Read 1 Chronicles 11 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
11:1-3 {s} All Israel came to David at Hebron to anoint him king over all the people of Israel
11:4-9 {p} David captured Jerusalem and it became his capital city
11:10 {s} The heads of David’s mighty men, who strengthened him to make him king
11:11-21 {s} David’s three chief mighty men, and Abishai, and their deeds
11:22-25 {s} Benaiah, one of the mighty men, and his great deeds
11:26-47 {p} The rest of David’s mighty men
The Strong themes:
11:1-9 {s+p} All Israel came to David at Hebron to anoint him king/ Jerusalem, his capital city
11:10-47 {sx3+p} David’s mighty men and their great deeds, who strengthened him to make him king
The Chiastic structure:
These were the chiefs of the mighty men, who were for David, who strengthened themselves with him in his kingdom, with all Israel, to make him king, according to the word of YHVH concerning Israel. {s} 1 Chr 11:10
Why did the chiefs of the mighty men, who were for David, need to strengthen themselves with him in his kingdom to make him king, when all Israel supported his kingship?
1 Chronicles 10 ends with Saul’s death and the victory of the Philistines. 1 Chronicles 11 opens with all Israel gathering at Hebron to make David king. But the two events were separated by seven and a half years (2 Sam 2:11, 2 Sam 5:1-5). In between,
1) Judah made David king over Judah at Hebron (2 Sam 2:4), while the rest of Israel accepted Saul’s son Ishbosheth as king (2 Sam 2:9, “and over all Israel”). Ishbosheth was made king in Mahanaim across the Jordan in Gad’s territory (2 Sam 2:8), because the Philistines were occupying northern and central Israel west of the Jordan.
2) There was a long civil war between the house of David and the house of Saul, in which David grew stronger and stronger, while Saul’s house grew weaker and weaker (2 Sam 3:1).
3) There were political power plays. Abner, Ishbosheth’s commander, was undermining him (2 Sam 3:6-11), and Joab, David’s commander, was undermining him (2 Sam 3:22-30).
4) The Philistines occupied abandoned cities in central and northern Israel.
Therefore the chiefs of David’s mighty men “strengthened themselves with him” in both physical power and in courageous resolve amid civil war and Philistine threats.
It reminds me of:
“From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven is being forced, and the forceful are seizing it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John.” Mat 11:12-13
Approximately twenty years passed from the time David was anointed king by God’s prophet (1 Sam 16:13), until he was anointed king over all Israel by God’s people (1 Chr 11:1-3). And in between there were heroic deeds, war with Philistines, daring battles requiring might and valor, political intrigues, and harrowing escapes. It’s not that violent men seize the kingdom to do wrong. But men of courage and resolve strengthen themselves to persevere through obstacles, so that they enter into the thing that was ordained for them by God.
If there are questions, this is a good resource:
Luke 16, The unavoidable kingdom of God – Christine Miller
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