David went out to meet them, and answered them, If you be come peaceably to me to help me, my heart shall be knit to you; but if [you be come] to betray me to my adversaries, seeing there is no wrong in my hands, the God of our fathers look thereon, and rebuke it.
Others who gladly gave themselves to David to fight for him are also mentioned: the Benjaminites who joined him at Ziklag when he was fleeing from Saul (12:1-7; see notes on 1 Samuel 27:1-7); the fearless soldiers from Gad, Benjamin and Judah who had previously joined him at his stronghold in Adullum (8-18; see notes on 1 Samuel 22:1-23); and the Israelite military commanders from Manasseh who deserted to him at the time of the Philistines’ last battle with Saul (19-22; see notes on 1 Samuel 29:1-25). Finally, the writer records how all the tribes of Israel sent a representative force of troops to Hebron to present themselves to David, their new king (23-40; see notes on 2 Samuel 5:1-5).