Cellar

The cellars in question belong to David's royal administration. Two consecutive verses in the Chronicler's officers-list assign named overseers to the storage of wine and the storage of oil — the two great liquid stores of the kingdom.

The Wine-Cellars and the Cellars of Oil

In the catalogue of officials over David's estates, two adjacent posts handle the king's preserved liquids: "and over the vineyards was Shimei the Ramathite: and over the increase of the vineyards for the wine-cellars was Zabdi the Shiphmite: and over the olive trees and the sycamore trees that were in the lowland was Baal-hanan the Gederite: and over the cellars of oil was Joash:" (1Ch 27:27-28). The pattern is the same on both sides — one officer over the standing trees or vines, a second over the processed and stored product. Zabdi the Shiphmite holds the wine-cellars; Joash holds the cellars of oil.