Barzillai

Three persons by this name is reported in the Old Testament:

1) Usually referredd to "Barzillai the Gileadite" (2 Sam 17:27; 19:31; 1Ki 2:7) he was David's friend and leader in Gilead who, with David's other allies, came to David's aid with provisions when the latter had to flee during Absalom's revolt against his father (2 Sam 17:27ff.).

When the Absalom was killed, the revolt put down and David was returning to Jerusalem, David invited Barzillai to come with him to Jerusalem but he refused:

"How many more years shall I live, that I should go up to Jerusalem with the king? I am now eighty years old. Can I tell the difference between what is good and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats and drinks? Can I still hear the voices of men and women singers? Why should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king? Your servant will cross over the Jordan with the king for a short distance, but why should the king reward me in this way? Let your servant return, that I may die in my own town near the tomb of my father and mother. But here is your servant Kimham. Let him cross over with my lord the king. Do for him whatever pleases you." (2 Sam 19:33-38)

In his final instructions to Solomon, David would ask his son to " show kindness to the sons of Barzillai of Gilead and let them be among those who eat at your table" (1 Ki 2:7).

Resources:
☰ Iain W. Provan, "Why Barzillai of Gilead (1 Kings 2:7)?: Narrative Art and the Hermeneutics of Suspicion in 1 Kings 1-2," Tyndale Bulletin 46.1 (1995): 103-116.

2) "Barzillai the Meholathite" (i.e., his home-town was Meholah) to whose son, Adriel, was married Merab, Saul's daughter. She bore Adriel five sons who were surrendered by David to the Gibeonites to be "killed and exposed" in atonement for Saul's unlawful attempt to annihilate the Gibeonites (2 Sam 21:8). Nothing is known about this Barzillai though we may assume that he was of some note in his own time since he is introduced (even only in passing) as someone immediately recognizable.

3). Also mentioned only in passing as one of the priests who came back to Judea from the Babylonian exile (Ezra 2:61; Neh 7:63). He had apparently married one of Barzillai the Gileadite's descendants.