David waxed faint and had to be rescued by Abishai. This is omitted by Chronicles probably because it detracts from the character of David as the ideal hero. The next paragraph in Samuel also tended to depreciate Davids prowess. It stated that Goliath was slain by Elhanan. The chronicler introduces a correction. It was not Goliath whom Elhanan slew, but Lahmi, the brother of Goliah. However, the text in Samuel is evidently corrupt; and possibly this is one of the cases in which Chronicles has preserved the correct text. {2Sa 21:19 1Ch 20:5}
Then follow two omissions that are not easily accounted for 2Sa 22:1-51; 2Sa 23:1-39, contain two psalms, Psa 18:1-50, and “the Last Words of David,” the latter not included in the Psalter. These psalms are generally considered a late addition to the book of Samuel, and it is barely possible that they were not in the copy used by the chronicler; but the late date of Chronicles makes against this supposition. The psalms may be omitted for the sake of brevity, and yet elsewhere a long cento of passages from post-Exilic psalms is added to the material derived from the book of Samuel. Possibly something in the omitted section jarred upon the theological sensibilities of the chronicler, but it is not clear what. He does not as a rule look below the surface for obscure suggestions of undesirable views. The grounds of his alterations and omissions are usually sufficiently obvious; but these particular omissions are not at present susceptible of any obvious explanation. Further research into the theology of Judaism may perhaps provide us with one hereafter.
Finally, the chronicler omits the attempt of Adonijah to seize the throne, and Davids dying commands to Solomon. The opening chapters of the book of Kings present a graphic and pathetic picture of the closing scenes of Davids life. The king is exhausted with old age. His authoritative sanction to the coronation of Solomon is only obtained when he has been roused and directed by the promptings and suggestions of the women of his harem. The scene is partly a parallel and partly a contrast to the last days of Queen Elizabeth; for when her bodily strength failed, the obstinate Tudor spirit refused to be guided by the suggestions of her courtiers. The chronicler was depicting a person of almost Divine dignity, in whom incidents of human weakness would have been out of keeping; and therefore they are omitted.
Davids charge to Solomon is equally human. Solomon is to make up for Davids weakness and undue generosity by putting Joab and Shimei to death; on the other hand, he is to pay Davids debt of gratitude to the son of Barzillai. But the chronicler felt that Davids mind in those last days must surely have been occupied with the temple which Solomon was to build, and the less edifying charge is omitted.
Constantine is reported to have said that, for the honor of the Church, he would conceal the sin of a bishop with his own imperial purple. David was more to the chronicler than the whole Christian episcopate to Constantine. His life of David is compiled in the spirit and upon the principles of lives of saints generally, and his omissions are made in perfect good faith.
Let us now consider the positive picture of David as it is drawn for us in Chronicles. Chronicles would be published separately, each copy written, out on a roll of its own. There may have been Jews who had Chronicles, hut not Samuel and Kings, and who knew nothing about David except what they learned from Chronicles. Possibly the chronicler and his friends would recommend the work as suitable for the education of children and the instruction of the common people. It would save its readers from being perplexed by the religious difficulties suggested by Samuel and Kings. There were many obstacles, however, to the success of such a scheme; the persecutions of Antiochus and the wars of the Maccabees took the leadership out of the hands of scholars and gave it to soldiers and statesmen. The latter perhaps felt more drawn to the real David than to the ideal, and the new priestly dynasty would not be anxious to emphasize the Messianic hopes of the house of David. But let us put ourselves for a moment in the position of a student of Hebrew history who reads of David for the first time in Chronicles and has no other source of information.
Our first impression as we read the book is that David comes into the history as abruptly as Elijah or Melchizedek. Jehovah slew Saul “and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.” {1Ch 10:14} Apparently the Divine appointment is promptly and enthusiastically accepted by the nation; all the twelve tribes come at once in their tens and hundreds of thousands to Hebron to make David king. They then march straight to Jerusalem and take it by storm, and forthwith attempt to bring up the Ark to Zion. An unfortunate accident necessitates a delay of three months, but at the end of that time the Ark is solemnly installed in a tent at Jerusalem. {Cf. 1Ch 11:1-9; 1Ch 12:23; 1Ch 13:14}
We are not told who David the son of Jesse was, or why the Divine choice fell upon him or how he had been prepared for his responsible position, or how he had so commended himself to Israel as to be accepted with universal acclaim. He must however, have been of noble family and high character; and it is hinted that he had had a distinguished career as a soldier. {1Ch 11:2} We should expect to find his name in the introductory genealogies: and if we have read these lists of names with conscientious attention, we shall remember that there are sundry incidental references to David, and that he was the seventh son of Jesse, {1Ch 2:15} who was descended from the Patriarch Judah, though Boaz, the husband of Ruth.
