10Now these are the chief of the mighty men whom David had, who [1]shewed themselves strong with him in his kingdom, together with all Israel, to make him king, according to the word of the LORD concerning Israel. 11And this is the number of the mighty men whom David had: Jashobeam, the son of a Hachmonite, the chief of the [2]thirty; he lifted up his spear against three hundred [3]and slew them at one time. 12And
10. Now these] This verse is the Chronicler's own heading which he prefixes to the list of heroes taken from Sam., while retaining (in ver. 11) the original heading given in Sam.
who shewed themselves strong with him] Render as mg., who held strongly with him. Cp. xii. 23.
to make him king] as though all the mighty men participated in the coronation at Hebron, whereas in reality many must have won their place and fame only in the later campaigns of David.
11. this is the number] More suitably in Sam., "These be the names."
Jashobeam] Called "Jashobeam the son of Zabdiel" in xxvii. 2. The name "Jashobeam" is however uncertain. In 2 Sam. (xxiii. 8, R.V.) it appears as "Josheb-basshebeth," which is certainly wrong. LXX. (B) varies in reproducing the name, but it seems to have read "Ish-bosheth" in Sam., and "Ish-baal" (Esh-baal) in both places of Chron. These readings are probably right. For the relation of the forms "Ish-bosheth," "Esh-baal" see viii. 33, note.
son of a Hachmonite] Cp. xxvii. 32. In Sam. (wrongly) "a Tahchemonite."
chief of the thirty] So the Heb. mg. (Kethīb), but the Heb. text (Ḳerī) reads chief of the captains, which the A.V. follows. Neither A.V. nor R.V. gives satisfactory sense. In 2 Sam. xxiii. 8 the LXX. gives, chief of the third part [of the army], cp. ib. xviii. 2; and this is perhaps right; the Heb. text of Sam. (if not faulty) probably bears the same sense. Ish-baal (Jashobeam) then is one of three "mightiest of the mighty" men, the other two being Eleazar (ver. 12) and Shammah (= 2 Sam. xxiii. 11; omitted in Chron.—see note on vv. 12, 13).
he lifted up his spear] Lit. "he aroused his spear," a poetic expression.
against three hundred] Sam. "against eight hundred"; so Pesh. (good MSS.) of Chron. Some light is thrown on this exploit by 1 Sam. xviii. 25—27; the two hundred Philistines slain by David and his men were carefully counted and reckoned to the credit of David personally.
12, 13. These verses answer in part to vv. 9 and 11 of Sam., but since ver. 10 and parts of vv. 9, 11 of Sam. have no equivalent in
