Page:The Books of Chronicles (1916).djvu/151

Rh Ithmah the Moabite; Eliel, and Obed, and Jaasiel the Mezobaite. Now these are they that came to David to Ziklag, while he yet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish: and they were among the mighty men, his helpers in war. They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in slinging stones and in shooting arrows

47. the Mezobaite] Read perhaps, "of Zobah"; cp. ver. 38, note.

XII. 1—22 (not in Samuel).&emsp;

This section describes the gathering to David of helpers from Benjamin (vv. 1—7), Gad (8—15), Benjamin and Judah (16—18), and Manasseh (19—22)—before the death of Saul. It is entirely natural to suppose that the men who followed David in the days of Saul's enmity were rewarded when he became king, and their descendants might well be prominent families in the land. Whether any such survived the exilic period and continued in later Jerusalem we cannot say for certain, but it is probable that some names in this list are correct, though it is doubtful whether the Chronicler is drawing on contemporary family tradition or on written sources. The style, however, shows that the composition of the chapter is the Chronicler's, and the impression made by the whole should be contrasted with the picture of this period of David's life given in 1 Sam. xxii. 1 ff. In Sam. David is leader of a small band of his own immediate friends, augmented by adventurers and desperate men, and numbering in all some six hundred. In Chron. one gathers that his followers were the choice spirits of Israel and Judah, who rallied to his support until he had "a great host like the host of God." Beyond question the picture in Sam. is true to fact, that in Chron. being part of the idealisation of David as the perfect king, which the Chronicler (doubtless in full accord with the temper of his age) consistently presents. Its worth lies not in its historical accuracy, but in the religious enthusiasm which has produced it.

1—7.&emsp;

1. to Ziklag] David at Ziklag was a client of Achish, king of Gath (1 Sam. xxvii. 5, 6), so that Benjamites joining him put themselves under their hereditary enemies the Philistines.

while he yet kept himself close] Render, while he was yet shut up. David was shut in, as in a prison, and unable to move freely through the land of Israel.

2. both the right hand and the left] In Judg. xx. the Benjamites are said to have had seven hundred men lefthanded who could sling stones at a hair and not miss (ib. ver. 16). Cp. Judg. iii. 15.