Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of 1 Chronicles
Chapter 11: David Waxed Greater and Greater
With Saul gone, all Israel gathers to David, their shepherd-king promised by the word of the LORD. He is anointed at Hebron, captures the fortress of Zion to make Jerusalem the city of David, and grows ever greater because the LORD of hosts is with him. The chapter then honors his mighty men, whose devotion is crowned by the unforgettable moment when three heroes risk their lives for a drink of water, and David pours it out as an offering to God.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of 1 Chronicles chapter 11. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Hebrew words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
All Israel Comes to David (1 Chronicles 11:1-3)
The nation gathers to the shepherd God had chosen, and anoints him king according to the word of the LORD.
Thou Shalt Feed My People Israel
"Then all Israel gathered themselves to David unto Hebron, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. And moreover in time past, even when Saul was king, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the LORD thy God said unto thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be ruler over my people Israel. Therefore came all the elders of Israel to the king to Hebron; and David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the LORD; and they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the LORD by Samuel."
Word Study
"feed," Hebrew ra'ah (רָעָה), to shepherd, to tend as a flock. The Chronicler compresses the years of David's struggle and shows the whole nation united to him at last. Their words are rich: "Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh," acknowledging their kinship and belonging to him. They recall that even under Saul, David was the one who truly "leddest out and broughtest in Israel," the real leader in battle. Above all they confess the word of God: "the LORD thy God said unto thee, Thou shalt feed (ra'ah, shepherd) my people Israel, and thou shalt be ruler over my people Israel." David's kingship is defined not as domination but as shepherding, for he was the shepherd-boy God took "from following the ewes great with young" (Psalm 78:71) to feed His people. Note that the elders "made a covenant" with David "before the LORD," and anointed him "according to the word of the LORD by Samuel." Everything is grounded in God's prior word. David does not seize the throne; he receives it as the fulfillment of what God had spoken through Samuel years before. The king comes to power in God's time, by God's word, to shepherd God's people.
Explanation
After Saul's death, all the tribes of Israel came together to David at Hebron and acknowledged him as their rightful king. They recognized their kinship with him, remembered how he had led Israel in battle even during Saul's reign, and, most importantly, confessed that God Himself had appointed David to shepherd and rule His people. So the elders of Israel came to Hebron, David made a covenant with them before the LORD, and they anointed him king, fulfilling the word God had spoken long before through the prophet Samuel. David's rise to the throne is presented as the orderly, covenantal fulfillment of God's promise, welcomed by a united nation.
Gospel Focus
David the shepherd-king, anointed by God's word to "feed my people Israel," is one of the clearest pictures of Christ in all Scripture. Where Saul had scattered and failed the flock, God raised up a shepherd after His own heart, and beyond David He promised, "I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David" (Ezekiel 34:23), a prophecy fulfilled not in David himself but in David's greater Son. Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep" (John 10:11). Notice too that the people came to David confessing, "we are thy bone and thy flesh," and so the incarnation is our deeper kinship with Christ, who took our flesh and blood that He might be our brother and our King (Hebrews 2:14). And as David was anointed "according to the word of the LORD," so Jesus is the Anointed One, the Messiah, in whom every promise of God finds its yes. The kingdom of David, welcomed by a united people, foreshadows the day when every knee shall bow to the true Shepherd-King. Come to Him as your kinsman-Redeemer and your King, and let Him shepherd your soul.
The Capture of Zion (1 Chronicles 11:4-9)
David takes the fortress of Jebus and makes it his capital, growing greater because the LORD is with him.
For the LORD of Hosts Was With Him
"And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, which is Jebus; where the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land. And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, Thou shalt not come hither. Nevertheless David took the castle of Zion, which is the city of David. And David said, Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. So Joab the son of Zeruiah went first up, and was chief. And David dwelt in the castle; therefore they called it the city of David. And he built the city round about, even from Millo round about: and Joab repaired the rest of the city. So David waxed greater and greater: for the LORD of hosts was with him."
