1 Chronicles 12:8

THE GADITES DEFECT TO DAVID IN HIS WILDERNESS DAYS

"And of the Gadites there separated themselves unto David to the stronghold in the wilderness, mighty men of valor, men trained for war, that could handle shield and spear; whose faces were like the faces of lions, and they were as swift as the roes upon the mountains: Ezer the chief, Obadiah the second, Eliab the third, Mishmammah the fourth, Jeremiah the fifth, Attai the sixth, and Eliel the seventh, Johanan the eighth, Elzabad the ninth, Jeremiah the tenth, Machbannai the eleventh. These of the sons of Gad were captains of the host: he that was least was equal to a hundred, and the greatest to a thousand. These are they that went over Jordan in the first month, when it had overflowed all its banks; and they put to flight all them of the valleys, both toward the east and toward the west."

"To the stronghold in the wilderness" (1 Chronicles 12:8). This was prior to David's days at Ziklag. The particular stronghold is not mentioned, but it might have been either Engedi or Adullam.

"Faces like the faces of lions ... as swift as the roes on the mountains" (1 Chronicles 12:8). No human being can outrun a deer; and the figures of speech used by the Chronicler here suggest that other figures of speech also appear in the chapter.

"The names of persons in these verses (1 Chronicles 12:9-13) are all found elsewhere in the Bible, but none of them as designating the same persons."[4]

"They went over the Jordan in the first month" (1 Chronicles 12:15). "The time here was the same as our month of March/April."[5] The historical setting may have been that of the Conquest under Joshua; but the event here given is not elsewhere reported in the Bible.