2 Samuel 8:15

DAVID'S WISE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE ALSO A LIST OF IMPORTANT SUBORDINATE ADMINISTRATORS

"So David reigned over all Israel; and David administered justice and equity to all his people. And Joab the son of Zeruriah was over the army; and Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, was recorder; and Zadok the son of Ahitub and Ahirnelech the son of Abiathar were priests; and Seriah was secretary; and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David's sons were priests."

This record of David's wise and efficient administration of the affairs of his kingdom must be applied especially to the first half of his reign, before the king's adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband placed him under the judgment of divine punishment from God. There was probably some truth in Absalom's charges at that later time of the king's incompetence.

"Zadok ... and Ahimelech ... were priests" (2 Samuel 8:17). Having two priests was contrary to the Law of Moses (these were actually high priests), but David skillfully contained the situation until during the greater stability of Solomon's kingship, the situation was finally corrected.

Regarding Ahimelech and Abiathar, some manuscripts make Ahimelech the father and Abiathar the son; but Our Lord settled the matter in Mark 2:26 where He made Abiathar the father and the one who gave David the bread of the Presence. The uncertainties resulting from such things are of no special importance; and, if we knew all of the facts, all difficulties would disappear.

We reject the speculation which denies that Zadok was a Levite.[20] "According to Biblical genealogies, both Zadok and Abiathar (or Ahimelech) were descended from Ahitub, a son of Aaron, who was the father of Eleazar and Ithamar, Zadok being descended from Eleazar and Abiathar from Ithamar."[21] A slight variation in the spelling of the name of Ahitub (in some versions) is no excuse whatever for the false notion that "the same person is not necessarily meant in both references."[22]

One other bizarre allegation sometimes leveled against Zadok (2 Samuel 8:17) is that, "He might not even have been a Levite, but some kind of a successor to Melchizedek as a Priest of God Most High in the Jebusite city of Jerusalem. who was accepted by Saul as his High Priest after Saul's murder of the priests of Nob."[23]; SUCH A POSTULATION IS NONSENSE. Saul did not possess Jerusalem; and besides, Melchizedek had no successors, being a "priest for ever." Melchizedek ruled in Salem a thousand years, almost, before the events mentioned here.

"The Cherethites and the Pelethites" (2 Samuel 8:10). "This bodyguard of foreign mercenaries here appears for the first time in Israel's history."[24] Ancient kings considered them more dependable than bodyguards recruited from native populations. Thus, both of these rival High Priests were actually descendants of Aaron and thus eligible for the office of high priest. This refutes the allegation of Bennett that, "The priesthood was not limited either to the house of Aaron nor to that of Levi."[25]

"And David's sons were priests" (2 Samuel 8:18). Some believe that the sons of David actually performed priestly functions, but the Bible has no record of any such thing. Can it be supposed that Absalom was a priest? or that another son of David, the godless Amnon, who raped Tamar (his half-sister; 2 Samuel 13:14) was a priest? Before assigning our reasons for rejecting this rendition here as inaccurate, or, at least, denying absolutely the critical interpretation of the place, it must be said that IF David's sons (any of them) ever served as a priest of God, then such a fact would fit into the typical nature of David; because, certainly, the sons of that "Greater David" (who is Christ) are all priests (1 Peter 2:9).

First, the mention of any ordinary priest in this passage would have been totally out of order. Abiathar (Ahimelech) and Zadok were mentioned because they were High Priests, one elevated by Saul, the other by David. This paragraph is a list of David's administrators for the business of the kingdom, among whom the sons of David were certainly included, as we learn later in the activities of Absalom. The parallel inspired account tells us exactly what were the functions of David's sons. "And David's sons were the chief officials in the service of the king" (1 Chronicles 18:17). In no sense whatever were they `priests.'

"But the word in the text here is PRIESTS." Even the scholars who are tempted to see the meaning here as PRIESTS in the ordinary sense admit that, "David's sons were hardly priests in the sense that Abiathar and Zadok were priests."[26]

Canon Cook gives us the true explanation of this problem: "The word [~kohen] here rendered `chief rulers' (as it stands in the KJV and as `chief ministers' as it stands in the ASV) is the regular word for `a priest.' In the early days of the monarchy, the word had not quite lost its etymological sense from the root meaning `TO MINISTER,' or `TO MANAGE AFFAIRS.' although in later times its technical sense alone survived."[27] From this, it is clear that in the times of David the true meaning of the word is that given in the KJV and in the ASV. Therefore, we do not hesitate to designate the RSV rendition of the word here as "priests, "contrary to the proper rendition of the passage in 1 Chronicles 18:17 by the inspired author - we do not hesitate to designate the RSV in this rendition as a "bastard translation." R. Payne Smith, another very distinguished scholar writing in the Pulpit Commentary has this:

"In the time of the writing of 1Kings, this word [~kohen] as a word for `priest' was already becoming obsolete, as proved by 1 Kings 4:5; and therefore the author of 1 Chronicles 18:17, writing at a still later time, changed the passage to give the correct meaning. We are certain that the Chronicler knew what the passage in 2 Samuel 8:18 meant, and that he was also aware that the word [~kohen] had gone out of use as a term for chief officials; and so he properly rendered the passage thus: `David's sons were the chief officials in the service of the king." [28]