1 Chronicles 11:3

1Ch 11:3 Therefore came all the elders of Israel to the king to Hebron; and David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the LORD; and they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the LORD by Samuel.

Ver. 3. Therefore came, &c.] See on 2Sa 5:3.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(3) Therefore came all the elders of Israel.—The assembly of elders, the Senate of Israel, make a contract with David concerning his prerogative and the rights of his people, thus formally determining “the manner of the kingdom.” (Comp. 1Sa_8:9 seq., 1Sa_10:25.) Representative institutions appear to have been the rule in the best period of Israel’s national existence. The elders or hereditary heads of the tribal subdivisions met in council to discuss and settle matters of national concern. (Comp. 1Ch_12:23.)

Before the Lord.—In the presence of the high priest, and perhaps before the ark; comp. Exo_21:6; 1Sa_2:25, where the priestly nudge is called God, as representing the authority of the Divine judge (Exo_22:28).

According to the word of the Lord by Samuel.—A reflection added by the chronicler, and based upon the facts related in 1Sa_15:28; 1Sa_16:1-13.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. made a covenant] i.e. gave them a charter in which he promised to respect existing rights; cp. 1Sa_10:25 (Samuel writes the “manner” of the kingdom).

before the Lord] One method of entering into a covenant “before the Lord” was to pass between the parts of a sacrificed animal; cp. Jer_34:18-19.

Chron. has nothing here corresponding with 2Sa_5:4-5; but cp. 1Ch_29:27.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Which he spoke, is not expressed in Hebrew or Septuagint. Samuel complied with the injunction, by anointing David, 1 Kings xvi. 13. He also wrote an account of this memorable transaction, which translated the sceptre from one family to another. (Haydock) --- It is, on this account, that the author here takes particular notice of God’s decree. (Kennicott)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Made a covenant before the Lord. A forcible use of this phrase occurs in Jud_1:11:11. It implies that the engagement was ratified in the presence of a holy place, a holy vessel of the sanctuary, or a holy person (1Sa_21:6, 1Sa_21:7; Jos_18:8; Lev_1:5) Whether the tabernacle was now at Hebron is doubtful, but the two priests, Abiathar and Zadok, were. They anointed David. The first time of David"s being anointed (1Sa_16:1, 1Sa_16:13) Samuel the prophet officiated. The second time (2Sa_2:4) was when the "men of Judah" anointed him king over "the house of Judah." This third time when David was anointed king over the united people, it was at all events at the special instance of "all the elders of Israel," although who officiated on these two last occasions is not mentioned. According to the word of the Lord by Samuel. The sentence marks the complete fulfilment of what had been foreshadowed in 1Sa_16:12, 1Sa_16:13; and it may probably have been the more carefully introduced by the compiler of Chronicles, in consideration of the absence from his own work of previous details and of the previous anointings of David.

Vers. 3-10.

The throne of justice and security.

These verses are morally and essentially connected with one another. They speak of one thing the "making of David king." And we may notice in them

I THE FORM THAT REPRESENTED THIS. The most ancient Scriptures enrich us with the knowledge of the very earliest customs of men. Many of these may be obsolete. But two things are remarkable respecting them, viz.

(1) how some of them remain, and with but slightly altered dress;

(2) how those that do not remain often embodied some principle to which all growth of time has shown a growing importance to belong. These earliest customs of men, recorded in Scripture, seem, further, not only to have embodied certain principles, but passed, as they often were, beneath the eye of God, we may feel that they did something more they enshrined with a real sacredness and invested with a special honour the principle that was to last and to gain in significance when the outer shell of custom or form was withered to nothing. The ceremony which set forth the making of a king of Israel was that of anointing. This was the third time David had been anointed. But these successive acts of anointing were not vain repetitions. The first was his private anointing, by Samuel, according to God"s word and according to God"s private call. (1Sa_16:1, 1Sa_16:12, 1Sa_16:13) The second was when David became king over Judah, and when the call and the willing consent of his fellow-men, and of those up to this time his fellow-citizens, were added to the Divine appointment. (2Sa_2:4) And the third was on the occasion before us, when the heads of the whole people, with hearty unanimity, added the sanction of their presence and consent. Now, therefore, the anointing was finally performed. It was a ceremony, but not one destitute of meaning and of usefulness. It marked David to the eyes of all the nation as their "feeder and ruler," appointed of God, accepted of themselves. And it reminded himself of the solemn responsibility laid upon him to fulfil his duty to men as under the commands of God.

