CHERETHITES AND PELETHITES.These were mercenary soldiers, who probably began to attach themselves to David whilst he was an outlaw (2Sa_22:2 etc.), and subsequently became the kings bodyguard and the nucleus of his army (2Sa_8:18; 2Sa_15:18; 2Sa_20:7; 2Sa_20:23, 1Ki_1:38; 1Ki_1:44, 1Ch_18:17). Benaiah, whom Josephus calls captain of the guard (Ant. VII. xi. 8), was their commander. They accompanied David in his retreat from Jerusalem (2Sa_15:18), fought against Absalom (2Sa_20:7; 2Sa_20:23), acted as Solomons bodyguard at his coronation (1Ki_1:38; 1Ki_1:44). The Cherethites were a Philistine clan (1Sa_30:14), dwelling on the coast (Eze_25:16, Zep_2:5); and the name Pelethites may have been a corrupt form of Philistines. Unwillingness to believe that foreigners stood so near the national hero led certain Jewish scholars to assert that the two clans were Israelites. The appellation Cherethite seems to be connected with Crete, and there is good ground (but see Caphtor) for the belief that Caphtor, from which Amo_9:7 says the Philistines came, is to be identified with Crete. The LXX [Note: Septuagint.] of Eze_25:16, Zep_2:5 uses Cretans as the equivalent of Cherethites.
J. Taylor.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
Cher?ethites and Pel?ethites, names borne by the royal life-guards in the time of David (2Sa_8:18; 1Ch_18:17). Prevailing opinion translates their names, 'Headsmen and Foot-runners.' In the later years of David, their captain, Benaiah, rose to a more commanding importance than the generals of the regular troops; just as in imperial Rome the prefect of the praetorian guards became the second person in the empire. It is evident that, to perpetrate any summary deed, Benaiah and the guards were chiefly relied on. That they were strictly a body-guard is distinctly stated in 2Sa_23:23. In 1Sa_30:14, the Cherethites are named as a nation of the south, and in 2Sa_15:15, the Cherethites and Pelethites are mentioned along with the Gittites, who were undoubtedly foreigners. It has therefore been supposed, with some probability, that David entrusted the care of his person to foreign guards.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.