ja-sho'-be-am (yashobh`am, probably "people will return"; see discussion of names compounded with `am, inHPN , 41-59): Jashobeam is mentioned in three passages (1Ch 11:11; 12:6 (Heb 7:1-28); 27:2 f), but opinions vary as to the number of persons erred to. In 1 Ch 11:11 he is called "the son of a Hachmonite" (reference unknown) and "the chief of the three" ("three," the best reading; the Revised Version (British and American) "thirty"; the King James Version, the Revised Version margin "captains"), mighty men of David. He is said to have slain 300 (800 in 2Sa 23:8) at one time, i.e. one after another.
⇒See a list of verses on JASHOBEAM in the Bible.
The gibborim, or heroes, numbered 600 and were divided into bands of 200 each and subdivided into smaller bands of 20 each, with a captain for each company large and small. Jashobeam had command of the first of the three bands of 200 (see Ewald,HI ,III , 140 f; Stanley,HJC ,II , 78). From the indefiniteness of the description, "three of the thirty chief," he can hardly be regarded as one of the three mighty men who broke through the ranks of the Philistines, and brought water from the well of Bethlehem to David on the hill-fortress of Adullam (1Ch 11:15-17), and the fact that "the thirty" have not yet been mentioned would seem to indicate that this story is not in its proper place. But "Jashobe am" here (1Ch 11:11) is probably an error for "Ishbaal," the reading of many of the manuscripts of the Septuagint (HPN, 46, note).
In the parallel passage (2Sa 23:8) he is called "Joshebbasshebeth, a Tahchemonite." This verse, however, is probably corrupt (Revised Version margin), and the text should be corrected in accordance with Ch to "Ishbaal, the Hachmonite." In 1 Ch 27:2 f Jashobeam is said to have been "the son of Zabdiel," of the family of Perez, and the commander-in-chief of the division of David's army which did duty the first month. The army consisted of 12 divisions of 24,000 each, each division serving a month in turn. In 1 Ch 12:6 (Heb 7:1-28) Jashobeam is mentioned among those who joined David at Ziklag in the time of Saul, and is described as a Korahite, probably one belonging to a family of Judah (compare Heb 2:18).
⇒See also the McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia.
James Crichton