The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Chronicles — Section 153

EXPOSITION. "that David inquired of the Lord, saying, OHAPTER XI. Shall I go up into any of the cities of Ver. 1.-Upon the death of Saul, Abner, Judah? And the Lord said unto him, Go for a while espousing the cause of Ishbo- up. And David said, Whither shall I go shetb, the only surviving son of Saul, up? And he said, Unto Hebron." Hebron "made him king over " a large proportion was the "earliest seat of civilized life, not of the people, exclusive of J ude.h (2 8am. ii. of Judah only, but of all Palestine." It and 8-10). Already David had been anointed Bethlehem are two of the most special at Hebron by" the men of Judah, king over memorials of David. An interesting sketch the house of Judah" (2 Sam. ii. 1-4). of the topography and natural features of And David continued "king in Hebron over this place, and a succinct Biblical history of the house of Judah seven years and six it in Stanley's' Sinai and Palestine,' p. 16.J: mouths" (2 Sam. ii. 11 ; v. 5; 1 Kings ii. (edit. 1866), from which comes the following 11; eh. iii. 4). Notice the agreement of quotation :- "Hebron, according to the this date with the account of the six sons Jewish tradition, was the primeval city or bom to David in Hebron (2 Sam. iii. 2-5). me vtne. Its name indicates community or The explanation of the chronology for Ish- society. It was the ancient city of Ephron bosheth affecting this period is not easy. the Hittite, in whose gate he and the elders It is said that he reigned over Israel "two received the offer of Abraham, when as yet years" (2 Sam. ii. 10). Where was the no other fixed habitation of man w11s known difference of five and a half years lost? Our in central Palestine. It was the first home first verse here, with its apparently em- 'of Abr11.ham and the patriarchs; their own phatio then (comp. 2 Sam. v. 1), would permanent resting-placo when they were seem to make it very unlikely that it was gradually exchanging the postoral for the lost between the death of Ishbosheth and agricultural life. In its neighbourhood can the kingship of David over "all the tribes be traced, by o. continuous tradition, the site of Israel" together with Judah. On the of the venerable tree under which Abraham other hand, the intervo.I in question might pitched hie tent, and of the double cavern find its account in the "long war (2 Sam. in which he and bis family were deposited iii. 1, 6, 17-21) between the house of Saul and perhaps still remain. It was tho city and the house of David." There is, how- of .Arba, the old Co.nmmite chief, with his ever, still possible the supposition that the three gio.nt sons, under whose walls the historian intends to give the intrinsically trembling spies stole through the lo.ad by correct facts of the case, nnd means that, the o.djacent valley of Eshcol. Here Co.lab what with delay before getting the adhesion chose his portion when, at the heo.d of his of the people to lshbosheth, and what with valiant tribe, he drove out the old inhabit- the early decay of his sovereign power, he ants, and called the whole surrounding could not be said to have reigned more than territory after his own no.me; o.nd here the two yenrs. This verso, then, shows that the tribe of J ude.h al ways ro.llied, when it history proper of Chronicles purports to asserted its independent existence against begin from the time of David's rule over the the rest of the Israelite notion. It needs entire and united people, at the ex1Lct date but few words to give the secret of this of seven and a ho.If years after Saul's death, early selection, of this long coutinuance of while no mention is here made of his the metropolitan city of Judah. Every intermediate partial rule over Judah, or of traveller from the desert must have been Ishbosheth's temporary rule over Benjamin struck by the sight of that pleasant vale, and Israel. All Israel ; i.e. " all the tribes with its orchards and vineyards and of Israel" (2 Sam. v. 1), by their repre~en- numberless wells, and we must add, in tatives, "the elders of Israel" (2 Sam. iii. earlier times, the groves of terebinths o.nd 17; v. 3; as well as our ver. 3). The first oaks which then attro.cted from far the eye nine verses of this chapter cover the same of the wandering tribes. This fertility was ground as the first ten verses of 2 Sam. v. in part owing to its elevation into the cooler Unto Hebron. We learn how David came and the more watered region above the dry to be here from 2 Sam. ii. I. " And it came and withered valleyij of the rest of J udmn to p11~s after this" (i.e. after D1nid's -and commanding this fortilo valley, roso "lamentation over Saul and Jonathan") Hebron, on its crested hill." Behold, we  11! THE FIRS'l' BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. Leu. XI. 1-47.