Jashobeam

The umbrella collects two men who carry the name Jashobeam — David's chief warrior, whose name in the parallel lists appears as Jishbaal as well as Jashobeam, and a Korahite warrior who joined David at Ziklag. The first dominates the material; the second is a single line in the Chronicler's roll of defectors.

Chief of David's Mighty Men

In Samuel, the head of David's mighty men opens the catalogue under the name Jishbaal: "These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Jishbaal the Hachmonite, [of] the elite troops; the same was Adino the Eznite, against eight hundred slain at one time" (2Sa 23:8). The Chronicler's parallel reduces the slain to three hundred and gives the spear-thrust as the means: "And this is the number of the mighty men whom David had: Jishbaal, the son of a Hachmonite, chief of the elite troops; he lifted up his spear against three hundred and slew them at one time" (1Ch 11:11).

The same chief returns by his other spelling in the divisional roster of Israel's army. Heading the first month's course of twenty-four thousand: "Over the first course for the first month was Jashobeam the son of Zabdiel: and in his course were twenty and four thousand" (1Ch 27:2). The patronymic "son of Zabdiel" in this notice and the patronymic "the Hachmonite" in the warrior lists point to the same man set over the elite troops and over the first monthly division.

A Korahite at Ziklag

A second Jashobeam belongs to the company of Benjaminites, kinsmen of Saul, who came over to David at Ziklag. He is named in the Korahite cluster of that list: "Elkanah, and Isshiah, and Azarel, and Joezer, and Jashobeam, the Korahites" (1Ch 12:6). The five Korahites are slingers and bowmen counted among the warriors who left Saul's camp for David's; Jashobeam appears here only in the catalogue, with no further notice.