As we read further we come to other references which throw some light on Davids early career, and at the same time somewhat mar the symmetry of the opening narrative. The wide discrepancy between the chroniclers idea of David and the account given by his authorities prevents him from composing his work on an entirely consecutive and consistent plan. We gather that there was a time when David was in rebellion against his predecessor, and maintained himself at Ziklag and elsewhere, keeping “himself close, because of Saul the son of Kish,” and even that he came with the Philistines against Saul to battle, but was prevented by the jealousy of the Philistine chiefs from actually fighting against Saul. There is nothing to indicate the occasion or circumstances of these events. But it appears that even at this period, when David was in arms against the king of Israel and an ally of the Philistines, he was the chosen leader of Israel. Men flocked to him from Judah and Benjamin, Manasseh and Gad, and doubtless from the other tribes as well: “From day to day there came to David to help him, until it was a great host, like the host of God.” {1Ch 20:1-8}
This chapter partly explains Davids popularity after Sauls death; but it only carries the mystery a stage further back. How did this outlaw, and apparently unpatriotic rebel, get so strong a hold on the affections of Israel?
Chapter 12 also provides material for plausible explanations of another difficulty. In chapter 10 the army of Israel is routed, the inhabitants of the land take to flight, and the Philistines occupy their cities; in 11 and 1Ch 12:23-40 all Israel come straightway to Hebron in the most peaceful and unconcerned fashion to make David king. Are we to understand that his Philistine allies, mindful of that “great host, like the host of God,” all at once changed their minds and entirely relinquished the fruits of their victory?
Elsewhere, however, we find a statement that renders other explanations possible. David reigned seven years in Hebron, {1Ch 29:27} so that our first impression as to the rapid sequence of events at the beginning of his reign is apparently not correct, and there was time in these seven years for a more gradual expulsion of the Philistines. It is doubtful, however, whether the chronicler intended his original narrative to be thus modified and interpreted.
The main thread of the history is interrupted here and later on {1Ch 11:10-47; 1Ch 20:4-8} to insert incidents which illustrate the personal courage and prowess of David and his warriors. We are also told how busily occupied David was during the three months sojourn of the Ark in the house of Obededom the Gittite. He accepted an alliance with Hiram, king of Tyre: he added to his harem: he successfully repelled two inroads of the Philistines, and made him houses in the city of David. {1Ch 13:14}
The narrative returns to its main subject: the history of the sanctuary at Jerusalem. As soon as the Ark was duly installed in its tent, and David was established in his new palace, he was struck by the contrast between the tent and the palace: “Lo, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord dwelleth under curtains.” He proposed to substitute a temple for the tent, but was forbidden by his prophet Nathan, through whom God promised him that his son should build the Temple, and that his house should be established forever. {1Ch 17:1-27}
Then we read of the wars, victories, and conquests of David. He is no longer absorbed in the defense of Israel against the Philistines. He takes the aggressive and conquers Gath; he conquers Edom, Moab, Ammon, and Amalek; he and his armies defeat the Syrians in several battles, the Syrians become tributary, and David occupies Damascus with a garrison. “And the Lord gave victory to David whithersoever he went.” The conquered were treated after the manner of those barbarous times. David and his generals carried off much spoil, especially brass, and silver, and gold; and when he conquered Rabbath, the capital of Ammon, “he brought forth the people that were therein, and cut them with saws, and with harrows of iron, and with axes. And thus did David unto all the cities of the children of Ammon.” Meanwhile his home administration was as honorable as his foreign wars were glorious: “He executed judgment and justice unto all his people”; and the government was duly organized with commanders of the host and the bodyguard, with priests and scribes. {1Ch 18:1-17; 1Ch 20:3}
Then follows a mysterious and painful dispensation of Providence, which the historian would gladly have omitted, if his respect for the memory of his hero had not been overruled by his sense of the supreme importance of the Temple. David, like Job, was given over for a season to Satan, and while possessed by this evil spirit displeased God by numbering Israel. His punishment took the form of a great pestilence, which decimated his people, until, by Divine command, David erected an altar in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite and offered sacrifices upon it, whereupon the plague was stayed. David at once perceived the significance of this incident: Jehovah had indicated the site of the future Temple. “This is the house of Jehovah Elohim, and this is the altar of burnt, offering for Israel.”
