Poole on 2 Samuel 23:8: David's Mighty Men: Jashobeam

Verse 8:[1]  These be the names of the mighty men whom David had:  The Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains (or, Josheb-bassebet the Tachmonite, head of the three[2]); the same was Adino the Eznite:  (see 1 Chron. 11:11; 27:2) he lift up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew (Heb. slain[3]) at one time.

[These are the names of the mighty men of David]  Of the heroes of that time, whose strength seemed to exceed human measure (Grotius).  These were with David before he received the kingdom.  God desires them to be described, lest they be defrauded of their just praise.  Thus the names of those that have joined themselves to Christ are to to be written in heaven[4] (Martyr).

Of the mighty men whom David had, that is, of his chief and most valiant commanders.  And as it was noted upon 2 Samuel 21:1, that the things related in that chapter were done before Absalom’s and Sheba’s rebellion, though they be mentioned after them; so that opinion is confirmed by this catalogue, which, though placed here, was taken long before, as is manifest from hence, that Asahel and Uriah are named here.  And whereas there are some differences between this list and that 1 Chronicles 11, most of them are easily reconciled by these two considerations:  1.  That nothing is more common than for one person to have divers names.  2.  That as some of the worthies died, and others came in their steads; so this must needs cause some alteration in the latter catalogue, 1 Chronicles 11, from this, which was the former.

[Sitting in the seat of authority, the wisest, ‎יֹשֵׁ֙ב בַּשֶּׁ֜בֶת תַּחְכְּמֹנִ֣י׀]  [They vary.  Some render it appellatively:]  Sitting in the chair or seat of authority (that is, after the manner of those that take counsel with others, as one consulted [Vatablus]), wise, or prudent (Pagnine, Montanus, Vatablus).  Sitting on the throne of wisdom (Munster), or of judgment (Jonathan).  Some expound these words of David (thus the Hebrews in Munster, the Chaldean and Lyra and Dionysius in Sanchez), and read, David, sitting, etc.  But the Sixtine codices distinguish, David:  Sitting, etc.  And in the Hebrew it is ‎לְדָוִ֑ד, to David (Sanchez).  Others think that this was someone else, etc. (Munster).  And he was abounding in wisdom and strength.  He was sitting in a seat among the other members of the Sanhedrin.  For he was a lawyer (Martyr).  Thus he was called because of his continual study in the divine law (Munster).  Still others take these things of David, as already mentioned, but what follows of another (Sanchez).  These are the names of the heroes that David had, while he was sitting on the throne of wisdom:  the principal among the three was, etc. (Tigurinus).  Others:  Who was occupying the first seat (Arabic, similarly the Syriac).  [To others these are proper names:]  Josheb-bassebet the Tachmonite (Junius and Tremellius, similarly the Septuagint, Osiander).  Jashobeam, the son of Hachmon (Castalio).  Thus he is called in 1 Chronicles 11:11 (Malvenda).  Thence I translated this passage.  For this one has been corrupted in such a way that no sense is able to be discerned (Castalio).  Josheb-bassebet, the son of Tachmon.  The term son is inserted here out of 1 Chronicles 11:11,[5] and Tachmon is put there for Hachmon is put there for Tachmon (Dutch).  The two former are the proper names of a man, but the third name is of his father (certain interpreters in Malvenda).  ‎תַּחְכְּמֹנִי/Tachmonite here is a Heemantic adjective[6] (Munster):  the Tachmonite was the father, and Adino the son (certain interpreters in Munster).  That sitting in the seat of authority is a Periphrasis, by other words expressing the force of the proper name, which from 1 Chronicles 11:11 we learn to have been Jashobeam (Menochius).  The thing signified by the name is used instead of the proper name (Tirinus).  Thus the Vulgate called him, because the Hebrew terms were importing this.  Paronomasias of this sort, and allusions to proper names, are common, Nabal the fool,[7] 1 Samuel 25; Pashur,[8] fear on every side,[9] Jeremiah 20.  Call me not Naomi, that is, beautiful,[10] Ruth 1 (Sanchez).

The Tachmonite, or, Hachmonite, called Jashobeam, 1 Chronicles 11:11, from his place; or, as here, Josheb-bassebet, that is, as we render it, that sat in the seat, that is, was, under Joab, chief or president of the council of war, or lieutenant (locum tenens).

[The chief among the three, ‎רֹ֣אשׁ הַשָּׁלִשִׁ֗י [11]]  Tertiary head (Montanus) (or head of the third line [Malvenda]); the first of the tribunes (Junius and Tremellius), that is, the greatest general of the first troop:  so that the five following were generals of their troops in their order (Malvenda out of Junius).  The principal (chief [Castalio]) among the three (Munster, Tigurinus, Osiander).  The chief, or head, of the third, or ternary (Septuagint, certain interpreters in Malvenda).  The head of the mighties, or chiefs, or magnates (Pagnine, Vatablus, Mariana).

