And it came to pass after this, that David inquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the LORD said unto him, Go up. And David said, Whither shall I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron.
David inquired of the Lord - by Urim (1 Samuel 23:6; 1 Samuel 23:9; 1 Samuel 30:7-8). He knew his destination, but he knew also that the providence of God would pave the way, and therefore would take no step in such a crisis of his own and the nation's history without asking and obtaining the divine direction. He was told to go into Judah and fix his headquarters in Hebron, whither he accordingly repaired with his family and two wives. (Polygamy was tolerated in Hebrew society, but interdicted to the king (Deuteronomy 17:17); and David's adoption of that practice, by the establishment of a harem, like Oriental princes, sowed the seeds of disorder and disunion in his household, which produced a rank harvest of bitter fruit in afterlife.) There his interests were very powerful; because he was not only within his own tribe, and near chiefs with whom he had been long in friendly relations (see the note at 1 Samuel 30:26-31), but Hebron was the capital and center of Judah, and one of the Levitical cities hallowed by patriarchal memories, as well as by its being the special inheritance of Caleb.
Moreover, the inhabitants of Hebron were strongly attached to him, both from sympathy with his cause, ever since the massacre at Nob, and from the prospect of realizing in his person their promised pre-eminence among the tribes. The princes or elders, representatives of Judah, therefore, offered him the crown, to reign over their tribe, and it was accepted; so that forthwith he was "anointed king over the house of Judah," whether by the instrumentality of Abiathar, or of some other, as Samuel the prophet (1 Samuel 10:1), is not said. Psalms 27:1-14 refers to this period, if the title prefixed by the Septuagint [Pro tou christheenai, before the anointing-namely, at Hebron] be correct.