2 Samuel 5:1-5
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 5
David as King of Israel.[a] 1 Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said: “Listen to us. We are your own flesh and blood. 2 In former days, when Saul was our king, you were the one who led the Israelites on their campaigns and brought them back. Moreover, the Lord said to you: ‘You shall be the shepherd of my people Israel and be the ruler of Israel.’ ” 3 Then all the elders of Israel came to David, the king of Hebron, and David made a covenant with them there before the Lord. After this they anointed David as king of Israel.
4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for forty years. 5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah for seven years and six months, and then in Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah for thirty-three years.
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- 2 Samuel 5:1 Jerusalem, which had not belonged to either Judah or Israel, will be the sign of the nation’s political unity and, quite soon, of its religious unity as well; it will be the symbol of God’s presence in the midst of humanity. Both the Jewish and, later, the Christian traditions will meditate deeply on the mystery of Jerusalem; the Church will be seen as the new Jerusalem (Gal 4:26; Heb 12:22), the Jerusalem of the last times, which in turn prepares the way for the “Jerusalem that is to come” (see Rev 21).
