JASHOBEAM jə shō’ bĭ əm (יָֽשָׁבְעָ֖ם). 1. A Hachmonite, chief of the “thirty,” who killed 300 men in one battle (1 Chron 17:11). The parallel passage (2 Sam 23:8) speaks of the Tahchemonite, Jashub-basshebeth KJV (“the one who sat on the seat”) chief of the “three” (KJV “captains”) [two unknown words] who slew 800 men in one battle. Tahchemonite is apparently a corruption of Hachmonite. The “three” appear to have been the inner circle (cf. 1 Chron 11:15-17) of David’s select bodyguard, the “thirty.” The Heb. words for 300 and 800 begin with the same letter, making a copyist’s error possible. It has been suggested (Kennicott) that Jashubbasshebeth resulted when basshebeth was copied from the line above (v. 7) in place of the correct -am. Most scholars, following the LXX (2 Sam ̓Ιεβοσθε, 1 Chron ̓Ιεσβααλ), have seen the name Ishbaal (Ishbosheth arising when the word shame was substituted for the hated name Baal) as being the original while both Jashubbasshebeth and Jashobeam are later corruptions.

2. A Korhite who came out from Benjamin to join David in exile at Ziklag (1 Chron 12:6). Whether he is the same as 1. hinges on the meaning of the two appellatives. If both are regarded as family names, then two different individuals must be referred to. If one or both are some other title, e.g., a divisional name, a guild name, etc., the two references could well be to one man. (But note LXX ̓Ιεσβοαμ, here vs. ̓Ιεσβααλ, in 11:11.)

3. Captain of one of the twelve divisions in David’s army, the son of Zabdiel (1 Chron 27:2) (LXX ̓Ιεσβοαμ). Again, if this person is the same as 2., and perhaps 1., Korhite and Hachmonite must be regarded as titles and/or larger family names.

Bibliography G. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Books of Samuel (1890), 279, 280.