Глава 12

1–22. Number of warriors from the tribe of Benjamin (2–7), Gad (8–15), Judah and Manasseh (19–22), who went over to David’s side during the reign of David in Hebron. Contents of chapter. XII in its details has no parallel in the book. Kings, but the fact that she notes that many people went over to David’s side is confirmed by testimony (1 Sam. 22:2). 1 Chronicles 12:1. And these also came to David in Ziklag, while he was still hiding from Saul the son of Kish, and were of the brave men who helped in the battle. The duration of David's stay in Ziklah is calculated (1 Sam. 27:7) at one year and four months. 1 Chronicles 12:2. Armed with a bow, throwing stones with the right and left hand and shooting arrows from a bow - from the brothers of Saul, from Benjamin: Wed. (1 Chronicles 8:40) and (2 Chronicles 17:17). 1 Chronicles 12:4. Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a valiant man of the thirty, and ruler over the thirty; Jeremiah, Jahaziel, Johanan and Jozabad of Gedera. The absence of the name “Ishmaiah” among the names of persons (1 Chronicles 11) is explained by the death of this companion of David at the time of compiling this list. “Ishmaiah”, a resident of Gedera, a city of the tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:36), can hardly be counted among the tribe of Benjamin, as required (1 Chronicles 12:2). 1 Chronicles 12:6. Elkanah, Ishshiyahu, Azariel, Joezer, and Joshavam, the Korahites; “Koreans” is a Levitical surname: its representatives could also live in the tribe of Benjamin. Others identify Korah, the ancestor of the persons listed here, with Korah from the tribe of Judah (1 Chronicles 2:43); then he, as well as the persons of the verse (1 Chronicles 12:7) will be Jews. 1 Chronicles 12:8. And from the Gadites a brave, warlike people, armed with a shield and a spear, went to David into the fortification, into the desert; The faces of lions are their faces, and they are swift as chamois on the mountains. The transition to David's side of the Gadites could have fallen during the first years of his persecution by Saul, when he was fleeing from him in the fortified areas of the Judean desert (1 Samuel 23:14,24:1). Regarding the characteristics of the Gadites, cf. (2 Kings 1:23) and (2 Kings 2:18). 1 Chronicles 12:16. The sons of Benjamin and Judah also came to strengthen David. The names of the Jews and Benjamites who went over to David's side are not reported either because they were not in the source used by the author of Chronicles, or because they were mentioned in the chapter (1 Chronicles 11). 1 Chronicles 12:17. David came out to meet them and said to them: If you came to me in peace to help me, then let me have one heart with you; and if in order to treacherously betray me to my enemies, while there is no blemish in my hands, then may God see our fathers and judge. David’s question is quite understandable in view of the facts of betrayal known from the history of his persecution by Saul (1 Samuel 23:19,24:2). 1 Chronicles 12:18. And the spirit of Amasai, the head of the thirty, came upon him, and he said, Peace be with thee, and with thee, David, the son of Jesse; peace to you, and peace to your helpers; for your God helps you. Then David received them and put them at the head of the army. Amasai is the brother of David's sister Abigail (1 Chronicles 2:17). “Your God helps you” is almost an indication of (1 Samuel 23:12). 1 Chronicles 12:19. And some of the tribe of Manasseh went over to David when he went with the Philistines to war against Saul, but did not help them, because the leaders of the Philistines, having consulted, sent him away, saying: He will go over to his master Saul on our head. 1 Chronicles 12:20. When he was returning to Ziklag, then Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu and Zilthai, commanders of the Manassehs, came over to him from the Manassehs. 1 Chronicles 12:21. And they helped David against the hordes, for they were all brave men and were leaders in the army. The joining of the Manashites to David falls at the end of Saul’s reign, during the time before the battle on the mountains of Gilboa (1 Samuel 28:1–2, 29:1). They helped him in the extermination of the Amalekites (1 Samuel 30:8,15), as can be judged by the fact that in the indicated place they were the last to adopt the name “hordes.” 