2 Samuel 21:16

Ishbi-benob. — The name is a strange one, and it is generally thought that some error has crept into the text, but none of the suggested emendations are free from difficulty. Perhaps the most probable is that in the Speaker’s Commentary, by which for Ishbi (the Hebrew margin) they halted is read, and benob, by a very slight change in one letter, becomes at Gob; then a clause is supplied, there was a man, so that the whole reads, “David waxed faint, and they halted at Gob. And there was a man which was of the sons,” &c.; 2 Samuel 21:18 (as well as 2 Samuel 21:19) seems to imply a previous battle in Gob.

Three hundred shekels. — About eight pounds; just half the weight of Goliath’s spear-head (1 Samuel 17:7).

Girded with a new sword. — The word sword is not in the original, and its omission, where intended, is unusual. Either it should be girded with new armour, or else the word for new is intended to denote some otherwise unknown weapon.