You can’t become king without the loyalty of your army. And David had that in spades.
1st Chronicles 12 reaches all the way back to the time when David moved to Ziklag in Philistine Territory so that Saul would quit chasing him. Even back then, members of the military defected to David. And they were very capable fighters.
“They were armed with the bow, able to shoot right-handed or left-handed, slinging stones or shooting arrows with the bow; they were kinsmen of Saul from Benjamin.” 1 Chronicles 12:2 LEB
Three thousand of Saul’s own clansmen abandoned Saul to join forces with David. They knew the Saul was behaving like a madman. They knew David to be a humble man, not grasping for power and no threat to Saul. They knew Saul had mischaracterized David and was treating him completely unfairly.
But the men of the tribe of Benjamin weren’t the only ones. Look who else joined David. (I’ve taken the liberty of condescending hints from the Hebrew and formatting it into something a gamer might appreciate. I mean, this is kinda the ultimate Call of Duty.)
- Tribe of Gad (2100-5000+)
- Combat style: spear & shield
- Key Trait: fearlessness
- Abilities: speed and agility
- Special skill: crossing flooded rivers
- Tribe of Manasseh (18,000)
- Combat style: general
- Key Trait: assistance
- Abilities: brute strength
- Special skill: military command
- Tribe of Judah (6,800)
- Combat style: spear & shield
- Key trait: tribal loyalty
- Tribe of Simeon (7,100)
- Combat style: tactical
- Key trait: valor
- Abilities: trained to withstand prolonged hardship
- Tribe of Levi (4,600)
- Combat style: logistics, command & control
- Key trait: organization
- Abilities: military command
- Tribe of Ephraim (20,800)
- Combat style: general
- Key trait: famous for their heroism
- Abilities: wealth, well-equipped
- Tribe of Issachar (2000?)
- Combat style: intelligence
- Key trait: education
- Special skill: intel application
- Tribe of Zebulun (50,000)
- Combat style: tactical-precision
- Key traits: discipline & loyalty
- Abilities: strong defense formations
- Special skill: use of all types of weaponry and strategy
- Tribe of Naphtali (38,000)
- Combat style: spear & shield
- Key trait: focus
- Abilities: tight units of 30-40 men
- Tribe of Dan (28,600)
- Combat style: general
- Key trait: preparedness
- Abilities: experience, field discipline
- Tribe of Asher (40,000)
- Combat style: general
- Key trait: well-trained
- Abilities: experience, field discipline
- Trans-Jordan Tribes: Reuben, Gad, East Manasseh (120,000)
- Combat style: general
- Key trait: equipped
- Abilities: use of all types of weaponry
This is no rag-tag bunch of farmers with pitchforks anymore. This is an organized, highly trained, hand-to-hand combat force. And what happens when this elite army of around 350,000 men come together to confirm their allegiance to David as their new King and Commander in Chief?
They have a 3-day feast, of course! So much so that 3 of the nearest tribes brought in mule-trains of fruit, bread, wine, and oil, and herds of oxen to slaughter. It probably looked a bit like a cattle drive in an old western movie.
And they have reason to celebrate. Israel has NEVER been THIS united – not even when they crossed the Red Sea or received the Law or fought under the leadership of Joshua, and certainly not during the centuries of the Judges. They have finally become a cohesive nation. And now that the tribes are at peace with each other and united against their enemies, they need to restore the one thing that truly unites them as a unique people in the earth: The House of Yahweh.
And that’s what’s coming next.
PSALM 133
How appropriate a psalm for the unification of Israel! And it’s so short that I’m going to paste the whole text here and add my thoughts in commentary style.
Get ready. Lacy is putting on her serious writing hat. The sentences will be longer and more abstract than usual. Don’t worry though. This won’t be academic commentary. It’ll be spiritual application commentary.
🤨 I’m ready!
A Psalm of Ascent (meaning it was meant to be sung by worshipers on their way up to the House of God in Jerusalem)
“Look, how good and how pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity.
Unity is the theme; the unity of relatives in particular. It can apply to near relation but since it has been many centuries since most Israelites shared a common ancestor, the application is very broad. Christians are also siblings (brothers) by virtue of having the same Father. Thus this text applies equally to the Church as to Israel.
These brothers are also said to “dwell together” which implies intentional community and not just common descent.
It is like the fragrant oil upon the head,
Unity is compared to the holy anointing oil used only for anointing priests and special objects to be set apart for divine service. No other oil was to be made like it for private use. It was the Lord’s own “bespoke” fragrance.
We might well ponder, “How is unity among brethren like holy anointing oil?” It is described as “good” and “pleasant.” There was never a bad circumstance associated with the holy oil. To have it poured on you was a rare and high distinction. Only a few people even knew what it smelled like – and fewer what the experience felt like. I think that is to say that true unity among brethren is uncommon. Perhaps rare.
