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People of the Bible

Abishai

Family

Easton’s Bible Dictionary

Father of (i.e., “desirous of”) a gift, the eldest son of Zeruiah, David’s sister. He was the brother of Joab and Asahel (2 Sam. 2:18; 1 Chr. 2:16). Abishai was the only one who accompanied David when he went to the camp of Saul and took the spear and the cruse of water from Saul’s bolster (1 Sam. 26:5-12). He had the command of one of the three divisions of David’s army at the battle with Absalom (2 Sam. 18:2, 5, 12). He slew the Philistine giant Ishbi-benob, who threatened David’s life (2 Sam. 21:15-17). He was the chief of the second rank of the three “mighties” (2 Sam. 23:18, 19; 1 Chr. 11:20, 21); and on one occasion withstood 300 men, and slew them with his own spear (2 Sam. 23:18). Abishai is the name of the Semitic chief who offers gifts to the lord of Beni-Hassan. See illustration facing page 10.

From M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary (1893), in the public domain.

Named in 24 verses

1 Samuel
26:6, 26:7, 26:8, 26:9
2 Samuel
2:18, 2:24, 3:30, 10:10, 10:14, 16:9, 16:11, 18:2, 18:5, 18:12, 19:21, 20:6, 20:10, 21:17, 23:18
1 Chronicles
2:16, 11:20, 18:12, 19:11, 19:15

The family, dates and events on this page come from Theographic, a knowledge graph of the Bible by Robert Rouse, used and shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. It is a work in progress, and its dates follow one reconstruction of biblical chronology among several. The dictionary article above is separately in the public domain.