[204] Shisha and Shavsha are perhaps corruptions of Seraiah (2 Sam. viii. 17).
[205] Comp. Esth. vi. 1. LXX., Isa. xxxvi. 3, ὁ ὑπομνηματογράφος 2 Sam. viii. 17, ὁ ἐπὶ τῶν ὑπομνημάτων. Jerome, "a commentariis." Comp. Suet., Aug. 79, "qui e memoria Augusti."
[206] It is a somewhat ominous fact that netsib means properly an ἐπιτειχισμός, a garrison in a hostile country.
[207] The king's friend (2 Sam. xv. 37) seems to have been a sort of confidential privy councillor (Prov. xxii. 11).
[208] Isa. xxii. 21.
[209] 2 Sam. xx. 24.
[210] Possibly this clause is an interpolation.
[211] 2 Sam. viii. 18. Even "Ira the Jairite" is called "a priest" (2 Sam. xx. 26). An attempt has been made to explain the word away because it obviously clashes with Levitic ordinances; but the word "priest" could not be used in two different senses in two consecutive lines. Dogmatic considerations have tampered with the obvious meaning of the word. The LXX. omits it, and in the case of David's sons calls them αὐλάρχαι. The A.V. renders it "chief officer." The Vulgate wrongly refers it to Zadok (filius Sadoc sacerdotis). Movers (Krit. Unters., 301 ff.) renders it "court chaplains." Already in 1 Chron. xviii. 17 we find that the title gave offence, and we read instead, "And the sons of David were at the hand of the king" (see Ewald, Alterthumsk, p. 276). Compare the title "Bishop of Osnaburg," borne by Frederick, Duke of York, son of George III.
[212] 2 Sam. v. 14; Zech. xii. 12; Luke iii. 31.
[213] The degraded and ominous apparitions of Sarisim (eunuchs) probably began at the court of Solomon on a large scale, though the name occurs in the days of David (1 Sam. viii. 15; 1 Chron. xxviii. 1). In the Northern Kingdom we first hear of them in the harem of the polygamous Ahab.