David is anointed King over Israel
1 All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “We are your bone and flesh.
2 In the past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led Israel. And Yahweh said to you, ‘You shall be the shepherd of my people Israel and you shall be commander over Israel.”
3 Before Yahweh, King David made an agreement with the elders of Israel who came to him at Hebron, and they anointed him king of Israel.
4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for forty years:
5 he reigned over Judah, from Hebron, seven and a half years; and over Israel and Judah, from Jerusalem, for thirty-three years.
David captures Jerusalem
6 The king and his men set out for Jerusalem to fight the Jebusites who lived there. They said to David, “If you try to break in here, the blind and the lame will drive you away,” which meant that David could not get in.
7 Yet David captured the fortress of Zion that became the “city of David.”
8 That day David said, “Whoever wants to defeat the Jebusites, let him reach these lame and blind, David’s enemies, through the tunnel for fetching water.” From this came the saying, “The blind and the lame shall not enter the house.”
9 David lived in the fortress, calling it the City of David, and proceeded to build the city around it, from the Millo and inside as well.
10 And David grew more powerful, for Yahweh, the God of hosts, was with him.
11 Hiram, king of Tyre, sent messengers to David with cedar trees, carpenters and masons to build a house for David.
12 David then under stood that Yahweh had made him king over Israel and had exalted his reign for the sake of his people Israel.
13 After David had come from Hebron he took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.
14 These are the names of those who were born to him in Jeru salem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,
15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia,
16 Elishama, Eliada and Eliphelet.
17 When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king of Israel, they went to search for him. On hearing this, David went down to the stronghold.
18 When the Philis tines overran the valley of Rephaim,
19 David consulted Yahweh, “Shall I attack the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hands?” Yahweh answered David, “Go ahead, for I will certainly deliver the Philistines into your hands.”
20 So David came to Baalperazim where he defeated them. He said, “Yahweh has scattered my enemies before me like a sudden bursting flood.” That is why that place is called Baalperazim.
21 There the Philistines left their idols and David and his men picked them up.
22 The Philistines went up again and overran the valley of Rephaim.
23 David consulted Yahweh who said, “Do not go up straight but circle around and attack them from behind when you are in front of the balsam trees.
24 Once you hear a marching sound on top of the balsam trees, act quickly, for Yahweh is going ahead of you to attack the Philistine army.”
25 David obeyed Yahweh’s command and struck down the Philistines from Giba to as far as Gezer.
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Comments 2 Samuel, Chapter 5
• 5.1 This is a great day for David and for Israel. Those from the north acknowledge him as king, and the unity of all Israel is achieved. The tribes in the north were separated from those in the south by the district of Jerusalem, which was in the hands of the Canaanites. David conquers Jerusalem which becomes the capital of this united kingdom.
It is a definitive stage. God turns Jerusalem into the visible center of his presence among people.
Later, the one and only temple of God will be in Jerusalem, and the true kings of the people of God will be those who rule in Jerusalem. Jerusalem will be the image of the Church and Christians will know that after the Jerusalem of Palestine, God has promised them another Jerusalem – that of heaven (see Rev 20 and 21).
Jerusalem is the image of heaven and, at the same time, of the church on earth. Often, in the Bible, Jerusalem is called Zion, since this was the name of the more ancient part of Jeru salem. It was also called the “City of David.”
In the Bible, the unity achieved between the northern and southern tribes is a visible sign that they are living in God’s grace: all unfaithfulness toward God leads to a division among people, and all such division is a sin against God.