1 Chronicles 12:9
Ezer the chief, Obadiah the second in command, Eliab the third,
Sermons
David's Mighty Men: the Gadites, Benjamites, and JudahF. Whitfield 1 Chronicles 12:1-22
The Service of the Supreme KingW. Clarkson 1 Chronicles 12:1-15, 19-22
David and His VolunteersSpurgeon, Charles Haddon1 Chronicles 12:8-15
Fitness for ServiceA. Maclaren, D. D.1 Chronicles 12:8-15
The GaditesJ.R. Thomson 1 Chronicles 12:8-15














Like gathers to like - the brave to the brave, the good to the good. It is human nature at its best which recognizes and rejoices in superiority. Homage and obedience should be freely rendered where they are justly claimed and truly deserved. Observe the qualities and exploits of these sons of Gad who gathered to David and offered him their swords. They were men of might, bold as lions, swift as eagles; men skilful in the use of their weapons, apt for war, brave in danger, "good at need;" men whose deeds were in the lips of a nation, memorable and unforgotten. We may discern in the qualities of these valiant Gadites the qualities which (mutatis mutandis) should characterize Christians as the soldiers of Christ and combatants in the "holy war."

I. THE SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS ARE DEVOTEDLY ATTACHED TO THEIR COMMANDER. As the Gadites "separated themselves unto David," so Christians are drawn by the Divine Spirit to the standard of Immanuel. It is distinctive of Christianity that it involves personal attachment and allegiance to the Redeemer. Christ is "the Captain of our salvation." To him we owe our loyalty; at his summons we draw the spiritual sword; in his cause we fight.

II. THE SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS ARE DIVINELY QUALIFIED FOR THE CONFLICT. Their heavenly Leader alike provides them with weapons and breathes courage into their souls. When he enlists them in his spiritual host, he disciplines and trains them for the warfare. He imparts those moral qualities of endurance and boldness, promptness and devotion, by which alone they can be qualified to "fight the good fight of faith."

III. THE SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS ARE EXPECTED, BY DIVINE AID, TO ACHIEVE GREAT EXPLOITS. The enemy is indeed formidable, his opposition is fierce. "We wrestle with principalities and powers." Within and without we encounter a foe whose craft and power we must not under-estimate. Yet have the soldiers of Christ no reason for discouragement. The weapons of their warfare, though not carnal, are mighty. Their Leader has conquered, and has taken his seat upon his victorious throne; and thence he inspirits, directs, and helps them. The giant forms and mighty forces of error and ignorance, of superstition and infidelity, of vice, crime, and sin, are all destined to give way before the onset of the spiritual forces of Immanuel. It is a "holy war" to which Christians are summoned. Certain victory awaits the faithful combatant.

CONCLUDING APPEAL. Christ calls upon every hearer of the gospel to enlist under his banner.

The Son of God goes forth to war,
A kingly crown to gain;
His blood-red banner streams afar:
Who follows in his train?" T.

And of the Gadites there separated themselves unto David.
David, compelled to flee from his own country, and to hide himself from the malice of Saul, was eminently a type of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, in the days when He dwelt here among men, was despised and rejected of men. All who would repair to Him must go forth likewise, bearing His reproach. These eleven Gadites — all of them remarkable men — espoused the cause of David when he was in his very worst condition; they left the ease and comfort, the honours and emoluments, of their own home to associate themselves with him when he was regarded as an outlaw under the ban of society. And to this day every Christian who is faithful to his profession must separate himself from his fellow-men to be a follower of the despised Jesus.

I. THE LEADER, WHOM WE REGARD AS A TYPE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, was David, the son of Jesse; and in tracing out some points of analogy we begin by noticing —

1. That, like David, our Lord was anointed of God to be the leader of His people. It is an honour to follow one who has the highest sanction of heaven in taking the command and exercising the authority that pertains to him.

2. Jesus was like David, too, in that He was personally fit to be a leader. David, alike by his character and his deeds of prowess, had become the foremost man of his times. So our blessed Lord, as to His person, is just such a King as one might desire to obey; and, as for His achievements, O tell what His arm hath done — what spoils from death His right hand won! Let His fame be spread over all the earth! He stood in the gap when there was none to help. He vanquished the foe who threatened our destruction.

