Chapter Twelve

1–22. A count of warriors from the tribe of Benjamin (2–7), Gad (8–15), Judah and Manasseh (19–22), who defected to David’s side during the period of David’s reign in Hebron.

The content of chapter XII in its details has no parallel in the Book of Kings, but the fact of the defection to David’s side, which it records, is confirmed by the testimony of (1 Sam 22:2).

1 Chronicles 12:1. And these also came to David at Ziklag, when he was still hiding from Saul son of Kish, and they were mighty men, helping in battle. The duration of David’s stay in Ziklag is reckoned in (1 Sam 27:7) as one year and four months.

1 Chronicles 12:2. Armed with bows, able to shoot with either the right hand or the left; they could sling stones and shoot arrows with bows – from the brothers of Saul, of Benjamin: Cf. (1 Chr 8:40) and (2 Chr 17:17).

1 Chronicles 12:4. Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a mighty man among the thirty and a leader over the thirty; Jeremiah, Jahaziel, Johanan, and Josabad of Gederah. The absence of the name “Ishmaiah” among the names of those (1 Chr 11) is explained by the death of this companion of David by the time of the compilation of this list. “Ishmaiah,” a resident of Gederah, a city of the tribe of Judah (Josh 15:36), can scarcely be reckoned among the tribe of Benjamin, as (1 Chr 12:2) requires.

1 Chronicles 12:6. Elkanah, Isshiah, Azariel, Joezer, and Jashobeam, Korahites; “Korahites” – a Levitical family: its representatives could have lived even in the tribe of Benjamin. Others identify Korah, the ancestor of the men enumerated here, with Korah of the tribe of Judah (1 Chr 2:43); then he, as well as the men of the verse (1 Chr 12:7), will be Judahites.

1 Chronicles 12:8. And from the Gadites there defected to David in the stronghold, in the wilderness, mighty and valiant men, trained for war, bearing shield and spear; their faces were like the faces of lions, and they were swift as gazelles on the mountains. The defection of the Gadites to David’s side may have occurred in the early years of his persecution by Saul, when he was sheltering himself from him in the fortified places of the wilderness of Judah (1 Sam 23:14). Regarding the characterization of the Gadites cf. (2 Sam 1:23) and (2 Sam 2:18).

1 Chronicles 12:16. There also came men of the Benjamites and Judahites to the stronghold to David. The names of the Judahites and Benjamites who defected to David are not given, either because they were not in the source which the author of Chronicles used, or because they were mentioned in the chapter (1 Chr 11).

1 Chronicles 12:17. David went out to meet them and said to them: If you have come to me in peace to help me, then my heart shall be united with yours; but if you have come to betray me to my enemies, though there is no wrong in my hands, then may the God of our fathers see and judge. David’s question is quite understandable in light of the facts of betrayal known from the history of his persecution by Saul (1 Sam 23:19).

1 Chronicles 12:18. And the Spirit came upon Amasai, chief of the thirty, and he said: Peace to you, David, and peace to those who help you, son of Jesse; peace to you, and peace to your helpers; for your God helps you. Then David received them and made them commanders of his troops. Amasai was a brother of Abigail, the sister of David (1 Chr 2:17). “Your God helps you” – hardly fails to indicate (1 Sam 23:12).

1 Chronicles 12:19. And from the tribe of Manasseh there defected to David when he went with the Philistines to war against Saul, though he did not help them, for the rulers of the Philistines, taking counsel, sent him away, saying: He will desert to his master Saul at the cost of our heads. 1 Chronicles 12:20. When he returned to Ziklag, there defected to him from the Manassites: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai, leaders of thousands in Manasseh. 1 Chronicles 12:21. And they helped David against the bands, for they were all mighty warriors and became commanders in his army. The joining of the Manassites to David occurs at the end of Saul’s reign, at the time before the battle on Mount Gilboa (1 Sam 28:1-2). They helped him in the destruction of the Amalekites (1 Sam 30:8), as can be inferred from the fact that the term “bands” is applied to them in the indicated passage.

