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1 Chronicles 11

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David Anointed King Over All Israel 1–3

1
Then all Israel gathered themselves to David unto Hebron, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. ​
2
And moreover in time past, even when Saul was king, thou wast he 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 ruler over my people Israel. ​
3
Therefore came all the elders of Israel 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 Samuel. ​

The Conquest of Jerusalem 4–9

4
And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, which is Jebus; where the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land. ​
5
And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, Thou shalt not come hither. Nevertheless David took the castle of Zion, which is the city of David. ​
6
And David said, Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. So Joab the son of Zeruiah went first up, and was chief. ​
7
And David dwelt in the castle; therefore they called it the city of David.
8
And he built the city round about, even from Millo round about: and Joab repaired the rest of the city.
9
So David waxed greater and greater: for the LORD of hosts was with him. ​

The List of David's Mighty Men 10–14

10
These also are the chief of the mighty men whom David had, who strengthened themselves with him in his kingdom, and with all Israel, to make him king, according to the word of the LORD concerning Israel. ​
11
And this is the number of the mighty men whom David had; Jashobeam, an Hachmonite, the chief of the captains: he lifted up his spear against three hundred slain by him at one time. ​
12
And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, who was one of the three mighties.
13
He was with David at Pasdammim, and there the Philistines were gathered together to battle, where was a parcel of ground full of barley; and the people fled from before the Philistines.
14
And they set themselves in the midst of that parcel, and delivered it, and slew the Philistines; and the LORD saved them by a great deliverance. ​

The Exploit of the Three 15–25

15
Now three of the thirty captains went down to the rock to David, into the cave of Adullam; and the host of the Philistines encamped in the valley of Rephaim. ​
16
And David was then in the hold, and the Philistines' garrison was then at Bethlehem.
17
And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, that is at the gate!
18
And the three brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: but David would not drink of it, but poured it out to the LORD,
19
And said, My God forbid it me, that I should do this thing: shall I drink the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy? for with the jeopardy of their lives they brought it. Therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mightiest. ​
20
And Abishai the brother of Joab, he was chief of the three: for lifting up his spear against three hundred, he slew them, and had a name among the three. ​
21
Of the three, he was more honourable than the two; for he was their captain: howbeit he attained not to the first three.
22
Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done many acts; he slew two lionlike men of Moab: also he went down and slew a lion in a pit in a snowy day. ​
23
And he slew an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits high; and in the Egyptian's hand was a spear like a weaver's beam; and he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and slew him with his own spear.
24
These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and had the name among the three mighties.
25
Behold, he was honourable among the thirty, but attained not to the first three: and David set him over his guard. ​

The Thirty Captains 26–47

26
Also the valiant men of the armies were, Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, ​
27
Shammoth the Harorite, Helez the Pelonite,
28
Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, Abiezer the Antothite,
29
Sibbecai the Hushathite, Ilai the Ahohite,
30
Maharai the Netophathite, Heled the son of Baanah the Netophathite,
31
Ithai the son of Ribai of Gibeah, that pertained to the children of Benjamin, Benaiah the Pirathonite,
32
Hurai of the brooks of Gaash, Abiel the Arbathite,
33
Azmaveth the Baharumite, Eliahba the Shaalbonite,
34
The sons of Hashem the Gizonite, Jonathan the son of Shage the Hararite,
35
Ahiam the son of Sacar the Hararite, Eliphal the son of Ur,
36
Hepher the Mecherathite, Ahijah the Pelonite,
37
Hezro the Carmelite, Naarai the son of Ezbai,
38
Joel the brother of Nathan, Mibhar the son of Haggeri,
39
Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Berothite, the armourbearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah,
40
Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite,
41
Uriah the Hittite, Zabad the son of Ahlai, ​
42
Adina the son of Shiza the Reubenite, a captain of the Reubenites, and thirty with him,
43
Hanan the son of Maachah, and Joshaphat the Mithnite,
44
Uzzia the Ashterathite, Shama and Jehiel the sons of Hothan the Aroerite,
45
Jediael the son of Shimri, and Joha his brother, the Tizite,
46
Eliel the Mahavite, and Jeribai, and Joshaviah, the sons of Elnaam, and Ithmah the Moabite,
47
Eliel, and Obed, and Jasiel the Mesobaite.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for 1 Chronicles 11

Verse 1

thy bone and thy flesh — The words are those of 2 Sam 5:1. Etsem, bone, and basar, flesh, state kinship, as Laban said to Jacob, 'Surely thou art my bone and my flesh' (Gen 29:14). The law said a king must be 'one from among thy brethren' (Deut 17:15). At Hebron the men of Judah had earlier anointed David over their own house (2 Sam 2:4).

Verse 2

feed my people Israel — Raah is to tend a flock, the work from which the LORD took David, 'to feed Jacob his people' (Ps 78:70–71). 'In time past' is two Hebrew words, temol shilshom, 'yesterday, the day before'. 'Ruler' is nagid, a leader in front, the word of 1 Sam 13:14, 'captain over his people'.

