A Promise Fulfilled

With both Abner and his puppet king, Ishbosheth, now dead, all resistance to David among the northern tribes crumbles. It is apparent that no one of Saul’s lineage is qualified to inherit his crown. Therefore, the elders of the tribes that followed Abner and Ishbosheth come to David at Hebron, to submit to him and ask him to become their king. They present three reasons to back up their petition:

1. “We are your bone and your flesh.” David is an Israelite; he meets the divine command that the king must be “one from among your brethren” (Deut. 17:15). But the elders are emphasizing that they are David’s “bone” and “flesh.” They are saying that they know he will care for them as he does for his own body, for he has a benevolent concern that befits a king.
2. David served well under Saul, leading Israel to military victories. They know that he will lead the nation well.
3. Above all, “The Lord said to you, ‘You shall shepherd My people Israel, and be ruler over Israel.'” It is not clear whether this is an actual quote of God’s words through Samuel or another prophet, but God clearly communicated this intent when He anointed David as king. Interestingly, the elders characterize David’s calling as that of a shepherd. In his commentary on 2 Samuel, Matthew Henry writes, “Princes are to feed their people as shepherds, in every thing consulting the subjects’ benefit, feeding them and not fleecing them.”

David accepts the petition of the elders and agrees to fulfill his calling as king. In the presence of God, he enters into a covenant with his subjects, something Saul never did, as far as we know from Scripture. “He obliged himself to protect them as their judge in peace and captain in war,” Henry writes, “and they obliged themselves to obey him. He made a league with them to which God was a witness.”

Then David is anointed for a third time. The first was a private anointing, intended primarily to shape his own self-understanding and sense of call. The second was to a partial reign—the kingship of the tribe of Judah. This third anointing is to the kingship of all Israel. Now God’s choice for the throne is at last recognized and accepted by the people after the disastrous reign of their own king, Saul. And so David begins his 33-year reign over all Israel.