II THE CONDITION PRECEDENT TO IT. "David made a covenant with them before the Lord." Beyond doubt, the choice and the call and the ordination of David were all of God. Beyond doubt, nothing could be safer or better for all the people than to accept his deed and appointment unquestioningly. But there are ever an earthly order and a visible sign of some kind for us men, answering to the Divine will These God does not only permit, but, as we believe, he enjoins them. It is another indication of the fact that God would ever be lifting our level nearer his own. The exact matter of the covenant is not here given us, nor in fact in any of the parallel places. Yet with very little hesitation we may say that we hear the echoes of it from the deathbed of David. (2Sa_23:2-5) It consisted of a solemn mutual engagement he "to rule just, ruling in the fear of God;" they to follow and obey. God"s covenants with man at any and every time are of the nature of free promises of mercy and grace, but of what in their very nature require the loving acceptance and use of them to impart availingness to them and to keep them availing, and this is the only kind of condition attaching to them no meritorious condition. But in the fact of this covenant being made, and in the fact of its being so explicitly recorded, we have an evidence of God"s condescending attention to our mutual relations. Though he it is who with sovereign right elects and with the right of a sovereign voice calls one and another to pre-eminent place and authority over us, yet he bids us see and watch the thing that is transpiring, and insist upon the right and just being done, and he submits his own choice to the verdict of the conscience of his people. We have a great ecclesiastical principle, in embryo, as we might suppose, an instance of God"s royal conge delire, entrusted to the elders of all Israel, and not formally put into effect by these until his own chosen one has entered into a covenant with them.

III THE MORAL SUPPORTS NECESSARY TO THIS KINGMAKING. Remarkable, and in some respects even unique, as was the raising of David to be king, in this final appointment and anointing of him, yet it follows the lines of any other high appointment to command of one man amongst his fellow-men. He is not really and for ever to be hedged in as a divinity, nor of divinity, except as this highest power works by human agency. The higher such a position is, the more necessary is it that it be not artificially dissevered from the aid, the approval, the moral influence of others. The exalted individual"s temptation to forget this, and even to override it, has very often been unceremoniously enough called to account and fiercely rebuked. The hierarchy that obtains in human society, in the human family, may be accepted as an incontestible fact, and, therefore so far forth as authorized of nature. But neither ought this to be strained or exaggerated. Much less are we to create, favour, or permit violent gaps between rank and rank, class and class. The most insensible gradations from rank to rank and class to class make the strongest, safest society. History proves, by instances almost innumerable, that to disbelieve and affront this principle is disaster, but to set it at nought and defy it is to court destruction, and that without remedy. We must not overlook the significance of the expression that "the chief of the mighty men whom David had" neither held themselves aloof from him nor were held at a distance by him in his new greatness. They stood near the throne. They helped to uphold its dignity and the authority of him who sat upon it. There is really no such thing as actual irresponsibility between man and man. None is so strong as to be able to beast himself independent of the help, the love, the good opinion of his fellow-men. Conscience only can claim for itself the prerogative of freedom to do and speak as though irresponsible to man, but even these noblest displays of human power and virtue do not practically deliver from the consequences and the patent fact of responsibility; while in all inferior attempts the power is weakness, and the travestie of the virtue is the licence of vice. But no, David"s mighty men strenuously held by him, and they were in turn seconded by the entire of an enthusiastic and faithful people. Their one combined aim was to put stability into his kingdom and to make him a strong and prosperous king. And it was all "according to the word of the Lord concerning Israel." Happy king! happy people! David had not to pay the very common penalty of exaltedness and empire. The people were a willing people in the day of his power. Would that it may last, last to the end must have been the ardent wish of every patriot that day the humble prayer of every earnest, spiritual Israelite!

