Who were these "Cherethites and Pelethites"? Digging through the early prophetical books of Samuel and Kings as well the as writings of the latter prophets, such as Ezekiel and Zephaniah, reveals a few references to these names or to variant forms of them. The first mention of the Cherethites is in 1 Samuel 30:14 in the passage dealing with David's return to Ziklag. Finding the city burned, and his wives and children taken captive, David gave chase and caught up with an Egyptian slave of the Amalekites, who stated that the Amalekites had gone raiding "on the Negeb of the Cherethites and . . . burned Ziklag down." The second reference is in 2 Samuel 8:18, quoted above, where David's officials are listed; the Cherethites are mentioned as part of David's bodyguard along with the Pelethites (see also 2 Sam. 15:18; 23:23).

The Cherethites were from the Negeb, in the same general area as Ziklag. It is logical to assume that David picked them up during his days as lord of Ziklag. The Pelethites are a bit more difficult to identify. They are mentioned only seven times in the Old Testament, and in every case they are the second part of a compound phrase connecting them with the Cherethites, as in 2 Samuel 8:18. Some scholars believe that Pelethite is a variant name for Philistines (Bright 1981, 205; McCarter 1984, 256), and McCarter believes that a specific place name in the Aegean or in Anatolia should be sought to reveal their origin. Since the Pelethites are tied in all seven biblical references with the Cherethites, let us focus on the Cherethites in order to determine who these professional bodyguards were.

Three biblical references to the Cherethites present them as a tribe. The first is the citation in 1 Samuel 30:14, in connection with David and Ziklag. The second can be found in Ezekiel, where a prophecy is stated against the Philistines:

The third reference is in Zephaniah, where there is another prophecy of destruction:

These passages will be studied in more detail later in their historical contexts, but notice that in Ezekiel and Zephaniah the Cherethites are linked closely with the Philistines. Furthermore, many scholars link the name Cherethites to Crete (McCarter 1980, 435; 1984, 256; ISBE 1:610; A. Mazar 1990, 306; Elwell 1988, 1:415-16); therefore, the Anchor Bible commentary states that the phrase in 1 Samuel 30:14 may also be translated as the "Negeb of the Cretans" (McCarter 1980, 435). We know that these people lived somewhere in the area of Ziklag or towards the coast.

The mixture of the Philistines and Cherethites is somewhat analogous to the mixing of peoples that occurred when Israel left Egypt. As the Israelites left, they were joined by a "rabble" (Num. 11:4) and a "mixed crowd" (Exod. 12:38), but the entire multitude was called Israel. The Sea Peoples have always been viewed in the Egyptian records, as well as by scholars, as a confederation of peoples who invaded Egypt, of which the Philistines were a part. Along the southern coast of Canaan, the Philistines were evidently the dominant group in the confederation. According to the Bible, there were five Philistine lords; yet the Bible does not tell us whether these five lords had exactly the same heritage, only that they all operated in concert with each other in the days of the judges through David. It is clear, however, that within Philistia lived the Cherethites/Cretans, who became David's loyal bodyguards.

Just how loyal they were is seen in 2 Samuel 15, the story about Absalom's revolt against his father, King David. David is forced to flee from Jerusalem: "The king left, followed by all the people; and they stopped at the last house. All his officials passed by him; and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the six hundred Gittites who had followed him from Gath, passed on before the king" (vv. 17-18). Numerous people of Judah deserted David, as they had done before in the days when David was fleeing from Saul. Who remained loyal? The Philistine bodyguard and the Gittites from Gath. Like the Cherethites and Pelethites, the Gittites probably also joined David during his days with Achish of Gath (1 Sam. 27). Sadly (but fortunately perhaps for David), it was the Philistines who remained loyal to David while God's people shifted their loyalty like the wind.

Ittai, the commander of the Gittites, was released from his service obligation to David by David himself, but this "foreigner" who was in "exile" from Gath in Philistia (2 Sam. 15:19) responded with words similar to those of Ruth when she was told by Naomi to return to Moab. He said, "As the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether for death or for life, there also your servant will be" (v. 21). The words of Ruth have been remembered through the ages, but here is another foreigner, a Philistine, who with other Philistines remained loyal to God's anointed.

Another strange episode involving a Gittite is found in 2 Samuel 6. David was returning the ark to Jerusalem and for some unknown reason was transporting it on a cart, rather than having the priests carry it with poles. Uzzah, at one point, steadied the ark and was struck dead for touching it. David was fearful of what had just transpired, and rather than taking the ark into Jerusalem, he left it at the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. Second Samuel 6:11 states, "the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household." Obed-edom's name betrays him as a foreigner, for it means "servant of (the deity) Edom" (McCarter 1984, 170). A later passage, 1 Chronicles 15:18, gave Obed-edom a Levitical genealogy. This Gittite, this Philistine, was blessed by the Lord in caring for the ark (see also NIV Study Bible 1 Chron. 13:13 footnote and McCarter 1984, 170).

Let us return to the Cherethites and the Pelethites of David's bodyguard. After Absalom's revolt, an even more dangerous revolt broke out against King David (2 Sam. 20:6). It was again "the Cherethites, the Pelethites, and all the warriors" who were called on to put this revolt down.

Later, shortly before David's death, a successor needed to be chosen and anointed as the next king. David's son Adonijah, born next after Absalom, felt that he was the proper choice. Joab, David's general, and Abiathar the priest took the side of Adonijah. Opposed to Adonijah were Nathan the prophet, Zadok the priest, David's warriors, and Benaiah, the man in charge of the Cherethites and the Pelethites. It was the king's Philistine bodyguard who took Solomon through the streets of Jerusalem to be anointed by Zadok at Gihon (1 Kings 1:44-45).

And so the hated enemy of Israel helped to save David, God's anointed, and also helped to put Solomon on the throne. The Philistines as a whole would continue to be castigated by Israel and the latter prophets; we will study this further, but let us not forget the Philistine bodyguard used by God to preserve those whom he had chosen.