1 Chronicles 18 Footnotes

18:1 Although the wars David fought disqualified him from building the temple (22:8-9; 28:3), they were necessary wars. These wars brought peace and political strength required for national survival as well as the booty and wealth needed for the building materials. The next three chapters record how David completed what Joshua began in the conquest of the land the Lord had given Israel.

18:17 “Cherethites and the Pelethites” were David’s personal guard, non-Israelites and mercenaries. One might think of them as a professional, standing army. The Chronicler omitted naming David’s sons as priests, in contrast to 2Sm 8:18. He was jealous of the Levitical privilege and evidently did not consider David’s sons to be true priests, regardless of what Levitical functions they might have performed. Some have suggested that there was a textual corruption in Samuel, a book famous for the many scribal errors in the history of its transmission. The Hebrew word for “officials” is just one letter different from the word for “priests.”