²⁰And Abishai¹, the brother of Joab, he was chief of the three: for he lifted up his spear against three hundred and² slew them, and had a name among the three. Of³ the three, ¹ Hebrew _Abshai_. ² Hebrew _slain_. ³ Or, _Of the three in the second rank he was the most honourable_. =20.= _chief of the three_] In 2 Samuel xxiii. 18 (_Kethīb_) Abishai is called by the same title (Hebrew _rōsh hasshālīshi_) as Josheb-basshebeth (2 Samuel xxiii. verse 8). This title probably means _chief of the third part_ [_of the army_]; compare verse 11, note. _Chief of the three_ is a faulty reading: it certainly ought not to be taken in connection with the three mighty men――Jashobeam (Ishbaal), Eleazar and <Shammah>――referred to in verses 10 ff. Probably a reading “chief of the thirty,” for which there is some MS. authority, is correct; but the references here and in the following verse are obscure (see Driver, _Samuel_², pp. 367, 368). _had a name among the three_] Compare verse 24, where the same thing is said of Benaiah. The three meant are either the three of verses 15‒19 or else an unknown three; compare next note. ²¹he was more honourable than the two, and was made their captain: howbeit he attained not to the _first_ three. =21.= _Of the three, he was more honourable than the two_] margin “_Of the three in the second rank he was the most honourable._” Neither of these renderings is satisfactory, and the text is certainly corrupt (compare 2 Samuel xxiii. 19), and should be corrected. Read perhaps: =He was more honourable than the three=, or perhaps, =than the thirty=. The verse probably comes from a lost poem. What is meant by the _three_ and by _the first three_ cannot be determined owing to the loss of the context. ²²Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, he slew the two _sons of_ Ariel of Moab: he went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow. =22.= _Benaiah_] See 2 Samuel viii. 18; 1 Kings i. 8 ff., ii. 25‒35. _Kabzeel_] It was in the south of Judah; Joshua xv. 21. _he slew the two_ sons of _Ariel of Moab_] So LXX. of 2 Samuel xxiii. 20. The phrase is very difficult. Some, emending the text, read “He slew two young lions, having gone down to their lair.” Another but an improbable conjecture is “he smote the two altar-pillars of Moab,” i.e. he overthrew the two high columns on which the sacred fire of the Moabites was kept (Robertson Smith, _Religion of the Semites_, Additional Note L). To injure or defile the sacred place of an enemy was a common practice in ancient war. _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.