Chimham

Chimham enters the narrative at the Jordan-crossing that returns David to Jerusalem after Absalom's revolt. Barzillai the Gileadite, declining the king's invitation to cross over with him, offers Chimham in his place; David accepts, takes him over, and the name surfaces a final time in Jeremiah, fixed to a place near Bethlehem from which a remnant set out toward Egypt.

Barzillai's offer in place of himself

When David asks the aged Barzillai to come over the Jordan and live at the king's court, Barzillai declines on grounds of age and asks instead to die in his own city by his parents' grave. Into the place he refuses, Barzillai puts Chimham forward: "Let your slave, I pray you, turn back again, that I may die in my own city, by the grave of my father and my mother. But look, your slave Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king; and do to him what will seem good to you" (2Sa 19:37). The introduction is by name and by relation — "your slave Chimham" — and is staged as a substitution: the older man returns, the named substitute crosses, and the king's discretion ("do to him what will seem good to you") is invited as the terms.

David's acceptance and the crossing to Gilgal

David answers Barzillai by accepting Chimham by name and by binding himself to act on him for Barzillai's sake: "Chimham will go over with me, and I will do to him that which will seem good to you: and whatever you will require of me, that I will do for you" (2Sa 19:38). The narrative then carries the acceptance into action at the river: "So the king went over to Gilgal, and Chimham went over with him: and all the people of Judah brought the king over, and also half the people of Israel" (2Sa 19:40). Within these two verses Chimham passes from named offer to named companion of the king at the crossing — escorted, in the same clause, with the people of Judah and half of Israel bringing David over.

A name attached to a place near Bethlehem

The name reappears generations later as a place rather than a person. After Gedaliah's assassination, Jeremiah reports that the fleeing remnant "departed, and dwelt in Geruth Chimham, which is by Beth-lehem, to go to enter into Egypt" (Jer 41:17). The text supplies only what is on its face: a Chimham-named locality, sited by Bethlehem, used as a way-station on the road toward Egypt. Within the UPDV's witness, this is the latest trace of the name — Chimham as a person in David's company at the Jordan, and Chimham as a place by Bethlehem in the days of Jeremiah's flight.