Scripture Daily

Context No. 142 of 4322 · 1 Chronicles

Context · Reflection

1 Chronicles 12:16-22: in context

16Some of the children of Benjamin and Judah came to the stronghold to David. 17David went out to meet them, and answered them, “If you have come peaceably to me to help me, my heart will be united with you; but if you have come to betray me to my adversaries, since there is no wrong in my hands, may the God of our fathers see this and rebuke it.” 18Then the Spirit came on Amasai, who was chief of the thirty, and he said, “We are yours, David, and on your side, you son of Jesse. Peace, peace be to you, and peace be to your helpers; for your God helps you.” Then David received them and made them captains of the band. 19Some of Manasseh also joined David when he came with the Philistines against Saul to battle, but they didn’t help them, for the lords of the Philistines sent him away after consultation, saying, “He will desert to his master Saul to the jeopardy of our heads.” 20As he went to Ziklag, some from Manasseh joined him: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai, captains of thousands who were of Manasseh. 21They helped David against the band of raiders, for they were all mighty men of valor and were captains in the army. 22For from day to day men came to David to help him, until there was a great army, like God’s army.

David is an outlaw, hunted by Saul, holed up in a stronghold with a band of fighters. Men keep arriving to join him, and this passage is a group from Benjamin and Judah showing up. Benjamin is Saul's own tribe.

David goes out to meet them and does not assume anything. His greeting is a conditional: if you have come peaceably to help me, my heart will be knit to you, but if you have come to betray me to my enemies, since there is no wrong in my hands, may the God of our fathers see it and rebuke it. He names both possibilities out loud, to their faces, and leaves the judgment to God rather than putting them to a test.

Then the Spirit comes on Amasai, chief of the thirty, and he answers in verse: we are yours, David, and on your side, son of Jesse. Peace, peace to you, and peace to your helpers, for your God helps you. David receives them and makes them officers. He had no way to verify the oath. He asked the question plainly, listened to the answer, and then acted as though it were true. Where am I quietly testing someone I have already decided to work with, instead of asking them straight out?

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