Hebron, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. 2In times past, even when Saul was king, it was thou that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the LORD thy God said unto thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be [1]prince over my people Israel. 3So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the LORD; and they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Samuel. 4And David and
chapters which cover a period of seven years (2 Sam. v. 5). David's earlier coronation by the men of Judah (2 Sam. ii. 4), the reign of Ish-bosheth over Northern and Eastern Israel (ib. ii. 8 ff.), and the "long war" (ib. iii. 1) with the house of Saul are omitted not of course because the Chronicler was ignorant of these events (for see the references in vv. 15, 17; xii. 1, 23, 29, etc.), but for the reason set forth above in the head-note to ch. x.—xxix. The Chronicler's account is perhaps deliberately adapted to convey an impression of the ease with which the ideal David ascends the throne of a united Israel; and, if we had not the narrative in Sam. to help us, we should be left with a conception of the period very different from the actual course of events. How strange, too, would be the sudden transition from the picture of defeat and flight of Israel in ch. x. to the calm assemblage of all Israel in ch. xi, and how obscure the various references to David's earlier life in xi. 15 ff.!
we are thy bone and thy flesh] The phrase is not to be taken strictly as implying kinship, for only the tribe of Judah could say "The king is near of kin to us" (2 Sam. xix. 42). The other tribes mean that they will obey David as though he were their own kin.
2. the LORD thy God said] Cp. vv. 3, 10; 1 Sam. xvi. 1—13.
prince] Cp. v. 2, note.
3. made a covenant] i.e. gave them a charter in which he promised to respect existing rights; cp. 1 Sam. x. 25 (Sam. writes the "manner" of the kingdom).
before the LORD] One method of entering into a covenant "before the LORD" was to pass between the parts of a sacrificed animal; cp. Jer. xxxiv. 18, 19.
Chron. has nothing here corresponding with 2 Sam. v. 4, 5; but cp. xxix. 27.
according . . . Samuel] Cp. 1 Sam. xv. 28, xvi. 1, 3.
4—9 (= 2 Sam. v. 6—10). The "City of David" captured
and made a royal residence.
4. David and all Israel] In Sam. (more accurately) "The king and his men," i.e. his household and body-guard; cp. x. 6, note. The
- ↑ Or, leader
