2 Samuel 17:27

Shobi . It is evident that the most powerful chieftains in Gilead were on David's side, and supported him with men as well as with provisions. Adherents, too, would constantly cross the Jordan, and gather round the old king; and thus, when Absalom arrived, he found himself in face of an army estimated at about twenty thousand men. Among these chiefs it is interesting to find Shobi, son of Nahash, the Ammonite king, and David's friend ( 2 Samuel 10:2 ). When Hanun, the elder son, on succeeding to the throne, brought ruin upon himself by his misconduct to David's ambassadors, Shobi apparently remained faithful to David, and received the grant of a district in Gilead, where he settled with his followers. Some, with less probability, suppose that he had withdrawn to Gilead in the lifetime of his father, to be out of Hanun's way. Machir was the generous man who had given the crippled son of Jonathan a refuge ( 2 Samuel 9:4 ); and David's honourable treatment of Mephibosheth may have won his patron's heart. Of Barzillai , and his abode, Rogelim , nothing more is known than what is said here, and in the very interesting narrative in 2 Samuel 19:31 , etc. David's lasting gratitude to him is shown by his care for his sons (see 1 Kings 2:7 ). A clan of priests called themselves "the children of Barzillai," and claimed to be the descendants of his daughter. They could not, however, produce their genealogy, and were therefore degraded from the priestly office ( Ezra 2:61-63 ). Their claim, nevertheless, is a proof that Barzillai was a little king in Gilead, when thus a priestly race thought their alliance with him so honourable as to make them forget that they were of the lineage of Aaron.