1 Chronicles 12:23. This is the number of the chief men in the army who came to David in Hebron to hand over to him the kingdom of Saul, according to the word of the Lord: 1 Chronicles 12:24. the sons of Judah, bearing a shield and a spear, were six thousand eight hundred ready for war; 1 Chronicles 12:25. Of the sons of Simeon, brave men, there were seven thousand and one hundred in the army; 1 Chronicles 12:26. of the sons of Levi four thousand six hundred; 1 Chronicles 12:27. and Joddai, the prince of the tribe of Aaron, and with him three thousand seven hundred; 1 Chronicles 12:28. and Zadok the valiant youth, and his family, twenty-two rulers; 1 Chronicles 12:29. of the sons of Benjamin, the brothers of Saul, three thousand, but many more of them kept to the house of Saul; 1 Chronicles 12:30. Of the sons of Ephraim, twenty thousand eight hundred men of courage, men of renown in their generations; 1 Chronicles 12:31. from the half-tribe of Manasseh, eighteen thousand, who were called by name to go and make David king; 1 Chronicles 12:32. From the sons of Issachar came men of understanding, who knew what Israel should do when they were—they were two hundred chief, and all their brothers followed their word; 1 Chronicles 12:33. from the tribe of Zebulun, ready for battle, armed with all kinds of weapons of war, fifty thousand, in ranks, unanimous; 1 Chronicles 12:34. from the tribe of Naphtali a thousand leaders, and with them thirty-seven thousand with shields and spears; 1 Chronicles 12:35. of the tribe of Dan twenty-eight thousand six hundred ready for war; 1 Chronicles 12:36. from Asher there were forty thousand warriors ready for battle; 1 Chronicles 12:37. from beyond the Jordan, from the tribe of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, one hundred and twenty thousand, with all kinds of weapons of war. 1 Chronicles 12:38. All these soldiers, in ranks, with full hearts came to Hebron to make David king over all Israel. And all the other Israelites were unanimous in making David king. 1 Chronicles 12:39. And they stayed there with David three days, eating and drinking, because their brothers had prepared everything for them; 1 Chronicles 12:40. and those close to them, even to the tribe of Issachar, Zebulun and Naphtali, brought everything edible on donkeys, and camels, and mules, and oxen: flour, figs, and raisins, and wine, and oil, and large and small livestock in abundance, since there was joy for Israel. The huge number of soldiers who participated in David’s accession to Hebron (339,000) does not represent anything strange, if we take into account the number of Jews capable of war in the age of Moses - 600,000 (Exodus 12:37) and under David - 800,000 Israelis and 500,000 Jews (2 Sam. 24:9). The only thing that is somewhat striking is the unevenness in the number of those who came from different tribes: 120,000 from the East Jordanian tribes (verse 37), 50,000 from the tribe of Zebulun (verse 33), 37,000 from Naphtali (verse 34) and 40,000 from Assir - figures several times higher than the number of soldiers from the tribe of Judah (6 800 – art. 24), Simeonov (7 100 – art. 25), Levin, etc. But as for the Benjamites, their small number is due to their loyalty to the house of Saul (verse 29). The reason for the small number of those who came from Judah and Simeon is that the soldiers of these two tribes had long been on the side of David, due to which there was no need to list them again. The tribe of Ephraim, which numbered only 40,500 soldiers at Sinai (Num. 2:19) and 32,500 in the fields of Moab (Num. 26:37), was even more weakened by the wars of Saul with the Philistines, and partly of Abner with the same people, and therefore could not field as large a number of them as the other tribes. In addition, Ephraim, who had always been not particularly friendly towards Judah, had no special motivation to promote David's accession to the throne. Finally, the Zebulun tribe, which numbered 57,400 and 60,500 soldiers under Moses, and 53,400 and 45,400 under Naphtali (Num. 2:8,30,26:27,50), could easily field under David the first - 50,000, the second 33,000 armed. You might be interested in: