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When Israel shall at length look upon Him Whom they have pierced, will they not also
realize that for their sakes He had taken upon Him flesh and blood, that He had led them
out and brought them in, and that He was their true Messiah appointed by God?
The capture of the stronghold of Zion.--The first event recorded after the anointing of
David over all Israel, is the overthrowing of the Jebusites and the taking of the stronghold
of Zion. The Jebusites' taunt in this passage should be understood in the sense that they
considered their fortress to be so impregnable that in derision they manned the walls with
the blind and the lame--"thinking, David cannot come in hither". There was, however, a
secret entrance into the stronghold that somehow had come to the knowledge of Joab.
This is called in the A.V. "the gutter"--"a rock-cut passage or shaft, from the upper
Gihon (now the Virgin's Fount on the east of Ophel) leading up into the city, and up
which the inhabitants drew their water supply" (Companion Bible). This conduit is
shown in the Ordnance Survey maps, and The Companion Bible gives in Appendix 68 a
cross-section showing the "gutter", from a drawing made by Sir Charles Warren.
We learn from I Chron. 11: 6 that Joab went up this "gutter" first, and so became chief.
By this means the stronghold of Zion was taken, and we read in verse 7: "The same is
the city of David" (II Sam. 5: 7). We can see here an anticipation of the final overthrow
of Babylon and Satanic opposition, which the N.T. places just before the revelation of
Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
The bringing up of the Ark to Zion.--The capture of Zion was preliminary to the
bringing up of the Ark of God, "Whose name is called by the name of the Lord of Hosts,
That dwelleth between the cherubims" (II Sam. 6: 2). David's intention here was right,
but owing apparently to ignorance or neglect of the law, Uzzah is smitten, and the Ark
left for three months at the house of Obed-edom, the Gittite. From I Chronicles we
learn that David must have been exercised over the miscarriage of his plan, and must
have sought the Lord and His word about it, for we read:
"Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites; for them
hath the Lord chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto Him for ever"
(I Chron. 15: 2).
This time the transfer of the Ark is accomplished with safety, and David, discarding
his royal apparel and girt with a linen ephod, dances before the Lord.
"So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting,
and with the sound of a trumpet" (II Sam. 6: 15).
Upon returning to bless his own household, however, David is met by his wife's
sarcastic disapproval:
"How glorious was the King of Israel to-day, who disrobed himself to-day in the sight
of the handmaidens of his servants, as one of the low people might disrobe himself!"
(II Sam. 6: 20).