Outline of Chapter 12:

         vv.     1–7           Men who Came to David at Ziklag

         vv.     8–15         Men who Came to David when in the Stronghold in the Wilderness

         vv.    16–18         Men who Came to David when in the Stronghold of Engedi

         vv.    19–21         Men who Came to David when Returning to Ziklag

         vv.    22–38         Supporters from all over Israel Come to David in Hebron

         vv.    39–40         David’s Inaugural Party in Hebron

Charts, Short Doctrines and Maps:

         Introduction         Integrating 1Chronicles 12 with the Book of Samuel

         Introduction         1Chronicles 12 Summarized by Keil and Delitzsch

         Introduction         1Chronicles 10–12 Presented Topically

         v.       1              Wasn’t David out of Fellowship in Ziklag?

         v.       2              The Sentence Structure of 1Chronicles 1:1–3

         v.       3              The Joash’s of Scripture

         v.       3              The Jehu’s of Scripture

         v.       4              The Jeremiah’s of Scripture

         v.       4              The Jahaziel’s of Scripture

         v.       4              The Johanan’s of Scripture

         v.       4              The Jozabad’s of Scripture

         v.       5              The Meanings of the Names of David’s Men in 1Chron. 12:5

         v.       6              The Meanings of the Names of David’s Men in 1Chron. 12:6

         v.       6              The Elkanah’s of Scripture

         v.       6              The Jesiah’s of Scripture

         v.       6              The Azareel’s of Scripture

         v.       7              The Zebadiah’s of Scripture

         v.       8              The Strongholds of David

         v.       8              A Summary of the Doctrine of ׳Ârak^e

         v.       9              The Obadiah’s of Scripture

         v.       9              The Eliab’s of Scripture

         vv.    10–11         The Attai’s of Scripture

         vv.    10–11         The Eliel’s of Scripture

         vv.    13–14         The Gadites and the Meanings of their Names

         v.      20              The Men from Manasseh

         v.      20              The Jediael’s of Scripture

         v.      20              The Michael’s of Scripture

         v.      20              The Elihu’s of Scripture

         v.      20              The Options of the Men from Manasseh

         v.      22              Why 1Chronicles 12:22 Should be Associated with vv. 23–40

         v.      27              The Jehoiada’s of Scripture

         v.      27              The Joiada’s of Scripture

         v.      28              The Zadok’s of Scripture

         v.      28              Were Levites Military Types?

         v.      29              Why the Tribe of Benjamin had the Fewest Men Show up to Support David

         v.      32              Commentators on the Tribe of Issachar, Who Know what Israel Should Do

         v.      37              Barnes’ Observations Concerning Those Who Came to David in Hebron

         v.      37              The Time Line of 2Samuel 1–5 and 1Chronicles 12:23–37

         v.      37              A Summary of 1Chronicles 12

         v.      37              Theories on How Many Men Actually Showed up to Support David

I ntroduction: It is difficult to determine how one should teach the Bible and in what order should one go. It is most typical for a good pastor to simply choose a book and teach it from beginning to end. In this way, you get the full impact of the book itself. However, what I think I will do is make an attempt to teach much of the Old Testament in chronological order. Therefore, as we go through the books of Samuel and Kings, we will stop now and again to examine a psalm, or to venture into the book of 1Chronicles.

The first third of 1Chron. 12 tells us who came to David while he was in Ziklag. We have spent a great deal of time in 1Sam. 27 examining David and determining that he was both out of God’s geographical will and, much of the time, out of fellowship. In fact, at no point in 1Sam. 27:1–30:5 could we point to David and say, “He’s in fellowship here.” Still, men came to David while he was encamped in Ziklag, and that is what the first half of this chapter is all about.

The second half of this chapter has these men going into Hebron with David, to be inaugurated king over Judah.