This revelation of the Divine will as to the position of the Temple led David to proceed at once with preparations for its erection by Solomon, which occupied all his energies for the remainder of his life. {1Ch 21:1-30; 1Ch 22:1-19; 1Ch 23:1-32; 1Ch 24:1-31; 1Ch 25:1-31; 1Ch 26:1-32; 1Ch 27:1-34; 1Ch 28:1-21; 1Ch 29:1-30} He gathered funds and materials, and gave his son full instructions about the building; he organized the priests and Levites, the Temple orchestra and choir, the doorkeepers, treasurers, officers, and judges; he also organized the army, the tribes, and the royal exchequer on the model of the corresponding arrangements for the Temple.
Then follows the closing scene of Davids life. The sun of Israel sets amid the flaming glories of the western sky. No clouds or mists rob him of accustomed splendor. David calls a great assembly of princes and warriors; he addresses a solemn exhortation to them and to Solomon; he delivers to his son instructions for “all the works” which “I have been made to understand in writing from the hand of Jehovah.” It is almost as though the plans of the Temple had shared with the first tables of stone the honor of being written with the very finger of God Himself, and David were even greater than Moses. He reminds Solomon of all the preparations he had made, and appeals to the princes and the people for further gifts; and they render willingly-thousands of talents of gold, and silver, and brass, and iron. David offers prayer and thanksgiving to the Lord: “And David said to all the congregation, Now bless Jehovah our God. And all the congregation blessed Jehovah, the God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and worshipped Jehovah and the king. And they sacrificed sacrifices unto Jehovah, and offered burnt offerings unto Jehovah, on the morrow after that day, even a thousand bullocks, a thousand rams, and a thousand lambs, with their drink offerings and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel, and did eat and drink before Jehovah on that day with great gladness. And they made Solomon king; and David died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honor, and Solomon his son reigned in his stead.” {1Ch 29:20-22; 1Ch 29:28} The Roman expressed his idea of a becoming death more simply: “An emperor should die standing.” The chronicler has given us the same view at greater length; this is how the chronicler would have wished to die if he had been David, and how, therefore, he conceives that God honored the last hours of the man after His own heart.
It is a strange contrast to the companion picture in the book of Kings. There the king is bedridden, dying slowly of old age; the lifeblood creeps coldly through his veins. The quiet of the sick-room is invaded by the shrill outcry of an aggrieved woman, and the dying king is roused to hear that once more eager hands are clutching at his crown. If the chronicler has done nothing else, he has helped us to appreciate better the gloom and bitterness of the tragedy that was enacted in the last days of David.
What idea does Chronicles give us of the man and his character? He is first and foremost a man of earnest piety and deep spiritual feeling. Like the great religions leaders of the chroniclers own time, his piety found its chief expression in ritual. The main business of his life was to provide for the sanctuary and its services; that is, for the highest fellowship of God and man, according to the ideas then current. But David is no mere formalist; the psalm of thanksgiving for the return of the Ark to Jerusalem is a worthy tribute to the power and faithfulness of Jehovah. {1Ch 16:8-36} His prayer after God had promised to establish his dynasty is instinct with devout confidence and gratitude. {1Ch 17:16-27} But the most gracious and appropriate of these Davidic utterances is his last prayer and thanksgiving for the liberal gifts of the people for the Temple.
Next to Davids enthusiasm for the Temple, his most conspicuous qualities are those of a general and soldier: he has great personal strength and courage, and is uniformly successful in wars against numerous and powerful enemies; his government is both able and upright; his great powers as an organizer and administrator are exercised both in secular and ecclesiastical matters; in a word, he is in more senses than one an ideal king.
