(17) Cherethites and the Pelethites.--2Samuel 8:18. The royal body-guard, for which office Oriental kings have always employed foreign mercenaries. Josephus calls them the body-guard (Antiq. vii. 5, ? 4). The names are tribal in form, and as the Cherethites recur (Ezekiel 25:16; Zephaniah 2:5) in connection with the Philistines (comp. 1Samuel 30:14), and the name Pelethites resembles that of Philistines, it is natural to assumo that David's guard was recruited from two Philistine tribes. (Comp. 2Samuel 15:18, where the Cherethites and Pelethites are mentioned along with a corps of Gittites.) The Targum of Samuel, and Syriac and Arabic of Chronicles, render "archers and slingers."

Chief about the king.--Heb., the first at the king's hand, or side, a paraphrase of what we read in Samuel: "were chief rulers" (koh?nim). Koh?nim is the common and only word for "priests," and has just occurred in that sense (1Chronicles 18:16). In 1Kings 4:5, as well as here, the term is said to denote not a sacerdotal, but a secular "minister." But this theory seems to be opposed to the facts of history. Under the monarchy the priests were brought into close relations with the king, owing to their judicial duties; and the chief priest of a royal sanctuary became one of the great officials of state (Amos 7:11; Amos 7:13). Such a position would be of sufficient importance to be filled by the princes of the blood. The chronicler, writing from the point of view of a later age, has substituted for the original term a phrase that would not offend contemporary feeling. In Samuel the LXX. renders "chief courtiers;" the other versions have "magnates," except the Vulg., which has "priests." Syriac of Chronicles, "magnates."

Verse 17. - Benaiah the son of Jehoiada (see 1 Chronicles 11:22-25; 1 Chronicles 12:27; 2 Samuel 23:20-23). The Cherethites and the Pelethites. Two tribes of Philistines whom David attached. The meaning and derivation of these two names leave it possible to translate them at once, and to read, "the public executioners, and the public couriers," not treating them as proper names, and to this course Geseuius (see 'Lexicon') gives his sanction. On the other hand, a comparison of 1 Samuel 30:14 and 2 Samuel 15:18 would lead us to treat them as the names of people, although the Pelethites are net as identifiable in this sense as the Cherethites and Gittites. Anyway, it is evident they were the special guard of the king, and were faithful to David and to Solomon after him. Their duties included those of the executioner or lictor, and the courier. They are frequently mentioned on special occasions of the king's moving, and of danger (2 Samuel 15:18; 2 Samuel 20:7, 23; 1 Kings 1:38, 44). Chief about the king. The Hebrew text here is הָרִאשֹׁגִים. The word used in the parallel place is כֹּחֲנִים, which signifies strictly "priests," but sometimes more generally" princes." This is, without doubt, the meaning of our text.

18:1-17 David's victories. - This chapter is the same as 2Sa 8. Our good fight of faith, under the Captain of our salvation, will end in everlasting triumph and peace. The happiness of Israel, through David's victories, and just government, faintly shadowed forth the happiness of the redeemed in the realms above.See Chapter Introduction