Illustration created for this project.
Barzillai
A wealthy old man of Gilead who provisioned David during Absalom's revolt.
What we know — and how we know it
Scholarly — supported scholarly belief · 1
Name & titles
ScholarlyBarzillai is built on the Hebrew word barzel, "iron," so the name means roughly "man of iron" or "iron-like." A later priestly family adopted the name through marriage into his line, which is why some returning priests in Ezra-Nehemiah are called "sons of Barzillai."
Onomastic: Hebrew barzel ("iron"); adoption of the name noted in Ezra 2:61 / Nehemiah 7:63.
Where in scripture
2 SamuelIn their own words — 1 recorded saying
“And Barzillai said to the king, How much of my life is still before me, for me to go up to Jerusalem with the king? I am now eighty years old: good and bad are the same to me; have meat and drink any taste for me now? am I able to take pleasure in the voices of men or women in song? why then am I to be a trouble to my lord the king? Your servant's desire was only to take the king over Jordan; why is the king to give me such a reward? Let your servant now go back again, so that when death comes to me, it may be in my town and by the resting-place of my father and mother. But here is your…” — 2 Samuel 19:34-37
Speaker attribution: Clear Bible MACULA (CC BY 4.0). Wording: Bible in Basic English (public domain).