Then came all the tribes of Israel to David to Hebron, and spoke, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh.
All Israel comes at last to the man God had chosen years before, and their first words are about family, not politics. Why did they wait so long, and what moved them at last? That is the question this verse raises.
The tribes arrive at Hebron only after every rival claim has collapsed. One writer notes that David never lifted a hand to clear his own path, and says this made his throne stand all the firmer.
It is solemn enough to observe that these men had known it all the time... But now the Lord had openly set these obstacles aside by His judgment, and this stood all the more firmly for David because David had not done it. For David's hand was never lifted up against Saul or Jonathan; David's hand never got rid of Abner nor of Ish-bosheth.
Israel had known God's word about David all along. Knowing it changed nothing. One commentator finds the same gap in Christians today, and traces division back to it.
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, but these truths have no practical effect on them... This is where we must look for the main reason for the divisions among God's children... These differences come less from the state of their understanding than from the state of their consciences.
Their loyalty had gone to Ish-bosheth, Saul's son. One writer explains what has to move in a person before the heart can turn.
They had had no affection for David; their affection had been for Ish-bosheth. When the heart turns to the world, it cannot turn to the man who is according to God... But if consciences are reached, soon hearts will be reached also: "Behold, we are your bone and flesh" (v. 1). Now these Israelites declare their relationship to David. They had always known about it, but they had never treated it as the fact that should govern everything else.
The tribes give three reasons, and one of them counts for far more than the others.
They came to him at Hebron, presenting three reasons for recognizing him as king (v. 2). First, they were related to him as Israelites. Second, they knew his reputation: even while Saul was king, it was David who truly led Israel's forces. Third, they knew that the Lord had promised the kingdom to David. The last of these three settled the matter, though they had been slow to see it while they let Abner dominate them.
The words Israel speaks to David return in the New Testament, where they describe the church's tie to Christ.
Hebron means alliance, or friendship. There "David made a covenant" with the elders before the Lord, "and they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the Lord by Samuel." "Behold," they said, "We are your bone and flesh." That is very striking. Before Christ, the anointed of God, openly takes up the kingdom, the assembly is presented to Him — and Scripture says it is "of His flesh and of His bones" (Eph. 5:30).
David is anointed king three times, and one commentator reads the three as a picture of Christ.
This is the third time we read of his anointing: first by Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:13; then in Hebron by Judah (2 Sam. 2:4); and now by all Israel. This pictures how God first anointed the Lord Jesus at the river Jordan, when John baptized Him (Matt. 3:16). Later Judah will own Him as King (Zech. 12:7-10), and after that the rest of the tribes will do so too (Ezek. 37:21-22), when they will be joined together with Judah after centuries of separation.
Once the one man standing in the way was gone, the whole nation moved at once.
The hinderer is no sooner removed than all Israel seek David, and say, "Behold, we are your bone and flesh"... and the blessing comes. David takes his fore-ordained place, and a nation is born in a day. Something brighter still will be seen when Israel rises from a deeper fall to a higher place of glory.
- Cleared — God removed every rival to the throne, not David. So the kingdom rested on God's gift, not on David's effort.
- Convicted — Israel had always known God's word about David. What they lacked was not knowledge but a conscience that felt it.
- Confessed — Once the conscience spoke, the heart followed. They owned the tie they had long ignored: bone and flesh.
- Crowned — They gave three reasons: kinship, David's proven leadership, and the Lord's promise. Only the last one settled it.
- Coming — David's three anointings form a pattern. Christ was anointed at the Jordan; Judah will own Him, then all the tribes — and a nation is born in a day.
Even aforetime, when Saul was king over us, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel; and Jehovah said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be prince over Israel.
All the tribes come to David at Hebron. They quote back to him a word God had spoken about him long ago. They had known that word all along, even while they backed another king. The verse ties three things together. David had already led Israel. God had said he would be its ruler. And the rule God meant was a shepherd's.
The tribes gave three reasons for coming to David. One of them weighed more than the others.
God's time had now come for the other tribes to submit willingly to David's rule. They came to him at Hebron and gave three reasons for recognizing him as king (v. 2). First, they were related to him as Israelites. Second, they knew his reputation: even while Saul was king, David was the real leader of Israel's forces. Third, they knew that the Lord had promised the kingdom to David. The last of these three settled the matter, though they had been slow to see it while they let Abner dominate them.
The striking thing is not that they learned something new. It is that they had known it for years and lived as if they had not.
They knew this very well, but the knowledge had made no difference to their consciences. The same thing happens today among Christians. God's Word is familiar to them; they know God's thoughts concerning His Son and His Church, but these truths have no practical effect on them. These truths have not sunk into their consciences. This is where we must look for the main reason for the divisions existing among God's children. One follows one group, another follows another. One accepts this teaching, another accepts the opposite. One boasts in a certain man, another boasts in a different one.
Israel's problem was where their affection lay. Recovery follows a set order.
A heart turned to the world cannot turn to the man who is according to God. How can anyone unite Christians around Christ while earthly things fill their thoughts, and the Lord's grace and beauty have never touched their hearts?… But once the truth reaches the conscience, it soon reaches the heart also: "Behold, we are your bone and your flesh" (v. 1)… When the Spirit begins to work in souls, the conscience speaks up, the heart turns to Christ, and the soul acknowledges His sovereignty and His rights.
The rivals to David were all removed — and not one of them by his hand.