[The same is, as it were, the youngest larva of wood, etc., ה֚וּא עֲדִינ֣וֹ הָעֶצְנ֔וֹ עַל־שְׁמֹנֶ֥ה מֵא֛וֹת חָלָ֖ל בְּפַ֥עַם אֶחָֽד׃ [12]]  He was Adino the Eznite (Pagnine, Montanus, Osiander, Dutch, Malvenda, English, Grotius, similarly the Septuagint and the Hebrews in Grotius), so that Eznite is a gentilic name, either from his family, or from his clan, or from his country (Malvenda).  The sense of the Vulgate is, that Jashobeam was the mightiest, and he killed three hundred, 1 Chronicles 11:11, and was to be compaed with Adino the Eznite, that is, an ancient and celebrated hero among the Hebrews, who killed eight hundred, etc.  Now, he is called Adino, not as if Jashobeam and Adino were one and the same person, but by way of similitude only, just as we say of an incredibly mighty man, he is a second Achilles (Menochius).  [Others translate it appellatively:]  He was delicate (and sincere in the study of the law), and wooden, that is, against enemies he was like hard and unfeeling wood (Munster).  As if a larva, etc. (Vulgate), who, although incredibly soft, yet consumes and bores through solid wood (Malvenda).  To this one it was pleasing, armed with a spear (Hebrew:  this was pleasing to him, armed with wood [Junius]), at one time to attack, etc. (Junius and Tremellius).  This one drew out his sword (Septuagint); who was raising, or lifting, his spear once, etc. (Tigurinus, Vatablus in Willet similarly Castalio, Strigelius).  Vatablus derives it from עָדַד, which signifies to lift up:  in the same sense as עוּר, which is used in 1 Chronicles 11:11;[13] but then the letter נ/n with the suffix is paragogically added; just like the נִי/ni in ‎הָעֶצְנִי,[14] the Eznite.  The comparison with 1 Chronicles 11:11 makes this plausible, but הָעֶצְנִי, the Eznite, from עֵץ/wood, is better rendered armed with a spear, or armed with wood, than wood or spear (Willet).  [The English combines both translations, the same was Adino the Eznite, who lifted up his spear, etc.]

[Who slew eight hundred in one attack, עַל־שְׁמֹנֶ֥ה מֵא֛וֹת חָלָ֖ל בְּפַ֥עַם אֶחָֽד׃]  Upon eight hundred killed (or wounded [Pagnine, Tigurinus]) at one time (Montanus, thus Pagnine, Tigurinus); and he smote eight hundred at one time (Strigelius); he killed eight hundred on one occasion (Castalio); to this one it was pleasing at one time to attack eight hundred to be pierced (Junius and Tremellius).  The ‎עֲדִינוֹ/adino he derives from עָדַן, to be pleased, and the ו/him suffix.  But thus the ‎הוּא/he is superfluous, and there is no verb in the text that signifies to attack, but only ‎עַל/upon/against is put in the place of this (Willet).  Who set himself in opposition to eight hundred.  Others:  who was superior to, or prevailed against, eight hundred, who were killed by him at the same time (Dutch).  The preposition ‎עַל/over sometimes expresses victory, that is, whereby one overtops others, as in Judges 16:9, the Philistines are ‎עָלֶיךָ, upon thee; that is, they overtop thee, will at last conquer and bind thee (Glassius’ “Grammar” 548).  Over eight hundred he made himself profane at one time (Munster).  [The חָלָל he takes as a verb, just as Castalio and Strigelius appear to take it, as if it were חָלַל, to pierce or to profane, although it is חָלָל with the double Kametz (ָ ), which is the indication of a noun.]  Who was over eight hundred, etc. (Pagnine).  It is a Hebraism;, that is to say, who in one battle with his own hand slaughtered eight hundred (Vatablus).  Question 1:  How was this able to be done?  Response:  We know how many the angel killed in one night;[15] was not God able to grant the same ability to man?  There certainly have been heroic men.  God gave to them both the impetus and the success (Martyr).  We know that a thousand men were killed by Samson while unarmed, and those neither unarmed nor infirm.[16]  He appears to have seized an occasion; perhaps he attacked them, either stuffed with food and drink, immersed in sleep and wine; or low-lying and shut up in a narrow place, who were able easily to be hemmed in, and to be overwhelmed from a superior position.  I believe that he accomplished this alone.  For, if he did this as the captain of a cohort, he was not to be so highly praised; although he is a man of uncommon wisdom, for which he is here commended, to manage the matter in such a way that without any loss of his own he so quickly and easily dispatched so many enemies (Sanchez).  Question 2:  How is he here said to have pierced eight hundred, when in 1 Chronicles 11:11 it is only three hundred?  Response 1:  This man (Adino) was not the other (Jashobeam) in Chronicles (Menochius, certain interpreters in Sanchez).  [See the annotations on the prior words of this verse out of Menochius.]  This does not satisfy, 1.  because the similarity of the names in Hebrew is great.  2.  This man is as much the chief of the first ternary as that one (Sanchez).  Response 2:  He fulfills both; he killed both eight hundred and three hundred, but not at the same time and place (Sanchez, Kimchi in Willet).  Now, the former, because it was more illustrious, was gathered into the books of the Kings, where the principal things are set on record; the latter in Chronicles, where things previously passed over are referred (Sanchez).  Response 3:  He killed three hundred with his own hand; the rest by those that were with him, whose deeds are wont to be ascribed to their General (certain interpreters in Buxtorf’s Vindication 2:2:406).  Response 4:  In one battle he wounded eight hundred, of which three hundred died (Osiander, Willet out of Junius).  Or three hundred died in the very place of the battle (certain interpreters in the Dutch).  For חָלַל signifies both to wound and to kill (Dutch).

