Seven leading Manassites deserted Saul to join David shortly before the battle of Aphek is mentioned next. They are described as chiefs of thousands in Manasseh
(1 Chronicles 12:20).
The Chronicler’s audience would have most certainly had knowledge of this battle in which Saul and his sons lost their lives on the slopes of Mount Gilboa. He also knew that his readers knew that David and his men were forced to march with the Philistines to Aphek, potentially to battle against Saul and his army (1 Samuel 29:1–11). God’s providential intervention in the lives of David and his men is clearly seen on two counts.
The dismissal of David and his men by the Philistine generals because they suspected him of treachery or non-participation when it came to facing up to Saul in battle. In this way David was saved from lifting his hand against the Lord’s anointed leader of Israel (1 Samuel 24:6, 1 Samuel 24:10; 1 Samuel 26:9).
David and his army are thus freed to pursue the Amalekite raiders who have plundered, burned, and taken captives from Ziklag during David’s absence (1 Samuel 30:1–6).1 The mention of Ziklag allows the Chronicler to bring the account full circle back to where it started in 1 Chronicles 12:1, and the summary statement in 1 Chronicles 12:22 indicates the measure and quality of the support that David had shortly before Saul’s death.
These men from Manasseh are described as chiefs of thousands in Manasseh.
The term thousands
in Chronicles unlikely refers to a fixed number but probably refers to a unit in David’s army or leaders of tribal clans. However one understands the numerical designation here, it is evident that these men were significant military leaders in their tribe.2
The closing remarks of this section consist of several reports illustrating the courage of David’s Manassehite supporters. All of them were brave warriors (1 Chronicles 12:21). They ranked among the other outstanding men following David (see 1 Chronicles 11:10–11, 1 Chronicles 11:20–25; 1 Chronicles 12:1–7). Beyond this, their numbers grew day after day during the time at Ziklag (1 Chronicles 12:22).
Having mentioned the quality and quantity of David’s army, the Chronicler reported that by this time, David’s army had become like an army of God,
a force indeed to be reckoned with (1 Chronicles 12:22). Throughout the Old Testament, God revealed himself as the leader of an innumerable and invincible army of heaven (see Exodus 15:1–13; Judges 4:12–24; 1 Samuel 17:26, 1 Samuel 17:36; 2 Kings 6:17; Isaiah 13:4; Isaiah 26:7–14; Joel 2:11; Zechariah 9:14–17; Zechariah 10:3–5). The phrase an army
or a camp of God
could be a way of expressing the superlative and translated a vast army.
This phrase, however, is preceded by a great army
or camp
(machaneh) and it more likely resembles an army of God; see Genesis 32:2 where the exact phrase camp [machaneh] of God
occurs. In 2 Chronicles 14:13, King Asa’s army is called the army of Yahweh.
In the book of Numbers this word appears around fifty times and is mostly associated with God’s presence with his people against the might of Egypt and the Canaanites (Exodus 14:19–20; Joshua 1:11; Joshua 6:11,Joshua 6:14).3
The Manassites only joined David at the last minute, as it were, when it was quite sure which way the wind was blowing regarding Saul. There was a certain shrewdness
4 or calculatedness about the way they went about things, and yet David welcomes them with open arms. It may be asked why these men should not be treated in the same way as, say, Amasai’s men in the previous section, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat
(Matthew 20:12); in other words, the men who joined David in his early days. There is an apparent unfairness playing out here which in the gospel account is used to highlight the sovereignty of God’s gracious dealings with men.
In Jesus’ parable, quoted above (Matthew 20:1–16) the workers who are employed in the vineyard at the eleventh hour receive the same pay as those who had been working all day in the blazing sun. There is an important lesson to be learned here. Before the final day of reckoning comes, while it is still the day of grace, there is a welcome for all who defect from the devil’s rule and seek to join the company over whom Jesus is the head.5
19 Some of the men of Manasseh deserted to David when he came with the Philistines for the battle against Saul. (Yet he did not help them, for the rulers of the Philistines took counsel and sent him away, saying, “At peril to our heads he will desert to his master Saul.”)