Hebron, Jerusalem and the Mighty Men

"Then all Israel gathered themselves to David unto Hebron, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh… the LORD thy God said unto thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel." David takes the stronghold of Zion: "Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. So Joab the son of Zeruiah went first up."

"Jashobeam, an Hachmonite, the chief of the captains: he lifted up his spear against three hundred slain by him at one time." Eleazar stands with David at Pas-dammim in a field of barley.

Three break through the Philistine camp to bring water from the well of Bethlehem. "But David would not drink of it, but poured it out to the LORD… Shall I drink the blood of these men?" Benaiah kills two lion-like men of Moab, a lion in a pit on a snowy day, and an Egyptian giant. The list names Uriah the Hittite and Zelek the Ammonite among the warriors.

Three hundred or eight hundred?

Jashobeam (Josheb-basshebeth in 2 Samuel 23:8) kills 300 in Chronicles but 800 in Samuel. Abishai also kills 300 (11:20), which may have influenced one list. See the 2 Samuel passage page.

"All Israel"

Samuel describes seven years in Hebron over Judah alone before the northern tribes join. Chronicles moves straight to "all Israel" at Hebron, one of its favorite phrases, stressing a united people from the start.

Sixteen extra names

Chronicles' list of the Thirty continues beyond Samuel's (11:41b–47 adds about sixteen names not in 2 Samuel 23), many from Transjordan.