David Decides To Return To The Land Of YAHWEH

David was an inspired poet, but he was also certainly a political realist. After mourning Saul, he felt that it was time to take possession of his inheritance without delay, at least of the nearby southern territories (Yahudah, Simeon and various groups which were vaguely Yahwist).

He could be fairly certain of receiving a welcome from these southern peoples. In the first place, he himself was from Yahudah. In addition, as has been pointed out, he had been clever enough to ally himself by several marriages to the powerful tribe of Caleb whose chieftains lived at Hebron, the ancient spiritual centre of the south. Then, throughout the south, not only had David while employed by the Philistines, refrained from laying waste his co-spiritualists' territory, but he had even sent them a share in the booty captured in battle from the Amalekite nomads of the desert, the avowed enemies of the Yisraelites. In addition, his exploits were famous throughout Yahudah. He had only to appear for the whole country to come out on his side -or at least, so he hoped.

David Becomes 'YAHWEH's Anointed', 1010 (2 Schmuel 2)

Devout, and artful, as always, David consulted YAHWEH through the intermediary of Abiathar the kohen. 'Shall I go up to one of the towns of Yahudah?' he asked. 'Go up,' came the answer. Further question: 'Which shall I go to?' 'To Hebron,' came the answer.

The order came from YAHWEH and there could be no avoiding it; on the other hand, victory was assured. So David hastened to leave the Philistine territory of Ziklag and returned at last to the land of his fathers. With his wives he settled at Hebron. His men at arms, always ready to take action against any foe on a signal from their leader, established themselves in the same city or in the immediate neighborhood. There was no hostile reaction in the country, quite the contrary in fact: there at Hebron the men of Yahudah came and anointed David king over the House of Yahudah. He was a young king, for at that time he was scarcely thirty years old.

Ishbaal, (Ishbosheth) Son Of Saul, Made King Over Yisrael

Up in the north, Abner, Saul's army commander, defeated at Gilboa, was obliged to cross the Yarden to escape the continuing pressure from the Philistines; with what remained of his troops he settled at Mahanaim (the Two Camps) on the left bank of the river. We have already encountered this place in the story of Yacob. Abner took with him Ishbaal, one of Saul's sons, providentially saved from the slaughter. And there in TransYardenia, Ishbaal son of Saul was forty years old when he became king of Yisrael.

Thus while David made a triumphant return to the Promised land to be proclaimed king of Yahudah, Ishbaal, the real heir of the dead king, was obliged to flee to the other side of the Yarden to be an exiled king.

Formation Of The Two Kingdoms, Yahudah And Yisrael

Thus the Promised Land was unfortunately divided into two 'kingdoms'. The political unity which Saul had tried to establish had certainly appeared very precarious. But it was far better than this clear-cut division. There were two kingdoms: Yisrael (in the north), Yahudah (in the south). There were two kings: Ishbaal, son of Saul, king of Yisrael; David, the former shepherd from Bethlehem, the outlaw and guerilla fighter, king of Yahudah.

So far the word Yisrael has been used to designate the Twelve Tribes as a whole. Yisrael ('YAHWEH is strong') was the new name given to Yacob by YAHWEH at the crossing of the Jabbok; and each of the twelve Hebrew tribes bore the name of one of the twelve descendants of the patriarch Yacob-Yisrael.

From this point onwards we shall be unable to use the same terms as hitherto owing to the political change brought about by the coronation of David. Despite certain temporary unifications, from that time two geographical and political groups were to be distinguished: in the centre and in the north, Yisrael (ten tribes: Benjamin, Dan, Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali, Gad and Reuben); to the south, Yahudah (combining the two tribes of Yahudah and Simeon to which were joined a certain number of clans of Yahwist tendencies). After 1010, therefore, these two terms must be distinguished, and Yisrael no longer designates the Chosen People as a whole.

Here must be added a short word about Yahudah.

Morally and spiritually it formed a clear contrast with Yisrael. These southern settlements, cut off from their northern co-religionists by the Canaanite enclave of Urushalim (Yerusalem), developed on their own and in a somewhat different way. In this part of the country the tribes of Simeon and Yahudah were allied with the Calebites, men of their own race;2 and also with tribes of Edomite origin (descendants of Kenaz, Jerahmeel, Cain, etc). In short, David had grouped around him two tiny Hebrew tribes (Yahudah and Simeon) swollen by numerous Canaanite elements, recently assimilated, among which were included settled farmers, of course, but also wandering shepherds. Under the guidance of its new head this new state soon became a populous, rich kingdom, remarkable for its political stability. In addition, under David's influence it began to appear as the centre of Yahwism, a choice field for the deepening of the spiritual consciousness of the Chosen People.

 

1010-1003: THE TWO HEBREW KINGDOMS: ISRAEL AND Yahudah

 

2 It is very probable that the Calebites were Yahwist groups which. wandering on the plains of Sinai under Mosheh' leadership, with all the other Yisraelite forces gathered at Kadesh, went out to attack Canaan to the south. But, unlike their companions in arms, the Calebites seem to have broken through the lines of the southern Canaanites, and settled down at Hormah. The greater part of Mosheh' troops, on the other hand were obliged to retreat on Kadesh See volume Mosheh in this series with geographical sketch

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