Moreover, like Alexander, Marlborough, Napoleon, and other epoch-making conquerors, he had a great charm of personal attractiveness; he inspired his officers and soldiers with enthusiasm and devotion to himself. The pictures of all Israel flocking to him in the first days of his reign and even earlier, when he was an outlaw, are forcible illustrations of this wonderful gift; and the same feature of his character is at once illustrated and partly explained by the romantic episode at Adullam. What greater proof of affection could outlaws give to their captain than to risk their lives to get him a draught of water from the well of Bethlehem? How better could David have accepted and ratified their devotion than by pouring out this water as a most precious libation to God? {1Ch 11:15-19} But the chronicler gives most striking expression to the idea of Davids popularity when he finally tells us in the same breath that the people worshipped Jehovah and the king. {1Ch 29:20}
In drawing an ideal picture, our author has naturally omitted incidents that might have revealed the defects of his hero. Such omissions deceive no one, and are not meant to deceive any one. Yet Davids failings are not altogether absent from this history. He has those vices which are characteristic alike of his own age and of the chroniclers, and which indeed are not yet wholly extinct. He could treat his prisoners with barbarous cruelty. His pride led him to number Israel, but his repentance was prompt and thorough; and the incident brings out alike both his faith in God and his care for his people. When the whole episode is before us, it does not lessen our love and respect for David. The reference to his alliance with the Philistines is vague and incidental. If this were our only account of the matter, we should interpret it by the rest of his life, and conclude that if all the facts were known, they would justify his conduct.
In forming a general estimate of David according to Chronicles, we may fairly neglect these less satisfactory episodes. Briefly David is perfect saint and perfect king, beloved of God and man.
A portrait reveals the artist as well as the model, and the chronicler in depicting David gives indications of the morality of his own times. We may deduce from his omissions a certain progress in moral sensitiveness. The book of Samuel emphatically condemns Davids treachery towards Uriah, and is conscious of the discreditable nature of many incidents connected with the revolts of Absalom and Adonijah; but the silence of Chronicles implies an even severer condemnation. In other matters, however, the chronicler “judges himself in that which he approveth.” {Rom 14:22} Of course the first business of an ancient king was to protect his people from their enemies and to enrich them at the expense of their neighbors. The urgency of these duties may excuse, but not justify, the neglect of the more peaceful departments of the administration. The modern reader is struck by the little stress laid by the narrative upon good government at home; it is just mentioned, and that is about all. As the sentiment of international morality is even now only in its infancy, we cannot wonder at its absence from Chronicles; but we are a little surprised to find that cruelty towards prisoners is included without comment in the character of the ideal king. {2Sa 12:31 1Ch 20:3} It is curious that the account in the book of Samuel is slightly ambiguous and might possibly admit of a comparatively mild interpretation; but Chronicles, according to the ordinary translation, says definitely, “He cut them with saws.” The mere reproduction of this passage need not imply full and deliberate approval of its contents; but it would not have been allowed to remain in the picture of the ideal king, if the chronicler had felt any strong conviction as to the duty of humanity towards ones enemies. Unfortunately we know from the book of Esther and elsewhere that later Judaism had not attained to any wide enthusiasm of humanity.
DAVID
3. HIS OFFICIAL DIGNITY
IN estimating the personal character of David, we have seen that one element of it was his ideal kingship. Apart from his personality his name is significant for Old Testament theology as that of the typical king. From the time when the royal title Messiah “began to” be a synonym for the hope of Israel, down to the period when the Anglican Church taught the Divine right of kings, and Calvinists insisted on the Divine sovereignty or royal authority of God, the dignity and power of the King of kings have always been illustrated by, and sometimes associated with, the state of an earthly monarch-whereof David is the most striking example.
The times of the chronicler were favorable to the development of the idea of the perfect king of Israel, the prince of the house of David. There was no king in Israel; and, as far as we can gather, the living representatives of the house of David held no very prominent position in the community. It is much easier to draw a satisfactory picture of the ideal monarch when the imagination is not checked and hampered by the faults and failings of an actual Ahaz or Hezekiah. In earlier times the prophetic hopes for the house of David had often been rudely disappointed, but there had been ample space to forget the past and to revive the old hopes in fresh splendor and magnificence. Lack of experience helped to commend the idea of the Davidic king to the chronicler. Enthusiasm for a benevolent despot is mostly confined to those who have not enjoyed the privilege of living under such autocratic government.
