2 Samuel 23:18

18 Abishai, Joab's brother and son of Zeruiah,^[a] was leader of the Three.^[b] He raised his spear against 300 [men] and killed them, gaining a reputation among the Three.

2 Samuel 23:18 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 23:18

And Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was
chief among the three
Another triumvirate, of which he was the head:

and he lifted up his spear against three hundred, [and] slew [them];
Josephus ^F5 says six hundred; this seems to confirm the reading of ( 2 Samuel 23:8 ) , that the number eight hundred is right, for if it was only three hundred, Abishai would have been equal to one, even the first, of the former three; which yet is denied him in ( 2 Samuel 23:19 ) :

and had the name among three;
of which he was one; and he had the chief name among them, or was the most famous of them.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F5 Antiqu. l. 7. c. 12. sect. 4.

2 Samuel 23:18 In-Context

16 So three of the warriors broke through the Philistine camp and drew water from the well at the gate of Bethlehem. They brought it back to David, but he refused to drink it. Instead, he poured it out to the Lord.

17 David said, "Lord, I would never do such a thing! Is this not the blood of men who risked their lives?" So he refused to drink it. Such were the exploits of the three warriors.

18 Abishai, Joab's brother and son of Zeruiah, was leader of the Three. He raised his spear against 300 [men] and killed them, gaining a reputation among the Three.

19 Was he not the most honored of the Three? He became their commander even though he did not become one of the Three.

20 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was the son of a brave man from Kabzeel, a man of many exploits. Benaiah killed two sons of Ariel of Moab, and he went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion.

Footnotes

• [a]. 2 Sm 18:2; 1 Sm 26:3-6
• [b]. Some Hb mss, Syr read the Thirty