The final crowning of David over the entire nation marks a historic turning point, uniting a fractured people after years of division and struggle under a single, agreed-upon leader. The national leaders, holding the political power and authority to appoint a king, gathered to formalize this transition [מצודת דוד]. Because the broader population of the tribes was also involved in the gathering, there are different perspectives on how the events unfolded. Some suggest the leaders arrived first to negotiate the terms of the agreement, only calling the masses to participate in the actual anointing once the details were settled [רד״ק]. Others propose that the general public arrived beforehand, and the leaders stepped in afterward to institutionalize the process. It is also possible that everyone gathered at once, but the official agreement was made exclusively with the leaders acting as the representatives of the people [אברבנאל].
This agreement was a mutual commitment. The leaders officially accepted David as their king, while David promised to treat them with the same love and care he had shown his own tribe of Judah [מצודת דוד]. Crucially, this covenant served as a guarantee of peace. It ensured that David would not hold a grudge or seek revenge against them for their past support of Ish-bosheth, nor for their delay in accepting his rule over the intervening years [רד״ק, ביאור שטיינזלץ, אברבנאל].
The formal pact was made in the presence of God. This spiritual setting is understood in several ways. The Ark of the Covenant may have been brought to Hebron temporarily for the occasion [מצודת דוד], or there might have been a local altar used for offering sacrifices [רלב״ג]. Alternatively, the sheer magnitude of the entire nation gathering in one place was enough to draw the Divine Presence, or the concept simply means that both sides called upon God to serve as the ultimate witness and guarantor of their treaty [רד״ק].
Finally, David was anointed as king, bringing a long and difficult journey to its conclusion. He had already been anointed privately by Samuel years earlier, and later by the tribe of Judah. Now, with his anointing by the entire nation, Samuel's original prophecy was fully realized. With the people completely united under his leadership in Hebron, David immediately turned his attention to his next major objective: marching to Jerusalem to conquer the city [רד״ק, רלב״ג].