And all Israel assembled themselves to David to Hebron, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh.
Chronicles jumps straight from Saul's death to the whole nation gathering to David at Hebron. The long years of civil war in between are missing. And the words the tribes speak — "your bone and flesh" — state a fact they had known all along. So what changed in them?
So why leave out so much? The answer lies in what Chronicles is about.
But Chronicles leaves out everything that happened in between. What matters here is the purpose of God — not history, not responsibility, but purpose, God's purpose. This is the key to the difference between Kings and Chronicles.
Another writer notes where Chronicles picks the story up instead.
With no introduction at all, David's reign begins at Hebron. Saul, the king who matched fallen human nature, is dead, but that is not enough. David himself, the Lord's anointed, starts his reign at Hebron, the place that speaks so much of death... Right at the start the Spirit of God announces that David's reign is finally established.
Their kinship with David was a fact long before they said it out loud. Why the delay?
Still, it is a solemn thing to notice that these men had known it all the time. It is not lack of knowledge that stops people from acting as God would have them act — I am speaking of the general rule. But lack of faith dulls the force of what we know, and makes it as if we never knew it. As long as there were men who acted on their own nature, as long as it was a king of their own choosing, or anyone in his family with the faintest shadow of a claim to the throne, their feelings were at work. Their prejudices proved strong. Their fixed ideas had such a hold on them that they forgot the word of the Lord.
Another writer finds the change in their affections. Until then those affections had gone to a rival.
They had had no affection for David; their affection had been for Ishbosheth. A heart turned to the world cannot turn to the man God has chosen. How can you unite Christians around Christ when their thoughts are full of the things of earth, and the Lord's grace and beauty have never reached their hearts? His person is worth little to a divided heart; that heart does not seek Him. But once the conscience is reached, the heart will soon be reached too: "Behold, we are your bone and flesh" (v. 1)... When the Spirit begins to work in souls, the conscience speaks up, the heart turns to Christ, and the person comes to acknowledge His sovereignty and His rights.
Hebron was not just a convenient spot. Four things had already happened there.
Above all, Hebron was the place of death, because the tombs of Sarah, Abraham, Jacob and the other fathers of Israel were there. From this same place Joseph, a picture of Christ in rejection, went out to look for his brothers. Hebron then became a city of refuge from the avenger of blood, picturing the cross that shelters a guilty people. Last of all, it was the main home of the priests, the sons of Aaron, who picture the priesthood that now makes Christ's death the centre of its praises. So this place speaks in a striking way of the cross as the foundation of royal glory and the basis of all our blessings.
Another writer takes up the name Hebron itself, and the tribes' words of kinship. He quotes Ephesians 5:30 in an older translation, which adds the phrase "of His flesh and of His bones."
Now Hebron means alliance, or friendship. There "David made a covenant" with the elders before the Lord... "Behold," they said, "we are your bone and flesh." That is very striking. The church is presented to Christ, God's anointed, before He openly takes up the kingdom, and it is said to be "of His flesh and of His bones" (Ephesians 5:30).
One writer sees in that day a picture of a greater day still to come.
- Purpose. Chronicles drops the civil war and the delays. Its subject is God's purpose, not man's responsibility — the key difference from Kings.
- Gathering. Israel's coming to Hebron is not new knowledge but new faith. They had always been his bone and flesh, yet prejudice made them forget the word of the Lord.
- Kinship. Their words reach further than Israel. Before Christ takes up the kingdom, the church is presented to Him as "of His flesh and of His bones."
- Ground. Hebron was a place of tombs and a refuge for the guilty. It sets royal glory on the foundation of death — the cross as the basis of all our blessings.
- Glory. What Israel did once at Hebron they will do again for the Son of David: "Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of Your power."
Even aforetime, even when Saul was king, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel; and Jehovah thy God said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be prince over my people Israel.
All Israel gathers at Hebron and tells David two things. He had led their armies while Saul was still king, and God had already named him shepherd and prince over His people. Neither fact was new. So why did the nation wait so long to act on what it knew?
The tribes repeat God's word about David as if it were news. So what kept them from acting on it sooner?
It is solemn enough to observe that these men had known it all the time. Lack of knowledge is not what stops souls from acting according to God. But lack of faith dulls the force of what we know, and makes it as if we did not know it. While some still acted on their own nature, and while the king was one of their own choice — or anyone in his family with the faintest shadow of a claim to the throne — their feelings took over. Their prejudices proved strong. Their preferences held them so tightly that they forgot the word of the Lord.
The same gap between knowing and doing divides Christians today.
They knew this perfectly well, but this knowledge had had no effect on their consciences. The same thing happens today among Christians. God's Word is familiar to them. They know God's thoughts about His Son and His Church. Yet these truths have no practical effect on them. This is where we must look for the main reason for the divisions existing among God's children.
Before the tribes quoted God's word, they claimed kinship with David. The claim was always true. What changed was that they let it rule them.
They had had no affection for David; their affection had been for Ish-bosheth. When the heart is turned to the world it cannot be turned to the man according to God. Now these Israelites proclaim their relationship to David. They had been well aware of it, but they had failed to recognise it as a fact that should govern all else. When the Spirit begins to work in souls, the conscience speaks up. The heart turns to Christ. The Spirit leads the person to acknowledge His sovereignty and His rights.
God's word to David puts "shepherd" before "prince." Older translations read "feed My people Israel." That one word sets the standard for every ruler.
The Spirit-filled words of Asaph in Psalm 78:70-72 describe God's ideal for a king: "He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds; from following the nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people, Israel his inheritance. With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skilful hand." So God's ideal king is neither selfish nor tyrannical. He is a wise shepherd of the people. He serves knowing that the people belong to God, and that he — the king — is just God's honoured servant in rule.
