These were of the sons of Gad, captains of the host one of the least was over a hundred, and the greatest over a thousand.
This verse ends the list of eleven men from Gad who crossed over to David while Saul was still hunting him. It ranks them by strength — so what makes one man count for a hundred others, in the service of a king the nation has not yet crowned?
These eleven were fighters built for the warfare David's exile demanded. One writer notes both their fitness and their quickness to acknowledge David:
They could fight the enemy hand to hand, being strong and swift, as that situation called for. These men of Gad, whom we have seen already so careful about the genealogy that joined them to God's people, are quick to acknowledge this people's leader.
Some older translations read the line as command rather than comparison: the least over a hundred, the greatest over a thousand. One writer takes that ranking into the Christian life, and ties the difference to how far a believer lets the Spirit work:
The Christian soldier in whose soul the truth produces a clear energy in life and ways becomes, to a greater or lesser degree, an "officer" in the Lord's army. He is a captain of a hundred or of a thousand according to how far the Spirit acts in him without hindrance. The power of Christ within him influences other Christians in the ways of the Lord.
One commentator writes about Jashobeam, the chief of David's captains, and traces both usefulness now and honour later to one thing:
The true secret of Jashobeam's success was his attachment to David, whose rejection and sufferings he shared... Our service for the Anointed of God now may have something distinctive about it, as the kingdom rewards will later. But faithful and fruitful service results only as the love of Christ constrains us to cleave to Him.
Gad's tribe had made a poor choice long before David's day. That history is what makes this list of officers striking:
They had chosen what suited themselves and their flocks (Numbers 32) instead of the land flowing with milk and honey. The eyes of the Lord their God rested on that land always, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. So they had sunk far below the height of their calling. For that very reason it is all the more remarkable that God was still working in power among them... For David's sake they had given up home and everything, and were ready to endure hardship, as good soldiers of the army of God.
Strength in battle is not the same as full possession of what God gives. One writer finds three classes of people in Christendom pictured in Israel. He puts these Gadite officers in the second class:
In the profession of Christianity there are three classes of people, and Israel gives the picture of them. Two and a half tribes settled east of the Jordan and refused to live in the place God appointed for them. These represent true saints of God, but saints who refuse to take a heavenly position while on earth... Second: those who are true believers, and often very valiant for the truth when they find it attacked (1 Chr. 12:14-15, 37), but who fail to reckon themselves heavenly men on earth, and who are, as a result, earthly-minded to some extent.
The praise and the warning stand together. These men were a real help to David, and they still lived on the wrong side of the river.
Their value to David rested on a decision made before any battle:
To be separated to David meant separation to him and his interests, and separation from Saul and his interests. A very serious and deliberate decision to make. To be committed to David meant acknowledging his complete control over them. These two features are indispensable for an army. Soldiers who have no interests but those of their commander in chief, and who are loyal to his commands, make up an army that will be formidable in battle.
- Separated. Each officer first cut ties with Saul's interests and took David's. That decision, not their record, made them an army.
- Strong. They were fit for close combat and fast movement, and quick to acknowledge the leader God gave His people.
- Graded. They were not equal. Influence in the Lord's army grows as far as a believer lets the Spirit act without hindrance.
- Rewarded. Distinction in service now and honour in the kingdom later both flow from cleaving to Christ, as His love constrains us.
- Warned. A man can be valiant for the truth and still earthly-minded. Yet grace works in power even among those who settled for less than God offered.
These are they that went over Jordan in the first month, when it overflows all its banks, and they put to flight all [them] of the valleys, toward the east and toward the west.
This verse closes the list of Gad's warriors, who left their homes east of the Jordan to join David while he was still hunted and rejected. They crossed the river at flood time, and they drove the enemy out of the valleys on both sides.
The first month is spring flood season. These men crossed at the worst moment, not a convenient one. One writer puts it in a single line:
It was even more difficult then than at any other time.
One writer argues that the older English wording overstates the river:
The words in Joshua 3:15, "Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest," are a mistranslation. The Hebrew word mala, translated "overflows" in our older English version, has no such meaning. It means fills, and it should have been translated that way — "Jordan fills all its banks." That is, the river runs brim-full to its banks in that season of the year, which agrees with what travellers see of it today.
(The ESV reads "when it was overflowing all its banks," following the traditional sense.)
No miracle parted the water for these men. One writer points to what carried them across instead:
The Jordan, on the far side of which they lived, was as impossible to cross as in the days when the people arrived opposite Jericho. "These are the men who crossed the Jordan in the first month, when it was overflowing all its banks" (v. 15). They needed no miracle now to get across. They knew the Jordan had once had to give way before the people of God, and, strong in the conviction of faith, they beat this obstacle to join the one who drew them like a loving sovereign.
Gad had settled short of the land God promised. One writer weighs what that makes of their crossing:
They chose what suited themselves and their flocks (Numbers 32), instead of the land flowing with milk and honey — a land the eyes of the Lord their God rested on always, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. So they had sunk far below the height of their calling. That is exactly why it is so remarkable that God was still working in power among them… Such were the men of this tribe, who were drawn to the man after God's own heart. They were strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, and so fit for conflict with the enemies of the Lord's anointed. For David's sake they had given up home and everything, ready to endure hardship as good soldiers of the host of God. The record says of these men that, like Joshua and Israel long before (Joshua 3:15), they crossed the Jordan when it was overflowing all its banks, and won the victory over all the power of the enemy.
These men separated themselves to David. One writer weighs what that choice cost:
To be separated to David meant separation to him and his interests, and separation from Saul and his interests. That was a very serious and deliberate decision to make… Soldiers who have no interests except those of their commander in chief, and who are loyal to his commands, make an army that will be formidable in battle. Apply these principles to believers who follow the Lord Jesus, and they bring encouragement and also a challenge… Such soldiers of Christ should have no entanglements (2 Tim. 2:4). How many interests interfere with Christ's interests?
One writer applies the same description — lion faces, the speed of a deer — to the conflict believers face now:
Joshua did not fight only for the upper hand. He fought to wipe out the enemy completely. That conflict in the land was a picture of what is ours today under the Captain of the Lord's host. May the Lord raise up men for this — "able men, who fear God, men of truth, who hate dishonest gain, men whose faces are like the face of a lion, and who are as swift as gazelles on the mountains" (Ex. 18:21, and 1 Chr. 12:8).
- The season — They crossed at flood time, when crossing was harder than at any other time of year.
- The memory — No miracle parted the water. They crossed because they knew the Jordan had already given way once before God's people.
- The start — Gad had settled short of the promised land. God still worked in power among them: they left home for David and won over all the power of the enemy.
- The choice — Crossing to David meant leaving Saul's interests behind. Christ asks the same undivided loyalty of His soldiers.
- The call — Lion faces and the speed of a deer are still wanted. One writer turns that description of these men into a prayer for today.