On the other hand, there was no temptation to flatter any living Davidic king, so that the semi-Divine character of the kingship of David is not set forth after the gross and almost blasphemous style of Roman emperors or Turkish sultans. It is indeed said that the people worshipped Jehovah and the king; but the essential character of Jewish thought made it impossible that the ideal king should sit “in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God.” David and Solomon could not share with the pagan emperors the honors of Divine worship in their life-time and apotheosis after their death. Nothing addressed to any Hebrew king parallels the panegyric to the Christian emperor Theodosius, in which allusion is made to his “sacred mind,” and he is told that “as the Fates are said to assist with their tablets that God who is the partner in your majesty, so does some Divine power serve your bidding, which writes down and in due time suggests to your memory the promises which you have made.” Nor does Chronicles adorn the kings of Judah with extravagant Oriental titles, such as “King of kings of kings of kings.” Devotion to the house of David never oversteps the bounds of a due reverence, but the Hebrew idea of monarchy loses nothing by this salutary reserve.
Indeed, the title of the royal house of Judah rested upon Divine appointment. “Jehovah turned the kingdom unto David and they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of Jehovah by the hand of Samuel.” {1Ch 10:14; 1Ch 11:3} But the Divine choice was confirmed by the cordial consent of the nation; the sovereigns of Judah, like those of England, ruled by the grace of God and the will of the people. Even before Davids accession the Israelites had flocked to his standard; and after the death of Saul a great array of the twelve tribes came to Hebron to make David king, “and all the rest also of Israel were of one heart to make David king.” {1Ch 12:38} Similarly Solomon is the king “whom God hath chosen,” and all the congregation make him king and anoint him to be prince. {1Ch 29:1; 1Ch 29:22} The double election of David by Jehovah and by the nation is clearly set forth in the book of Samuel, and in Chronicles the omission of Davids early career emphasizes this election. In the book of Samuel we are shown the natural process that brought about the change of dynasty; we see how the Divine choice took effect through the wars between Saul and the Philistines and through Davids own ability and energy. Chronicles is mostly silent as to secondary causes, and fixes our attention on the Divine choice as the ultimate ground for Davids elevation.
The authority derived from God and the people continued to rest on the same basis. David sought Divine direction alike for the building of the Temple and for his campaigns against the Philistines At the same time, when he wished to bring up the Ark to Jerusalem, he “consulted with the captains of thousands and of hundreds. even with every leader; and David said unto all the assembly of Israel, If it seem good unto you, and if it be of Jehovah our God let us bring again the ark of our God to us and all the assembly said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.” {1Ch 13:4} Of course the chronicler does not intend to describe a constitutional monarchy, in which an assembly of the people had any legal status. Apparently in his own time the Jews exercised their measure of local self-government through an informal oligarchy, headed by the high-priest; and these authorities occasionally appealed to an assembly of the people. The administration under the monarchy was carried on in a somewhat similar fashion, only the king had greater authority than the high-priest, and the oligarchy of notables were not so influential as the colleagues of the latter. But apart from any formal constitution the chroniclers description of these incidents involves a recognition of the principle of popular consent in government as well as the doctrine that civil order rests upon a Divine sanction.
It is interesting to see how a member of a great ecclesiastical community, imbued, as we should suppose, with all the spirit of priestcraft, yet insists upon the royal supremacy both in state and Church. But to have done otherwise would have been to go in the teeth of all history; even in the Pentateuch the “king in Jeshurun” is greater than the priest. Moreover the chronicler was not a priest, but a Levite; and there are indications that the Levites ancient jealousy of the priests had by no means died out. In Chronicles, at any rate, there is no question of priests interfering with the kings secular administration. They are not even mentioned as obtaining oracles for David as Abiathar did before his accession. {1Sa 23:9-13; 1Sa 30:7-8} This was doubtless implied in the original account of the Philistine raids in chapter 14, but the chronicler may not have understood that “inquiring of God” meant obtaining an oracle from the priests.
