I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Samuel 23-24.

    Today’s passage talks about the Three and the Thirty, these were designations of the mightiest warriors among David’s followers. These appear to be designations which David gave to those who followed him. There are several places in this passage where the translation notes state that the meaning of the original Hebrew is unclear. I find it interesting that its list of “The Thirty” includes 37 men. Is this because some of them died and were replaced? Or did David, after designating the original thirty, decide that some additional men deserved being acknowledged along with the original thirty? For that matter, the passage says that Abishai was the leader of the Thirty, but the translation notes say that most Hebrew manuscripts actually say that he was leader of the Three. A few verses earlier someone else was named as leader of the Three, but it is always possible that when he died Abishai was elevated to take his place.
    Recently, I have read some articles which stated that the accounts given here of the feats of David’s mighty men were not credible. Certainly the idea that one man killed 800 opponents in one battle seems hyperbolic. However, I can construct several scenarios in my mind that make this practical, especially if the battle lasted all day. The passage does not say that he killed them all hand to hand. Perhaps he had set up a trap where a large number were killed by falling for it (there are several different types of trap which could kill multiple people at once). Or, perhaps, after he had dominated the battlefield for a period of time, numbers of men died while trying to avoid engaging with him (falling off of cliffs, falling into a river and drowning, or other similar things).