Commentaria in II Regum (II Samuelis)
Vigilantius answered: “The country of the strong,” or “of valiant men,” which he then graphically depicts from Apocalypse 21; and at length explaining that it is heaven, to which through martyrdom the valiant Astion had passed, he converted his parents to the faith of Christ. Abbot Athanasius in the Spiritual Meadow in John Moschus, chapter 139, tells that in ecstasy he was led by an Angel to heaven, and when knocking he wished to enter it, he heard from the doorkeeper: “No one living in negligence shall enter here; but, if you wish to enter, go away, strive, reckoning the vanities of the world as nothing.” Hence in heaven the Blessed sing: “We have passed through fire and water, and thou hast brought us out into a refreshment.”
Go now, ye brave, whither the lofty path of great example has led;
why do ye, craven, turn your backs? The conquered earth gives the stars, says Boethius, book 4 On Consolation, metre 7. See what is said on Apocalypse 3:21.
8. SITTING IN THE CHAIR, THE WISEST CHIEF AMONG THE THREE.—Who is this? King David, say the Hebrews in St. Jerome, the Chaldee, Eucherius, Lyranus, Rupert, Dionysius, Vatablus. Others think it is Joab, the leader of the army. But I say: This one sitting is not David, but Jesbaam, the first of David’s valiant men. That it is so is clear both from the Septuagint, who here render, Jesbaab the son of Techmani, the first of the three; and from 1 Paralipomenon 11:11, where it is clearly said: “This is the number of David’s valiant men; Jesbaam the son of Hachamoni, chief among the thirty”; and from Josephus, who calls him Issemus, or as Abulensis wrongly reads, Eusebius the son of Achimac.
For the valiant men of David are here recounted, of whom Jesbaam was chief. So Bede, Angelomus, Abulensis, Question 10, Hugh, the Gloss, Cajetan, Arias, Serarius, Sanchez, Salianus. Where note first: Jesbaam signifies “sitting among the people,” which is here said, sitting in the chair, as one more worthy than the rest, and chief of the valiant: Josceb basscebeth, that is, sitting in the chair, is therefore as much a proper name, the same as Jesbaam, as an appellative; because Jesbaam was truly sitting in the chair, as leader and prince of the soldiers. Secondly, Jesbaam who is here called the wisest, in 1 Paralipomenon 11:11 is called the son of Hachamoni, that is, of the wise, both because his father was called Hachamoni, that is, the wise by excellence; and because Jesbaam himself was most wise, so that he could truly be called the son of the wise man and of wisdom, and therefore aptly his father was called Hachamoni, that is, wise; wherefore “son of the wise” is here to be taken as much as a proper name as an appellative, like “sitting in the chair.”
Thirdly, Jesbaam, who is here called chief among the three, namely the first and most valiant of all, in 1 Paralipomenon 11 is called chief among the thirty; because he himself was the first of all David’s valiant men, who were thirty.
HE (Jesbaam, or sitting in the chair) IS LIKE THE MOST TENDER LITTLE WORM OF THE WOOD.—The Hebrew: he is Adino the Hetzni, which the Septuagint, Pagnini and Vatablus retain as a proper name, and render Adino the Hesnite, or Adino the Hasonean, so that Jesbaam was called by the proper name Adino, from his country Hesnite, and finally from his virtue and dignity surnamed Jesbaam, that is, sitting in the chair. Secondly, our version takes and renders Adino the Hetzni, like “sitting in the chair,” as an appellative, signifying word for word, delicate of wood, that is, the most tender little worm of the wood. For Jesbaam is here praised for three excellent gifts of mind and body, namely first for wisdom; secondly, for humility and meekness, by which he esteemed and bore himself as a little worm of the wood, that is, as a woodworm, which, though tender and mean, yet by gnawing gradually wears away and eats the hard wood, whence it is called teredo, says Angelomus; thirdly, for strength, in that he killed 800, as if to say: Jesbaam was easy, mild and kind to friends, like a little worm, but the same was terrible to enemies as a lion. So Eucherius, Lyranus, Abulensis and Bede in the Allegories.
Tropologically, the Saints who are eminent in wisdom and virtue are, in their own eyes and others’, most humble and most meek, like little worms; yet the same are most strong, like lions, against vices and demons.
