CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES—
2 Samuel 5:1. “Then, etc. “The tenor of the history leads us to hold with Ewald that the recognition of David as king over all Israel occurred immediately after Ishbosheth’s death, against Stähelin, who thinks that there was an interval of several years after his death, during which all the tribes gradually came over to David.” (Erdmann.) “Thy bone,” etc., i.e., thy blood relations descended from one common ancestor. “The alliance of David with the Philistines had raised so painful a suspicion respecting his patriotic attachment to Israel, and his protracted residence within the Philistine territory had led to so widespread a belief that he had become a naturalised Philistine, as to have created powerful obstacles to the universal recognition of his claims to the throne. The people of Israel had, to a large extent, taken up this impression, and acted in opposition to him as a supposed alien. But time, as well as the tenor of David’s administration in Judah, had dispelled their doubts and proved him to their satisfaction to be in heart and soul an Israelite.” (Jamieson.)
2 Samuel 5:2. “Leddest out,” etc. Most expositors refer this to David’s military leadership “The Lord said” (see on 2 Samuel 3:17) “feed,” or, shepherd, i.e., rule them. “This is the first time we find a governor described in Scripture as pastor of the people; afterwards the name is much used by the prophets, particularly Ezekiel 34:23, and in many other places.” (Patrick.) The designation is also used in Homer. “Captain,” rather leader, prince. “The first and third grounds answer exactly to the precept in Deuteronomy 17:15, ‘Thou shalt make him king over thee whom the Lord thy God shall choose;’ out of the midst of thy brethren shalt thou make a king over thee.” (Erdmann.) “A league,” etc. “The relation of both parties to the Lord is indicated by the phrase ‘before the Lord.’ ” (Erdmann.) “There was probably gradually established among king and people some recognition of mutual rights and duties—an unwritten, or, possibly in part, a written law. This would not be out of harmony with the theocratic conception of the government. Philippson points out some apparent indications (as 1 Kings 12) of such a law.” (Transr. of Lange’s Commentary.) See also notes on 1 Samuel 10:25. “They anointed David.” “To which the chronicler adds (1 Chronicles 11:3) ‘according to the word of the Lord by Samuel,’ an explanatory addition referring to the Lord’s command to Samuel to anoint David king over Israel. David’s anointing by Samuel is now confirmed by the anointing of the people, they having expressly and solemnly recognised his Divine call to be king over Israel.” (Erdmann.)
2 Samuel 5:4. “Thirty years old.” “The age of David shows that the events related from 1 Samuel 13 to the end of the book did not occupy above ten years—four years in Saul’s service, four years of wandering, one year and four months among the Philistines, and a few months after Saul’s death.” (Biblical Commentary.)
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— 2 Samuel 5:1-5
DAVID CHOSEN KING OVER ALL ISRAEL
I. Those who prove their right to rule by their conduct will in due time find subjects to maintain their sovereignty. The divine right of kings must be sought and found in what men are and in what they have done or can do. Those who claim to be leaders and rulers of men claim to be God’s vicegerents, and as such must produce their credentials—proofs of intellectual and moral worth. If no man can represent a human monarch without credentials, much more are they to be demanded when a man assumes the headship of a nation or a community and claims authority over it in the name of the King of kings. And those of character and ability are the only ones that will be accepted in the long run, and none but these will command an allegiance worth having. David had to wait long before the whole nation recognised his right to reign, but in all these years of waiting he was adding to his credentials, and by a series of brave and righteous deeds was increasing the strength of his claim to the throne until it became irresistible, and the whole nation was forced to acknowledge that he whom God had chosen to shepherd it was fully worthy of the high honour to which he was called. So it has ever been and will be. Although no prophet is sent to anoint the head of him whom God now calls to similar service, yet every divinely appointed king of men, possessing as he does these qualifications to rule, will in due time be placed upon a throne by willing subjects.
