2 Samuel 5:1 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, "Behold, we are your bone and flesh.

NIV: All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, "We are your own flesh and blood.

NASB: Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, 'Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.

CSB: All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, "Here we are, your own flesh and blood.

NLT: Then all the tribes of Israel went to David at Hebron and told him, 'We are your own flesh and blood.

KJV: Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spake, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh.

NKJV: Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and spoke, saying, “Indeed we are your bone and your flesh.

Samuel had anointed David to be king over all Israel before David even fought Goliath (1 Samuel 16:12–13). After Saul died, David became king of the tribe of Judah, but he didn't press the other tribes to accept him. After five years, Saul's general Abner installed Saul's son Ish-bosheth as king of the northern and eastern tribes. Only Judah and Simeon, which had been absorbed into Judah, were excluded. Partly out of personal vengeance, the two sides have been fighting for two years (2 Samuel 2).

Eventually, Abner switched sides. He convinced the elders of the tribes to abandon Ish-bosheth and follow David (2 Samuel 3:8–10, 17–19). Both Abner and Ish-bosheth were murdered (2 Samuel 3:26–30; 4:5–6), and the elders had wanted David all along (2 Samuel 3:17), so the transition is peaceful.

The tribes explain to David why they accept him. First, they are all Israelites, not Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, or members of the other tribes around them. They also recognize that it was David who defended them from the Philistines when he fought for Saul (1 Samuel 18:7). Not least, God had declared that David would be king (1 Samuel 16:12–13; 2 Samuel 5:2).

This is the first time Israel has been truly unified since they entered the Promised Land. For the four hundred years that the judges ruled, the tribes were independent, and Saul never managed to bring them together. The nation will remain unified for David's remaining thirty-three years and Solomon's forty years (1 Kings 11:42). When Solomon dies, the nation will split again into the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The nation will be independent and unified again for the eighty-one years of the Hasmonean dynasty after the Maccabean revolt, but scattered and homeless until the establishment of the modern nation of Israel in 1948.

Second Samuel 5:1–5 records the moment when David finally becomes king of all Israel. Jacob had prophesied that the tribe of Judah would carry the scepter (Genesis 49:10). Samuel had first anointed David years earlier when he was still a shepherd (1 Samuel 16:12–13). David has been king of the tribe of Judah for seven years. As king of Israel, he will establish his capital, Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:6–10). David's inauguration is also recorded in 1 Chronicles 11:1–3.

Second Samuel 5 is a series of vignettes describing how God blesses David after his inauguration as king over the nation. David took Jerusalem from the Jebusites and made the city the nation's capital (2 Samuel 5:6–9). His first international ally, Hiram, king of Tyre, built his palace (2 Samuel 5:11). His family grew: exponentially (2 Samuel 5:13–16)! And he soundly beat his enemies (2 Samuel 5:17–25). David did all this because of God's favor, to bless the nation, not through his own skill or because of any good in him (2 Samuel 5:10, 12). First Chronicles 11:1–9 and 14:1–17 also record these events.

Second Samuel 5 is a pivot point for all of Israel's history. After Saul's son Ish-bosheth is killed, no opposition remains to David's kingship (2 Samuel 4:5–6). Convinced by Abner before his death to follow David (2 Samuel 3:17–19), the elders of Israel gather at Hebron to anoint David king over the entire nation. David moves his capital to Jerusalem and defends the nation against the Philistines. Now, he has enough security to bring the ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:1–15). The following chapters seem to collectively describe David's accomplishments (2 Samuel 5:9—10:19) and his mistakes (2 Samuel 11—20).