Questions from the Scripture text: Whom does 1 Chronicles 11:10 introduce? Whom did they strengthen? To what end? According to what? Which ones do 1 Chronicles 11:11-14 cover? What did they achieve? What event showed both their courage and their love to David (1 Chronicles 11:15-18)? How does David use the water for something more glorious than slaking thirst (1 Chronicles 11:18-19)? Whom do 1 Chronicles 11:20-25 cover? What were their achievements? Finally, whom do 1 Chronicles 11:26-47 list? What is unique about listing the men from locations outside of Judah (1 Chronicles 11:41-47, cf. 2 Samuel 23:24–39)? Whom else does 1 Chronicles 12:1 begin to list? What were their skills (1 Chronicles 12:2)? What was their tribe? How many are listed in 1 Chronicles 12:3-7? Which of them was mighty enough to be associated with the 30? Whom else are listed in 1 Chronicles 12:8-15? From what tribe? With what traits? What event does 1 Chronicles 12:16 begin to retell? How does David greet them (1 Chronicles 12:17)? Who answers (1 Chronicles 12:18)? How is he enabled to give this answer? What does he answer? With what concluding statement? How does David respond to this? From what tribe do the men in 1 Chronicles 12:19-22 come? Against whom do they help him? What effect does all of this accumulation have (1 Chronicles 12:22)? What does 1 Chronicles 12:23 begin to number? For what were these divisions equipped? To whom did they come? Where? To do what? According to what? How many from which tribe (1 Chronicles 12:24)? And how many from which other (1 Chronicles 12:25)? And how many from which other (1 Chronicles 12:26), with what divisions and leaders (1 Chronicles 12:27-28)? And how many from which tribe (1 Chronicles 12:29)? Noting what change, at this point? And how many from which tribe (1 Chronicles 12:30)? Of what quality? And how many of which tribe (1 Chronicles 12:31)? Chosen how? To do what? And how many of which tribe (1 Chronicles 12:32)? Of what quality? And how many of what tribe (1 Chronicles 12:33)? Of what quality? And how many of what tribe (1 Chronicles 12:34)? And how many of which tribe (1 Chronicles 12:35)? And how many of which tribe (1 Chronicles 12:36)? And how many of which other tribes, from where (1 Chronicles 12:37)? How does 1 Chronicles 12:38 summarize them? To where did they come? With what sort of heart? To do what? How long were they with him (1 Chronicles 12:39)? Doing what? How was this possible? Who were bringing, what provisions, from where (1 Chronicles 12:40)? Why were they doing this—what was in Israel?
What is it like to be gathered to God’s anointed King? 1 Chronicles 11:10–12:40 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seventy-six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God gives His people head, heart, and hand for service to, and joy in, His anointed King.
“For there was joy in Israel” (1 Chronicles 12:40). It was the Word of YHWH for the sake of His people that brought about the reign of His anointed king.
“According to the Word of YHWH concerning Israel” (1 Chronicles 11:10) is the controlling text for 1 Chronicles 11:10-37. All of these mighty men and divisions of soldiers. From all of these different places. Coming to David, even while he was at Ziklag in exile. Coming to David when the throne was vacant, and he was at Hebron, with the same thing noted: “according to the Word of YHWH” (1 Chronicles 12:23). Coming to David with Spirit-inspired words of prophecy, “Peace, peace to you, and peace to your helpers! For your God helps you” (1 Chronicles 11:18).
Paying attention to the extra comments throughout the passage drives home what the Lord was doing for His Anointed and for His people.