3. But our Lord, though anointed of God and meriting the distinction which He gained, was, nevertheless, like David, rejected of men. So the seed of the serpent hates the seed of the woman. But notwithstanding the pains and penalties they incurred in those dark days, the really good and pious people in Israel rallied to the standard of David. I know it is said that those who were in debt and discontented came to David. That is quite true; and when it typifies the abject condition of those poor sinners who come to Christ for refuge; but many of those Israelites were reduced in circumstances and brought into debt through the bad government of Saul. There was with David, Abiathar the high priest. With David likewise there was Gad the prophet. Does not the like thing happen among those who ally themselves with the Son of David at this day? Although He whom we worship is despised and rejected of men, yet unto you who believe He is precious. We need not be ashamed to side with Jesus, for we shall be in good company.

4. Despised as David was among men, yet, being anointed of God, his cause in the end was successful. He did come to the throne: and so it is with our Lord Jesus Christ. Notwithstanding all the opposition that still rages against His cause, it must prosper and prevail.

II. Having thus drawn your attention to the Leader, whom David the son of Jesse prefigured, let me turn now to speak a little of THOSE WHO GATHERED ROUND HIM AND ENLISTED IN HIS SERVICE. The recruits who came to David were eleven in number. The first characteristic we read about them is that they were separated. "Of the Gadites, there separated themselves unto David" eleven persons.

1. They were separated. Observe that. They separated themselves. They seem to have been captains of the militia of their tribe. The very least among them was over a hundred, and the greatest over a thousand. But they separated themselves from their commands over their tribes — separated themselves from their brethren and their kinsfolk. I daresay many of their friends said to them, "Why, what fools you are! You must be mad to espouse the cause of a fellow like David!" and then they would call David ell manner of foul, opprobrious names. In these times it is most important that every one who is a Christian should understand that he must separate himself from the world. Ye cannot serve Christ and the world too. You cannot be of the world and of Christ's Church. It is in his intercourse with the world that the Christian shows the morel forces of his character. There it comes out because it cannot be hid. If his trade has become used to tricks and stratagems which will not bear the light, he cannot conform to them; he will shrink from them with abhorrence: he must keep a clean conscience.

2. But observe that these people separated themselves unto David. You may separate yourself and not separate yourself unto Christ; and if not, you only change from one form of worldly-mindedness to another. We ere not to separate ourselves unto self-righteousness, or unto affectation, or unto a sect, but unto Christ. These people got away from their friends that they might get to David. We are to get away from the world that we may get closer to Christ.

3. And then, as you read that they separated themselves unto David in the wilderness, let me entreat you to ask yourselves it you are ready to take part with a rejected, crucified Christ. Tens of thousands would separate themselves to David if he were in Hebron on the throne of Israel. If the truth should lead us down into the hovel, where we could only associate with the very lowest of the low, if they were the Lord's people, they should be our delight.

4. Note, next, about these men that they were men of might. It is said of them that they were men of might, whose faces were like faces of lions, and they were as swift as the roes upon the mountains. All that came to David were not like that. David had some women and children to protect, but he was glad to receive others that were men of might. Now there came to Jesus, the greater David in His day, the weak ones of the flock, and He never rejected them. He was glad to receive even the feeblest; but there did come to our Lord and Master eleven men who, by His grace, were like these Gadites. Truly, I may say of His apostles, after our Divine Lord had filled them with His Spirit, that they had faces like lions and feet like hinds' feet, so swift were they for service and so strong for combat. The grace of God can make us brave as lions, so that wherever we are we can hold our own, or rather can hold our Lord's truth, and never blush nor be ashamed to speak a good word for Him at all times.

5. But it is worth noticing that they were men of war, inured to discipline — men fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler. Now there are some men of might who do not seem to be good men of war, because they cannot keep rank. What exploits they may do they must needs do alone, for they cannot march with the army. There are some brethren I know who are most excellent people as individuals, but they seem never to be meant to march in the ranks; they must every one of them lead, they cannot be second to anybody; neither can they be under any discipline or rule.