Word Study
"the LORD of hosts," Hebrew YHWH tseva'ot (יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת), the LORD of armies. David's first act as king of all Israel is to take Jerusalem, then called Jebus, a fortress so strong its inhabitants taunted him, "Thou shalt not come hither." "Nevertheless David took the castle of Zion" — the little word "nevertheless" marks the triumph of faith over an impossible boast. Jerusalem sat on the border between Judah and Benjamin, belonging fully to no tribe, and so was the perfect neutral capital to unite the nation; and it would become the city of God, the place of the temple, "Zion" itself. Joab's daring won him the command. Then comes the key to it all: "So David waxed greater and greater: for the LORD of hosts (YHWH tseva'ot) was with him." The title "LORD of hosts" pictures God as commander of all the armies of heaven and earth; David's growing greatness was not the fruit of his own genius but of the presence of the omnipotent God. The same phrase had explained young David's confidence before Goliath: "I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts" (1 Samuel 17:45). The secret of David's rise is stated plainly, and it is the secret of every true advance: the LORD was with him.
Explanation
David and all Israel marched on Jerusalem, held by the Jebusites, who boasted that David could never take their stronghold. But David captured the fortress of Zion anyway, promising the command of his army to whoever led the assault, and Joab won that honor by going up first. David made the captured fortress his residence, so it became known as the city of David, and he rebuilt and fortified the city around it. The Chronicler sums up David's success in one sentence: he grew greater and greater because the LORD of hosts, the God of all heavenly and earthly armies, was with him. His victories and his rising power flowed from the presence of God.
Gospel Focus
"David waxed greater and greater: for the LORD of hosts was with him" is the heartbeat of the whole story. All true greatness in the life of faith comes from the presence of God, not from our strength, cleverness, or resources. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31). The Jebusites' proud "Thou shalt not come hither" gave way before the God who was with David, and no boast of any enemy can stand against the LORD of hosts. Jerusalem, the city David captured to be the city of God, points forward to the true and heavenly Zion, "the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem" (Hebrews 12:22), and to the King who reigns there. And the secret of David's greatness is the very promise Jesus leaves His church: "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20). The same LORD of hosts who made David great is Immanuel, "God with us" (Matthew 1:23), come in flesh in Jesus Christ. We do not advance His kingdom in our own power; we go forward because He is with us. Let the promised presence of God be your confidence, for with Him no wall is too high and no enemy too strong.
The Water of Bethlehem (1 Chronicles 11:15-19)
Three heroes risk their lives to bring David a drink, and he pours it out as an offering to the LORD.
He Poured It Out to the LORD
"Now three of the thirty captains went down to the rock to David, into the cave of Adullam; and the host of the Philistines encamped in the valley of Rephaim. And David was then in the hold, and the Philistines' garrison was then at Bethlehem. And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, that is at the gate! And the three brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: but David would not drink of it, but poured it out to the LORD, And said, My God forbid it me, that I should do this thing: shall I drink the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy? for with the jeopardy of their lives they brought it. Therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mightiest."
Word Study
"poured it out to the LORD," Hebrew wayyassekh... la-YHWH (וַיַּסֵּךְ לַיהוָה), he poured it out as a drink offering to the LORD. The verb nasakh means to pour out a libation, a drink offering; David treats the water as something too sacred to drink and offers it to God instead. The scene is unforgettable. In the hard days before he was king, hiding in the cave of Adullam with the Philistines holding his hometown Bethlehem, David sighed a longing wish: "Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, that is at the gate!" It was not a command, only a wistful desire. But three of his mightiest men loved him so fiercely that they "brake through the host of the Philistines" at the risk of their lives, drew the water, and brought it to him. David was so moved that he "would not drink of it, but poured it out to the LORD," calling it "the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy." To drink it would have been to treat their costly devotion as a mere comfort for himself; to pour it out before God was to consecrate their sacrifice, giving to the LORD what had cost so much. In one act David honored both the God he served and the men who loved him, refusing to consume for himself what was purchased with such devotion.