WHO KILLED EIGHT HUNDRED MEN AT ONE ONSET.—Josephus errs, therefore, who puts nine hundred for eight hundred. You will say first: in 1 Paralipomenon 11 only three hundred are numbered. I answer: Jesbaam at one time killed three hundred, at another eight hundred, or these were different exploits. Allegorically, Jesbaam was a type of Christ, who “at one onset,” that is, by the command of his word, drove out a legion of demons, Luke 8:30, says Angelomus, nay on the cross overcame all demons, all sins, death and hell. Hear Rupert, book 2, chapter 37: “In Christ was the spirit of humility like the most tender little worm of the wood, under whose leadership he suffered himself to be crushed as a worm, and not a man: in this the Word of God is united in one and the same person with man, which also is his strength, in which he slew eight hundred at one onset; for dying once he despoiled hell, and now sitting in the chair he is about to judge all, the living and the dead. Which of all the strong angels or men has come thus far? After him were the three most valiant, namely the Apostles, the first preachers of the Trinity, whose fortitude those three first of the first order beautifully express by their proper names.” These three Apostles are SS. Peter, James and John.
9. AFTER HIM WAS ELEAZAR THE SON OF HIS UNCLE.—In Hebrew, the son of Dodo, which Vatablus, Pagnini and others take as a proper name, as if Dodo were the father of Eleazar. But our version, with the Septuagint, takes it as an appellative, and renders his uncle, namely of the Jesbaam just mentioned, as if to say: Jesbaam and Eleazar were sons of two brothers, and so cousins to each other. The first of the valiant, then, was Jesbaam, the second Eleazar, the third Semma, of whom in verse 11. And this was the first triad of the valiant, of which, when there is discourse of other, less valiant ones, it is said: “But he attained not to the three”; as is plain from verse 23. There was then a second triad of the valiant, of which verse 18. After these two triads of the valiant, in verse 24 other thirty valiant men are numbered. AND THEY WERE GATHERED TOGETHER THERE,—where David was, namely in Phesdomin, as is said in 1 Paralipomenon chapter 11.
10. AND WHEN THE MEN OF ISRAEL WERE GONE UP (that is, had fled, as is plain from 1 Paralipomenon 11, namely the other soldiers), THEN HE (Eleazar) STOOD,—together with Jesbaam, and put to flight the whole army of the Philistines. Whence follows: HE SMOTE THE PHILISTINES TILL HIS HAND WAS WEARY AND GREW STIFF WITH THE SWORD.—“Grew stiff,” by numbness and cramp, says Vatablus. For we experience that by excessive labour and weariness the hands contract and grow numb so that they cannot be unclasped: numbness, therefore, fastened Eleazar’s hand to the sword so that it could not be removed from it. Less rightly Josephus, book 7, chapter 10, says that his hand adhered to the hilt because of the blood mingled on the sword hardening and binding Eleazar’s hand to it. For blood does not so harden as to fasten a hand to a sword.
11. AND AFTER HIM WAS SEMMA.—The third here is in the first triad of the valiant. FOR THERE WAS A FIELD THERE FULL OF LENTILS,—which the Philistines wished to burn or plunder, but the rest fleeing, Semma defended it. So Abulensis.
13. AND BEFORE THIS THE THREE HAD GONE DOWN, WHO WERE PRINCES AMONG THE THIRTY.—Some think that these three are not the three valiant men of the first triad already reckoned, but the three next following, who made up the second triad of the valiant, namely Abisai (for he came to David into the cave of Odollam, 1 Kings 22), Banaias and Jonathan; so that the sense is, as if to say: Before the first three valiant men, namely Jesbaam, Eleazar and Semma, laid low the Philistines in the field, the other three valiant men, namely Abisai, Banaias and Jonathan, brought to David, thirsting, water from the cistern of Bethlehem through the midst of the enemy’s camp. So the Hebrews in St. Jerome. But better Josephus, book 7, chapter 10, Serarius, Salianus and others refer this deed to the first three, or valiant men of the first order, as if to say: Besides the particular deeds of these three heroes, which each of them performed singly, as I have just recounted, these three heroes joined together had already before broken into the camp of the Philistines, and drawn water from the cistern of Bethlehem, and brought it to David thirsting.