1 Chronicles 11:15 -

Three of the thirty . The thirty here alluded to have not been mentioned either in the Book of Samuel or here, except by implication of our 1 Chronicles 11:11 , where we might imagine the sense to be, "Now these are the names of the mighty men, in number thirty , whom David had, viz. Jashobeam, an Hachmonite, the chief of the thirty ." Nor are we told in either place who were the "three" here spoken of. The article is absent in both places, or it would be convenient and natural to suppose that the three just mentioned are those intended, which cannot, however, be taken for granted. The language of 1 Chronicles 11:20-22 , 1 Chronicles 11:25 , might rather indicate that the three mentioned in those verses are those in question. The repeated uncertainty in which we are left on matters to which no intrinsic difficulty adheres seems evidence of injured manuscripts rather than of anything else. To the rock to David . This is the right reading, עֵל־חֵשֻּׂר אֶל־דָּוִד ; and that in the parallel passage ("to David in the harvest-time ") is not correct, אֶל־קָצִיר אֶל־דָּוִד . The cave of Adullam . Adullam, evidently a place of great antiquity ( Genesis 38:1-30 :l, 12, 20), is mentioned in Joshua 12:15 ; Joshua 15:35 ; it was the seat then of a Canaanite king. It afterwards lay in Judah, in that lowland (called often the Shephelah) that ran from Joppa to Gaza, near the Mediterranean Sea. It kept name and fame to the last ( 2 Chronicles 11:7 ; Nehemiah 11:30 ). The "rock" marks the limestone cliffs of the region. We read of it, as David's refuge ( 1 Samuel 22:1 , 1 Samuel 22:2 ). From our present passage, and its parallel we should have concluded that it could not have been far from Bethlehem. In this sense Dr. Thomson refers to the tradition that fixes the cave at a spot now called Khureitun , between Bethlehem and the Dead Sea, and says, "Leaving our horses in charge of wild Arabs, and taking one Arab for a guide, we started for the cave, having a fearful gorge below, gigantic cliffs above, and the path winding along a shelf of the rock, narrow enough to make the nervous among us shudder. At length from a great rock, hanging on the edge of this shelf, we sprang by a long leap into a low window, which opened into the perpendicular face of the cliff. We were then within the hold of David, and creeping half-doubled through a narrow crevice for a few rods, we stood beneath the dark vault of the first grand chamber of this mysterious and oppressive cavern. Our whole collection of lights did little more than make the damp darkness visible. After groping about as long as we had Lime to spare, we returned to the light of day, fully convinced that, with David and his lion-hearted followers inside, all the strength of Israel under Saul could not have forced an entrance, and would not even have attempted it." The host . For this word "host" ( מַחֲגֵה ) the parallel ( 2 Samuel 23:13 ) has the "life of the Philistines" (but the Authorized Version, the "troop of"), i.e. the beasts and cattle of the Philistines. So also the Syriac Version translates, The Septuagint shows in this place παρεμβολή , and in Samuel τὰγμα . The valley of Rephaim . The situation of this notable valley is not certain. Yet there can be little doubt, in spite of Furst ('Handwortbuch,' 2:383), who supposes a situation north-west of Jerusalem, that it must be near Bethlehem, and therefore south-west of the city. The word employed Here for "valley".