The same was Adino:  this was his proper name.  The Eznite; so called, either from his family, or from the place of his birth or education.  He lift up his spear; which words are fitly supplied out of 1 Chronicles 11:11, where they are expressed.  Or thus, he was above eight hundred, that is, he conquered them.  So there is only an ellipsis of the verb substantive, which is most frequent.  At one time; in one battle, which though it be strange, yet cannot seem incredible, supposing him to be a person of extraordinary strength and activity, and his enemies to be weak, or discouraged, and fleeing away; and especially, God’s singular blessing and assistance; all which may very reasonably be supposed.  Objection:  But this man is said to have slain only three hundred in 1 Chronicles 11:11.  Answer 1.  Possibly he slew eight hundred at one time, and three hundred at another; whereof the former is related here, as being most considerable; and the latter in the Book of Chronicles, which supplies many passages omitted in the former writings.  2.  He slew three hundred with his own hands; and the other five hundred, though killed by his men, are said to be slain by him, because he was the chief cause of all their deaths; for he, by his undaunted courage, killing three hundred, put the rest to flight, who were easily slain by his soldiers in the pursuit.  3. Some of the Hebrew writers affirm that these were two distinct persons, being called by differing names; the one the father, and the other the son, who succeeded his father, as in strength and valour, so also in his place of honour and trust.

[1] Hebrew: ‎אֵ֛לֶּה שְׁמ֥וֹת הַגִּבֹּרִ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֣ר לְדָוִ֑ד יֹשֵׁ֙ב בַּשֶּׁ֜בֶת תַּחְכְּמֹנִ֣י׀ רֹ֣אשׁ הַשָּׁלִשִׁ֗י ה֚וּא עֲדִינ֣וֹ הָעֶצְנ֔וֹ עַל־שְׁמֹנֶ֥ה מֵא֛וֹת חָלָ֖ל בְּפַ֥עַם אֶחָֽד׃ ס

[2] Hebrew:  ‎ישֵׁ֙ב בַּשֶּׁ֜בֶת תַּחְכְּמֹנִ֣י׀ רֹ֣אשׁ הַשָּׁלִשִׁ֗י.

[3] Hebrew:  ‎חָלָל.

[4] See Luke 10:20; Hebrews 12:23.

[5] 1 Chronicles 11:11:  “And this is the number of the mighty men whom David had; Jashobeam, the son of an Hachmonite (‎יָשָׁבְעָ֣ם בֶּן־חַכְמוֹנִ֗י), the chief of the captains:  he lifted up his spear against three hundred slain by him at one time.”

[6] That is, an adjective borrowed from Hebrew.

[7] נָבָל/nabal signifies foolish.

[8] פַּשְׁחוּר/Pashur appears to be a compound of the Arabic פשח, to be ample, and סְחוֹר, round about.

[9] ‎מָגוֹר מִסָּבִיב, Magor-missabib, signifies fear on every side (Jeremiah 20:3, 4).

[10] נֺעַם/noam signifies pleasantness.

[11] שְׁלִישִׁי can signify third, or an officer (perhaps the third man in a chariot).

[12] עָדַן/adan signifies to luxuriate; עָצַן/atsan appears to signify to be hard.

[13] 1 Chronicles 11:11:  “And this is the number of the mighty men whom David had; Jashobeam, the son of an Hachmonite, the chief of the captains:  he lifted up his spear (‎הֽוּא־עוֹרֵ֧ר אֶת־חֲנִית֛וֹ) against three hundred slain by him at one time.”

[14] Thus the Qere.

[15] See 2 Kings 19:35.

[16] See Judges 15:9, 15, 16.