Men were acting on their own nature. The king was one of their own choosing, or someone in his family with the faintest shadow of a claim to the throne. As long as that lasted, their feelings worked and their prejudices proved strong… so they forgot the word of the Lord. But now the Lord had swept these hindrances aside by His own open judgment. It stood all the firmer for David because David had no hand in it. David never lifted a hand against Saul or Jonathan. David's hand never got rid of Abner or Ish-bosheth.
The verse names David shepherd before prince. That order shows what kind of king God wants.
God's ideal king is not selfish and not a tyrant. He is a wise shepherd of the people. He serves knowing that the people belong to God, and that he — the king — is only God's honoured servant in rule. In this spirit David prayed for the people when the plague was raging. He pleaded with the LORD to spare the sheep, and punish him instead (2 Sam. 24:17).
The shepherd pattern runs through Israel's rulers and on to the Governor Micah promised.
God's picture of the ruler is always the shepherd! We see it in Moses and in David. In Matthew — the gospel of the kingdom — the scribes quote Micah to the king: "Out of you shall come a Governor who shall rule My people Israel." The margin reads "feed"; the word literally means "be a shepherd to" My people Israel.
Three times men anointed David king. One commentator sees Christ's story in that order.
This is the third time we read that someone anointed him: first Samuel (1 Samuel 16:13), then Judah at Hebron (2 Sam. 2:4), and now all Israel. This pictures how God first anointed the Lord Jesus at the river Jordan, when John baptized Him (Matt. 3:16). Later Judah will recognize Him as King (Zech. 12:7-10). After that the rest of the tribes will do the same (Ezekiel 37:21-22), joining Judah again after centuries of separation.
- Word. God had already said what David would be; the tribes only repeat back to him what they had known all along.
- Conscience. Truth that never reaches the conscience changes nothing. Commentators trace divisions among believers to that gap, not to missing knowledge.
- Heart. Once truth touches the conscience, affection follows. Then people own the relationship and the rights they long ignored.
- Hand. David never lifted a hand to clear his own path; God removed every rival, so the throne came as a gift, not a prize.
- Shepherd. "Shepherd" comes before "prince." The king feeds the flock, because the flock belongs to God. The same word points on to the Governor Micah promised.
And all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a covenant with them in Hebron before Jehovah; and they anointed David king over Israel.
At Hebron the elders of Israel finally own the man God had chosen years earlier. One verse holds three things: a covenant made in God's presence, an anointing by the people, and a throne that commentators read as a picture of Christ's coming reign.
The tribes now do what Abner never managed, and the direction of the covenant matters.
To follow the story here. The united voice of the people now does what Abner was not allowed to do. All the tribes now, as Judah had done before, assemble at Hebron to make David king. They own at last what he had been to them even in Saul's reign, and they own the LORD's promise about him. So their acknowledgment of David is a return of heart to the LORD too. He makes a covenant with them before the LORD, and they anointed him king over them. It would have spoiled the picture to say that they made a covenant with him. So it will be when they own Christ as their King in days to come.
The parallel account in 1 Chronicles adds a phrase that Samuel leaves out.
Verse 3 adds a small but telling phrase that is missing in the account in Samuel: "They anointed David king over Israel according to the word of the LORD through Samuel." So the establishment of David's reign is linked here with God's unchangeable word and His purposes of grace.
David had been anointed twice before, and one writer lines the three up with Christ's own story.
David willingly made an agreement with them, and they anointed David king there in Hebron. This is the third time we read of his being anointed: first by Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:13; second in Hebron by Judah (2 Sam. 2:4); and in this case by all Israel. This pictures God first anointing the Lord Jesus at the river Jordan, when John baptized Him (Matt. 3:16). Later Judah will recognize Him as King (Zech. 12:7-10), and after that the rest of the tribes will do the same (Ezekiel 37:21-22), when they join Judah again after centuries of separation.
The tribes say nothing at Hebron that they had not known for years. One writer turns that delay into a warning.
What is remarkable about these tribes is that they knew, and had always known, what God thought of David… They knew it very well. Yet 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, but these truths have no practical effect on them… This is where we must look for the main reason for the divisions among God's children.
Rossier traces the change: "if consciences are reached, soon hearts will be reached also." Only then do they call David their own bone and flesh and anoint him. And by the covenant at Hebron David "recognized Israel as being his people from that time forth" (H. L. Rossier).
The name of the place and the words spoken there both point beyond David.
Hebron means alliance, or friendship. There "David made a covenant" with the elders before the Lord. "Behold," they said, "we are your bone and your flesh." That is very striking. The church is presented to Christ, the anointed of God, before He openly takes up the kingdom, and Ephesians calls it "of His flesh and of His bones" (Eph. 5:30).
There is a difference between founding a kingdom and establishing it.
So it will be for Christ. Read in the light of prophecy, this book is of special interest as a history that pictures the establishment of Christ's reign. In the Second Book of Samuel, let us repeat, the question is not the establishing of the kingdom — that waits until Solomon. It is the founding of the kingdom in the person of David, which is quite another thing. So here we find God's ways in founding David's throne, gathering the twelve tribes around him, and bringing the nations under him by subduing his enemies.
- Word first. The throne rests on what God said through Samuel. David's reign stands on His unchangeable word and His purposes of grace.
- Conscience next. Israel had long known God's mind about David. The truth only moved them when it reached their consciences, and the same failure explains divisions among Christians today.
- Covenant then. David makes the covenant with them, not they with him. The king acts first, and that keeps the picture of Christ intact.
- Anointing follows. Samuel anointed David, then Judah did, and now all Israel. So Judah will own Christ first, and later all the tribes, joined together again.
- Reign last. Hebron founds the kingdom in David's person. The full establishment still lies ahead.