1 Chronicles 11:26

Also the valiant men of the armies. — The Heb. phrase has this meaning (1 Chronicles 12:8); but elsewhere it denotes “valiant heroes” (1 Chronicles 7:5; 1 Chronicles 7:7, &c). and so here. 2 Samuel 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 (1 Chronicles 11:15; 1 Chronicles 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 1 Chronicles 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 1 Chronicles 20:5.