1 Chronicles 11:26

1Ch 11:26 Also the valiant men of the armies [were], Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem,

Ver. 26. Asahel the brother of Joab.] Joab himself is not mentioned, nor Amasa. This had lost himself for his conspiracy with Absalom, and the other for his hypocrisy and cruelty: hence some think that they were left out of this list as vile persons. See Dan 11:21.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Also the valiant men of the armies--This was the third degree of military rank, and Asahel was their chief; the names of few of those mentioned are historically known.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(26) Also the valiant men of the armies.—The Heb. phrase has this meaning (1Ch_12:8); but elsewhere it denotes “valiant heroes” (1Ch_7:5; 1Ch_7:7, &c). and so here. 2Sa_23:24 has “Asahel brother of Joab was among the thirty.” It thus appears that the warriors of this list are none other than the famous baud of thirty warriors already spoken of (1Ch_11:15; 1Ch_11:25). From having been the original number, thirty may have become the conventional name of the corps even when its limits had been enlarged. It is notice. able that so far as to 1Ch_11:41 the heroes are arranged in pairs, and that the gentilic or cantonal name is usually added to that of the hero. They mostly belong to Judah and Benjamin; whereas the sixteen additional names, so far as known, belong to the transjordanic tribes, and the northern tribes are not represented at all.

Elhanan.—Dodo is very much like David. Is this a third alias of the slayer of Goliath? See Note on 1Ch_20:5.

(26-47) A catalogue of forty-eight “doughty warriors.” Sixteen names are here added to the list as given in Samuel. The chronicler, therefore, possessed a source more complete than our Book of Samuel. Variations of spelling abound in the names common to the two texts, the transcription of proper names being especially liable to error.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

26. Also the valiant men of the armies were, Asahel] Render, And the valiant men of might; Asahel. Cp. 1Ch_2:16; 2Sa_2:18 ff; 2Sa_3:27.

Elhanan] Called here (= 2Sa_23:14) “son of Dodo,” but probably to be identified with “Elhanan the son of Jair” of 1Ch_20:5 (= 2Sa_21:19) “son of Jaare-oregim,” for “Jaare-oregim” is not to be taken as his father’s name, and the “Jair” of Chron. appears to be a corruption of “Jaare.” Elhanan was son of Dodo and belonged to a place the name of which was something like Jaare-oregim.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

etc. The list of names here given corresponds generally with that in 2 Sam. 23:24-39, but presents several remarkable differences.

(1) the number in Chronicles is 47; the number in Samuel is 31.

(2) Four names in the list of Chronicles are not in Samuel.

(3) five names in Samuel are not in Chronicles.

(4) many of the other names, both personal and local, vary in the two lists.

It is quite possible that the two lists varied to some extent originally. The writer of Chronicles distinctly states that he gives the list as it stood at the time of David’s becoming king over all Israel 1Ch 11:10. The writer of Samuel does not assign his list to any definite period of David’s reign, but probably delivers it to us as it was constituted at a later date. It is quite possible therefore that the names which occur only in Chronicles are those of persons who had died or quitted the army before the other list was made out, and that the new names in Samuel are the names of those who had taken their places. See the 2Sa 23:39 note.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Moreover. Nothing particular is here recorded of Asahel, and therefore he is barely mentioned with the rest. But the Book of Kings had been more particular in determining their rank, and had said, "Asahel, brother of Joab, was over the Thirty," being the last of the second ternary. The preposition b (Kennicott) frequently means, "over." (Nold., &c.) --- Arabic, "head of Thirty, whose names are these." (Kennicott) --- Elchanan; probably the son of Jair, 2 Kings xxi. 18. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Vers. 26-41. These verses correspond with vers. 24-39 in 2Sa 23., and with them the subject ends there, though not here. The list announced here as comprising "the valiant men of the armies," is unannounced there, but, beginning with the same name, Asahel, it calls him "one of the thirty," and suggests the inference that those who follow will make up the rest. The number that follows (coinciding in this respect strictly with our list here) is itself thirty, which, though one too many, may be considered satisfactorily accounted for in the fact of the untimely death of Asahel, already recorded. (2Sa_2:23) Considering the exact crisis at which he died, it is very likely that his place should be compensated for, although his name were unremoved from the honourable list. Amid the difficulties that develop themselves in the contents of these lists, when compared, the comparison of them aids the conviction that, so far as they go together, they do stand for "the thirty" spoken of in both places, and that a sentence or two here and there, now lost or corrupted beyond recognition, would clear up the whole subject. The comparison also seems to make it clear that the compiler of Chronicles, meaning to go beyond an enumeration of the thirty, nowhere speaks of thirty after ver. 25. On the other hand, the writer of the account in Samuel carefully sums up all (ver. 39) in the words, thirty and seven in all an addition which means either the actual thirty-one given and the two sets of three each; or the thirty, with the two sets of three each and Joab ever all. Our present chapter, however, goes on to the number forty-eight in all, vers. 41-47, adding sixteen to the thirty-two which precede. Beside some minor differences, it must be said that at fewest three names, Hepher, Ahijah, and Mibhar, in Chronicles, resist identification with those that should (from position) correspond with them in the list of Samuel and with any others. And the same thing may be said of the same number in the list of Samuel (Elika, Eliam, Bani) when compared with the list now before us. The points of contact and clearest identification are, therefore, in so great a majority and are so uniformly distributed that, although it is left hard to decide the causes of them, these differences cannot throw any discredit upon the list as a whole. Perhaps the most probable suggestion to be offered is that the knowledge of the writer of the Book of Samuel enabled him to supersede the names of such as were soon lost to their brave career by death by other names; or, resting on the same fundamental reason, there may have been two different editions of the list, to one of which the writer of Samuel was indebted, and to the other the compiler of Chronicles.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

General Information:

This begins a list of David's thirty most important warriors. The list contains the names of the men and the clans to which they belonged. The list continues through 1 Chronicles 11:47. (See: How to Translate Names)

translationWords

might

Joab

Bethlehem

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

And the mighty warriors but not like those above.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.