Zadok the priest (son of Ahitub) was the representative of the family of Eleazar, elder son of Aaron, as Abiathar of the family of Ithamar, the younger son (1 Chronicles 24:3). As a “young man of valour,” under “Jehoiada, leader of the Aaronites,” he joined David at Hebron with 3,700 men (1 Chronicles 12:28), and had been left in charge of the Tabernacle at Gibeon (1 Chronicles 16:39) after the removal of the Ark to Jerusalem. On his relation to Abiathar, see 1 Kings 2:35.
Benaiah, the son of “Jehoiada, a chief priest,” and therefore of Levitical origin. (See 2 Samuel 8:18; 2 Samuel 23:20-23; 1 Chronicles 27:5-6.) His rank is given in 2 Samuel 23:23, as intermediate between the “three mighty men” and “the thirty,” and in 1 Chronicles 27:5, as “the third captain of the host for the third month”; but his command of the bodyguard gave him special importance, second only to that of Joab (2 Samuel 20:23), and perhaps of even greater importance for immediate action. (It is notable that there is no mention of Abishai, who is named as prior to Benaiah among “the mighty men” in 2 Samuel 23:18-22. It may be inferred that he was dead; otherwise he could hardly have been omitted here.)
Nathan the prophet. — See 2 Samuel 7:2; 2 Samuel 12:1; 2 Samuel 12:25. In the whole chapter he appears rather as a chief officer and counsellor of David, than in the loftier aspect of the prophetic character. He was also the royal chronicler of the reigns of David and Solomon (1 Chronicles 29:29; 2 Chronicles 9:29).
Shimei, and Rei. — Ewald conjectures that these were two brothers of David, called Shimma and Raddai in 1 Chronicles 2:13-14. These, however, being older than David, would now be in extreme old age. Of Rei, we have no mention elsewhere; but there is a Shimei (in 1 Kings 4:18), a high officer of Solomon; a “Shimea,” brother of Solomon (in 1 Chronicles 3:5), and a “Shammah,” one of the “mighty men” (in 2 Samuel 23:11).
The mighty men. — See 2 Samuel 23:8-39. The name Gibbôrim is a technical name, and is thought to designate a picked body of troops, the standing nucleus of the armies of Israel. It is commonly inferred that they were the successors of the six hundred men of David’s band during his life of wandering and exile, and that “the three” and “the thirty” (2 Samuel 23) were their officers. They are mentioned as attached to the person of David in 2 Samuel 10:7; 2 Samuel 16:6; 2 Samuel 20:7.