Helez

Two men named Helez appear in the Hebrew scriptures: a warrior in David's service and a Judahite in the genealogies of Chronicles.

Helez among David's mighty men

Helez is listed twice in the rosters of David's elite warriors. In the Samuel list he carries the gentilic Paltite: "Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite" (2 Sam 23:26). The parallel Chronicles list calls him the Pelonite: "Shammoth the Harorite, Helez the Pelonite" (1 Chr 11:27). The two forms refer to the same warrior under variant gentilic spellings.

He reappears in the standing-army register under David, where his rotation is fixed and his ancestry is given: "The seventh [captain] for the seventh month was Helez the Pelonite, of the sons of Ephraim: and in his course were twenty and four thousand" (1 Chr 27:10). The Ephraimite descent here adds detail not present in the warrior lists.

Helez of Judah

A second Helez appears in the Judahite genealogy of 1 Chronicles 2, in the line descended from Jerahmeel: "and Azariah begot Helez, and Helez begot Eleasah" (1 Chr 2:39). This Helez is a link in the family tree, named only as a son and a father; no further activity attaches to him.