Explanation
The Chronicler tells a famous story from David's outlaw days. While David was hiding in the cave of Adullam and the Philistines occupied Bethlehem, he wistfully said how he longed for a drink from the well by Bethlehem's gate, the water of his childhood home. Three of his greatest warriors, overhearing his wish, broke through the Philistine army at the risk of their lives, drew the water, and carried it back to him. But David refused to drink it. Instead he poured it out as an offering to the LORD, saying he could not drink what was as precious as the blood of men who had risked their lives to get it. He would not treat their sacrificial devotion as a personal indulgence, so he gave it to God.
Gospel Focus
This beautiful scene teaches devotion given and devotion honored. The three mighty men poured out their strength for their king because they loved him, holding nothing back, not even their lives; and David, refusing to cheapen such love, poured out their gift before God as holy. Here is a pattern for the whole Christian life. Our King, the Lord Jesus, has given not water but His own blood, breaking through the greatest host to win our redemption, and such costly love may never be treated lightly. What was bought with the blood of Christ must be consecrated to God, not squandered on ourselves. And David's response models how we honor sacrifice: we lift it up to God as an offering. Paul, contemplating his own death for the sake of others, used this very image: "if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith" (Philippians 2:17), and "I am now ready to be offered" (2 Timothy 4:6). The believer's life, redeemed at such cost, is to be "poured out" in worship and service, "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God" (Romans 12:1). Let the memory of what your redemption cost keep you from living for yourself, and pour out your life in grateful devotion to the King who first poured out His life for you.
Chapter in Review
First Chronicles 11 turns from the fall of Saul to the rise of David. All Israel gathers to him at Hebron, confessing their kinship and the word of the LORD that had appointed him to shepherd God's people, and they anoint him king according to God's promise through Samuel. David then captures the fortress of Zion, making Jerusalem the city of David, and "waxed greater and greater: for the LORD of hosts was with him." The chapter honors his mighty men, above all in the moving scene where three of them break through the Philistine army to bring David water from Bethlehem's well, and David, unwilling to drink what cost them so much, pours it out as an offering to the LORD. Through it all, David the shepherd-king, anointed by God's word, growing great by God's presence, and honored by devoted men, stands as a shining picture of Jesus Christ, the true Shepherd-King, Immanuel, who poured out His life for His people.
Key Takeaways
- God's word is always fulfilled in its time. David received the throne "according to the word of the LORD by Samuel," not by seizing it.
- The king is a shepherd. David was appointed to "feed" God's people, foreshadowing Jesus, the Good Shepherd who gives His life for the sheep.
- True greatness comes from God's presence. "David waxed greater and greater: for the LORD of hosts was with him"; if God be for us, who can be against us?
- No enemy's boast can stand against the LORD. The Jebusites' "Thou shalt not come hither" fell before the God who was with David.
- Costly devotion is consecrated, not consumed. David poured out the water bought with men's lives; what Christ purchased with His blood we offer back to God.
Questions for Reflection
- Have you come to Jesus as your kinsman-King and Shepherd, as all Israel came to David?
- Do you seek greatness through God's presence, or through your own strength and cleverness?
- What "Thou shalt not come hither" in your life needs the confidence that the LORD of hosts is with you?
- How does the cost of your redemption shape the way you live, so that you do not live for yourself?
- Are you pouring out your life as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God?
References
- Scripture: 1 Chronicles 11:1-47, King James Version (commentary focuses on verses 1-9 and 15-19).
- Cross-references: 1 Samuel 16:1-13; 17:45; Psalm 78:70-72; Ezekiel 34:23; Matthew 1:23; 28:20; John 10:11; Romans 8:31; 12:1; Philippians 2:17; 2 Timothy 4:6; Hebrews 2:14; 12:22.
- Hebrew word meanings: standard lexical sources (Strong's, BDB) for ra'ah, YHWH tseva'ot, and nasakh; background on Hebron, the capture of Jebus/Zion, and David's mighty men.