2 Samuel 5:2

2 In the past, when Sha'ul was king over us, it was you who led Isra'el's military campaigns; and ADONAI said to you, 'You will shepherd my people Isra'el, and you will be chief over Isra'el.'"

2 Samuel 5:2 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 5:2

Also in time past, when Saul was king over us
Even over all the tribes of Israel:

thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel;
that led out the armies of Israel against their enemies, fought their battles for them, obtained victories, and brought the troops under his command home in safety; and the remembrance of these valiant acts of his, which then endeared him to the people, was now another reason for their choosing him king: and another follows, the chiefest of them all:

and the Lord said to thee;
when anointed by Samuel; for though what follows is not recorded in so many words, yet the sense of it is expressed in the anointing him to be king, whose office, as such, lay in doing the following things:

thou shalt feed my people Israel;
as a shepherd feeds his flock; hence kings were frequently called shepherds, and David particularly, in which he was an eminent type of Christ, see ( Psalms 78:71 Psalms 78:72 ) ( Ezekiel 34:23 Ezekiel 34:24 ) ( Ezekiel 37:24 ) ;

and thou shalt be a captain over Israel;
the Targum is,

``and thou shalt be king over Israel;''

which gives the true sense of the tribes, and which was the chief and prevailing reason with them to make him their king; and which they, at least many of them, would have done before, even immediately upon the death of Saul, but that they were persuaded by Abner to yield obedience to Ishbosheth he set up.

2 Samuel 5:2 In-Context

1 Then all the tribes of Isra'el came to David in Hevron and said, "Here, we are your own flesh and bone.

2 In the past, when Sha'ul was king over us, it was you who led Isra'el's military campaigns; and ADONAI said to you, 'You will shepherd my people Isra'el, and you will be chief over Isra'el.'"

3 So all the leaders of Isra'el came to the king in Hevron, and King David made a covenant with them in Hevron in the presence of ADONAI. Then they anointed David king over Isra'el.

4 David was thirty years old when he began his rule, and he ruled forty years.

5 In Hevron he ruled over Y'hudah seven years and six months; then in Yerushalayim he ruled thirty-three years over all Isra'el and Y'hudah.