Shmuel Bais 23:18

18 And Avishai, the brother of Yoav Ben Tzeruyah, was chief among three. And he lifted up his khanit (spear) against three hundred, and slaughtered them, and had the shem among the Three.

Shmuel Bais 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Shmuel Bais 23:18 In-Context

16 And the three gibborim broke through the machaneh of the Pelishtim, and drew mayim out of the well of Beit-Lechem, that was by the sha’ar, and took it, and brought it to Dovid; nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto Hashem.

17 And he said, Chalilah! (be it far from me), Hashem, that I should do this! Is not this the dahm of the anashim that went in jeopardy of their nafshot? Therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three gibborim.

18 And Avishai, the brother of Yoav Ben Tzeruyah, was chief among three. And he lifted up his khanit (spear) against three hundred, and slaughtered them, and had the shem among the Three.

19 Was he not most honored of the Three? Therefore he was their sar; howbeit he attained not unto the first three.

20 And Benayah Ben Yehoyada was a ben chayil, of Kavtze’el, who had done many deeds: he slaughtered two lionlike men of Moav; he went down also and slaughtered an aryeh in the midst of a pit on a snowy day;