2 Samuel 5

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The tribes come to David, not the reverse. The verb vayyavo'u ('they came') emphasizes that this is a voluntary convergence -- David does not summon or coerce. Hebron, David's capital during the seven-year civil period, serves as the meeting place. The declaration hinnenu ('here we are') carries overtones of covenant readiness, the same word Abraham uses in response to God (Genesis 22:1).

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The phrase gam temol gam shilshom ('also yesterday also the day before') is idiomatic for 'in the past, previously.' It acknowledges David's leadership during Saul's reign without directly condemning Saul -- a diplomatically careful statement.
2. The verb tir'eh ('you will shepherd') frames kingship as pastoral care, not domination. Israel's king is a shepherd first -- responsible for feeding, protecting, and guiding the flock. This metaphor governs the entire Davidic theology and reaches forward to Ezekiel 34 and the messianic 'good shepherd' tradition.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The sequence matters: covenant first, then anointing. David binds himself to obligations toward the people before receiving the oil of kingship. This pattern distinguishes Israelite monarchy from ancient Near Eastern despotism -- the king serves under covenant, not above it.
2. This is David's third anointing: first by Samuel privately (1 Samuel 16:13), then by the men of Judah (2 Samuel 2:4), and now by all Israel. Each anointing expands the scope of his authority -- from divine designation to tribal recognition to national confirmation.

Translator Notes

1. This summary formula is characteristic of the regnal records embedded in Samuel-Kings. Thirty was the age of full maturity in ancient Israel -- the age at which Levites entered full service (Numbers 4:3). Forty years is the conventional number for a complete generation of leadership (Moses, the wilderness period, Eli, Solomon). Whether precisely literal or typological, it signals that David's reign was complete and full.

Translator Notes

1. The precision of 'seven years and six months' for the Hebron period contrasts with the round number of thirty-three for Jerusalem, suggesting the narrator drew on different record sources. The distinction between reigning 'over Judah' and 'over all Israel and Judah' marks the political transformation: David's move to Jerusalem coincides with his authority expanding from one tribe to the entire nation.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. This verse is notoriously difficult in Hebrew. The phrase ki im hesirekha ha'ivrim vehapiskhim is compressed and likely idiomatic. The meaning appears to be a scornful challenge: you cannot enter unless you first remove even the blind and lame (who are sufficient to defend it). The Jebusites are not describing their actual garrison but mocking David's capacity to breach their walls.
2. Jerusalem (Yerushalaim) was strategically positioned between the tribal territories of Judah and Benjamin, belonging fully to neither. By capturing a non-Israelite city, David avoided the political problem of ruling from any single tribe's territory -- a masterstroke that would make Jerusalem a truly national capital.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The word metsudah ('stronghold, fortress') comes from the root ts-w-d, meaning 'to hunt, to capture' -- the stronghold is named for its capacity to trap and defend. That David captures the capture-proof fortress is embedded in the word itself.
2. The identification hi ir David ('that is the City of David') is an editorial note that fixes the name for all subsequent readers. The City of David is not the entirety of later Jerusalem but specifically the original Jebusite citadel on the Ophel ridge -- a narrow spur south of what would become the Temple Mount.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The tsinnor is the crux of this verse. The word appears only here and in Psalm 42:8 (where it means 'waterfall' or 'water channel'). Most scholars connect it to Warren's Shaft or a similar underground water access point in ancient Jerusalem. The strategy would involve soldiers ascending through the water system to bypass the walls -- a commando-style infiltration that renders the 'impregnable' fortress vulnerable from within.
2. The verse's grammar is broken or compressed, likely because the narrator is summarizing a well-known military tradition in shorthand. The 1 Chronicles 11:6 parallel clarifies that Joab was the first to go up and thereby earned the position of commander -- a detail this verse implies but does not state.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The verb vayyeshev ('he settled, dwelt') marks the transition from conquest to residency -- David does not merely capture the citadel but makes it his permanent home. The renaming is an act of political claim: the anonymous Jebusite fortress becomes ir David, permanently associated with the new dynasty.
2. The Millo (from the root m-l-', 'to fill') refers to a terraced fill structure that expanded the usable area of Jerusalem's narrow ridge. Archaeological work on the southeastern hill has uncovered massive stone terracing that may correspond to this Millo. Building 'from the Millo inward' suggests David constructed or reinforced the outer terracing and then developed the interior -- a program of urban expansion that transformed a captured citadel into a royal capital.

