Under D. the kingdom was more completely organized than it liad been under his predecessor, and the administration was intrusted to royal officers (2 S S^''-'^, 20-^2')- Foremost of these was Joab the .son of Zeruiah, D.'s nephew, who was connnander-in-chief of the whole army ; the scribe or cbanci'llor, to whom belonged the control of all official documents, was Shisha (IK 4''; corrupt readings in 2 S 8" 20-^, 1 Ch 18'0) ; the slate his- torian or chronicler {mmklr, i.e. remembrancer), Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud ; Adoram controlled the levy, i.e. the forced service exacted by the king from his subjects ; at the head of the priesthood, beside Abiathar, tlie representative of the house of Eli, stood Zadok, the ancestor of the later priestly house, but of his origin or aiipointment no authentic information is preserved ; Ira, a .Manass- ite of the family of Jair, was another prie.st, and D.'s sons also performed priestly duties. Traces of a royal council are to be fnund in allusions to
Ahilliophel, D.'s counsellor (2 S 15'-), and to Hushai, D.'s friend {ib. v."', cf. 1 K 4^). A very important institution was that of the royal body- guard, taking the placid of the ' runners ' of Saul (1 S 22'"). The nucleus of it was doubtless David's old band, which had accompanied him during his wanderings and his residence at Ziklag. The technical name of this force was the Gibborim, heroes or mighty men ; and their numbers were probably kept at the traditional (iOO. They were now largely recruited from foreigners, especially Philistines and Cherethites, a people of the south of Palestine (1 S SO'*, Zeph 2°), perhaps originally con- necte<l with Crete ; hence the guards were commonly called ihe Cherethites and Pelethites (wh. see). That these were the same body as the Gibborim appears from 1 K l^- ")• as : the text of 2 S 15'* is too uncertain to form an argument to the contrary. The whole corps was under the command of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. Included in or distinct from this guard, was a select body of Thirtij distinguished for special valour, over whom was Abishai, the brother of Joab; while Three warriors are named as ranking even higher than Abishai and Benaiah (2 S 23*-^^, and cf. Driver, ad lot:.'). This guard of experienced soldiers formed the only standing army in the kingdom ; and being stationed in the capital (cf. 2 S ll*"'-, Neh Z^'') they became a powerful support to the king's authority, and ensured the discharge of his orders. As will appear later, they played an important part at the accession of Solomon.
For war on a large scale the army still consisted of the whole male population of military age, who were summoned to arms in time of danger. The force seems to have consisted wholly of infantry, except for a few chariots and horses retained after the defeat of Hadadezer (2 S 8<). But when D.'s wars of foreign conquest began to involve pro- tracted campaigns, and long absence from home, some new system became desirable. It was per- haps partly to meet these requirements that D. instituted the census, which was carried out evi- dently after the completion of the Syrian wars, for his officers travelled as far north as the Hittite city of Kadesh (2 S 24", LXX. Luc. ). The military aspect of this measure is clear from its being intrusted to Joab and the captains of the host (v.-i, 1 Ch 21-) ; but the census may have been also intended as a basis for a regitlar system of fixed taxation, to meet the needs of an organized government. The measure was regarded with suspicion, perhaps as involving an undue increase of royal authority, and even Joab protested against it ; nevertheless, he carried out his task in it months and 20 days. A severe pestilence, which visited the land immediately afterwards, was re- garded by I), and the people as a sign of the divine displeasure. We are told that the prophet (iad offered D. the choice of three punishments — three years' famine (LXX, 1 Ch), three months' flight before his enemies, or three days' ])estilence ; and that the king chose the hust, preferring to fall into the hand of God rather than of man. But when Ihe destroying .angel reached Jerus., he was bidden, in consequence of D.'s penitence, to stay his hand ; and D., at Gad's bidding, bought the threshing- floor of Araunah or Oman (Ch) the Jebusite, and offered there a sacrifice, whereby he obtained from God mercy for the land (2 S 24). The place of sacrifice became afterwards the site of Solomon's temple (2 Ch .'?'). The narrative shows that we must not expect to (ind for D.'s reign careful records of the numbers and divisions of the people. Yet such statistics are presupposed by the Chron- icler, who in his account of David's armies and officers (1 Ch 23-27) describes a far more numerous and elaborately organized body of religious and
DAVID
civil and military officials than is likely to have existed in the time of David. Fragments of old records may be incorporated in his work (p.y. I Ch :)7Ji-ai) ; but the older history shows no trace of the thousands of Levitis, or of the bodies of 24,000 nun continually under arms (1 Ch 27i-i») of which the later historian speaks.