Cherethites
A people in South Palestine whose territory bordered upon that of Judah (1Sa 30:14). In 1Sa 30:16 this land is apparently identical with that of the Philistines. In Eze 25:16 the Philistines and the Cherethites are threatened together; while in Zep 2:5 the Cherethites are evidently the dwellers in "the land of the Philistines," "the inhabitants of the seacoast." Septuagint in both Ezekiel and Zephaniah renders the name "Cretans." The translators may have been "guided only by the sound." But Zeus Cretagenes in Gaza suggests a connection with the island of Crete. See, however, CAPHTOR. It may be taken as certain that the Cherethites were a Philistine clan. In conjunction with the Pelethites they are frequently named as forming the guard of David (2Sa 8:18, etc.). It was the custom of many ancient monarchs to have a guard of foreign mercenaries.
Article 2
(executioners) and of King David. (2 Samuel 8:18; 15:18; 20:7,23; 1 Kings 1:38,44; 1 Chronicles 18:17) It is plain that these royal guards were employed as executioners., (2 Kings 11:4) and as couriers, (1 Kings 14:27) But it has been conjectured that they may have been foreign mercenaries, and therefore probably Philistines, of which name Pelethites may be only another form.
Additional Material
CHERETHIM, CHERETHITES (PELETHITES) kĕr’ ə thĭm, kĕr’ ə thīts, pĕl’ ə thīts (כְּרֵתִי, H4165, פְּלֵתִי, H7152, meaning uncertain, but they were troops in David’s army).
References.
Meaning.
Despite the fact that ancient VSS (Targum, Syriac) and modern commentators (KD, Samuel, 367) have understood the words as common nouns (“executioners,” “runners”), they are to be taken as proper names for the following reasons: the formation of the words is unexplained on the alternate hypothesis in that the ending is denominative (not deverbal) while it is frequently employed in proper names. The words are evidently in the same sense as Gittites, which is clearly a proper name (2 Sam 15:18).
Identification.
The Cherethites are generally said to have been Cretans on the basis of the similarity of the two names (Crete bore that name already in Homeric times) and the connection between the Cherethites and the Philistines. On the other hand, Prignaud feels that, although they are related to the Philistines, the Cherethites are never directly associated with Crete and may have had another origin but were subsequently assimilated by the Philistines. The Pelethites are generally held to be Philistines, the difference of name being explained in a number of ways: (1) The term Pelethites, which is always used in conjunction with Cherethites, is formed by analogy to the latter term (Greenfield, IDB); (2) Phonetic assimilation took place by which pəlištī became pəlētī (Montgomery, ICC, Kings); (3) The form Pelethites was intentionally created to avoid the suggestion that the Philistines were too intimately associated with David (Prignaud).
Whatever their identification, the Cherethites and Pelethites appear in the Bible as parts of David’s army. They seem to have been esp. active in times of crisis for David, remaining loyal to him in all three revolts against the king. They went with him when he had to flee from Absalom (2 Sam 15:18); they pursued Sheba after his rebellion (20:7); when Adonijah tried to succeed David as king, it was the Cherethites and Pelethites who formed the bodyguard for Solomon’s anointing (1 Kings 1:38). Their leader was Beniah son of Jehoiada (2 Sam 8:18), who is also called the leader of David’s bodyguard (23:23). It is probable that the Cherethites and Pelethites were this bodyguard.
Bibliography
J. Montgomery, Kings (1951), 86; J. Prignaud, “Caftorim et Kerétim,” RB (1964), 215-229.