Attributed commentary excerpt
Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Chronicles 11:21
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Commentary on the Old Testament
C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch · 19th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
Ch1 11:21 should be translated: honoured before the three as two; i.e., doubly honoured-he became to them prince, leader. With regard to בשּׁנים, which, as meaningless, Bertheau would alter so as to make it correspond with הכי (Sam.), cf. Ew. Lehrb. 269, b. For Benaiah and his exploits, Ch1 11:22-25, see the commentary on Sa2 23:20-23. No special deeds of the heroes enumerated in vv. 26-47 are related, so that we may regard them as a third class, who are not equal to the first triad, and to the second pair, Abishai and Benaiah, and consequently occupied a subordinate place in the collective body of the royal body-guards. In 2 Sam 23 thirty-two names are mentioned, which, with the above-mentioned three and two of the first and second classes, amount in all to thirty-seven men, as is expressly remarked in Sa2 23:39 at the conclusion. In the text of the Chronicle no number is mentioned, and the register is increased by sixteen names ( Ch1 11:41-47), which have been added in the course of time to the earlier number. The words החילים וגבּורי, Ch1 11:26, are to be regarded as a superscription: And valiant heroes were, etc.; equivalent to, But besides there, there remain still the following valiant heroes. The words החילים גּבּורי are not synonymous with החילים שׂרי, leaders of the host, Kg1 15:20; Jer 40:7, (Berth.), but signify heroes in warlike strength, i.e., heroic warriors, like חילים גּבּורי ( Ch1 7:5, Ch1 7:7, Ch1 7:11, Ch1 7:40). That חילים has here the article, while it is not found in the passages quoted from the seventh chapter, does not make any difference in the meaning of the words. The article is used, here, as with הגּבּורים, Ch1 11:10, Ch1 11:11, because the heroes of David are spoken of, and לדויד אשׁר is to be mentally supplied from Ch1 11:10. As to the names in vv. 26-41, which are also found in the register in the book of Samuel, see the commentary to 2 Sam 23:24-39. This list, which is common to both books, begins with Asahel, a brother of Joab, who was slain by Abner in the war which he waged against David ( Sa2 2:19-23), and concludes in the book of Samuel with Uriah the Hittite, so well known from Sa2 11:3. ( Ch1 11:41), with whose wife David committed adultery. But to the continuation of the register which is found in Ch1 11:41-47 of our text, there is no parallel in the other writings of the Old Testament by which we might form an idea as to the correctness of the names. The individual names are indeed to be met with, for the most part, in other parts of the Old Testament, but denote other men of an earlier or later time. The names ידיעאל, Ch1 11:45, and אליאל, Ch1 11:46., are found also in Ch1 12:20, Ch1 12:11, among those of the valiant men who before Saul's death went over to David, but we cannot with any certainty ascertain whether the persons meant were the same. The expression שׁלשׁים ועליו ( Ch1 11:42) is also obscure, - "and to him in addition," i.e., together with him, thirty, - since the thought that with Adina the chief of the Reubenites, or besides him, there were thirty (men), has no meaning in this register. The lxx and the Vulgate read עליו, while the Syriac, on the contrary, makes use of the periphrasis, "And even he was a ruler over thirty heroes;" and Bertheau accordingly recommends the emendation השּׁלשׁים על, and thence concludes that the tribe of Reuben had thirty leaders in its army-a conjecture as bold as it is improbable. Were השּׁלשׁים על to be read, we could not but refer the words to th…
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