1 CHRONICLES 12


1 Now these are they that came to David to [Tziklag], while he yet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish: and they were among the mighty men, helpers of the war.

A town near to Israel's southwestern border.‭ ‬It was given to David by the Philistine king Achish when David was fleeing from Saul‭ ...

And David said unto Achish,‭ ‬If I have now found grace in thine eyes,‭ ‬let them give me a place in some town in the country,‭ ‬that I may dwell there:‭ ‬for why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee‭? ‬

Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day:‭ ‬wherefore Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this day.‭ ‬ And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months - 1‭ ‬Sam‭ ‬27:5‭–‬7.‭

He lived there ‭ ‬until Saul's death...after enquiring of Yahweh and receiving answer he removed to Judah to consolidate his kingdom whereupon he was anointed King - 2 Sam 2: 1-7.



38 All these men of war, that could keep rank, came with a perfect heart to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel: and all the rest also of Israel were of one heart to make David king.

The Royal House of the Kingdom


Though the kingdom belonged to Yahweh,

"the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords: who only hath deathlessness, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see," 1 Tim. 6:15

-though He is Israel's eternal, incorruptible, and invisible King, 1 Tim. 1:17-yet he had predetermined that his kingdom should be ruled by a visible representative of his majesty. He resolved, however, that the occasion developing his purpose of choosing a Vicegerent, should be a manifestation of their disaffection to himself-1 Sam. 8:7. He provided for the exigency in the Mosaic Law, saying to Israel,

"When thou art come into the possession of the land, and shalt say, "I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are about me;" thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee whom the Lord thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, who is not thy brother."-Deut. 17:14.

Hence, the law contemplated the establishment of the kingly office, which was at some future period to be inherited by the Seed of Abraham, who is to possess the gate of his enemies; and in whom all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.-Gen. 22:17, 18.

But neither the covenant confirmed to Abraham, nor the covenant promulgated through Moses, defined the tribe and family whence the person should be manifested as the progenitor or father of the Seed; though it was understood in Israel from the prophecy of Jacob, that He should come of the tribe of Judah, and that there should be "unto him the obedience of the peoples," or tribes-ve-lo yiquhath ammim.

To determine the things, then, which were undefined in the covenant with Abraham, and the superadded covenant of Moses, Yahweh availed himself of the rejection of himself by the nation, to choose for it a king from whom Shiloh should descend to rule the tribes when established under the New Constitution of the kingdom. He gave them a king in his anger, and took him away in his wrath.-Hos. 13:11.

He gave them Saul, son of Kish of the tribe of Benjamin; but as he did not do all his will upon the idolatrous tribes around Israel, Yahweh set him aside, and chose a better man. This was David, son of Jesse of the tribe of Judah. He was born in the 29th year of Eli's judgship, and was 11 years and 5 months old at the capture of the ark by the Philistines at the battle of Ebenezer.

In the 18 years and 7 months, which succeeded, he killed the lion and the bear, smote Goliah, was anointed Yahweh's king elect to rule his people Israel, and passed through much tribulation that he might inherit the kingdom, if approved. Saul was killed in battle; and David succeeded him, first as king of Judah, and two years afterwards as sole king in Israel.

He had long wars with the surrounding nations, which at length ended in their conquest and an enduring peace. In his career as a king raised up to execute Yahweh's vengeance upon the heathen, he acquitted himself as "a man after God's own heart;" and with all his faults, as one "of whom the world was not worthy;" because he honored God by devout and earnest faith in

"his word, which he has magnified above all his name."-Heb. 11:32, 38; Ps. 138:2; Acts 13:22.

David being approved as a suitable progenitor of "the Seed," Yahweh made an everlasting covenant with him, which he confirmed with an oath. By this he established the sovereignty of his family over Israel for ever. Henceforth, the House of David was the royal house of the kingdom of God; and to rebel against David, or a descendant of his, lawfully occupying his throne, was to rebel against Yahweh himself to whom the throne and kingdom as certainly belonged as if he had no visible representative in Jerusalem.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, 1.9.