The king is equally supreme also in ecclesiastical affairs; we might even say that the civil authorities generally shared this supremacy. Somewhat after the fashion of Cromwell and his major-generals, David utilized “the captains of the host” as a kind of ministry of public worship; they joined with him in organizing the orchestra and choir for the services of the sanctuary, {1Ch 25:1-2} probably Napoleon and his marshals would have had no hesitation in selecting anthems for Notre Dame if the idea had occurred to them. David also consulted his captains {1Ch 13:1} and not the priests, about bringing the Ark to Jerusalem. When he gathered the great assembly to make his final arrangements for the building of the Temple, the princes and captains, the rulers and mighty men, are mentioned, but no priests. {1Ch 28:1} And, last, all the congregation apparently anoint {1Ch 29:22} Zadok to be priest. The chronicler was evidently a pronounced Erastian (But Cf. 2Ch 26:1-23). David is no mere nominal head of the Church; he takes the initiative in all important matters, and receives the Divine commands either directly or through his prophets Nathan and Gad. Now these prophets are not ecclesiastical authorities; they have nothing to do with the priesthood, and do not correspond to the officials of an organized Church. They are rather the domestic chaplains or confessors of the king, differing from modern chaplains and confessors in having no ecclesiastical superiors. They were not responsible to the bishop of any diocese or the general of any order; they did not manipulate the royal conscience in the interests of any party in the Church; they served God and the king, and had no other masters. They did not beard David before his people, as Ambrose confronted Theodosius or as Chrysostom rated Eudoxia; they delivered their message to David in private, and on occasion he communicated it to the people. {Cf. 1Ch 17:4-15 and 1Ch 28:2-10} The kings spiritual dignity is rather enhanced than otherwise by this reception of prophetic messages specially delivered to himself. There is another aspect of the royal supremacy in religion. In this particular instance its object is largely the exaltation of David; to arrange for public worship is the most honorable function of the ideal king. At the same time the care of the sanctuary is his most sacred duty, and is assigned to him that it may be punctually and worthily discharged. State establishment of the Church is combined with a very thorough control of the Church by the state.
We see then that the monarchy rested on Divine and national election, and was guided by the will of God and of the people. Indeed, in bringing up the 1Ch 13:1-14 the consent of the people is the only recorded indication of the will of God. “Vox populi vox Dei.” The king and his government are supreme alike over the state and the sanctuary, and are entrusted with the charge of providing for public worship. Let us try to express the modern equivalents of these principles. Civil government is of Divine origin, and should obtain the consent of the people: it should be carried on according to the will of God, freely accepted by the nation. The civil authority is supreme both in Church and state, and is responsible for the maintenance of public worship.
One at least of these principles is so widely accepted that it is quite independent of any Scriptural sanction from Chronicles. The consent of the people has long been accepted as an essential condition of any stable government. The sanctity of civil government and the sacredness of its responsibilities are coming to be recognized, at present perhaps rather in theory than in practice. We have not yet fully realized how the truth underlying the doctrine of the Divine right of kings applies to modern conditions. Formerly the king was the representative of the state, or even the state itself; that is to say, the king directly or indirectly maintained social order, and provided for the security of life and property. The Divine appointment and authority of the king expressed the sanctity of law and order as the essential conditions of moral and spiritual progress. The king is no longer the state. His Divine right, however, belongs to him, not as a person or as a member of a family, but as the embodiment of the state, the champion of social order against anarchy. The “Divinity that doth hedge a king” is now shared by the sovereign with all the various departments of government. The state-that is to say, the community organized for the common good and for mutual help-is now to be recognized as of Divine appointment and as wielding a Divine authority. “The Lord has turned the kingdom to” the people.
This revolution is so tremendous that it would not be safe to apply to the modern state the remaining principles of the chronicler. Before we could do so we should need to enter into a discussion which would be out of place here, even if we had space for it.
In one point the new democracies agree with the chronicler: they are not inclined to submit secular affairs to the domination of ecclesiastical officials.
The questions of the supremacy of the state over the Church and of the state establishment of the Church involve larger and more complicated issues than existed in the mind or experience of the chronicler. But his picture of the ideal king suggests one idea that is in harmony with some modern aspirations. In Chronicles the king, as the representative of the state, is the special agent in providing for the highest spiritual needs of the people. May we venture to hope that out of the moral consciousness of a nation united in mutual sympathy and service there may arise a new enthusiasm to obey and worship God? Human cruelty is the greatest stumbling-block to belief and fellowship; when the state has somewhat mitigated the misery of “mans inhumanity to man,” faith in God will be easier.