1 Chronicles 12:23. Here is the number of the leaders of the armed forces who came to David at Hebron to transfer to him the kingdom of Saul, according to the word of the Lord: 1 Chronicles 12:24. Of the sons of Judah, bearing shield and spear, six thousand eight hundred ready for battle; 1 Chronicles 12:25. Of the sons of Simeon, mighty men of valor, for the army: seven thousand one hundred; 1 Chronicles 12:26. Of the sons of Levi four thousand six hundred; 1 Chronicles 12:27. And Jehoiada, ruler of the house of Aaron, and with him three thousand seven hundred; 1 Chronicles 12:28. And Zadok, a young man mighty and strong, and of his father’s house twenty-two rulers; 1 Chronicles 12:29. Of the sons of Benjamin, the kinsmen of Saul, three thousand, but the majority of them still held themselves loyal to the house of Saul; 1 Chronicles 12:30. Of the sons of Ephraim twenty thousand eight hundred mighty warriors, men renowned in their families; 1 Chronicles 12:31. Of the half-tribe of Manasseh eighteen thousand, who were designated by name to come and make David king; 1 Chronicles 12:32. Of the sons of Issachar men who had understanding of the times and knew what Israel ought to do – two hundred chiefs, and all their kinsmen followed their counsel; 1 Chronicles 12:33. Of the tribe of Zebulun fifty thousand ready for battle, equipped with all the implements of war, marching in formation with a single mind; 1 Chronicles 12:34. Of the tribe of Naphtali a thousand commanders and with them thirty-seven thousand bearing shields and spears; 1 Chronicles 12:35. Of the tribe of Dan ready for battle twenty-eight thousand six hundred; 1 Chronicles 12:36. Of Asher warriors ready for battle forty thousand; 1 Chronicles 12:37. From beyond the Jordan, from the tribe of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, one hundred twenty thousand, equipped with all the implements of war. 1 Chronicles 12:38. All these armed warriors, keeping their formation, came to Hebron with full heart of purpose to make David king over all Israel. And all the rest of Israel were of one mind to make David king. 1 Chronicles 12:39. And they remained there with David three days, eating and drinking, for their kinsmen had prepared for them; 1 Chronicles 12:40. And also their neighbors, even as far as the tribe of Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali, brought food on donkeys and camels and mules and oxen – flour, cakes of figs and raisins, wine and oil, and cattle and sheep in abundance, for there was joy in Israel. The enormous number of warriors who participated in the making of David king at Hebron (339,000) presents nothing strange if one takes into account the number of men able to bear arms in the time of Moses – 600,000 (Exod 12:37) and in the time of David – 800,000 Israelites and 500,000 men of Judah (2 Sam 24:9). What is somewhat striking is only the disproportion in the numbers of those who came from different tribes: 120,000 from the east-Jordan tribes (verse 37), 50,000 from the tribe of Zebulun (verse 33), 37,000 from Naphtali (verse 34), and 40,000 from Asher – numbers several times exceeding the number of warriors from the tribe of Judah (6,800 – v. 24), Simeon (7,100 – v. 25), Levi, etc. But as to the Benjamites, their small number is explained by their loyalty to the house of Saul (verse 29). The reason for the small numbers from Judah and Simeon is that the warriors of these two tribes had long been on David’s side, and therefore there was no need to enumerate them again. The tribe of Ephraim, which numbered at Sinai only 40,500 warriors (Num 2:19) and on the plains of Moab 32,500 (Num 26:37), had been even more weakened by the wars of Saul with the Philistines and partly by Abner’s wars with the same people, and therefore could not put forth as large a number as other tribes. Moreover, Ephraim, always not particularly friendly towards Judah, had no special motive for promoting the making of David king. Finally, the tribe of Zebulun, which numbered in Moses’ time 57,400 and 60,500 warriors, and Naphtali 53,400 and 45,400 (Num 2:8), could easily have supplied in David’s time the first 50,000 and the second 33,000 armed men.