David"s accession.

With this chapter commences another part of this Book of Chronicles, which, from this point onwards, is occupied with the reign, the character, and the exploits of David, King of Judah and Israel. His accession, related in this verse, occupies accordingly a position of interest and significance in the narrative. The point especially deserving notice in the language of this verse is the combination of Divine and human agency in the nomination of David to the throne. This combination, especially apparent in the history of theocratic Israel, is really discernible by the reflecting mind in all the events of life and history. Observe

I THE HUMAN AGENCY which led to David"s accession to the throne. To many eyes no other than human agency was visible.

1. His own character and services marked David out as the one only ruler whom Israel could select and trust. Born a shepherd, he had yet within him the heart and the future of a king.

2. A popular election effected his elevation. It was the wish of "all Israel" that David should take the responsibilities of rule. In his election the old adage was verifiedVox populi vox Dei.

3. A senatorial requisition sanctioned and enforced the popular nomination. "All the elders of Israel" came to David, to express the general feeling and to prefer formally the national request. The appointment of the king was not the work of a moment of enthusiasm, was not the caprice of a mob; it was the deliberate act of the wisest and the noblest in the land.

II THE DIVINE CAUSE of David"s appointment to the throne. This may not have been apparent to all, but it is acknowledged with justice by the sacred historian.

1. A Divine prediction led to Davids accession. The language of the people is very noticeable: "The Lord thy God said unto thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be ruler over my people Israel.

2. A prophetic designation foreshadowed it. The appointment, so we read, was made "according to the word of the Lord by Samuel" The same inspired seer who anointed Saul was directed to nominate his immediate successor.

3. A religious covenant ratified the nomination of David. When he "made a covenant with them in Hebron before the Lord," he acted in accordance with his religious convictions, but he acted also in a manner harmonizing with the theocratic position of Israel. Church and state were not merely allied, they were identical. Nothing more natural than that a sacred ceremony should accompany the public and political act. There is no trace of selfish ambition on David"s part. He acknowledged the tremendous responsibilities of reigning. And in the sight of Jehovah his subjects undertook to co-operate with the monarch in seeking the general good.

PRACTICAL LESSONS of great value are suggested by this passage.

1. In all human history and biography there is a blending of the human andthe Divine. Worldly men are in danger of looking only to "second causes;" possibly religious men may sometimes overlook these in an exclusive regard to the one great Divine Agent. We should seek the Divine in the human.

2. Elevation to great power involves great responsibility: A man who canthink only of his own pleasure or magnificence, when Providence raises him to an exalted station, is not merely irreligious, he is unreasonable and unreflecting.

3. Social and political duties can only be discharged aright when fulfilled ina devout and prayerful spirit. The more responsible our position, the greater our need of a sincere confidence in the supreme Lord who is the supreme Guide of man. T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

and David made with them a covenant Like the covenant that Jehoiada made, as it is written (II Kings 11:17): “And Jehoiada enacted the covenant between the Lord and between the king and between the people, to be the people of the Lord.” The meaning is [that they agreed] to be servants of the Lord, and also “between the king and between the people,” to be his servants according to the king’s judgment, and also that the king should do according to the law for his servants; to wage their wars.

before the Lord But is it not so that the Tabernacle was not in Hebron? What then is the meaning of “before the Lord”? Wherever people make a stipulation or enact a covenant, the Omnipresent is there. A similar instance [is found] in [the case of] Jephthah: (Jud. 11:11): “before the Lord in Mizpah.” [Another] similar instance (Lev. 5:21): “and commits an act of treachery against the Lord by making a denial to his neighbor,” as is explained in Torath Kohanim (ad loc.).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.