2 Samuel 5:1

David King over All Israel

1 ¹Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, "Behold, we are ²your bone and your flesh.

2 Samuel 5:1 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 5:1

Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron
All the rest of the tribes, save the tribe of Judah, who had made him king over them in Hebron seven years ago. These were ambassadors sent in the name of the several tribes to him, quickly after the deaths of Abner and Ishbosheth; from having any hand in which David had sufficiently cleared himself, and which had tended to reconcile the minds of the people of Israel to him:

and spake, saying, we [are] thy bone and thy flesh;
for though he was of the tribe of Judah, yet as all the tribes sprung from one man, they were all one bone, flesh, and blood; all nearly related to each other, all of the same general family of which David was; and so, according to their law, a fit person to be their king, ( Deuteronomy 16:18-17:13 ) ; and from whom they might expect clemency and tenderness, being so near akin to them.

2 Samuel 5:1 In-Context

1 Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, "Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.

2 Previously, when Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and in. And the LORD said to you, 'You will shepherd My people Israel, and you will be a ruler over Israel.' "

3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them before the LORD at Hebron; then they anointed David king over Israel.

4 David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years.

5 At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.

Cross References

• 1. 1 Chronicles 11:1-3
• 2. 2 Samuel 19:13

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "said, saying"