Cher'etliim (Heb. Kerethim\ b'^n'n^, the regn- lar plmml of ChereliUe)^ occurs in this form only in EzeL xxT, 16 ; Zeph. ii, 26^ in the former of which passages it is rendered **Cherethims," and in the lat- ter *' Cherethites.*' The only other passage where the Cherethxtes are mentioned singly (although in a slight- ly different form in the original) is 1 Sam. xxx, 14. hi all these passages they are expressly named as in- habitaots of the southern Philistia, that is, PhiHidnes. The Sept. and Syriac render the word in these places by Cretam; firom which, and the passages in Amos ix, 7 ; Jer. xlrii, 4 ; Deut. ii, 23, the conjecture would be strong that the Philistines sprang from Crete, were it certain that Caphtor means Crete. See Philistine ; Caphtob. For the other passages in which the word occurs, see Chbbethite.
Cher'ethita (Heb. KeretJd^ ^^n^^) occurs alone only in 1 Sam. xxx, 14 (A. V. " Cherethites'Ot where the people so deaignated are meant. See Chebbthim. The -word is elsewhere, and always in the same form, foond only in the formula, ** the Cheebthites and THE Pelkthites" 0^^0111 ^^H^JSn, without the final D of the plural ; Sept. 6 Xipt^i cat 6 ^tkt^i, but ▼. r. m 1 Chron. 6 XtpriBi Kai 6 ^aXXt^Sri ; Yulg. Ceniki et Phdeday, a colkctive term for the life- guards (Josephus tfbtfuiTo^tmtuuQfAwl.yW, 5, 4) of king David (2 Sam. viii, 18 ; xv, 18 ; xx, 7, 28 ; 1 Kings i, 38, 44; 1 Chron. xviii, 17). Prevailing opinion (Tal- mud Bab. tit. Zerack, p. 18, ed. Rabe ; see Carpzov in Ugolini Thetaur. xxvii, 482) translates thehr names " headnnen and foot-runners.*' The former word (from n^|, harath\ to cu() is used for woodeuUen (2 Chron. ii, 10), and it might seem probable that the Cherethites, like the lictors of the Roman dictator, carried axes, both as a badge of office and for prompt use. In the later years of David, their captain, Benaiah, rose to a more commanding importance than the generab of the regular troops, just as in imperial Rome the pras- iect of the praetorian guards became the second person in the empire. It is evident that, to perpetrate any snuunary deed, Benaiah and the guards were chiefly relied on. That they were strictly a body-guard is distinctly stated in 2 Sam. xxiii, 28. The grammat- ic^ form of the Hebrew words is nevertheless not qaite clear; and as the Cherethites are named as a nation of the south (1 Sam. xxx, 14), some are disposed to believe Crethi and Plethi to be foreign Gentile names used collectively. No small confirmation of this may be drawn from 2 Sam. xv, 18 : "All the Cher- ethitei, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six bandred men,*' etc If the first two words were gram- matical plurails, like the third (Gittites), it is difficult to see why final ti should be added to the third, and not also to the other two (yet see Gesenius, Likrg^, P« 526). As the word aSL is repeated three times, and 000 men is the number intended the third time, the Cherethites and Pelethites must have been reckoned by the hundred ; and since the Gittites were clearly ^OKlgners, all the 4 priori improbability which some have seen hi David*s defending himself by a far- ^ guard fidls to the ground. His Gittite satellites we one more proof of the intensity of the tyrannical principle already come in, since equally among the Greeks and Romans (Herod, ii, 152; v, 66, 111 ; Uvy, **xvii, 40), and in modem Europe, for a prince to
trust the care of his person to foreign guards has ever been looked on as the most evident mark that he is keeping down his own subjects by force. It would seem that the office of the Cherethi was of the same nature as that of Capigk among the Turks and other Orientals (see LOdecke, Betchr. des tHrk.'lieu^y p. 298), who are bearers of the sultan's orders for punish- ing any one, by decapitation or otherwise (Le Bryn, Foyo^ i, 184 sq. ; ii, 258) ; an office which is very honorable in the East, though considered as degrading among us. It appears that Herod made use of an offi- cer of this description in beheadhig John the Baptist. Of a like nature, probably, were the "footmen" of Saul (1 Sam. xxii, 17). At a later date they were called **the captains and the guard" (Q^^^^l 0*^*1$, 2 Kings xi, 4, 19 ; comp. 1 Kings xiv, 27). It is plain that these royftl guards were employed as executioners (2 Kings xi, 4), and as couriers (1 Kings xiv, 27). Similaily Potiphar was captain of the guard of Pha- raoh, and also chief of the executioners (Gen. xxxvii, 86X as was Arioch, Nebuchadneszar's officer (Dan. ii, 14). See Eisner, in the BibUoih. Brem. Nov. I, iii, 464 sq. ; Schwarz, in the Nov. MitceU. Lips. II, i, 95 sq. ; Opitz, De DcwidU et Solomom* tateUUio^ Crethi et Pletki (Jen. 1672); also in Crenii IHuerLMst.pkaol.(Rotterd. 1692); also in Ugolino, xxvii; Iken, De Crethi et Ple- thi, ia his Distert. phUoL theol. p. 102 sq. ; Elsling, in Winckler's Anitnadver. phiM. ii, 882 sq. ; Lund, Diss, de Crethi et Pkihi (Upsal. 1704) ; CariMsov, DiqnUatt. aead. p. 187 sq. See Pelethite ; ExBOfrnoinEB.