Bible Commentaries

1 Chronicles 11:1 Then all Israel gathered themselves to David unto Hebron, saying, Behold, we [are] thy bone and thy flesh.

Ver. 1. Then all Israel.] See on 2 Samuel 5:1-5.

We are thy bone and thy flesh.] And may not we safely say as much to Jesus Christ, [Ephesians 5:30] and bespeak him as Ruth did Boaz, Thou art my kinsman; oh, stretch the skirt of thy garment over me? [Ruth 3:9]

1 Chronicles 11:2 And moreover in time past, even when Saul was king, thou [wast] he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the LORD thy God said unto thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be ruler over my people Israel.

Ver. 2. Thou shalt feed,] sc., By procuring for them the wholesome food of the word; by going before them in good example; by driving away the wolf; by tending them, and tendering their good every way.

1 Chronicles 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 2 Samuel 5:3.

1 Chronicles 11:4 And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, which [is] Jebus; where the Jebusites [were], the inhabitants of the land.

Ver. 4. And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem.] He laid hold on so good an opportunity, having now all his forces about him, to set upon the Jebusites, and expelled them. We should watch and catch at opportunities of grace, and not procrastinate.

1 Chronicles 11:5 And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, Thou shalt not come hither. Nevertheless David took the castle of Zion, which [is] the city of David.
1 Chronicles 11:6 And David said, Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. So Joab the son of Zeruiah went first up, and was chief.

Ver. 5,6. See 2 Samuel 5:6-8.

1 Chronicles 11:7 And David dwelt in the castle; therefore they called it the city of David.

Ver. 7. And David dwelt in the castle.] Herein he became a type of Christ, who subdueth all our enemies, and openeth unto us the heavenly Jerusalem.

1 Chronicles 11:8 And he built the city round about, even from Millo round about: and Joab repaired the rest of the city.

Ver. 8. From Millo.] This was a fair street, saith Vatablus; wherein were public meetings, and speeches made.

And Joab repaired.] Heb., Revived, vivificavit vel sanavit, as 2 Chronicles 24:13.

The rest of the city.] To re-ingratiate with David, who was justly offended at him for the death of Abner.

1 Chronicles 11:9 So David waxed greater and greater: for the LORD of hosts [was] with him.

Ver. 9. See on 2 Samuel 5:10.

1 Chronicles 11:10 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.

Ver. 10. These also are the chief of the mighties.] The same catalogue of David’s worthies we have in 2 Samuel 23:1-39, but here with a more ample inscription. Christ hath his heroes also, who in their several generations have done "worthily in Ephrata," and been "famous in Bethlehem." And if their names be not all registered on earth, yet they are "written in heaven," and shall one day be renowned in that great amphitheatre. [Hebrews 12:22-23]

Who strengthened themselves with him.] Where God intendeth to raise or preserve kingdoms and states, he giveth and gifteth men for the purpose; as he did for Alexander the Great, for the Romans, and for our Queen Elizabeth.

1 Chronicles 11:11 And this [is] the number of the mighty men whom David had; Jashobeam, an Hachmonite, the chief of the captains: he lifted up his spear against three hundred slain [by him] at one time.

Ver. 11. Jashobeam, a Hachmonite.] See on 2 Samuel 23:8, where he is called Adino the Eznite; for he had two names.

Against three hundred.] At one time, and eight hundred at another. [2 Samuel 23:8]

1 Chronicles 11:12 And after him [was] Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, who [was one] of the three mighties.

Ver. 12. And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo.] As after him was Shammah, [2 Samuel 23:11] though not here mentioned. Of their exploits done. {See Trapp on "2 Samuel 23:11"}

1 Chronicles 11:14 And they set themselves in the midst of [that] parcel, and delivered it, and slew the Philistines; and the LORD saved [them] by a great deliverance.

Ver. 14. And they set themselves.] The Romans boast of their Cochles, who himself alone defended a bridge against an army of enemies; the Greeks of their Achilles; the Dutch of their Albertus Brandenburgicus - though better they might of their magnanimous Martin Luther, who, like another Athanasius, totius orbis impetum solus sustinuit, stood out against a world of adversaries in defence of the truth.

1 Chronicles 11:15 Now three of the thirty captains went down to the rock to David, into the cave of Adullam; and the host of the Philistines encamped in the valley of Rephaim.

Ver. 15. Now three of the thirty captains.] Or, Three captains over the thirty. These first famous three jointly did the following exploit. See 1 Chronicles 11:19.

1 Chronicles 11:16 And David [was] then in the hold, and the Philistines’ garrison [was] then at Bethlehem.
1 Chronicles 11:17 And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, that [is] at the gate!

Ver. 16-17. See on 2 Samuel 23:14-17.

1 Chronicles 11:18 And the three brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that [was] by the gate, and took [it], and brought [it] to David: but David would not drink [of] it, but poured it out to the LORD,

Ver. 18. But David would not drink of it.] No more would Alexander the Great drink of the water that in a great drought was brought him in the country of the Gedrosi, but poured it out on the ground before his commanders and soldiers, though upon another account than David here did, viz., to stir them up, by his example, to suffer hardship. ^(a)

But poured it out to the lord.] As a drink offerng, in thankfulness that his captains came off so safe and well.

1 Chronicles 11:19 And said, My God forbid it me, that I should do this thing: shall I drink the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy? for with [the jeopardy of] their lives they brought it. Therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mightiest.

Ver. 19. These things did these three mightiest.] See on 1 Chronicles 11:15.

1 Chronicles 11:22 Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done many acts; he slew two lionlike men of Moab: also he went down and slew a lion in a pit in a snowy day.

Ver. 22. Who had done many acts.] Egregiorum facinorum fuit patrator. Gallice, Homme d’execution: Anglice, A man of his hands; Heb., A master of acts.

Also he went down, &c.] See 2 Samuel 23:20.

1 Chronicles 11:23 And he slew an Egyptian, a man of [great] stature, five cubits high; and in the Egyptian’s hand [was] a spear like a weaver’s beam; and he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and slew him with his own spear.

Ver. 23. And he slew an Egyptian.] See 2 Samuel 23:21.

1 Chronicles 11:25 Behold, he was honourable among the thirty, but attained not to the [first] three: and David set him over his guard.

Ver. 25. Behold, he was honourable among the thirty.] Yea, and above them too.

And David set him over his guard.] Heb., Over his hearing; that is, over those praetorian soldiers that were ever within his hearing and at his hand, viz., the Cherethites and the Pelethites, who stuck to him in all his troubles, and were now his bodyguard. 1 Chronicles 11:26

1 Chronicles 11:26 Also the valiant men of the armies [were], Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem,

Ver. 26. Asahel the brother of Joab.] Joab himself is not mentioned, nor Amasa. This had lost himself for his conspiracy with Absalom, and the other for his hypocrisy and cruelty: hence some think that they were left out of this list as vile persons. See Daniel 11:21.

1 Chronicles 11:39 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Berothite, the armourbearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah,

Ver. 39. The armourbearer of Joab.] See on 1 Chronicles 11:26.

1 Chronicles 11:41 Uriah the Hittite, Zabad the son of Ahlai,

Ver. 41. Uriah the Hittite.] The worthier this man was, the greater was David’s sin against him.

Zabad the son of Ahlai.] These following worthies are added to those in 1 Samuel 23:1-29, and this was done by David after he came to the crown, likely.

1 Chronicles 11:42 Adina the son of Shiza the Reubenite, a captain of the Reubenites, and thirty with him,

Ver. 42. And thirty with him.] Or, But the thirty were over him.