Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: 2 Samuel 5:1-10, 1 Chronicles 11-12.
Today David becomes king of all Israel, and we find ourselves in two books of the Bible as we see the story unfold.
If you have been a regular reader of my blog, you will know that I love to hop out into archaeology to help bring perspective to our narratives.
David needed a city to rule Israel, and his current location (Hebron) evidently wasn't a good one. Therefore, David captured Jerusalem, which many before him tried and failed.
Here are notes from the ESV Study Bible:
"The account of David's kingship over Israel starts with the capture of Jerusalem, on the boundary between Judah and Benjamin. It had not been controlled by any tribe, and thus it was both symbolically and geographically better suited to be the capital of all Israel than Hebron (in central Judah). Jerusalem was the “Salem” of Melchizedek (Gen. 14:18). It has been fortified since the Middle Bronze Age, i.e., the first half of the second millennium b.c. In the second half of the millennium it was one of the city-states of Canaan that was under the influence of Egypt. Several letters from the king of Jerusalem to the pharaoh exist among the fourteenth-century Amarna letters. The Jebusites are listed among the Canaanites in Gen. 10:16 and, broadly speaking, were considered to be among the Amorites (Josh. 10:5). The city was too strong to be conquered at the time of Joshua (Josh. 15:63; Judg. 1:21). The Jebusite city, the stronghold of Zion, was located on the western slope of the Kidron Valley above the city's water source, the spring of Gihon. An extensive network of water tunnels has been excavated, one of which was probably the water shaft through which David's men entered the city. This water shaft is often identified with “Warren's Shaft,” which is directly over the water channel near the spring, though recent archaeological finds have challenged this. According to 1 Chron. 11:6, Joab led the attack and was therefore made David's chief commander."
Here are more photographs of Warren's Shaft, and an interesting article as to whether this is the actual shaft used by Joab to capture Jerusalem.
These are wonderful times for David, and all of Israel. Unfortunately, we are about to reach the summit of David's kingship, and with the affair of Bathsheba we will begin to see a decline of David's blessing with God.
But until then, let's bask in Israel's glory. We are soon to learn of God's covenant with David.