2 Samuel 8:18

Benaiah See note on ch. 2 Samuel 23:20.

was over Overis 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; 2Sa 20:23; 1 Kings 1:38; 1Ki 1:44; 1 Chronicles 18:17. Two explanations of the names have been proposed: (1) that they mean executionersand 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 Cherethitescertainly 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 serveor 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."