1 Chronicles 11 Study Notes

11:22-25 Another commander was Benaiah, whom David put in charge of his bodyguard. Benaiah’s exploits included the killing of a giant. Victories over giants are mentioned several times in Chronicles (see 20:5 and note there), though the story of David and Goliath occurs only in 1Sm 17.

11:26-47 Best soldiers is literally “those who are mighty in strength.” The phrase first occurs in Joshua (Jos 1:14; 6:2; 8:3; 10:7), then in 2Kg 24:14, and again in 1Ch 12:8.

11:26 Asahel, brother of Joab and Abishai and half-nephew of David, was also counted among the “Thirty.” But he lost his life early on in the civil war against Esh-baal’s supporters (2Sm 2:23).

11:34 Several sets of brothers are included in this list. We do not know how many sons of Hashem there were, but pairs of brothers are mentioned in vv. 44-46.

11:42 We see how flexible the designation of the “Thirty” was because Adina from Reuben was a part of this group, together with his own thirty supporters.

11:47 Assuming that there were only two sons of Hashem (and not counting Adina’s thirty followers), the list adds up to forty-five people, quite an expansive interpretation of the “Thirty.” However, this is a problem only if one mistakenly takes approximations or figures of speech as exact numbers. A baseball team is called “nine,” but the roster consists of twenty-five people, and that number would be higher still if it listed all who had been on the team over a forty-year period.