in time of snow] “The beast had strayed up the Judaean hills from Jordan, and had been caught in a sudden snowstorm. Where else than in Palestine could lions and snow thus come together?” G. A. Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land p. 65.
²³And he slew an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits high; and in the Egyptian’s hand was a spear like a weaver’s beam; and he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and slew him with his own spear. ²⁴These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and had a name among the three mighty men.
23. of great stature] Samuel has a better reading, “a goodly man” (man of presence), “goodliness” according to the Hebrews consisting in being well-built for warlike exercises.
a staff] Hebrew shēbhet, i.e. the “rod” or “club” carried by shepherds as a defence against wild-beasts; Psalms ii. 9 (“rod”); xxiii. 4 “rod”); 2 Samuel xviii. 14 (“darts”). This “rod” had a point at one end, so that it could on occasion be used as a stabbing weapon.
²⁵Behold, he was more honourable than the thirty, but he attained not to the first three: and David set him over his guard[¹].
[¹] Or, council.
25. more honourable than the thirty] On the phrase, see verse 21, note. The verse probably comes from some poem written in praise of Benaiah. Compare xxvii. 6.
guard] The same Hebrew word, mishma‘ath, is translated “council” in the margin here and also in 1 Samuel xxii. 14. The literal meaning is “obedience”; it seems both here and in Samuel (1 Samuel xxii. 14) to designate those who executed the king’s commands, i.e. his ministers. (Minister = “servant.”)
²⁶Also the mighty men of the armies; Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan the son of Dodo of Beth-lehem;
26. Asahel] Whose death at the hands of Abner, the general of Ishbosheth, was the cause of the famous feud between Abner and Joab, compare 2 Samuel ii. 18 ff., iii. 27.