5:4,5
In total David reigned for forty years. Forty is often used as a symbolic number (i.e. not necessarily meaning an exact figure), but here it is the actual time that he refined, for we are given the breakdown of the forty years. He reigned over Judah for seven and a half years, before the whole of Israel was on board. Then he reigned over all Israel for a further thirty three years.
5:6,7
David then marched on Jerusalem to make it the capital of the nation. Jerusalem had a strategic location. It was fairly centrally located, and was well placed for defending. In the time of the judges the city had been conquered (Judges 1:8), but the Jebusites had not been driven out. Given the earlier failures to drive them out, the Jebusites see no reason why the Israelites should be more successful this time, and they taunt David saying even the blind and lame could repel them. These words were just that, empty words, for David did capture Zion, and it was known as “the city of David”. This is the first mention of the word “Zion”.
No comments:
Post a Comment