II. The special qualifications demanded by God in a king or ruler. God expresses His idea of the relationship of a king to His people by the use of the word shepherd, and thus entirely removes the office from that of the despot who uses his people for his own selfish ends instead of using his life for their welfare. We learn from the words of Jacob, in Genesis 40:23 sq., what were the duties of an Eastern shepherd, and how stern was the life he led—how far removed his lot was from one of indolence and self-indulgence. This is the symbol which the Divine King uses when speaking of David, and repeats constantly in the Old Testament writings to show what He demands from those whom He calls to rule. Such a call does not mean exemption from care and toil, but a large increase of such burdens. In His eyes the honour is not in being served, but in rendering service, and the larger sphere and the more elevated position involve heavier duties and larger qualifications. Shepherds of men are expected to be willing to follow the example of the Great Shepherd, who proved Himself the true King of men by giving Himself for the flock. And for this work a special knowledge is also needed. As a man must be possessed of some special knowledge to be a successful shepherd, so a ruler of men must be possessed of special knowledge. Christ is the pre-eminent ruler of men because He knows them—because He needs not that any should “testify of any man” whom He is shepherding. (John 2:25; John 10:14). And it behoves him who is called by God to be an under-shepherd to make men in general—and especially those under his care—the objects of his thoughtful study, that he may become acquainted with their dispositions and needs. To do this he must have also a loving sympathy with them. We are none of us strangers to the feeling of regard which often springs up in men towards animals dependent on them, and therefore we can imagine that a faithful shepherd has some affection for his sheep. This is indispensable in human shepherds, for to love men is to understand them, and to love them is to be willing to suffer for them, and will beget love in return in any men worthy of the name. The Great Shepherd had as much love for men as He had knowledge of them, and therefore “all kings shall fall down before Him, all nations shall serve Him.” (Psalms 72:11). Every elevation in life brings with the honour a due proportion of increased duties and responsibilities, and such an exaltation as that which David experienced was heavily weighted with them.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
2 Samuel 5:5. During all this time he was sedulously engaged in completing the discipline of the rough men who had shared his desert fortunes, and preparing them for the higher service on which they were afterwards to enter. Can we imagine a position better adapted for this purpose? For was it not the most sacred place in the whole country? Was it not on that very ground … that for more than two centuries their ancestors had guarded their high deposit, maintained the divine testimony, and manifested the divine order of human life? Did not the treasured sepulchre there, upon that hill, which was already ancient and worn, with the passing of eleven centuries over its covered surface, contain their dust?—Drew.
Not all at once did David pass from the shepherd life of Bethlehem to the throne of Jerusalem. There was a long, and weary, and trying road to be traversed by him after his anointing by Samuel, before he reached the lofty elevation for which he was designated and consecrated by the prophet’s oil. He was not cradled in luxury, nor dandled in affluence, but his character was hardened by trial, and his judgment was matured by frequently recurring emergency. From the very first, indeed, he was “prudent in matters,” but such a history as his could not but stimulate and sharpen his natural abilities. His military genius, which was destined yet to show itself on many a glorious field as he extended his dominion “from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the land,” had been quickened and developed by his experiences in the long war with the house of Saul; and his knowledge of human nature, an acquirement so needful for one who was to be a ruler of men, had been increased by his dealing with his followers in the hold, and with his enemies in diplomacy; while, best of all, his confidence in God had been strengthened by his manifold trials, in and through which he had been sustained by the divine grace, and out of which he had been delivered by the divine hand. But it is not different yet. Success is not usually a sudden thing, or, if it be so, it is not a whole-some thing. Generally speaking, it is a matter of time, and trial, and diligence, and study. The heat of the conservatory, which brings the flower rapidly to maturity, does also nurse it into weakness, so that its beauty is only short-lived; but the plant that grows in the open air is strengthened while it grows, and is able to withstand even the biting winter’s cold. Resistance is necessary to the development of power; and the greatest misfortune that can befall a youth is to have no difficulties whatever with which to contend. It is by overmastering obstacles that a man’s character is mainly made. Hence, let no one be discouraged who is called in early life to struggle with adversity. He is thereby only making himself for his future life-work. Not in a day, nor in a year, nor in many years, do we reach the throne of our individual power, the sphere of our personal and peculiar labour. We graduate up to it through trial, and each new difficulty surmounted is not only a new step in the ladder upward, but also a new qualification for the work that is before us.…
Nor does this principle hold merely of the early part of our earthly life as related to the later. It will be illustrated also in our earthly life as connected with a heavenly. If we be Christ’s, it is no doubt true that He is preparing a place for each of us; but it is just as true that, through the discipline of our daily difficulties, he is preparing each of us for our own particular place; and the characters we are forming here will find their appropriate employment and development in the work which in heaven will be assigned to us.… Thus by the leverage of this principle we lift our earthly lives up to the very level of heaven itself; and every experience we are passing through now becomes a preparation for our eternal royalty at Christ’s right hand.—Taylor.