Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Chronicles 11

(1–9) Parallel to 2 Samuel 5:1–10.

Then all Israel gathered themselves. —Literally, and. “Then” is too definite a mark of time. The chronicler passes over the subsequent history of the house of Saul, and its decline under the feeble Ishbosheth, who reigned at Mahanaim as a puppet-king in the hands of Abner his powerful kinsman and general (2 Samuel 2–4).

All Israel. —This proves that the allusion is not to David’s election by Judah (2 Samuel 2:4).

Hebron, the burial-place of the patriarchs, was the capital of Judah, the tribe of David.

Thy bone and thy flesh. —A proverb first of physical, then of moral unity (Genesis 2:23; Judges 9:2). It was not as if David were some valiant foreigner, like certain of his own heroes. Moreover, the affection and sympathy of the tribes were with him, whose life of struggle and success had marked him out as their divinely chosen leader.

In time past. — Yesterday, or three days ago. A very indefinite phrase, used in Genesis 31:2 of a time fourteen years ago, and in 2 Kings 13:5 of more than forty years ago.

Led out. —To battle.

Brought in. —Of the homeward march. David had thus already discharged kingly functions. (Compare to 1 Samuel 8:20; 1 Samuel 18:6; 1 Samuel 18:13; 1 Samuel 18:27; 2 Samuel 3:18.)

The Lord your God said to you. — 1 Samuel 16:13.

You shall feed my people. —Literally, shepherd or tend them. The same term is used of the Lord Himself (Isaiah 40:11; Psalms 80:1). The king then is God’s representative, and as such his right is really Divine (Romans 13:1). The cuneiform documents reveal the interesting fact that the term “shepherd,” as applied to sovereigns, is as old as the pre-Semitic stage of Babylonian civilization (the second millennium B.C.).

Therefore came all the elders of Israel. —The assembly of elders, the Senate of Israel, make a contract with David concerning his prerogative and the rights of his people, thus formally determining the manner of the kingdom. (Compare to 1 Samuel 8:9; 1 Samuel 8:9 and following, and 1 Samuel 10:25.) Representative institutions appear to have been the rule in the best period of Israel’s national existence. The elders or hereditary heads of the tribal subdivisions met in council to discuss and settle matters of national concern. (Compare to 1 Chronicles 12:23.)

Before the Lord. —In the presence of the high priest, and perhaps before the ark; compare Exodus 21:6 and 1 Samuel 2:25, where the priestly judge is called God, as representing the authority of the Divine judge (Exodus 22:28).

According to the word of the Lord by Samuel. —A reflection added by the chronicler, and based upon the facts related in 1 Samuel 15:28 and 1 Samuel 16:1–13.

And David ... land. —Samuel is briefer: “And the king and his men went to Jerusalem, to the Jebusite, the inhabitant of the land.” The chronicler adds the explanatory “that is Jebus,” because of the later mention of the Jebusite. He then further modifies the form of the original statement, continuing “and there (lived) the Jebusite (collect.), the inhabitants,” and so on.

Jerusalem means city of Salem; Assyrian, Ursalimmê. But in Hebrew the name has been so modified as to suggest “vision of peace.” In Greek the name became Hierosolyma, “Sacred Solyma.”

Inhabitants of the land. —A standard term for the native Canaanites, and equivalent to indigenæ, or Ἀυτόχθονες.

THE CAPTURE OF ZION BY JOAB’S VALOUR, AND DAVID’S SETTLEMENT THERE.

The accession of the new king is followed by a warlike enterprise, according to the precedent of Saul (1 Samuel 11:1). This agrees with the reason assigned for the election of a king (1 Samuel 8:20), as well as with what we know of Assyrian custom, and is a mark of historic truth.