If this unity is like holy oil then it is not just any kind of unity. Mankind united at Babel and that was neither good nor pleasant (from God’s perspective). Groups of people unite today to promote evil causes and defend sinful practices. So unity in and of itself is not necessarily good (or uncommon). Some Christians make this mistake and sacrifice truth and love on the altar of unity.
Unity does not equal Compromise.
This holy unity begins upon the HEAD. Not the heart. Not the hands. Not the feet. The Head. And the Head of the Church is Christ. If we are to be anointed, that anointing must flow from the Head down to the rest of the Body. No member of the Body is anointed independently from the Head. Therefore, it is inconsistent to have people who claim to be anointed by the Spirit and yet are out of unity with Christ and other (real, biblical) Christians.
Unity does not have to mean uniformity either. As Augustine said, “In things essential, unity. In things nonessential, liberty. In all things, charity.”
running down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron,
The first place the oil of unity is flowing down upon is the beard of the High Priest. The long beard is a mark of advanced age and maturity. Holy unity is first modeled by the elder saints in the priesthood of all believers, both older men and older women.
It might also be thought of in the sense of time with the beard representing the forefathers of faith and the continual flow of the Holy Spirit from their time to the present.
This is also a picture of the anointing upon Christ as our great High Priest. It is His priestly intercession that makes redemptive unity possible.
that runs down upon the edges of his robes.
This is no small dab of oil. It’s much more than a dribble. In order for there to be oil running down to the edges of the priestly robes, there has got to be a LOT of oil flowing.
Unity among the brethren flows down to the entire body only when there is an abundance of the oil of God’s Holy Spirit flowing.
Resistance to the Holy Spirit has a negative effect on unity. Quenching or grieving the Spirit does too. A dearth of the fruit of the Spirit is an indicator that there is probably a dearth of real unity too. How can you have unity without love, joy, peace, patience, and all the rest?
The balance of: the free flowing of the work of the Spirit, with coaching and correction when there is misuse, is essential for unity. The Flesh and Immaturity will highjack the gifts of the Spirit for personal benefit. Unity breaks up because personal agendas segregate people into factions. But a too tight-fisted approach that allows for no movement or flow of the oil will also disrupt unity. If ministry can only happen at the permission of one or a few, members who have things to share will be sidelined, hurt, disgruntled, and eventually leave – sometimes taking others along.
No, there needs to be a lot of oil flowing continuously until it trickles down to cover even those on the very edges. Oily leadership with dry saints left out on the fringe does not make for unity.
It is like the dew of Hermon that runs down upon the mountains of Zion,
Mount Hermon in the northern border of Israel is the highest peak in the land at 9,232 ft. In this text “Zion” is used to speak of the whole of Yahweh’s land, rather than strictly Jerusalem. The precipitation that falls on Hermon, especially snow, contributes greatly to success or failure of Israel’s entire agricultural system. At the base of the mountain is a spring that is the main source of the Jordan River. The spring has snow melt and rainwater runoff added to it.
How is unity like this particular “dew” or precipitation? I think it’s similar because it is shared. Just as the oil ran down Aaron’s entire body, so the rain that falls on Hermon runs down the entire land of Israel. The whole land shares the blessing.
You cannot have unity alone. It is a shared thing. It is also life-giving just like the water. In a community (common-unity) life can flourish. A community can accomplish more than an individual. When members have a shared purpose and work together, they all benefit. When people solve problems together it causes them to bond. Unity.
So unity is sacred like the anointing oil and shared like the waters of Mount Hermon.
because there Yahweh commanded the blessing— life forever.”
Psalms 133:1-3 LEB
The LORD doesn’t “suggest” or “recommend” His blessing of eternal life. He COMMANDS it. Think about that. God commands His blessing of life-forever. And He does it in the context of unity.
Salvation is not a blessing that the Lord dispenses apart from Himself.
🪑☕️ Let’s sit a sec on that and read it over a few times.
God’s blessings are not like so much fairy dust sprinkled upon the saints. His blessings are in Him. They ARE Him. We access them by being joined to Him – united – not whining in prayer asking for more sprinklings of peace when the Prince of Peace stands before you with the golden endless ocean of His peaceful heart in which to swim.
Americans have a cultural default setting of “rugged individualism.” This is not helpful when it comes to salvation. We cannot pull ourselves up all the way into salvation and glory by our own bootstraps. It requires unity – unity with Christ and unity with His Church.
Many Americans today would say, “I’ll be united to Christ, but forget about the Church.” To that I would say read 1st Corinthians 12-13. You cannot do one-another-ing on your own. You need community; as much to give as to receive.
Unity isn’t just important, Beloved. It is vital to your eternal destination.
There – in unity – is where the LORD has commanded His blessing of life forever to be.
I suggest we make it our priority.
Or as President Trump would say, “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
😉
To The Reader 