Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Adam Clarke Commentary

When they defied the Philistines that were there gathered - This is supposed to refer to the war in which David slew Goliath.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Gone away - Rather, went up to battle (2 Samuel 5:19; 2 Kings 3:21, etc.) against them. These words and what follows as far as “troop” 2 Samuel 23:11 have fallen out of the text in Chronicles. The effect of this is to omit EIeazar‘s feat, as here described, to attribute to him Shammah‘s victory, to misplace the flight of the Israelites, and to omit Shammah altogether from the list of David‘s mighty men.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite,.... Or the son of Ahohi, perhaps the same with Ahoah, a descendant of Benjamin, 1 Chronicles 8:4; this Eleazar was the next to the Tachmonite, the second worthy of the first class:

one of the three mighty men with David; the second of the three valiant men that were with David in his wars, and fought with him, and for him:

when they defied the Philistines; clapped their hands at them, gloried over them, daring them to come and light them; so did David and his mighty men, as Goliath had defied them before:

that were there gathered together to battle; at Pasdammim, as appears from 1 Chronicles 11:13,

and the men of Israel were gone away; fled when they saw the Philistines gather together to fight them, notwithstanding they had defied them; and so David, and his three mighty men, were left alone to combat with the Philistines.

Geneva Study Bible

(f) Meaning, fled from the battle.

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines that were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away:

Gone away — That is, fled away, 1 Chronicles 11:13, being dismayed at the approach of their enemies.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

2 Samuel 23:9 And after him [was] Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, [one] of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines [that] were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away:

Ver. 9. When they defied the Philistines,] viz., At Pasdammim. [1 Chronicles 11:13]

And the men of Israel were gone away.] Fled, and forsook their captains; a shame to forsake such a captain, of whom it might be said, as was once of Fabius Maximus,

“ Hic patria est, murique urbis stant pectore in uno. ” - Silius.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

The Ahohite; of the children of Ahoah, 1 Chronicles 8:4.

One of the three, i. e. one of the first three, 2 Samuel 23:19.

Mighty men with David; who were with David at this time, or who usually attended upon David.

When they defied the Philistines; when he either in the name of all the Israelites, or with the countenance and help of some of them, challenged the Philistines to fight. Or, when some of, or among, the Philistines defied them, i. e. the Israelites, according to their manner, and the example of their great Goliath, 1 Samuel 17:25,36. Or, in Harpam (for some make it a proper name of a place) among the Philistines. Gone away, i. e. fled away, 1 Chronicles 11:13, being dismayed at the approach of their enemies. Heb. ascended, i. e. vanished away like smoke, which ascends, and so disappears, as that verb is oft used.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

9.Of the three mighty men — Referring, doubtless, to the three of this first class, namely, Jashobeam, Eleazar, and Shammah.

When they defied the Philistines — According to Chronicles this encounter took place at Pas-dammim, doubtless the same as Ephes-dammim of 1 Samuel 17:1, but it was not the same battle as there described.

The men of Israel were gone away — Retreated from him, so that he was left singlehanded before the enemy.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Dodo. In Latin, Patrui ejus, which is the interpretation of the Hebrew name Dodo. The same occurs in ver. 24, (Challoner) and signifies, "of his paternal uncle." (Haydock) --- Septuagint read Dudia, (Calmet) "of his father's brother." He, or his father, is styled Dudai, 1 Paralipomenon xxvii. 4. (Calmet) --- Septuagint (Alexandrian) translates both Dodo and Dodi, "the son of his father's brother," the son of Sousei, or (Vatican) Doudei. Dodi seems to be the more accurate here, as he is thus more distinguished from Dodo, ver. 24., and Chronicles v. 26.[1 Paralipomenon xi. 26.?] --- Defied. Hebrew is incorrect, and ought to be a proper name as is evident from the word there. Josephus calls it, Greek: arasamo, (perhaps originally, Greek: aphasdamo) Chronicles, Pasdammim, or Ephesdammim, 1 Kings xvii. 1. It is hardly probable that the Hebrews should defy or upbraid the Philistines, and immediately run away. We should therefore translate with 1 Paralipomenon men. "He was with David at Pasdammim. And when the Philistines were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away, he arose," &c. (Kennicott)

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

the men of Israel were gone away. This is the time for true courage to be manifested. Compare 2 Samuel 23:11; 2 Timothy 1:15; 2 Timothy 4:16, 2 Timothy 4:17.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(9) Dodo the Ahohite.—So in the Hebrew margin here, and so also in 1 Chronicles 11:12; the text here has Dodai, as in 1 Chronicles 27:4, where he is mentioned as the general for the second month. The name is the same under slightly differing forms. “Ahohite” is a patronymic derived from Ahoah, son of Bela, Benjamin’s son (1 Chronicles 8:4).

When they defied . . . there gathered.—The words “there gathered” require the mention of some place, and the construction of the word for “defied” is unusual. The parallel passage in Chronicles reads, “He was with David at Pas-dammim, and there the Philistines,” &c. The difference between the two readings is not great in the original, and the latter is better. Pas-dammim is the Ephes-dammim of 1 Samuel 17:1, where Goliath defied the armies of Israel, and was slain by David.

Were gone away—Rather, were gathered to battle. So it is translated in the LXX., Vulg., and Syriac, and so the Hebrew requires. The error is a curious one, and seems to have arisen in this way: In 1 Chronicles 11:13 the mention of the battle in which Shammah was engaged (2 Samuel 23:11) is altogether omitted, and the expression “the people fled from before the Philistines” therefore becomes connected with this battle. Josephus follows that text, and our translators were probably misled by him. Several lines have dropped out from the text in Chronicles.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Eleazar

1 Chronicles 11:12-14; 27:4

Dodai

defied.

Numbers 23:7,8; 1 Samuel 17:10,26,36,45,46

the men

Isaiah 63:3,5; Mark 14:50