David's Mighty Warriors
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David's Mighty Warriors (also known as David's Mighty Men or the Gibborim; Hebrew: הַגִּבֹּרִ֛ים, romanized: ˌhaggibboˈrim, lit. 'the Mighty') are a group of 37 men in the Hebrew Bible who fought with King David and are identified in 2 Samuel 23:8–38, part of the "supplementary information" added to the Second Book of Samuel in its final four chapters. The International Standard Version calls them "David's special forces".[1]
hag-Gibborim הַגִּבֹּרִ֛ים | |
---|---|
Founded | 1010 BCE |
Disbanded | 970 BCE |
Country | United Monarchy |
Allegiance | David |
Type | Special operations force, shock troops |
Role | Special operations, Infantry |
Size | 37 |
Nickname(s) | David’s Mighty Warriors |
Commanders | |
Founder & Commander | David |
A similar list is given in 1 Chronicles 11:10–47 but with several variations and sixteen more names.
The text divides them into "the Three", of which there are three, and "the Thirty", of which there are more than thirty. The text explicitly states that there are 37 individuals in all,[2] but it is unclear whether this refers to The Thirty, which may or may not contain The Three, or the combined total of both groups. The text refers to The Three and The Thirty as though they were both important entities, and not just an arbitrary list of three or 30-plus significant men.
Some textual scholars[who?] regard the passages referring to The Three and The Thirty as having come from either a source distinct to the main sources in the Books of Samuel or being otherwise out of place. Since parts of the text have distinct stylistic differences from other portions&mdash, appearing as a list, as a series of character introductions, or as a flowing narrative&mdash, some[who?] suspect that the passages may themselves be compiled from multiple source documents.[3] Further, as 2 Samuel 23:23-24 reads "... David put him in command of his bodyguard, Asahel, brother of Joab. Among the thirty were...", the text is regarded as corrupted, and the middle of verse 23:24 (between the words Joab and Among) is generally presumed to have been lost[4][page needed][failed verification] (some translations move Among the thirty were to be before Asahel, which smooths over the issue).