Bible Encyclopedias
Rei

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

rē´ı̄ ( רעי , rē‛ı̄ , "friendly"; Ῥησεί , Rhēseı́ ): Rei, Shimei and the Gibbōrı̄m who belonged to David are listed among those who did not join Adonijah in his attempt on the throne ( 1 Kings 1:8 ). The name is very uncertain. Winckler (Geschichte , II, 247) identifies him with Ira, the Jairite, who was a "priest to David" (2 Samuel 20:26 the Revised Version margin); he tries to prove that this Ira (or Jair) was a priest of Bethlehem. Stade ( GVI , I, 293, note 1) holds that Shimei and Rei were two officers of David's bodyguard. Josephus (Ant. , VII, xiv, 4) has ὁ Δαουίδου φίλος , ho Daouı́dou phı́los , thus making Shimei a "friend," the courtier of 2 Samuel 15:37; 2 Samuel 16:16 , and omitting Rei entirely. This would call for an original reading המּלך רע , rēa‛ ha -melekh , or המּלך רעה , rē‛ēh ha -melekh , and is too wide a variant from the Massoretic Text. Assuming that Rei belongs in the text, it is safe to conjecture that he was an officer of the royal guard.