Poole on 2 Samuel 23:9, 10: David's Mighty Men: Eleazar

Verse 9:[1]  And after him was (1 Chron. 11:12; 27:4) Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines that were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away…

[After him[2]]  That is, who was of the second dignity after him (Vatablus).

[The son of his paternal uncle[3]]  Namely, adoptive and legal, by the Law in Deuteronomy 25:6.  He was the natural son of the living brother; that is, of his own father; the legal son of the dead brother, that is, of his paternal uncle.  Nearly all others think that that /Dodo is a proper name.  Which I myself do not disapprove.  Yet I prefer the former, because it agrees with the Vulgate (Sanchez).

[An Ahohite, ‎בֶּן־אֲחֹחִי]  A son of Ahohi (Pagnine), that is, an Ahohite, or of the family of the Ahohites (Vatablus).  But in 1 Chronicles 11:12, בֶּן/son is rightly omitted,[4] for Ahohi is the name of a country, the Ahohite, not of an ancestor (Cappel’s Sacred Criticism).  But who said this to the Critic?  Kimchi says that it is the name of a family.  Here he is called the son of Ahohi; there the Ahohite:  just as the ‎בֶּן־קְנַז, son of Kenaz,[5] is also called ‎הַקְּנִזִּי, the Kenezite[6] (Buxtorf’s Vindication 389).  [Junius refers it to Dodo, the son of Dodo the Ahohite.]

The Ahohite; of the children of Ahoah, 1 Chronicles 8:4.

[Among the three mighty, etc.]  That is, who was one of the three mighty men that were with David, who most successfully conducted the campaign (Vatablus).

One of the three, that is, one of the first three, 2 Samuel 23:19.  Mighty men with David; who were with David at this time, or who usually attended upon David.

[When they upbraided the Philistines, ‎בְּחָֽרְפָ֤ם בַּפְּלִשְׁתִּים]  When with abuses or insults they afflicted, or provoked, the Philistines (Pagnine, Tigurinus, Vatablus, similarly Munster, Septuagint, Montanus).  He reproached the reproaching Philistines (Munster).  But חֵרֵף, to reproach, is nowhere else constructed with a ב of object; but always with the accusative, with its marker, אֶת, expressed, or understood; once with ל in 2 Chronicles 32:17.[7]  It is able to be translated, when with insults they afflicted them among the Philistines; that is, passively, when with insults they were afflicted among the Philistines; for thus the Piel active Infinitive elsewhere is often translated passively, as in Exodus 9:16, ‎וּלְמַ֛עַן סַפֵּ֥ר שְׁמִ֖י, and so that they might declare my name, etc., that is, so that it might be declared (Dieu).  When the Philistines reproached (them [Syriac]) (Jonathan, similarly the Syriac, Arabic).  When they exposed their life (write, their life, as a supplement [Piscator]) against the Philistines (Junius and Tremellius); when they hazarded, understanding, their lives, from a comparison with Judges 5:18.[8]  And the Hebrew verb signifies this in Job 27:6, my heart shall not cast it (that is, my righteousness) away[9] (Piscator).  חָרַף signifies to expose oneself to peril (Vatablus).  To despise (that is, his life) among the Philistines, as in Judges 5 (certain interpreters in Dieu).  In Horpam, etc. (Castalio) [as if it were a proper name].

When they defied the Philistines; when he either in the name of all the Israelites, or with the countenance and help of some of them, challenged the Philistines to fight.  Or, when some of, or among, the Philistines defied them, that is, the Israelites, according to their manner, and the example of their great Goliath, 1 Samuel 17:25, 36.  Or, in Horpam (for some make it a proper name of a place) among the Philistines.

[And they were assembled there, ‎נֶאֶסְפוּ־שָׁם]  Who had been assembled there (Pagnine, Vatablus in the Tigurinus Notes), that is, where David was, so that they might fight with Israel (Vatablus).  [A great many refer this to the Philistines:]  Thus the Septuagint, Jonathan, the Arabic, and the Syriac.  [Others refer it to the mighty men:]  Who reproached the Philistines, and were assembled there (Munster, similarly Tigurinus).

[And when the men of Israel had gone up, ‎וַֽיַּעֲל֖וּ אִ֥ישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃]  And the men of Israel went up (Vatablus, Montanus, Jonathan, Syriac); when already they had gone up (Pagnine), that is, had fled (Vatablus in Tigurinus Notes, Tirinus); thus it is found in 1 Chronicles 11:13;[10] while from there they were going up (Munster); while they were withdrawing (Castalio); with the Israelites departing (Junius and Tremellius).

Gone away, that is, fled away, 1 Chronicles 11:13, being dismayed at the approach of their enemies.  Hebrew:  ascended,[11] that is, vanished away like smoke, which ascends, and so disappears, as that verb is oft used.

 Verse 10:[12]  He arose, and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword:  and the LORD wrought a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to spoil.

