Mighty Men of David

Mighty Men Of David

David's Mighty Warriors (also known as David's Mighty Men or the Gibborim) are a group of biblical characters explicitly singled out by an appendix of the Books of Samuel. The text (2 Samuel 23:8-39) divides them into the "Three", of which there are three, and "Thirty", of which there are more than thirty. The text explicitly states that there are 37 individuals in all, 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 cryptically refers to The Three and The Thirty as if they were both important entities, rather than just an arbitrary list of three or 30-plus significant men (respectively).

Some textual scholars 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—appearing as a list, as a series of character introductions, or as a flowing narrative—Some suspect that the passages may themselves be compiled from multiple source documents. Further, as 2 Samuel 23:23-24 reads "...David put him in command of his bodyguard. Ashahel, 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 (some translations move Among the thirty were to be before Ashahel, which smooths over the issue).