Verse 3

made a covenant — Karath berith, literally to cut a covenant; 2 Sam 5:3 calls it a 'league'. It was made 'before the LORD', and the anointing was 'according to the word of the LORD by Samuel', who had first anointed him among his brethren (1 Sam 16:13). This is the third anointing, after Judah's (2 Sam 2:4).

Verse 4

Jebus — The name Jerusalem bore under the Jebusites: 'Jebus, which is Jerusalem' (Judg 19:10). Neither Judah nor Benjamin had driven them out (Josh 15:63; Judg 1:21), so the Jebusites, 'the inhabitants of the land', still held the city. Yebus is from a root meaning 'trodden', a threshing-place.

Verse 5

the castle of Zion — Metsudah is a stronghold, a fastness. The Jebusites said 'Thou shalt not come hither', and David took it, and it became 'the city of David'. The name carries on: Solomon brought the ark of the covenant up 'out of the city of David, which is Zion' (1 Kgs 8:1).

Verse 6

Joab the son of Zeruiah — David offered the headship, rosh and sar, 'chief and captain', to the first man to strike the Jebusites. Joab's mother Zeruiah was a sister of David's brothers, and her three sons were Abishai, Joab and Asahel (1 Chr 2:16). Joab was later 'over the host' (2 Sam 8:16).

Verse 9

waxed greater and greater — Literally 'David went, going and great'. 2 Sam 5:10 reads, 'David went on, and grew great, and the LORD God of hosts was with him'. Tsaba, 'hosts', is the armies. It matches the word given through Nathan, 'I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast walked' (1 Chr 17:8).

Verse 10

strengthened themselves with him — Chazaq is to grip or be strong; the mighty men took hold with David in his kingdom. At Hebron the men of war 'came with a perfect heart… to make David king over all Israel' (12:38). The reason given, 'according to the word of the LORD concerning Israel', matches v.3, 'according to the word of the LORD by Samuel'.

Verse 11

Jashobeam, an Hachmonite — 2 Sam 23:8 opens the same list with a man who is 'chief among the captains' and lifts up his spear at one time. 'Captains' is shalish. 1 Chr 27:2 puts Jashobeam over the first course for the first month, with twenty and four thousand in his course.

Verse 14

a great deliverance — Teshuah is rescue or victory; the LORD 'saved' (yasha) them. The field was 'a parcel of ground full of barley' at Pasdammim (v.13), where 'the people fled from before the Philistines'. The psalm says of David, 'Great deliverance giveth he to his king' (Ps 18:50), and Proverbs, 'safety is of the LORD' (Prov 21:31).

Verse 15

the cave of Adullam — The cave to which David escaped from Saul, and where his brethren and his father's house came to him (1 Sam 22:1). The valley of Rephaim, where the Philistines were encamped, lies by Jerusalem (Josh 15:8, 'the valley of the giants'); they come there again in 14:9.

Verse 19

the blood of these men — 'Lives' and 'jeopardy of their lives' are both nephesh, the soul or life. David counts the water as the men's own lives. 'The life of the flesh is in the blood' (Lev 17:11), and, as v.18 says, he 'poured it out to the LORD' rather than drink. 'Forbid' is chalilah, 'far be it', as in 2 Sam 23:17, 'Be it far from me, O LORD'.

Verse 20

Abishai the brother of Joab — One of Zeruiah's three sons (1 Chr 2:16). 'Chief of the three' is clarified in v.21: 'he was more honourable than the two; for he was their captain: howbeit he attained not to the first three'. He was at David's side in Saul's camp (1 Sam 26:6), and his spear against three hundred matches v.11.

Verse 22

two lionlike men of Moab — Ariel, 'lion of God', a heroic man; the word is found only here and in the parallel 2 Sam 23:20. Benaiah's father came from Kabzeel, a city in the south of Judah toward Edom (Josh 15:21). The lion in the pit was slain 'in a snowy day'. He later stood 'over both the Cherethites and the Pelethites' (2 Sam 8:18).

Verse 25

over his guard — Mishma'ath is the royal court, those who obey a bidding; it is rendered 'guard' only here and in 2 Sam 23:23. The title 'honourable' is kabad, weighty. The Cherethites and Pelethites were under Benaiah (2 Sam 20:23).

Verse 26

Asahel the brother of Joab — The list of vv.26–47 largely corresponds to 2 Sam 23:24–39. Asahel 'was as light of foot as a wild roe' (2 Sam 2:18) and fell to Abner's spear (2 Sam 2:23). Elhanan 'the son of Dodo of Bethlehem' stands beside him, as in 2 Sam 23:24.

Verse 41

Uriah the Hittite — A Hittite named among the valiant men of Israel; his name, Uriyah, means 'flame of Jah'. The Hittites are among the peoples of the land promised to Abram (Gen 15:20). 2 Sam 11:3 calls Bathsheba 'the wife of Uriah the Hittite', and 1 Kgs 15:5 excepts 'the matter of Uriah the Hittite' from David's righteousness.