Attributed commentary excerpt
Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Chronicles 12:1
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Commentary on the Old Testament
C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch · 19th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
The Benjamites who came to David to Ziklag. - Ch1 12:1. Ziklag was originally allotted to the Simeonites by Joshua ( Jos 19:5; Ch1 4:30), but at a later time came into possession of the Philistines, and was assigned and presented by king Achish to David, who had fled for refuge to him, as a dwelling-place for himself and his followers; see Sa1 27:1-7. As to its situation, which has not yet been with certainty ascertained, see the discussion on Jos 15:31. In it David dwelt for a year and four months, until he went to Hebron on the death of Saul. During this time it was that the warriors of the tribe of Benjamin mentioned in the succeeding register went over to him, as we learn from the words עצוּר עוד, "he was still held back before Saul," a concise expression for "while he was still held back before Saul." This last expression, however, does not signify, "hindered from coming before Saul" (Berth.), but inter Israelitas publice versari prohibitus (J. H. Mich.), or rather, "before Saul, imprisoned as it were, without being able to appear in a manner corresponding to his divine election to be ruler over Israel." בגב והמּה, and they were among the heroes, i.e., belonged to the heroes, the helpers of the war, i.e., to those who helped him in his former wars; cf. Ch1 12:17., 21f. Ch1 12:2-4 קשׁת נשׁקי, "those preparing bows," i.e., those armed with bows, synonymous with קשׁת דּרכי ( Ch1 8:40); cf. Ch2 17:17; Psa 78:9. "With the right and left hand practised upon stones," i.e., to hurl stones, cf. Jdg 20:16; "and in arrows on the bow," i.e., to shoot therewith. שׁאוּל מאחי, of Saul's brethren, i.e., of the men of the tribe, not "of his nearer relatives," and consequently of Benjamin, has been added as an explanation; cf. Ch1 12:29, where בנימן בּני and שׁאוּל אחי are synonyms. - In Ch1 12:3. we have the names. הראשׁ, the head, i.e., the leader of this host of warriors; compare Ch1 5:7, Ch1 5:12. הגּבעתי, cf. Gibeah of Saul or Benjamin, cf. Ch1 11:31; and for its situation, see on Jos 18:28. הענתתי, from the priests' city Anathoth, now Anata; see on Jos 18:24. In Ch1 12:4 the Gibeonite Ismaiah is called "hero among the thirty, and over the thirty," - words which can hardly have any other sense than that Ismaiah belonged also to David's corps of thirty heroes (1 Chron 11), and was (temporarily) their leader, although his name does not occur in 1 Chron 11. It is probable that the reason of the omission was, that at the time when the list was prepared he was no longer alive. הגּדרתי, of Gedera, a city of the tribe of Judah in the Shephelah, which, according to Van de Velde (Reise, ii. S. 166), was probably identical with the village Ghedera, which lies to the left of the road Tel-es-Safieh to Akir, about an hour to the south-west of Jabne. In any case, it corresponds well with the statements of the Onom. As to Gedrus, or Gaedur, see on Jos 15:36. Immediately afterwards in Ch1 12:7 Gedor is mentioned, a city in the mountains of Judah, to the westward of the road which leads from Hebron to Jerusalem (see on Jos 15:58); and from that fact Bertheau imagines we must conclude that the men of Judah are enumerated as well as the Benjamites. But this conclusion is not valid; for from the very beginning, when the domains and cities were assigned to the individual tribes under Joshua, they were not the exclusive possession of the individual tribes, and at a later period they were still less so. In course of time the respective tribal domains underwent (in…
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