2 Samuel 23:18

18 ¹Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was ²chief of the thirty. And he swung his spear against three hundred and killed them, and had a name as well as the three.

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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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

2 Samuel 23:18 In-Context

16 So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water from the well of Bethlehem which was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless he would not drink it, but poured it out to the LORD ;

17 and he said, "Be it far from me, O LORD , that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?" Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

18 Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the thirty. And he swung his spear against three hundred and killed them, and had a name as well as the three.

19 He was most honored of the thirty, therefore he became their commander; however, he did not attain to the three

20 Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in the middle of a pit on a snowy day.

Cross References 2

1. 2 Samuel 10:10, 14; 2 Samuel 18:2
2. 1 Chronicles 11:20, 21

Footnotes 2

[a]. So two Heb mss and Syriac; M.T. "three"
[b]. Lit "slain ones"

2 Samuel 23:18

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2 Samuel 23:18 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 23:18 In-Context

Cross References 2

Footnotes 2