Now I have seen this chapter organized in virtually the same way by almost every exegete (some disagree on the placement of v. 22); but very few try to explain the arrangement. Selman tries to explain this as a building momentum, but given that David's mighty men are all named at the end of 1Chron. 11, that he had almost universal support in 1Chron. 11:1–3; that it seems somewhat odd to then say, “Oh, by the way, here are the ones who supported David over the years” naming some, but not others. Then the order of presentation seems odd as well; first Ziklag (1Sam. 27), then David when on the run from Saul (1Sam. 23), and then back to Ziklag (1Sam. 29). To me, the order seems sort of random (which does not mean that there is a problem; there is nothing wrong with the order being random, as we do have a human author). Those named in this chapter seem to be random as well. Now, the latter half of this chapter names all 12 tribes and those who came from these tribes to support David; but in the first half, we have a few men from this tribe, and then a few men from that tribe named, and only 5 tribes are named as well. The only conclusion that I can come to is, these are key men in David’s army. A lot of those who came to David are simply malcontents. However, here we have specific men who came to David who were great leaders and men of great integrity.

One of the other minor problems which I will discuss further as we go along is, it appears as though some, if not all, of these men in the first half of this chapter were not simply malcontents, but high-ranking officers from Saul’s army. This means, at some point in time, for some reason, they had to leave Saul’s army. This also means that, sometime after this, they had to hook up with David. How can men of great integrity and military ability just walk away from Saul’s army and maintain this integrity? Also to be discussed...

Although it is clear that portions of Chronicles are taken directly from the book of Samuel (e.g., 1Chron. 10:1–12a), it is also clear that there is a great deal of information culled from other sources (our chapter, for instance). Whereas, we can match much of this chapter with portions of the narrative of the book of Samuel, the source material for 1Chron. 12 was clearly not from Samuel.

Ideally speaking, you have just completed my exegesis of 1Sam. 23, 27, 29 or of 2Sam. 1, and you have come to this book and chapter next as per my suggestion at the end of those chapters. However, if you did not, then let me give you a brief summary of what has happened to date. First of all, I should clear the air about the book of Chronicles: this is a book composed around the 5^th century b.c., long after many of these events took place. God apparently motivated someone to gather the existing genealogical records and historical accounts which existed at that time, and to record the divine viewpoint of the history of Israel. Since we are looking back so far, and since the thinking of most Israelite authors is not chronological, there is no reason to think that the order of these chapters is chronological. As you have seen so far in this book, Chronicles is clearly not chronological. However, generally speaking, it is. That is, what happens ten chapters later is generally a later event. However, two adjacent chapters may not be in chronological order. The first half of this chapter precedes and is coterminous with 1Chron. 10, while the second half of this chapter follows 1Chron. 10 (but precedes 1Chron. 11). However, the first and second halves of this chapter are related topically, which is a typical way for Jewish authors to organize their material.

Why is there a chapter like this? Why is there a chapter which is, essentially, a list of names, of men who have come to David, which the barest of narrative information? There are a couple of reasons: (1) this honors these men who risked their lives to join up with David and then risked their lives again and again to fight for Israel’s freedom and security. However, just as importantly, (2) the Bible presents these military men as heroes. One of the biggest myths in modern history is that Jesus was this long-haired, hippie peacenik-protester wandering around doing good things for everyone and standing in clear opposition to the military, the establishment, big oil, the government and all things big. In Scripture, those in the military are presented as heroes—brave and selfless men who fight to protect their homeland. This does not mean that these men lack old sin natures—however, nowhere does the Bible present the notion that military men are evil and pro-war, and that those who avoid military service and protest the war are good and peace-loving. In fact, do you recall the verse which reads And your sin will find you out? Do you know what sin is being referred to in context? Pacifism and desertion—those are the sins referred to in that passage. You may or may not agree with what we find in Scripture, and that is your right. However, don’t ever try to use Scripture or the words of Jesus to justify an anti-war stance in all situations.

Men who Came to David at Ziklag

1Samuel 27:6–12