2 Samuel 5:5 - Printer Friendly

ESV: At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.

NIV: In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.

NASB: At Hebron he reigned over Judah for seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned for thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.

CSB: In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.

NLT: He had reigned over Judah from Hebron for seven years and six months, and from Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah for thirty-three years.

KJV: In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months: and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah.

NKJV: In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.

David has been a shepherd, a soldier, a military commander, and the leader of 600 men and their families. He has dedicated his life to protecting his people in service to God. His loyalty to God is so strong that he refused to kill the man who wanted him dead because that man was God's anointed (1 Samuel 24:4–7; 26:7–11). God promised David when he was a teenager that he would be king over all the tribes of Israel (1 Samuel 16:12–13). Now, at the age of thirty, he has the throne.

David's rule as king over Israel is divided into two parts. These are marked by the extent of his authority and the city he claimed as his capital. Before David, Israel had no established capital city. Saul lived and ruled from Gibeah, but it wasn't a national capital (1 Samuel 10:26). In the same way, following the Lord's direction, David settled with his men in Hebron and was anointed king there by the people of Judah (2 Samuel 2:1–4). David reigned as king from Hebron for seven-and-a-half years.

After being anointed as king over all of Israel, David will move the capital to the more central, strategic, and defensible city of Jerusalem. He will from there for thirty-three years. First, though, he must defeat the stubborn Jebusites, who have occupied the city since the earliest days of Israel's time in the Promised Land (2 Samuel 5:6–10).

David became king in Hebron around 1011 BC. He united the kingdoms and moved to Jerusalem in 1004 BC.

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).

Second Samuel continues the story of David, who will become king over Judah. The other tribes of Israel are resistant, eventually sparking a civil war. David wins and makes Jerusalem his capital. Early success is followed by moral failure and controversy in David's house. The book of 1 Kings will begin by detailing David's decline and death.