1 Chronicles 11
The end of the old man is the beginning of a new era. This truth is confirmed here. Without any preamble whatever, David's reign begins at Hebron. Saul, the king according to fallen nature, is dead, but that is not enough. David himself, the Lord's anointed, initiates his reign at Hebron, the place that so speaks of death. All that precedes Hebron (2 Sam. 1-3), the gradual way in which David's reign is established, the long war between his house and that of Saul, the former growing stronger, the latter, weaker—all this is passed over in silence in Chronicles. At the very outset the Spirit of God announces the final establishment of David's reign.
A little characteristic phrase missing in the account in Samuel is added here in 1 Chron. 11:3: "They anointed David king over Israel according to the word of Jehovah through Samuel." The establishment of David's reign is here linked with God's unchangeable word and His counsels of grace.
In 1 Chron. 11:4-9, which describe the capture of Jerusalem, we again find a noteworthy difference from the account in 2 Sam. 5:6-9. Here there is not a word about "the lame and the blind hated of David's soul...!" and on the other hand, Joab, who is completely left out of the account in Samuel, here occupies the first place after David: "And David said, Whoever smites the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. And Joab the son of Zeruiah went first up, and was chief" (1 Chron. 11:6). Here he is not the ambitious, vindictive man, but the man destined, according to God's counsels, to conquer the fortress of Zion for the king. It is even said of him in 1 Chron. 11:8: "Joab renewed the rest of the city." Not a word about his character, nor about his doings up to this moment. His struggle with Abner, his revenge upon this noble captain, the murder he committed, are all passed over in silence, as well as David's pained expression: "And I am this day weak, though anointed king; and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too hard for me: Jehovah reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness!" (2 Sam. 3:39). Would we not say, if we had only read the account of Chronicles, that Joab was an upright man without reproach? The truth is that here Joab is simply the instrument prepared to install the Lord's anointed, the king according to God's thoughts, at Jerusalem.
David's mighty men are enumerated at the beginning of this account (1 Chron. 11:10-47), while they are enumerated at the end in 2 Sam. 23. Here they bring in the kingdom. They "showed themselves valiant with him in his kingdom, with all Israel, to make him king, according to the word of Jehovah concerning Israel" (1 Chron. 11:10), so accomplishing the plans which God had before made known. They are then enumerated. Among the first three Shammah, although referred to, is not named. A few names mentioned in Samuel are omitted here and a great many are added. Thus our chapter refers to 81 mighty men (30 of them being recorded without being named); 2 Sam. 23 names 37 of them; there they are enumerated as supporters whom David needed to confirm his throne; in our present chapter they have only to acknowledge what God had done in establishing David as His anointed, and cannot do other than support a kingship come forth from the counsels of God Himself. Also they appear before us at the beginning of his reign.
Let us note an even more remarkable detail. Uriah the Hittite, who closes the list in 2 Sam. 23 in testimony against David's sin and fall, appears here as hidden among the other mighty men (1 Chron. 11:41). His name is not highlighted as the accuser of David and of that which was the shame of his kingdom. Likewise, everything pertaining to the terrible fall of the Lord's anointed is completely passed over in silence. Eliam also, the son of Ahithophel (2 Sam. 23:34), whose father was so intimately associated with the consequences of David's sin, is omitted in our chapter.
The senseless attacks of rationalists against the books of Chronicles oblige us to insist upon all these details, for their general effect is the best refutation of those who see in the Chronicles only a wretched compilation made at a time much later than that which the book ascribes to itself, a compilation made without order, with falsified documents, full of invented names and screaming errors. Oh the folly of human reason when it ventures to judge God's thoughts and would replace them by its own imaginations!
The Kingship of David According to the Counsels of God
1 Chronicles 9:35 – 1 Chronicles 27