2 Samuel 5

After years of waiting, David is anointed king over all twelve tribes. He captures Jerusalem and makes it his capital, grows in power, and receives help from Tyre. Then he twice defeats the Philistines by asking the LORD and following His directions exactly.

2 Samuel 5:1-2

The northern tribes come to David at Hebron. They appeal to kinship and to his past leadership in battle under Saul. They also remember what the LORD had said: David would shepherd His people. A king is described as a shepherd, one who cares for the flock as well as rules it.

BSA: shepherd (“care for, tend to, rule over”): The king’s task is tender care for God’s people as well as authority over them.

See also: 1 Samuel 16:12-13; Psalm 78:70-72.

2 Samuel 5:3

The elders make a covenant with David before the LORD, so the kingship rests on a mutual commitment made in God’s presence. Then they anoint him. This is David’s third anointing, now as king over the whole nation.

BSA: covenant (“promise, agreement”): David’s rule is bound by a solemn pledge made before God, not by force alone. anointed (“rubbed oil on, set apart”): The oil marks him as set apart by God for this task.

See also: 2 Samuel 2:4.

2 Samuel 5:4-5

David is thirty when he begins to reign and rules forty years. For seven and a half years he reigns from Hebron over Judah alone. Then he reigns thirty-three years from Jerusalem over all Israel. God’s promise took years to be fulfilled in full.

BSA: Hebron (“the city of alliance, a place of covenant”): Hebron fits the covenant-making that began David’s rule over all Israel.

2 Samuel 5:6

The Jebusites, who held Jerusalem’s strong hilltop city, mock David. They say even the blind and lame could hold it against him. Their confidence rests on their walls and position. They have not reckoned with the God who stands with David.

BSA: repel (“drive away, defeat”): The Jebusites boast that their defense is so strong that the weakest of defenders could drive David away.

2 Samuel 5:7

David takes the fortress anyway. It is called Zion, and here it becomes the City of David. The name Zion later grows in meaning and comes to stand for God’s own dwelling place and His people. What looked impregnable fell to the man God had chosen.

BSA: fortress (“stronghold, castle”): The very place the Jebusites trusted for safety became David’s.

Hebrew: מְצֻדַת (metsudat, H4686) — “stronghold, fortress.” The word pictures a hill-top refuge hard to attack. It is the same sort of place David himself often used as a shelter, and God is later called a stronghold in the Psalms.

See also: Psalm 48:1-2.

2 Samuel 5:8

This verse is difficult, and the Hebrew is hard to translate. It seems David challenges his men to enter through the water shaft, a tunnel or channel, to reach the defenders. A saying about the blind and lame arose from the event. Christians read the verse with care, since it is not a rule about people with disabilities.

BSA: despised (“hated, rejected”): The word describes David’s attitude toward the mocking defenders, not toward the disabled in general.

2 Samuel 5:9

David makes the fortress his home and names it for himself. He builds around it, from the terraces inward. A capital between north and south, owned by neither, is a wise choice. Jerusalem now becomes the center of the nation’s life and worship.

BSA: built (“to establish, repair, or construct”): David both repaired what stood and added to it, making a lasting city.

2 Samuel 5:10

The writer gives the secret of David’s rise. It was not just his skill or his army. The LORD God of Hosts, who commands every army, was with him. Everything greater that follows flows from this presence.

BSA: Hosts (“armies, celestial and terrestrial”): God commands armies in heaven and on earth, so David’s strength is borrowed from the greatest of all commanders.

See also: 1 Samuel 18:14.

2 Samuel 5:11

Hiram of Tyre, a Phoenician coastal king, sends cedar, carpenters and stonemasons to build David a palace. Israel’s new king is now recognized by neighbors. Israel at this time had few skilled builders in such work, so the help is a real gift.

BSA: cedar (“a strong and durable tree”): Cedar was prized for fine, lasting building and showed the palace was meant to endure.

2 Samuel 5:12

David understands what all this means. His kingdom was not built for his glory. God had established him for the sake of His people Israel. A true ruler sees his position as a trust given for others.

BSA: realized (“perceived, knew, understood”): David came to see clearly that God was behind his success. exalted (“lifted up, raised”): God raised David up; David did not raise himself.

2 Samuel 5:13-16

David takes more wives and concubines and has many children in Jerusalem. The list includes Solomon, who will succeed him. This was the custom of ancient kings, but Scripture had warned against a king multiplying wives, and trouble within David’s household will follow later.

See also: Deuteronomy 17:17; 2 Samuel 12:10.

2 Samuel 5:17

The Philistines had left David alone while he ruled only Judah. Now that he rules all Israel, they see a threat and hunt for him. David hears of it and goes down to the stronghold. He does not rush out in pride. He takes a safe position first.

BSA: stronghold (“a fortress, a place of safety, a net of protection”): David took shelter in a defended place while waiting on God’s word.

2 Samuel 5:18

The Philistines spread out across the Valley of Rephaim, a broad plain southwest of Jerusalem. It lay on the road toward their territory. It was an open place where a large force could fan out and threaten the new capital.

BSA: spread out (“went in every direction, dispersed themselves”): The army scattered widely across the valley, showing their large numbers.

2 Samuel 5:19

David does not assume the outcome. He asks the LORD two plain questions: should he go, and will God give the victory? God answers with a command and a promise. David acts only after hearing from Him, and the result is certain because God has promised it.

BSA: inquired (“sought guidance, asked for direction”): David sought God’s direction before every important step.

See also: Proverbs 3:5-6.

2 Samuel 5:20

David defeats the Philistines and credits the LORD, not his own army. He compares God’s action to a flood bursting through a dam. The place is named Baal-perazim, which means Lord of breakthroughs. The victory is God’s own.

BSA: bursting flood (“a sudden, powerful outpouring of water”): God’s power broke through the enemy lines with sudden force, like water through a wall.

Hebrew: פָּרַץ (parats, H6555) — “to break through, burst out.” The same word gives the place its name, Baal-perazim. David turns the word into a short testimony of what God had just done.

2 Samuel 5:21

The Philistines flee so fast they leave their idols behind. David and his men carry them off. The gods they trusted could not even save themselves. The parallel account says the idols were burned, which fits the Law’s command about false gods.

BSA: idols (“images, false gods”): These were the images the Philistines trusted, and they proved powerless.

See also: 1 Chronicles 14:12; Deuteronomy 7:25.

2 Samuel 5:22-23

The Philistines return to the same valley. David might have used the same plan again, but he asks the LORD again. This time God gives different directions: go around behind and attack near the balsam trees. Past victory does not replace fresh guidance.

BSA: inquired (“to ask, seek guidance”): David asked again, not trusting last time’s method.

2 Samuel 5:24

God gives a signal: the sound of marching in the treetops. It means the LORD Himself has gone ahead to strike the enemy camp. David is to move quickly at that moment. God leads the battle, and David follows in step with Him.

BSA: marched out (“gone out, come out”): God is pictured as a commander going before His army. move quickly (“bestir yourself, go forward”): When God moves, His people are to act promptly.

See also: Judges 4:14.

2 Samuel 5:25

David obeys exactly as the LORD commanded and drives the Philistines back a long way, from Gibeon to Gezer. The chapter ends where it began, with a king whose success rests on following God. Obedience to His word brings His help.

BSA: commanded (“given orders, appointed”): David’s victory came from doing precisely what God ordered.