Chronicles leaves out everything between Saul's death and David's crowning. That silence is deliberate.
God's purpose is the point here — not history, not responsibility, but purpose, divine purpose. This is the key to the difference between Kings and Chronicles.
Verse 3 carries that purpose in a single phrase.
Chronicles adds a small, telling phrase in verse 3 that Samuel's account leaves out: "They anointed David king over Israel according to the word of Jehovah through Samuel." This ties the setting up of David's reign to God's unchangeable word and His counsels of grace.
David never grasped at the crown. When it came, it came as a gift.
Was there a reproach from David? I venture to answer there was not. No. There was a heart that loved them better than they loved him. There was one who sought Jehovah's glory for them, and who valued the throne because it was Jehovah's gift. I do affirm that it never entered the heart of David to seek the throne for himself. But God's call made it a duty to obey on his part as on Israel's.
What happened at Hebron points to a larger day still coming.
As soon as the one blocking the way is gone, all Israel seek David and say, "Behold, we are your bone and flesh." David takes the place God had appointed for him, and a nation is born in a day. We will see something brighter than this when Israel rises from a deeper fall to a higher position of glory. How all Israel will cling to the Son of David on the day of their deliverance! "Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power" (Psalm 110:3).
- Known. Israel had God's word about David all along. It changed nothing until it reached their consciences.
- Owned. Their kinship with David was always a fact. It had to become the fact that governed everything else.
- Given. The call is to shepherd before ruling. The people belong to God, and the king is only His honoured servant.
- Purposed. Chronicles skips the delays. It ties the crowning to God's unchangeable word through Samuel.
- Coming. What Hebron began in one nation points on to the day all Israel gathers willingly to the Son of David.
And all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and David made a covenant with them in Hebron before Jehovah; and they anointed David king over Israel according to the word of Jehovah through Samuel.
Chronicles moves straight to the day all Israel made David king. The verse raises two questions: why does the writer add a phrase that the account in 2 Samuel leaves out, and why does David make the covenant instead of receiving one?
The verse ends by naming where this throne came from.
Verse 3 adds a little characteristic phrase that the account in Samuel does not have: "They anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the LORD by Samuel." This links the establishment of David's reign with God's unchangeable word and His counsels of grace.
Another writer weighs Chronicles against the books of Kings.
It is the purpose of God that is the point here — not history, not responsibility, but purpose, divine purpose. This is the key to the difference between Kings and Chronicles.
One writer notes where the account begins and what it drops.
With no introduction at all, David's reign begins at Hebron. Saul, the king according to fallen nature, is dead, but that is not enough. David himself, the Lord's anointed, starts his reign at Hebron, the place that so speaks of death. Chronicles passes over in silence all that comes before Hebron (2 Samuel 1–3): the gradual way David's reign was established, and the long war between his house and Saul's, in which David grew stronger and Saul's house grew weaker. At the very outset the Spirit of God announces the final establishment of David's reign.
The name itself was not chosen at random when God first sent David there.
God's answer, "Hebron," was not meant only to point out a good location. Its name means "communion," which would be a strong reminder to David that if he is to reign as king, he will need the place of constant communion with God.
The verse does not say the elders set terms for David. He makes the covenant, and one writer says the wording had to run that way.
All the tribes now, as that of Judah before, assemble at Hebron to make David king. They own at last what he had been to them even in Saul's reign, and Jehovah's promise about him. So their acknowledgement of David is a return of heart to Jehovah also. He makes a covenant with them before Jehovah — it would have spoiled the type to say that they made a covenant with him — and they anointed him king over them. So it will be when they recognise Christ their King in days to come.
The reason they give in the preceding verses — kinship, David's leadership under Saul, God's own promise — was not fresh information.
It is solemn enough to notice that these men had known it all the time. It is not lack of knowledge that keeps souls from acting according to God — I speak of the general rule. But lack of faith dulls the force of what we know, and makes it as if we did not know it. As long as there were people acting on their own nature, as long as there was a king of their own choice, or anyone in his family with even the faintest claim to the throne, their feelings took over. Their prejudices proved strong. Their preferences held them so firmly that they forgot the word of the Lord.
One writer sets their words beside what Scripture says of the church.
"Behold," they said, "We are your bone and your flesh." That is very striking. The assembly is presented to Christ, the anointed of God, before He openly takes up the kingdom, and Scripture calls it "of His flesh and of His bones" (Ephesians 5:30).
(Vine quotes Ephesians 5:30 from an older translation; the ESV reads "members of his body.")
Others had anointed David before this day. Commentators read the sequence as a pattern.
This is the third time we read of David being anointed. First by Samuel (1 Samuel 16:13), then in Hebron by Judah (2 Samuel 2:4), and in this case by all Israel. This pictures God first anointing the Lord Jesus at the river Jordan, when John baptised Him (Matthew 3:16). Judah will then recognise Him as King (Zechariah 12:7-10), and afterwards the rest of the tribes will (Ezekiel 37:21-22).
- Word. The clause Chronicles adds, "according to the word of the LORD by Samuel," ties the throne to God's unchangeable word rather than to David's success.
- Purpose. Chronicles tells this story to show God's purpose, not human responsibility — which is why the long civil war never appears.
- Covenant. David makes the covenant with the elders; they do not set terms for him. One writer says the picture of Christ required that direction.
- Delay. The elders' reasons were facts they had known for years; unbelief, not ignorance, had kept them from acting on what God had said.
- Reach. Three anointings — by Samuel, by Judah, by all Israel — picture Christ recognised first in private, then by one tribe, then by all.