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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - 1 Chronicles 11:20 - 11:20
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In 1Ch 11:20-25 the second class of heroes, to which Abshai (Abishai) and Benaiah belonged, cf. 2Sa 23:18-23, is spoken of. They were not equal to the preceding three in heroic deeds, but yet stood higher than the list of heroes which follows in 1Ch 11:26 and onwards. אַבְשַׁי, as 1Ch 2:16 and 2Sa 10:10, while in 2Sa 23:18 and elsewhere he is called אֲבִישַׁי, was one of the three sons of Zeruiah (1Ch 2:16). It is difficult to explain הַשְׁלֹושָׁה רֹאשׁ, “he was the chief of the three,” instead of which we find in 2Sa 23:23 השׁלשׁי, i.e., הַשְּׁלִשִׁי, “chief of the body-guard” (knights). But owing to the succeeding שֵׁם (וְלֹו) בַּשְּׁלֹושָׁה וְלֹא, where Samuel also has בַּשְּׁלשָׁה, and to the recurrence of הַשְׁלֹושָׁה on two occasions in 1Ch 11:21 (cf. 2 2Sa 23:19), it does not seem possible to alter the text with Thenius. Bertheau proposes to get rid of the difficulty by taking the word שְׁלֹושָׁה in two different significations-on the one hand as denoting the numeral three, and on the other as being an abstract substantive, “the totality of the thirty.” He justifies the latter signification by comparison of 1Ch 11:21 with 1Ch 11:25, and of 2Sa 23:19 with 1Ch 11:23, from which he deduces that שְׁלֹושָׁה and שְׁלֹושִׁים denote a larger company, in which both Abishai and Benaiah held a prominent place. But this signification cannot be made good from these passages. In both clauses of 1Ch 11:25 (and 2Sa 23:23) הַשְּׁלשִׁים and הַשְּׁלשָׁה are contrasted, which would rather go to prove the contrary of Bertheau's proposition, viz., that הַשְּׁלשָׁה, the three, cannot at the same time denote the whole of the thirty, הַשְּׁלשִׁים. The truth of the matter may be gathered from a comparison of 1Ch 11:18 with 1Ch 11:15. In 1Ch 11:18 הַשְּׁלשָׁה is synonymous with הַשְּׁלֹושִׁים מִן הַשְׁלֹושָׁה, 1Ch 11:15; i.e., the three in 1Ch 11:18 are the same men who in 1Ch 11:15, where they are first met with, are called three of the thirty; and consequently הַשְּׁלשָׁה, the three (triad), 1Ch 11:21 and 1Ch 11:25, can only denote the triad of heroes previously named. This is placed beyond doubt by a comparison of 1Ch 11:24 with 1Ch 11:25, since the הַגִּבֹּרִים שְׁלֹושָׁה, the triad of heroes, 1Ch 11:24, corresponds to the simple הַשְּׁלשָׁה of 1Ch 11:25. The only remaining question is, whether by this triad of heroes we are to understand those spoken of in 1Ch 11:11-14, - Jashobeam, Eleazar, and Shammah, - or the three whose names are not given, but whose exploit is narrated in 1Ch 11:15-19. But the circumstance that the names of the three latter are not mentioned goes decidedly to show that הַשְּׁלשָׁה in 1Ch 11:20-25 does not denote that nameless triad, whose exploit is manifestly adduced incidentally only as a similar case, but the three most valiant, who held the first rank among David's heroes. Bertheau's opinion, that in 1Ch 11:20-25 one triad of heroes is distinguished from another, cannot be regarded as well-founded, for the three of whom Abishai was chief are not distinguished, and are not different from the three to whom, according to 1Ch 11:21, he did not attain. Nor is there greater reason to believe that the triad of 1Ch 11:20 and 1Ch 11:21 is different from that in 1Ch 11:24 and 1Ch 11:25, among whom Benaiah made himself a name, and to whom he did not attain. The fact of being chief or prince over the three is not irreconcilably contradictory to the statement that he did not attain to them, i.e., did not come up to them in heroic strength, as is shown by the two classes being connected in 1Ch 11:21. As to the rank which the triad held in the regular forces of David, we know nothing further than that Jashobeam was, according to 1Ch 27:2, leader of that part of the army which was on duty during the first month. Eleazar the son of Dodo, and the Hararite Shammah the son of Aga, are not mentioned anywhere but in our list. Abishai, on the contrary, who had already distinguished himself by his audacious courage in David's struggle with Saul (1Sa 26:6.), conducted together with Joab the war against Abner (2 Sam 2:24-3:30). Afterwards, in David's war with the Ammonites, he was under Joab in command of the second half of the host (2Sa 10:10.); in the war against Absalom he commanded a third part of the host (1Ch 18:2.); and in the struggle with the rebel Sheba he commanded the vanguard of the royal troops sent against the rebel (1Ch 20:6.); and in general held, along with Joab the commander-in-chief, the first place among David's captains. In this position he was chief of the three heroes before mentioned, and their leader (שָׂר), and among them had made himself a name. וְלֹא, 1Ch 11:20, is an orthographical error for וְלֹו, as in fifteen other passages, according to the Masora. See on Exo 21:10 and Isa 63:9.