6. These Gadites likewise furnish us with a noble example of strong resolution. When the eleven men determined to join David they were living the other side of a deep river, which at that season of the year had overflowed its banks, so that it was extremely deep and broad. But they were not to be kept from joining David, when he wanted them, by the river. They swam through the river that they might come to David. Do you stand back and shrink from avowing your attachment to the standard of God's anointed because it would involve loss of reputation, displeasure of friends, the frowns of your associates in the world, or the heartbreaks of anguish of those you tenderly love? Know, then, that our Lord is worthy of all the troubles you incur, and all the risks you run; and be assured that the peace which a soul enjoys that once joins Christ in the hold, and abides with Him in the wilderness, well repays a man for all that he has to part with in getting to his Lord and Master. Now, it would appear that after they had got across the river they were attacked, but we are told that they put to flight all them of the valleys, both toward the east and toward the west. O ye that love the Lord and Master, I beseech you in this evil day, this day of blasphemy and rebuke, stand not back: be not craven.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

The secret of success religiously is precisely the same as the secret of success in ordinary things. Look at the splendid qualities that go to the making of a successful housebreaker. Audacity, resource, secrecy, promptitude, persistence, skill of hand, and a hundred others, are put into play before a man can break into your back kitchen and steal your goods. Look at the qualities that go to the making of a successful amuser of people. Men will spend endless time and pains, and devote concentration, persistence, self-denial, diligence to learning how to play upon some instrument, how to swing upon a trapeze, how to twist themselves into abnormal contortions. Jugglers and fiddlers, and circusriders and dancers, and people of that sort, spend far more time upon efforts to perfect themselves in their profession than ninety-nine out of every hundred professing Christians do to make themselves true followers of Jesus Christ. They know that nothing is to be got without working for it, and there is nothing to be got in the Christian life without working for it any more than in any other.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

People
Aaron, Aaronites, Adnah, Ahiezer, Amasai, Asher, Attai, Azareel, Azmaveth, Bealiah, Benjamin, Benjaminites, Berachah, Danites, David, Eliab, Eliel, Elihu, Elkanah, Eluzai, Elzabad, Ezer, Gad, Gadites, Gedor, Gibeon, Ishmaiah, Ismaiah, Israelites, Issachar, Isshiah, Jahaziel, Jashobeam, Jediael, Jehoiada, Jehu, Jeremiah, Jerimoth, Jeroham, Jesiah, Jesse, Jeziel, Joash, Joelah, Joezer, Johanan, Josabad, Jozabad, Kish, Korahites, Korhites, Levi, Levites, Machbanai, Manasseh, Michael, Mishmannah, Naphtali, Obadiah, Pelet, Reuben, Reubenites, Saul, Shemaah, Shemariah, Shephatiah, Simeon, Simeonites, Zadok, Zebadiah, Zebulun, Zilthai
Places
Anathoth, Gederah, Gedor, Gibeah, Gibeon, Hebron, Jordan River, Ziklag
Topics
Chief, Command, Eliab, Eli'ab, Ezer, Obadiah, Obadi'ah, Third
Outline
1. The companies that came to David at Ziklag
23. The armies that came to him at Hebron

Dictionary of Bible Themes
1 Chronicles 12:8

     5208   armies
     5261   commander
     5840   eagerness

Library
Drill and Enthusiasm
'[Men that] could keep rank, they were not of double heart.'--1 CHRON. xii. 33. These words come from the muster-roll of the hastily raised army that brought David up to Hebron and made him King. The catalogue abounds in brief characterisations of the qualities of each tribe's contingent. For example, Issachar had 'understanding of the times.' Our text is spoken of the warriors of Zebulon, who had left their hills and their flocks in the far north, and poured down from their seats by the blue waters
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Channel of Power.
A Word that Sticks and Stings. I suppose everyone here can think of three or four persons whom he loves or regards highly, who are not christians. Can you? Perhaps in your own home circle, or in the circle of your close friends. They may be nice people, cultured, lovable, delightful companions, fond of music and good books, and all that; but this is true of them, that they do not trust and confess Jesus as a personal Savior. Can you think of such persons in your own circle? I am going to wait a
S.D. Gordon—Quiet Talks on Power

