1 Chronicles 12:7-17

7 And Joelah and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham of Gedor.

8 And some of the Gadites, siding with David, went to his strong place in the waste land, great and strong men, trained for war, expert in the use of arms, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and they were quick-footed like roes on the mountains;

9 Ezer their chief, Obadiah the second, Eliab the third,

10 Mishmannah the fourth, Jeremiah the fifth,

11 Attai the sixth, Eliel the seventh,

12 Johanan the eighth, Elzabad the ninth,

13 Jeremiah the tenth, Machbannai the eleventh.

14 These Gadites were captains of the army; the least of them was captain over a hundred men, and the greatest over a thousand.

15 It was they who went over Jordan in the first month, when the river was overflowing, and put to flight all the people of the valleys, to the east and to the west.

16 And some of the children of Benjamin and Judah came to David in his strong place.

17 And David went out to them, and said to them, If you have come in peace to give me help, my heart will be united with yours; but if you have come to give me up to those who would take my life, though my hands are clean from wrongdoing, then may the God of our fathers see it and give you punishment.

1 Chronicles 12:7-17 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 CHRONICLES 12

This chapter gives an account of those that came to David at different times, and joined and assisted him both before the death of Saul, and when persecuted by him, and after he was made king of Judah in Hebron, and before he was king of all Israel, in order to it; of the Benjaminites that came to him when at Ziklag, 1Ch 12:1-7 of the Gadites that came to him when in the hold, 1Ch 12:8-15 of some of Judah and Benjamin, who came to him in the same place, 1Ch 12:16-18, and of the Manassites at the time he came with the Philistines against Saul, 1Ch 12:19-22 and the number of the several tribes are given, that came to him at Hebron to make him king over all Israel, 1Ch 12:23-40.