2 Samuel 5:12

And David perceived that the LORD had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel's sake.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) For his people Israel’s sake.—David’s prosperity had not blinded him to the fact that his blessings came to him as the head of the theocracy, and for the sake of God’s chosen people.

Benson Commentary

2 Samuel 5:12. For his people Israel’s sake — Well would it be for mankind if all kings had the same view of the design of their exaltation to the sovereignty; if they considered themselves as being raised to their high station for the good of their people; that this is the great end of their appointment; the pursuit of this end their great duty; and the attainment of it their true glory. Certainly great and good kings of all ages have been of this way of thinking: they have believed, not that the people were created and ordained by God for the king, but the king for the people.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:11-16 David's house was not the worse, nor the less fit to be dedicated to God, for being built by the sons of the stranger. It is prophesied of the gospel church, The sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee, Isa 60:10. David's government was rooted and built up. David was established king; so is the Son of David, and all who, through him, are made to our God kings and priests. Never had the nation of Israel appeared so great as it began now to be. Many have the favour and love of God, yet do not perceive it, and so want the comfort of it; but to be exalted to that, and to perceive it, is happiness. David owned it was for his people's sake God had done great things for him; that he might be a blessing to them, and that they might be happy under him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hiram king of Tyre - Now mentioned for the first time. He survived David, and continued his friendship to Solomon (marginal references). The news of the capture of the city of the Jebusites had doubtless reached Tyre, and created a great impression of David's power.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

11, 12. Hiram … sent carpenters, and masons—The influx of Tyrian architects and mechanics affords a clear evidence of the low state to which, through the disorders of long-continued war, the better class of artisans had declined in Israel.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

By reflecting upon the promises which God had made. him, and the constant course of God’s providence favouring him.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And David perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel,.... By the prosperity and success which attended him in everything he set his hand to:

and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel's sake; for their advantage and glory more than for his own.

Geneva Study Bible

And David perceived that the LORD had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel's sake.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. And David perceived, &c.] The friendly co-operation of so powerful a king as Hiram, and the success of his enterprises in general, were unmistakeable proofs of divine favour.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - And David perceived. We may well believe that David had many seasons of despondency and misgiving after he became king. His subjects were brave and energetic, but turbulent, unwilling to obey, and but half-civilized. His election had put an end to civil war at home, but only to arouse the hatred of the enemies who had long oppressed them. The tragical fate, too, of Saul, who, after so many heroic struggles, had seen the earlier glories of his reign fade away, and had sought deliverance from his misery by suicide; all this must have often depressed his spirits. But gradually his fears passed away; and when he had twice defeated the Philistines, and been able to establish his rule, and with it some degree of orderly government throughout the twelve tribes, David saw in all this, and in the embassies from foreign nations, the proof, not of his own ability, but of Jehovah's purpose to exalt his kingdom for his people Israel's sake. In this David was still a man after God's own heart, in that he felt himself to be only an instrument for the doing, not his own will, but the purpose of his Divine Master. 2 Samuel 5:12

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"And David perceived (sc., from the success of his enterprises) that Jehovah had firmly established him king over Israel, and that He had exalted his kingdom for His people Israel's sake," i.e., because He had chosen Israel as His people, and had promised to make it great and glorious.

To the building of David's palace, there is appended in 2 Samuel 5:13-15 the account of the increase of his house by the multiplication of his wives and concubines, and of the sons who were born to him at Jerusalem (as in 1 Chronicles 14:3.). Taking many wives was indeed prohibited in the law of the king in Deuteronomy 17:17; but as a large harem was considered from time immemorial as part of the court of an oriental monarch, David suffered himself to be seduced by that custom to disregard this prohibition, and suffered many a heartburn afterwards in consequence, not to mention his fearful fall in consequence of his passion for Bathsheba. The concubines are mentioned before the wives, probably because David had taken many of them to Jerusalem, and earlier than the wives. In the Chronicles the concubines and omitted, though not "intentionally," as they are mentioned in 1 Chronicles 3:9; but as being of no essential importance in relation to the list of sons which follows, because no difference was made between those born of concubines and those born of wives. "Out of Jerusalem," i.e., away from Jerusalem: not that the wives were all born in Jerusalem, as the words which follow, "after he was come from Hebron," clearly show. In the Chronicles, therefore, it is explained as meaning "in Jerusalem." The sons are mentioned again both in 1 Chronicles 14:5-7 and in the genealogy in 1 Chronicles 3:5-8. Shammua is called Shimea in 1 Chronicles 3:5, according to a different pronunciation. Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon were sons of Bathsheba according to 1 Chronicles 3:5.