Consider how the Lord prepared the men themselves with both a heart of courage, and a heart of loyalty and love, for His Anointed. The drink of water from the well of Bethlehem (1 Chronicles 11:15-19) most exemplifies this. Because of what the Lord had done in their hearts, and through their hands for His Anointed, David sees the water as too holy to drink, and offers it instead as worship unto God (1 Chronicles 11:19). The exploits of the mighty men (1 Chronicles 11:11-25) are matched by a longer list in 1 Chronicles 11:26-47 than that in 2 Samuel 23:24–39. There, Samuel’s conclusion with Uriah the Hittite (Bathsheba’s husband) portended the doom of the exile. Here, Ezra’s reminding them that David is a type of Christ leads to the further inclusion of men from outside the area of Judah—showing that the Lord was gathering to David all of His people from all of the places throughout Israel. It was the Lord Who prepared them for His Anointed as “mighty men” and “helpers in the war” (1 Chronicles 12:1), capable with many weapons and ambidextrous (1 Chronicles 12:2), “mighty men of valor, men trained for battle, who could handle shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as gazelles on the mountains” (1 Chronicles 12:8), “mighty men of valor” (1 Chronicles 12:21), “mighty men of valor fit for war” (1 Chronicles 12:25), “mighty men of valor” 1 Chronicles 12:30, “expert in war with all weapons of war, stouthearted men who could keep ranks” (1 Chronicles 12:33), “who could keep battle formation” (1 Chronicles 12:35), “those who could go out to war, able to keep battle formation” (1 Chronicles 12:36).
There were, among them, many who could lead, who had been captains already, and most importantly, men who could follow “men of war, who could keep ranks” (1 Chronicles 12:38). The word translated “loyal” in verse 38, is actually from “shalom.” Their wholeheartedness toward David was an expression of the peace of God toward His Anointed, prophesied in 1 Chronicles 12:18. Indeed the Lord had prepared the hearts of His people—all His people from all of the land and all of the tribes. It wasn’t just the mighty men. It took the effort of the whole of the people to bring together the flour and figs and raisin cakes and wine and oil and oxen and sheep, bringing food on donkeys and camels and mules and oxen (1 Chronicles 12:40). When “all Israel came together” (cf. 11:1) to covenant with David before YHWH (cf. 1 Chronicles 11:3), according to the Word of YHWH (cf. 1 Chronicles 11:2–3), it was a cumulative effort of the entire nation together, with the cumulative rejoicing over the entire nation in 1 Chronicles 12:40.
The sins of David had led, ultimately, to the sorrow of the nation in the exile. But now they were returned. And the principle behind David: that YHWH is gathering all of His people to His Anointed, and blessing their hearts and their hands unto Him and His service… that continued. This was the principle that Ezra was setting before the returned exiles as the Chronicler. And this principle the Lord continues to set before you. All of His training of your heart, head, and hands is unto the gathering of His people unto the Anointed, the Christ. It is for the good and glory of His people, unto the glory of His Anointed, His Christ. All according to His Word.
It can be easy to bog down in the details of life. As it must have been for them, in the daily discipline of training with weapons, or manually plowing fields, or weeding, or protecting crops, or all of the things necessary, for all of the time spent, to produce all of the things that would ultimately come into use as the Lord gathered His people to His king. And now, in rebuilding from the exile, there would be many such details of life. Your own life is full of details, perhaps few of them military or agrarian, but all of them, ultimately for the earthly and eternal good of Christ’s people, as a service onto Christ the King. We must look to the Lord to give us hearts toward Christ that move hands in daily training and service. Whether you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all of it in union with Christ, as service unto the Lord (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:31), Who is gathering His people, unto His King, for their peace in His glory (cf. Psalm 72).
Who is the Lord’s Anointed now? Whom is God gathering to Him, for what purpose? What daily and weekly tasks seem tedious to you? How does the description of His work in the people’s hearts and hands encourage you about your own heart and hands?
Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for gathering Your people to Your Anointed, and equipping them for their good and His glory. Forgive us for being forgetful that all that we do with our heads, hearts, and hands is for the service of Christ. We bog down in weariness and discouragement. We go astray in self-indulgence, and self-glory. We often live as if we were king, or had no king, rather than living entirely for Christ, our King. Thus, we have fallen short in both service and joy. Please forgive us by His blood, and help us by His life, we ask in His Name, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP72C “May Waving Grain on Hilltops Thrive” or TPH406 “Jesus, with Thy Church Abide”
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