Translator Notes

1. The title YHWH Elohei Tseva'ot ('the LORD God of Armies/Hosts') appears here to frame David's expanding power as divine, not merely political. The 'armies' may refer to Israel's forces, the angelic hosts, or the cosmic powers under God's command -- likely all three simultaneously. We render Tseva'ot as 'Armies' rather than the traditional 'hosts' to preserve the military force of the title.

Translator Notes

1. Hiram's initiative is significant: a foreign king sends materials and skilled labor to David unsolicited. This is diplomatic recognition from the most powerful commercial city on the Mediterranean coast. Tyre's cedar wood was the premier building material of the ancient Near East -- its use signaled wealth, permanence, and royal status. The construction of a bayit ('house, palace') in Jerusalem transforms David from a military occupier into an established monarch with international standing.
2. The word bayit ('house') will become theologically loaded in chapter 7, where God promises to build David a 'house' (dynasty) in return. Here the physical house foreshadows the dynastic house -- David builds a palace, and God will build a lineage.

Translator Notes

1. The verb hekino ('He established him') from the root k-w-n is the same root used in God's promise to establish David's throne forever (2 Samuel 7:12-16). The narrator anticipates the dynastic covenant by using its key vocabulary here.
2. The phrase ba'avur ammo Yisrael ('for the sake of His people Israel') is the theological corrective to royal self-aggrandizement. David's kingdom is instrumental -- it exists as a means to bless Israel, not as an end in itself.

Translator Notes

1. The narrator records this without explicit commentary, but the placement immediately after David's recognition that his kingdom serves God's people creates an implicit tension. Multiple marriages were standard practice for ancient Near Eastern kings -- they cemented political alliances and demonstrated royal status. Yet Deuteronomy 17:17 warns that the king 'must not acquire many wives for himself, or his heart will turn away.' The seeds of future crisis (Amnon, Absalom, Adonijah) are planted in this single verse.
2. The distinction between nashim ('wives') and pilagshim ('concubines') reflects legal status: wives had full marriage contracts and inheritance rights for their children, while concubines had a recognized but subordinate position.

Translator Notes

1. The list of sons born in Jerusalem signals dynastic establishment. Of these four, Nathan and Solomon are the most significant for later history. Solomon will succeed David as king, and Nathan appears in the genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3:31. The names themselves carry meaning: Shammua ('heard'), Shobab ('returned' or possibly 'rebellious'), Nathan ('He gave'), and Shelomoh/Solomon ('his peace, his wholeness').

Translator Notes

1. The names continue the dynastic register. Ibhar ('He chooses'), Elishua ('My God is salvation'), Nepheg ('sprout'), and Japhia ('He shines'). Several of these names are theophoric -- containing embedded references to God's character and action. The naming of royal sons was itself a theological statement: each name proclaimed something about the God who gave the king his dynasty.

Translator Notes

1. The final three sons all bear names beginning with El- ('God'): Elishama ('My God has heard'), Eliada ('God knows'), and Eliphelet ('My God is deliverance'). The concentration of theophoric names in David's household reflects the theological conviction that every child is a gift from God and every name is a confession of faith. The parallel list in 1 Chronicles 3:5-8 includes additional names, suggesting that this list may be selective rather than exhaustive.

Translator Notes

1. The Philistines had tolerated David as a Judahite vassal king ruling from Hebron -- a divided Israel served their interests. A united Israel under David was a different matter entirely, demanding immediate military response. The phrase kol Pelishtim ('all the Philistines') indicates a full military mobilization, not a raiding party.