God's Answers
GOD'S ANSWERS: A RECORD OF MISS ANNIE MACPHERSON'S WORK AT THE HOME OF INDUSTRY, SPITALFIELDS, LONDON, AND IN CANADA. CLARA M. S. LOWE "Peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers; for thy God helpeth thee." --1 CHRON. xii. 18.
Clara M. S. Lowe—God's Answers

Beneath his Banner
"Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse."--1 Chron. xii. 18. Mechthild of Hellfde, 1277. tr., Emma Frances Bevan, 1899 'Twixt God and thee but love shall be; 'Twixt earth and thee distrust and fear, 'Twixt sin and thee shall be hate and war; And hope shall be 'twixt Heaven and thee Till night is o'er.
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen and Others (Second Series)

Epistle xxxix. To Anastasius, Bishop .
To Anastasius, Bishop [1602] . Gregory to Anastasius, Bishop of Antioch. Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will (Luke ii. 14), because that great river which once had left the rocks of Antioch dry has returned at length to its proper channel, and waters the subject valleys that are near, so as also to bring forth fruit, some thirty-fold, some sixty-fold, and some an hundred-fold. For now there is no doubt that many flowers of souls are growing up in its valleys, and that
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

The King.
We have now to turn and see the sudden change of fortune which lifted the exile to a throne. The heavy cloud which had brooded so long over the doomed king broke in lightning crash on the disastrous field of Gilboa. Where is there a sadder and more solemn story of the fate of a soul which makes shipwreck "of faith and of a good conscience," than that awful page which tells how, godless, wretched, mad with despair and measureless pride, he flung himself on his bloody sword, and died a suicide's death,
Alexander Maclaren—The Life of David

Watching the Horizon
"Thy Kingdom Come." "Thou art coming! We are waiting With a hope that cannot fail; Asking not the day or hour, Resting on Thy word of power, Anchored safe within the veil. Time appointed may be long, But the vision must be sure: Certainty shall make us strong, Joyful patience must endure. "O the joy to see Thee reigning, Thee, my own beloved Lord! Every tongue Thy name confessing, Worship, honour, glory, blessing, Brought to Thee with glad accord! Thee, my Master and my Friend, Vindicated and enthroned!
by S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks on the Crowned Christ of Revelation

'The Waters Saw Thee; they were Afraid'
'And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. 6. And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people. 7. And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. 8 And thou shalt command the priests that bear
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Section Chap. I. -iii.
The question which here above all engages our attention, and requires to be answered, is this: Whether that which is reported in these chapters did, or did not, actually and outwardly take place. The history of the inquiries connected with this question is found most fully in Marckius's "Diatribe de uxore fornicationum," Leyden, 1696, reprinted in the Commentary on the Minor Prophets by the same author. The various views may be divided into three classes. 1. It is maintained by very many interpreters,
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Chronicles
The comparative indifference with which Chronicles is regarded in modern times by all but professional scholars seems to have been shared by the ancient Jewish church. Though written by the same hand as wrote Ezra-Nehemiah, and forming, together with these books, a continuous history of Judah, it is placed after them in the Hebrew Bible, of which it forms the concluding book; and this no doubt points to the fact that it attained canonical distinction later than they. Nor is this unnatural. The book
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

Links
1 Chronicles 12:9 NIV
1 Chronicles 12:9 NLT
1 Chronicles 12:9 ESV
1 Chronicles 12:9 NASB
1 Chronicles 12:9 KJV

1 Chronicles 12:9 Bible Apps
1 Chronicles 12:9 Parallel
1 Chronicles 12:9 Biblia Paralela
1 Chronicles 12:9 Chinese Bible
1 Chronicles 12:9 French Bible
1 Chronicles 12:9 German Bible

1 Chronicles 12:9 Commentaries

Bible Hub
1 Chronicles 12:8
Top of Page
Top of Page