2 Samuel 8:18

And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada [was] over both the Cherethites and Pelethites,.... These, according to Josephus (k), were the king's bodyguards, and this man is expressly said to be set over his

And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over both the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David's sons were chief rulers. Cherethites - i:e., Philistines (Zephaniah 2:5). Pelethites - from Pelet (1 Chronicles 12:3).

Was over: these words are supplied out of the parallel place, , and out of , where they are expressed. The Cherethites and Pelethites were undoubtedly soldiers, and such as were eminent for their valour and fidelity to the king, as is evident from 20:7 ,44; and most probably they were the king’ s guards, which consisted of these two bands, who might be distinguished either by their several weapons, or by the differing time or manner of their service. They are supposed to be thus called, either, first, from their office, which was upon the king’ s command to cut off or punish offenders, and to preserve the king’ s person, as their names in the Hebrew tongue may seem to imply; or, secondly, from some country or place to which they had relation. As for the Cherethites, it is certain they were either a branch of the Philistines, or a people neighbouring to them, and confederate with them, as is manifest from ,5. And so might the Pelethites be too, though that be not related in Scripture. And these Israelites and soldiers of David might be so called, either because they went and lived with David when he dwelt in those parts; or from some notable exploit against or victory over these people; as among the Romans the names of Asiaticus, Africanus, &c. were given for the same reason. One of their exploits against the Cherethites is in part related . And it is likely they did many other against them, and against other people, amongst which the Pelethites might be one. Were chief rulers; had the places of greatest. authority and dignity conferred upon them.

2 Samuel 8:18 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada [was over] both the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David’ s sons were chief rulers.Ver. 18. Was over both the Cherethites and the Pelethites,] i.e., Was Praefectus cohortis praetoriance, captain of the king’ s guard, who might be native Philistines, great and mighty men of stature, but proselytes and professors of the true religion. And David’ s sons were chief rulers.] Or, Princes, chief about the king, which preferment haply might puff up Absalom and Adonijah, and put them upon ill exploits. Our Henry II was very unhappy in his eldest son Henry, whom he crowned whilst he was yet alive, but killed him with that kindness; in his second son Richard, who, being set over Normandy, conspired with the king of France against him; and in his third son John, upon whom by heaping honours, he made him more dangerous at home. σωματοφυλακες. - Joseph. Illis erat commissa cura corporis regii. - Vatab. Daniel 109,144

(18) The Cherethites and the Pelethites.—These bodies of men, here mentioned for the first time, afterwards appear frequently, constituting the most trusted part of the king’s army, and forming his especial body-guard (2 Samuel 15:18; 2 Samuel 20:7; 2 Samuel 20:23; 1 Kings 1:38; 1 Kings 1:44; 1 Chronicles 18:17). Benaiah, who commanded them, a hero from Kabzeel (2 Samuel 23:20), was afterwards promoted by Solomon to be general-in-chief (1 Kings 2:35). But the meaning of the words, “the Che-rethites and the Pelethites,” has been much disputed. On the one hand it is urged that the form of the name indicates a tribal designation, and that there was a tribe of Cherethites living south of Philistia (1 Samuel 30:14), who are also mentioned in connection with the Philistines in Ezekiel 25:16; Zephaniah 2:5. Besides, these names appear as those of bodies of troops only during the reign of David, and the objection that he would have been unlikely to employ foreign mercenaries may be met by the supposition that they had embraced the religion of Israel. On the other hand, the Chaldee (“archers and slingers”) and Syriac (“nobles and Tustics”) understood them as appellatives, and it is said that they should properly be translated “executioners and runners,” such offices falling to the chief troops in all Oriental armies; no tribe of “Pelethites” is known, and in 2 Samuel 20:23 the expression translated “Cherethites and Pelethites” has another form for “Cherethites,” which again occurs with “Pelethites” in 2 Kings 11:4; 2 Kings 11:19, and is translated “the captains and the guard.” The question does not seem to admit of positive determination. Chief rulers.—So these words are rendered in all the ancient versions except the Vulg., and the same term is applied in 1 Kings 4:5 to Zabud, with the explanation “the king’s friend,” and also in 2 Samuel 20:26 to Ira, “a chief ruler about (literally, at the side of) David.” The word, however (cohen), is the one generally used for “priest,” and there seems here to be a reminiscence in the word of that early time when the chief civil and ecclesiastical offices were united in the head of the family or tribe. Such use of the word had become now almost obsolete, and quite so in the time when the Chronicles were written, since they substitute here (1 Chronicles 18:17) “chief about (literally, at the hand of) the king.” For this change in the use of the word, “exact analogies may be found in ecclesiastical words, as bishop, priest, deacon, minister, and many others.”—Speaker’s Commentary.

Verse 18. Benaiah] The chief of the second class of David's worthies. We shall meet with him again. The Cherethites and the Pelethites] The former supposed to be those who accompanied David when he fled from Saul; the latter, those who came to him at Ziklag. But the Targum translates these two names thus, the archers and the slingers; and this is by far the most likely. It is not at all probable that David was without a company both of archers and slingers. The bow is celebrated in the funeral lamentation over Saul and Jonathan; and the sling was renowned as the weapon of the Israelites, and how expert David was in the use of it we learn from the death of Goliath. I take for granted that the Chaldee paraphrast is correct. No weapons then known were equally powerful with these; the spears, swords, and javelins, of other nations, were as stubble before them. The bow was the grand weapon of our English ancestors; and even after the invention of firearms, they were with difficulty persuaded to prefer them and leave their archery.

18. Benaiah] See note on ch. 2 Samuel 23:20. was over] Over is not in the Heb. text, and must be supplied from Chr. But possibly there is some further defect, for the Sept. reads “Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was counsellor.” Cp. note on ch. 2 Samuel 23:23. the Cherethites and the Pelethites] The first reference to these troops, which are mentioned by this name during the reign of David only. They seem to have formed the king’s body-guard. See ch. 2 Samuel 15:18, 2 Samuel 20:7; 2 Samuel 20:23; 1 Kings 1:38; 1 Kings 1:44; 1 Chronicles 18:17. Two explanations of the names have been proposed: (1) that they mean executioners and runners, it being the duty of the royal guards to execute sentence (see Genesis 37:36 marg.; 1 Kings 2:25), and to convey the king’s orders from place to place (see 2 Chronicles 30:6): (2) that they are the names of two Philistine tribes, the body-guard being composed of foreign mercenaries, like the Pope’s Swiss guard. In favour of the latter explanation it may be urged (a) that the names are gentilic in form; (b) that Cherethites certainly denotes a Philistine tribe in the other passages where it occurs (1 Samuel 30:14; Ezekiel 25:16; Zephaniah 2:5); (c) that they are mentioned in conjunction with the Gittites in ch. 2 Samuel 15:18, so that David evidently had some foreign troops in his service, whom he had gathered round him during his residence at Ziklag. chief rulers] Ministers. The word is that usually translated priest. It is derived from a root meaning to serve or minister, and in a few instances denotes a civil not an ecclesiastical minister, the king’s confidential adviser. Cp. the paraphrase in 1 Chronicles 18:17 “chief by the side of the king;” and 1 Kings 4:5, where the E. V. renders “principal officer.”

18. The Cherethites and the Pelethites — The Syriac and Arabic versions render these words, nobles and soldiers; the Targum of Jonathan, archers and slingers.