Cher'ethites
(executioners) and of King David.
2Sa 8:18; 15:18; 20:7,23; 1Ki 1:38,44; 1Ch 18:17
It is plain that these royal guards were employed as executioners.,
and as couriers,
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.
Jehoida's son Benaiah supervised the special forces and mercenaries, and David's sons were priests.
All of his staff were going on ahead of him that is, all of the special forces and mercenaries, all of the Gittites, and 600 men who had come to serve him from Gath, went on ahead of the king.
So Joab's men, the special forces and mercenaries, and all of David's elite forces left Jerusalem in pursuit of Bichri's son Sheba.
Joab commanded the entire army of Israel, Jehoiada's son Benaiah commanded the special forces and mercenaries,
King Rehoboam made shields out of bronze to take their place, and then committed them to the care and custody of the commanders of those who guarded the entrance to the royal palace.
But during the seventh year of her reign, Jehoiada went out and called together the rulers of hundreds, the captains, and the guards, and assembled them together inside the LORD's Temple. He made a covenant with them, making them take an oath in the LORD's Temple, and then he revealed the king's son to them.
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