Abishai, Joab's brother (see 1Sa 26:6), was also chief of the body-guard, like Jashobeam (2Sa 23:8 : the Chethib השּׁלשׁי is correct; see at 2Sa 23:8). He swung his spear over three hundred slain. “He had a name among the three,” i.e., the three principal heroes, Jashobeam, Eleazar, and Shammah. The following words, מן־השּׁלשׁה, make no sense. השּׁלשׁה is an error in writing for השּׁלשׁים, as 2Sa 23:23 shows in both the texts (2Sa 23:25 of the Chronicles): an error the origin of which may easily be explained from the word שׁלשׁה, which stands immediately before. “He was certainly honoured before the thirty (heroes of David), and became their chief, but he did not come to the three,” i.e., he was not equal to Jashobeam, Eleazar, and Shammah. הכי has the force of an energetic assurance: “Is it so that,” i.e., it is certainly so (as in 2Sa 9:1; Gen 27:36; Gen 29:15).
Verses 20-23
2Sa 23:20-23Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, “Jehoiada the priest” according to 1Ch 27:5, possibly the one who was “prince for Aaron,” i.e., of the family of Aaron, according to 1Ch 12:27, was captain of the Crethi and Plethi according to 2Sa 8:18 and 2Sa 20:23. He was the son of a brave man, rich in deeds (חי is evidently an error for חיל in the Chronicles), of Kabzeel in the south of Judah (Jos 15:21). “He smote the two Ariels of Moab.” The Arabs and Persians call every remarkably brave man Ariel, or lion of God (vid., Bochart, Hieroz. ii. pp. 7, 63). They were therefore two celebrated Moabitish heroes. The supposition that they were sons of the king of the Moabites is merely founded upon the conjecture of Thenius and Bertheau, that the word בּני (sons of) has dropped out before Ariel. “He also slew the lion in the well on the day of the snow,” i.e., a lion which had been driven into the neighbourhood of human habitations by a heavy fall of snow, and had taken refuge in a cistern. The Chethib האריה and בּאר are the earlier forms for the Keris substituted by the Masoretes הארי and הבּור, and consequently are not to be altered. He also slew an Egyptian of distinguished size. According to the Keri we should read מראה אישׁ (instead of מראה fo daetsni( א אשׁר), “a man of appearance,” i.e., a distinguished man, or a man of great size, ἄνδρα ὀρατόν (lxx); in the Chronicles it is simplified as מדּה אישׁ, a man of measure, i.e., of great height. This man was armed with a spear or javelin, whereas Benaiah was only armed with a stick; nevertheless the latter smote him, took
