John Gill Commentary 2 Samuel 2

And it came to pass after this
After David had heard of the death of Saul and Jonathan, and made a lamentation over them, perhaps the next day; since David and his men are only said to mourn, and weep, and fast till even, (2 Samuel 1:10);

that David inquired of the Lord ;
of the Word of the Lord, as the Targum, by Abiathar the priest, and through the Urim and Thummim, in the ephod he had put on on this occasion:

saying, shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah ?
though the Lord had promised him the kingdom, and he had been anointed by Samuel by his appointment, yet he was not hasty to take it into his hands, but was desirous of acting according to the will of God, and by his direction, and wait his time when and where he should go and take possession of it; he mentions Judah because it was his own tribe, and where he had the most friends:

and the Lord said unto him, go up ;
from Ziklag into the tribe of Judah, but did not mention any particular place where he should go; hence another question was put:

and David said, where shall I go up ?
To what town or city in the tribe of Judah? whether Jerusalem or any other?

And he said, unto Hebron ;
a city of the priests, a city of refuge, (Joshua 21:13) (1 Chronicles 6:57) , twenty miles from Jerusalem, or more, which is not directed to, because it was then chiefly in the hands of the Jebusites, and because, as Procopius Gazaeus says, Hebron was now the metropolis of Judah.

So David went up thither
From Ziklag to Hebron, which was sixteen miles according to Bunting ^F25

and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail, Nabal's
wife, the Carmelite ;
who were beloved by him, and who had shared with him in his troubles, and which he took with him to partake of his honour and grandeur, wealth and riches; in which he was now a type of Christ. See (Romans 8:17) (2 Timothy 2:11 2 Timothy 2:12) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F25: Ut supra, (Travels &c.) p. 137.

And his men that were with him did David bring up, every man
with his household
They and their families, and no doubt provided well for them when he was settled on the throne, who had shown themselves to be his faithful friends, closely attached to his interest, and had run the risk of their all on his account. See (Matthew 19:28) .

And they dwelt in the cities of Hebron ;
in the towns and villages about it; for that itself being a city of refuge, and inhabited by priests, there was not room enough for all David's men, who were now increasing, persons from various tribes flocking to him. See (1 Chronicles 12:1–40) .

And the men of Judah came
The inhabitants of the tribe of Judah came from the several parts of it to Hebron, that is, the principal of them, the elders of each city:

and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah ;
they did not take upon them to make him king over all Israel, but left the rest of the tribes to act for themselves;

And no doubt in this they had the mind of David, who was not willing to force himself upon the people at once, but by degrees get the whole government into his hands, as Providence should make his way;

These men knew the kingdom was promised to their tribe, from (Genesis 49:10) ; and were quite clear in what they did, and, without question, knew that David had been anointed by Samuel:

But as that anointing was only a declaration of the Lord's choice of him, and of his will that he should be king after Saul's death, he is again anointed by the people, as an inauguration into his office:

and they told David, saying, [that] the men of Jabeshgilead [were they]
that buried Saul .
It is highly probable, that as soon as David was anointed king, the first thing he thought of was to inquire after the body of the late king, and give it an honourable interment, and upon inquiry was told that the men of Jabeshgilead had buried him already. See (1 Samuel 31:11–13) .

And David sent messengers to the men of Jabeshgilead
To return them thanks for their courage and boldness in rescuing the bodies of Saul and his sons out of the hands of the Philistines, and for their civility in the burial of them:

and said to them, blessed are you of the Lord ;
which may be considered either as a wish, the Lord bless you for it, or as a prediction, the Lord will bless you:

that you have showed this kindness to your lord, [even] to Saul ,
and have buried him .
To bury the dead, with the Jews, was always reckoned an instance of humanity and kindness, and indeed of piety; an act done in imitation of God ^F26 , who buried Moses, and so it might be expected the divine blessing would attend it.

FOOTNOTES:

• F26: T. Bab. Bava Metzia, fol. 32. 2. and Sotah, fol. 14. 1.