The following were the men who came to David at Ziklag while he was still banned from the presence of Saul son of Kish. They were among the warriors who helped him in battle.
They were archers who could use either the right or left hand, both to sling stones and shoot arrows from a bow. They were Saul’s relatives from Benjamin:
Their chief was Ahiezer son of Shemaah the Gibeathite.
Then there was his brother Joash;
Jeziel and Pelet sons of Azmaveth;
Beracah, Jehu the Anathothite;
Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a warrior among the Thirty and a leader over the Thirty;
Jeremiah, Jahaziel, Johanan, Jozabad the Gederathite;
Some Gadites defected to David at his stronghold in the desert. They were valiant warriors, trained for battle, expert with shield and spear. Their faces were like the faces of lions, and they were as swift as gazelles on the mountains.
These Gadites were army commanders; the least of them was a match for a hundred, and the greatest of them for a thousand.
David went out to meet them and said to them, “If you have come in peace to help me, my heart will be united with you, but if you have come to betray me to my enemies even though my hands have done no wrong, may the God of our ancestors look on it and judge.”
Some Manassites defected to David when he went with the Philistines to fight against Saul. However, they did not help the Philistines because the Philistine rulers sent David away after a discussion. They said, “It will be our heads if he defects to his master Saul.”
When David went to Ziklag, some men from Manasseh defected to him: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai, chiefs of thousands in Manasseh.
They helped David against the raiders, for they were all valiant warriors and commanders in the army.
The numbers of the armed troops who came to David at Hebron to turn Saul’s kingdom over to him, according to the LORD’s word, were as follows:
From the Benjaminites, the relatives of Saul: 3,000 (up to that time the majority of the Benjaminites maintained their allegiance to the house of Saul).
From half the tribe of Manasseh: 18,000 designated by name to come and make David king.
From the Issacharites, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do: 200 chiefs with all their relatives under their command.
From across the Jordan — from the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh: 120,000 men equipped with all the military weapons of war.
All these warriors, lined up in battle formation, came to Hebron wholeheartedly determined to make David king over all Israel. All the rest of Israel was also of one mind to make David king.
They spent three days there eating and drinking with David, for their relatives had provided for them.
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