These also are the chief of the mighty men whom David had, who strengthened themselves with him in his kingdom, and with all Israel, to make him king, according to the word of the LORD concerning Israel.
These ... are the chief of the mighty men - (see the notes at 2 Samuel 23:8-39.) They are here described as those who held strongly with him (margin) to make him king, etc. In these words the sacred historian assigns a reason for introducing the list of their names immediately after his account of the election of David as king, and the conquest of Jerusalem-namely, that they assisted in making David king. In the original form of the list, and the connection in which it occurs in Samuel, there is no reference to the choice of a king; and even in this passage, it is only in the clause introduced into the superscription that such a reference occurs (Keil).