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Context No. 2005 of 4322 · 1 Chronicles

Context · Reflection

1 Chronicles 12:23-40: in context

23These are the numbers of the heads of those who were armed for war, who came to David to Hebron to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according to the LORD’s word. 24The children of Judah who bore shield and spear were six thousand eight hundred, armed for war. 25Of the children of Simeon, mighty men of valor for the war: seven thousand one hundred. 26Of the children of Levi: four thousand six hundred. 27Jehoiada was the leader of the household of Aaron; and with him were three thousand seven hundred, 28and Zadok, a young man mighty of valor, and of his father’s house twenty-two captains. 29Of the children of Benjamin, Saul’s relatives: three thousand, for until then, the greatest part of them had kept their allegiance to Saul’s house. 30Of the children of Ephraim: twenty thousand eight hundred, mighty men of valor, famous men in their fathers’ houses. 31Of the half-tribe of Manasseh: eighteen thousand, who were mentioned by name, to come and make David king. 32Of the children of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, their heads were two hundred; and all their brothers were at their command. 33Of Zebulun, such as were able to go out in the army, who could set the battle in array with all kinds of instruments of war: fifty thousand who could command and were not of double heart. 34Of Naphtali: one thousand captains, and with them with shield and spear thirty-seven thousand. 35Of the Danites who could set the battle in array: twenty-eight thousand six hundred. 36Of Asher, such as were able to go out in the army, who could set the battle in array: forty thousand. 37On the other side of the Jordan, of the Reubenites, the Gadites, and of the half-tribe of Manasseh, with all kinds of instruments of war for the battle: one hundred twenty thousand. 38All these were men of war who could order the battle array, and came with a perfect heart to Hebron to make David king over all Israel; and all the rest also of Israel were of one heart to make David king. 39They were there with David three days, eating and drinking; for their brothers had supplied provisions for them. 40Moreover those who were near to them, as far as Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali, brought bread on donkeys, on camels, on mules, and on oxen: supplies of flour, cakes of figs, clusters of raisins, wine, oil, cattle, and sheep in abundance; for there was joy in Israel.

The Chronicler records the numbers of armed men from every tribe who came to David at Hebron to make him king, thousands upon thousands from Judah, Simeon, Levi, Benjamin, Ephraim, and all the rest. And he sums up the spirit of the gathering: all these were men of war who came with a whole heart to Hebron to make David king, and all the rest of Israel were of one heart to do the same. They stayed three days, eating and drinking; for there was joy in Israel.

The note the Chronicler dwells on is not the size of the army but the unity of heart: all Israel came of one heart to make David king. The tribes, so often divided, so prone to rivalry, came together of one accord, united in a common purpose, and the result was joy. There was joy in Israel, the passage ends, the gladness of a people united in heart toward a shared aim, set aside their divisions to act as one. The unity and the joy go together; the people of one heart rejoiced together. There is something worth desiring here. God's people are prone to division, to rivalry, to the fracturing of many hearts pulling in many directions; and division brings not joy but strife. But here is a picture of God's people of one heart, united toward a common purpose, and of the joy that such unity brings. How good and pleasant it is, the psalm says, for brothers to dwell together in unity; and the early church, we are told, was of one heart and soul. Unity of heart among God's people is a good to be sought and a source of joy. This calls us to value and seek such unity. Rather than the rivalry and division that fracture God's people into many hearts pulling apart, we are called to be of one heart, united toward the common purpose God has given, set aside what divides us to act as one. And the promise, glimpsed in this gathering, is joy: for the people of one heart, united in a shared aim, find gladness together that division never brings. The tribes came of one heart to make David king, and there was joy in Israel. And God's people today are likewise called to be of one heart, seeking the unity that brings joy rather than the division that brings strife, that together, of one accord, we might serve the purpose God has given and share the gladness of a people united in him.

Do I contribute to the rivalry and division that fracture God's people into many hearts pulling apart, or can I seek and value the unity that the tribes showed in coming of one heart to make David king, being of one heart with God's people toward the common purpose he has given, and sharing in the joy that such unity brings rather than the strife that division breeds?

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