Translator Notes

1. The verb vayyinateshu ('they spread out, deployed') is military language describing an army taking up battle positions across a wide area. The Valley of Rephaim (emeq Refa'im) lies southwest of Jerusalem, providing a natural invasion corridor toward the new capital. The name Rephaim carries overtones of the ancient giant warriors (cf. Genesis 15:20, Deuteronomy 2:11) and of the shades of the dead -- an ominous valley for a decisive confrontation.
2. The Philistines' choice of terrain is strategic: by occupying the valley between their territory and Jerusalem, they threaten to cut David off from Judah and reverse his consolidation of power.

Translator Notes

1. The inquiry was likely made through the priestly ephod, using the Urim and Thummim (cf. 1 Samuel 23:9-12, 30:7-8). David's two questions -- 'Should I go up?' and 'Will You give them to me?' -- seek both tactical permission and theological assurance. God answers both with a single response: go, and I will give.
2. The infinitive absolute construction naton etten ('giving I will give') expresses certainty and emphasis. God's promise is not conditional or tentative -- it is guaranteed.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The imagery of flooding water (perets mayim) would have been powerfully concrete in the Judean landscape, where flash floods in dry wadis could obliterate everything in their path. David compares God's assault on the Philistines to a flash flood -- sudden, total, and irresistible.
2. The name Ba'al Peratsim is provocative: ba'al ('master, lord') was the chief Canaanite deity, but David uses it as a common noun meaning 'master, possessor.' The LORD is the true Ba'al -- the true Master -- of the breakthrough. There may be deliberate theological polemic in this naming.

Translator Notes

1. The MT reads vayyissa'em ('they carried them away'), while the parallel in 1 Chronicles 14:12 reads vayyisarefu ba'esh ('they burned them with fire'), following the command of Deuteronomy 7:5, 25. The Chronicles version reflects the Torah's mandate to destroy captured idols. We follow the MT of Samuel, which simply records removal. Both traditions agree on the essential point: the Philistine gods were powerless.

Translator Notes

1. The Philistines' return to the same valley demonstrates both their determination and their failure to learn. The verb vayyosifu ('they did again, they continued') shows persistence -- a single defeat did not break their resolve. They deploy in the same location, expecting perhaps a different outcome. But this time God will give David a completely different strategy, demonstrating that the LORD is not bound to a single method and that David must inquire fresh each time.

Translator Notes

1. The bekha'im (plural of bakha, possibly related to bakhah, 'to weep') are usually identified as balsam trees, which exude a resinous sap that 'weeps' from the bark. Some scholars connect the name to the 'Valley of Baca' in Psalm 84:7. The exact species is uncertain, but the trees served as a geographic marker and would play a crucial role in the next verse.
2. The verb hasev ('circle around') is a military maneuver term -- David is to execute a flanking movement, coming at the Philistines from behind rather than meeting them head-on. This requires discipline and trust: the army must resist the instinct to charge and instead execute a patient encirclement.

Translator Notes

1. The qol tse'adah berashei habekha'im ('sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees') has fascinated interpreters for millennia. The word tse'adah means 'a step, a marching pace' -- it is the sound of feet, not wind. The narrator presents this as the audible evidence of God's heavenly army deploying through the forest canopy. Whether understood as a supernatural phenomenon or as God using the sound of wind as a tactical signal, the theological point is the same: God fights ahead of David.
2. The verb techarats (from the root ch-r-ts, 'to be sharp, to decide, to act decisively') appears only here and in a few other places. It conveys urgency and sharpness -- the moment the sound comes, David must strike without delay.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase ka'asher tsivvahu YHWH ('just as the LORD commanded him') is the narrator's final verdict on David's military conduct: complete obedience. This stands in sharp contrast to Saul, who repeatedly modified or ignored divine commands (1 Samuel 13:8-14, 15:1-23). The theological point is clear: obedience to God's specific instructions, even unconventional ones, produces victory.
2. Geba (or Gibeon, as some manuscripts and the LXX read) was a Benjaminite town north of Jerusalem. Gezer was a major Canaanite city on the western edge of the Shephelah, guarding the approach to the coastal plain. A rout extending from Geba to Gezer covers roughly twenty miles of pursuit -- the Philistine army was completely shattered.