[He stood and smote, ‎קָם֩ וַיַּ֙ךְ]  A Hebraism:  He immediately and without delay, when he saw that his countrymen fled, smote, etc.  The Hebrews make use of the language of Arising in this way (Vatablus).  This man did not stand alone, but together with Jashobeam, as it is found in 1 Chronicles 11, and perhaps also with Shammah, concerning whom the same thing is here asserted in verses 11, 12 (Tirinus out of Sanchez).  With all fleeing, he alone stood immovable and put the enemy to flight.  The rest, seeing this, returned, and spoiled the slain (Munster).

He arose, that is, he undertook the work, as that word sometimes is used.  Or, he stood (as it sometimes signifies) when the rest fled.

[Until his hand was weary, and grew stiff with the sword, ‎וַתִּדְבַּ֤ק יָדוֹ֙ אֶל־הַחֶ֔רֶב]  And his hand clave to the sword (Montanus, Septuagint, similarly Jonathan, Syriac, Arabic, Pagnine, Castalio, Junius and Tremellius).  This was done, either, 1.  Because in consequence of excessive labor, the hand that was holding the sword cramped, in such a way that, with the conflict ended, the sword was hardly able to be taken out of his hand.  A cramp is a contraction of the tendons, which sometimes happens through exhaustion; that is, when in consequence of excessive sweat the tendons dehydrate and are contracted (Vatablus).  Or, 2.  From numbness, which bound the contracted fingers with the hilt (Sanchez).  From numbness of the nerves and muscles (Martyr).  Or, 3.  Because of the abundance of blood (Martyr, Menochius out of Josephus); whereby the hilt of the sword clave to his hand in such a way that, with the fight ended, it was removed only with difficulty (Menochius).  Or, 4.  The sense:  Although he was weary, yet he held fast the sword gripped in his hand, as if it had been glued to his hand (Malvenda).

His hand clave unto the sword; either through sweat or blood, or by a contraction of the sinews.  Or thus, yet did his hand cleave to his sword, that is, though he was weary, he did not desist, but continued fighting.  Only to spoil, that is, to pursue the enemy, whom he had discomfited, and to take their spoil.

[1] Hebrew: ‎וְאַחֲרָ֛ו אֶלְעָזָ֥ר בֶּן־דֹּדִ֖י בֶּן־אֲחֹחִ֑י בִּשְׁלֹשָׁ֙ה גִּבֹּרִ֜ים עִם־דָּוִ֗ד בְּחָֽרְפָ֤ם בַּפְּלִשְׁתִּים נֶאֶסְפוּ־שָׁ֣ם לַמִּלְחָמָ֔ה וַֽיַּעֲל֖וּ אִ֥ישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

[2] Hebrew:  ‎וְאַחֲרָו.

[3] Hebrew:  בֶּן־דֹּדִי.  דּוֹד/dod signifies beloved, or uncle.

[4] 1 Chronicles 11:12:  “And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite (‎אֶלְעָזָ֥ר בֶּן־דּוֹד֖וֹ הָאֲחוֹחִ֑י), who was one of the three mighties.”

[5] See Joshua 15:17; Judges 1:13; 3:9, 11.

[6] See Numbers 32:12; Joshua 14:6, 14.

[7] 2 Chronicles 32:17:  “He wrote also letters to rail on the Lord God of Israel (לְחָרֵ֕ף לַיהוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל), and to speak against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people out of mine hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver his people out of mine hand.”

[8] Judges 5:18:  “Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives (עַ֣ם חֵרֵ֥ף נַפְשׁ֛וֹ) unto the death in the high places of the field.”

[9] Job 27:6:  “My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go:  my heart shall not reproach (‎לֹֽא־יֶחֱרַ֥ף לְ֜בָבִ֗י) so long as I live.”

[10] 1 Chronicles 11:13:  “He was with David at Pas-dammim, and there the Philistines were gathered together to battle, where was a parcel of ground full of barley; and the people fled from before the Philistines (‎וְהָעָ֥ם נָ֖סוּ מִפְּנֵ֥י פְלִשְׁתִּֽים׃).”

[11] Hebrew:  ‎וַיַּעֲלוּ.

[12] Hebrew: ‎ה֣וּא קָם֩ וַיַּ֙ךְ בַּפְּלִשְׁתִּ֜ים עַ֣ד׀ כִּֽי־יָגְעָ֣ה יָד֗וֹ וַתִּדְבַּ֤ק יָדוֹ֙ אֶל־הַחֶ֔רֶב וַיַּ֧עַשׂ יְהוָ֛ה תְּשׁוּעָ֥ה גְדוֹלָ֖ה בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֑וּא וְהָעָ֛ם יָשֻׁ֥בוּ אַחֲרָ֖יו אַךְ־לְפַשֵּֽׁט׃ ס