2 Samuel 5:5

2Sa 5:5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months: and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah.

Ver. 5. Seven years and six months.] These last six months are not reckoned in the whole sum for the roundness of the number: or, as some Rabbis {a} will have it, because six months David lay sick in Hebron: or, six months he fled before Absalom; and so there is no count made of them.

{a} Jerome in Tradit.

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.

2Sa_5:5

In Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years.

Jerusalem, the Holy City

It was highly desirable that the capital should be accessible to the whole country, and should possess the necessary features that rendered it fit to become the heart and brain of the national life. It must be capable of being strongly fortified, so as to preserve the sacred treasures of the kingdom inviolate. All these features blended in Jerusalem, and commended it to Davids Divinely-guided judgment. In this he greatly differed from Saul, who had made his own city, Gibeah, his capital--an altogether insignificant place, and the scene of an atrocious crime, the infamy of which could not be obliterated. To have made Hebron the capital would have excited the jealousy of the rest of Israel; and Bethlehem, his birthplace, would have struck too low a keynote, None were to be compared with the site of Jerusalem, on the frontier between Judah and Benjamin, surrounded on three sides by valleys, and on the other side, the north, strongly fortified.

I. Its previous history. To the Jew there was no city like Jerusalem. It was the city of his God, situate in His holy mountain: Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth. The high hills of Bashan were represented as jealous of the lowlier hill of Zion, because God had chosen it for His abode. The mountains that stood around her seemed to symbolize the environing presence of Jehovah. The exile in his banishment opened his windows towards Jerusalem as he knelt in prayer, and wished that his right hand might forget its cunning sooner than his heart fail to prefer Jerusalem above its chief joy. The charm of the yearly pilgrimage to the sacred feasts was that the feet of the pilgrim should stand within her gates; and when at a distance from her walls and palaces, pious hearts were wont to pray that peace and prosperity might be within them for the sake of those brethren and companions who were favoured to live within her precincts. But it had not always been so. Her birth and nativity were of the land of the Canaanite. An Amorite was her father, and her mother a Hittite. In the day that she was born she was cast out as a deserted child on the open field, weltering in her blood. For a brief spell the priest-king Melchizedek reigned over her, and during his life her future glory must have been presaged; the thin spiral columns of smoke that arose from his altars, anticipating the stately worship of the Temple; his priesthood foreshadowing a long succession of priests. Thereafter a long spell of darkness befell her; and for years after the rest of the country was in occupation of Israel, Jerusalem was still held by the Jebusites. Joshua, indeed, nominally subdued the city in his first occupation of the land, and slew its king; but his tenure of it was very brief and slight, and the city speedily relapsed under the sway of its ancient occupants.

II. The capture. Making a levy of all Israel, David went up to Jerusalem. For the first time after seven years, he took the lead of his army in person. Passive, when he was called to wait for the gift of God, he was intensely active and energetic when he discerned the Divine summons. Davids first act was to extend the fortifications; He built round about from Millo and inward; whilst Joab seems to have repaired and beautified the buildings in the city itself. This first success laid the foundation of Davids greatness. He waxed greater and greater; for the Lord, the God of Hosts, was with him. Indeed, neighbouring nations appear to have become impressed with the growing strength of his kindom, and hastened to seek his alliance. (1Ch_11:7-9; 2Sa_5:11).

III. A fair dawn. It has been suggested that we owe Psa_101:1-8 to this hour in Davids life. He finds himself suddenly called to conduct the internal administration of a great nation, that had, so to speak, been born in a day, and was beginning to throb with the intensity of a long-suspended animation. The new needs were demanding new expression. Departments of law and justice, of finance, and of military organization, were rapidly being called into existence, and becoming localized at the capital. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(5) Seven years and six months.—The six months is also mentioned in 2Sa_2:11; 1Ch_3:4, but, as being only the fraction of a year, is generally omitted in the summary of the length of his reign, as in 2Sa_5:4; 1Ch_29:27. It was the habit of the sacred historians either to omit such fractions or else to count them as whole years, thus introducing a certain element of indefiniteness into the chronology, which is very marked in the parallel narratives of the kings of Israel and of Judah.

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

6–10. The Capture of Jebus

= 1Ch_11:4-9

6. to Jerusalem, &c.] The Chronicler paraphrases the text thus, “to Jerusalem, which is Jebus, where the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land.” Writing after the Captivity, he felt it necessary to explain how the Jebusites came to be dwelling in Jerusalem by a reference to its ancient name of Jebus.

It is not a little remarkable that the metropolis of the Jewish monarchy, the most sacred city in the world, does not take its place in the history of the nation until a comparatively late period.

As the capital of the important Canaanite tribe of the Jebusites, it bore the name of Jebus. It was assigned to Benjamin (Jos_18:28), but, lying on the border, was first attacked by Judah (Jdg_1:8), and afterwards by Benjamin (Jdg_1:21). The citadel was either never taken, or soon recovered, for the Jebusites retained joint possession of the city along with the children of Judah and Benjamin through the period of the Judges and down to this time (Jos_15:63; Jdg_1:21).

Political, civil, and military considerations pointed to Jerusalem as the most suitable capital for the united kingdom.

(a) Its position within the territory of Benjamin yet close upon the borders of Judah (or, as some think, and as may be indicated by the passages quoted above, partly in one tribe, partly in the other), was excellently adapted for binding together the two royal tribes, and conciliating the good-will of Benjamin, without alienating Judah.

(b) Its situation was virtually central, not only with regard to these two great tribes, but for the whole land. “It was on the ridge of the backbone of hills, which extend through the whole country from the Desert to the plain of Esdraelon. Every traveller who has trod the central route of Palestine from north to south, must have passed through the table-land of Jerusalem.” Stanley’s Sinai and Pal. p. 176.

(c) As a military post it was unrivalled. It stood on a rocky plateau surrounded on three sides by deep ravines forming a natural fortress of almost impregnable strength.

On the topography of Jerusalem see Additional Note VI. p. 239.

Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither] Render, Thou shalt not come in hither, but the blind and the lame would repel thee; as much as to say, David, &c. So confident were the Jebusites in the strength of their fortress, that they boasted that a garrison of blind and lame men would be sufficient to defend it.

This boast is omitted in Chron., probably as being obscure, and not bearing directly upon the facts of the narrative.

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.

In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months,.... So long the kingdom of Israel continued in the house of Saul after his death; and by this it appears that David was near thirty eight years of age when the elders of Israel came and made him their king:

and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah; which in all made forty years and six months, see Kg1 2:11; upon his being made king over all the tribes, as soon as he had taken the strong hold of Zion, which he immediately attacked, as follows, he removed the seat of his kingdom from Hebron to Jerusalem.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.