BIBLE DICTIONARY + WORD STUDY
How to read this: there is rarely one magic “true meaning” hidden behind an English word. A lexicon records a word’s semantic range. The intended meaning is narrowed by grammar, sentence, author, historical usage and context.
HEBREW / ARAMAIC · H6432
pe.le.ti — Pelethite
Someone descended from Pelath(?), first mentioned at 2Sa.8.18 § Pelethites = "couriers" 1) a collective name for the guardsmen of David 1a) probably descendants of an unknown person, perhaps Philistine mercenaries
7 tagged verse occurrences · see every occurrence →Mentioned always along with the Cherethites, and only in the time of David. The word probably means “runners” or “couriers,” and may denote that while forming part of David’s bodyguard, they were also sometimes employed as couriers (2 Sam. 8:18; 20:7, 23;1 Kings 1:38, 44; 1 Chr. 18:17). Some, however, think that these are the names simply of two Philistine tribes from which David selected his body-guard. They are mentioned along with the Gittites (2 Sam. 15:18), another body of foreign troops whom David gathered round him.
Source: Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897). Historical dictionary wording reflects the scholarship and language of its era.
