One of three men who helped David and his supporters at Mahanaim during Absalom’s rebellion (2 Samuel 17:27). After Absalom was defeated, Barzillai met David at the Jordan River as David was returning to Jerusalem. Although Barzillai, who was 80 years old, declined David’s offer to stay permanently in Jerusalem, he sent his son Chimham instead (2 Samuel 19:31–40; compare 1 Kings 2:7).
→ View encyclopedia entryAdriel’s father. Adriel married Saul’s daughter Merab (2 Samuel 21:8; compare 1 Samuel 18:19). As a result, Barzillai was the grandfather of five of the seven men hanged in Gibeon to make up for Saul’s wrongdoing against the Gibeonites (2 Samuel 21:1–9).
→ View encyclopedia entryA priest who married the daughter or descendant of the #1 and took on his family name. This priest’s descendants returned to Jerusalem in 538 BC with Zerubbabel after the exile in Babylon. However, they were not made priests because they could not prove their ancestry (Ezra 2:61; Nehemiah 7:63).
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Barzillai
This term has multiple meanings in the Bible:
From Tyndale Bible Dictionary, adapted by Mission Mutual. CC BY-SA 4.0.