ABISHAI ə bī’ shī (אֲבִישַׁ֔י, in 1 Chronicles אַבְשַׁ֛י. Meaning uncertain. The suggestions my father is Jesse, he is my father, or my father exists are all unlikely). The oldest son of Zeruiah, a sister of David, and the brother of Joab and Asahel (1 Chron 2:16).

Abishai first appeared with David in the wilderness of Ziph when pursued by Saul. Abishai volunteered to go with David into the center of Saul’s sleeping army. Standing by the somnolent Saul, he offered to kill him with one thrust of his sword, but David restrained him (1 Sam 26:6-9).

In the warfare between Judah and Israel after the death of Saul, Abner killed Asahel. Sometime later Abner decided to assist David in acquiring the throne over Israel. Nevertheless, Abishai assisted Joab in murdering Abner in revenge for the killing of Asahel. David declared himself and his kingdom guiltless of the murderous act of Joab and Abishai (2 Sam 2:18, 24; 3:30).

During Absalom’s rebellion, Abishai remained loyal to David. When David left Jerusalem surrounded by his mighty men, Shimei of the family of Saul cursed David and threw stones at him from a nearby hillside. Aroused to anger, Abishai said: “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and take off his head” (2 Sam 16:9). Here, again, David restrained Abishai’s impetuous, bloodthirsty spirit (v. 11). Abishai was set over one-third of David’s army to resist the attack of the Israelite army of Absalom under Amasa at Gilead (2 Sam 18:2). With Joab and Ittai, Abishai was ordered by David to “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom” (2 Sam 18:5). In battle with the Ammonites assisted by the Syrians, Abishai attacked the Ammonite sector while Joab attacked the Syrians. Joab and Abishai were successful in their respective battles (2 Sam 10:10, 14). Abishai commanded an army which conquered the Edomites, killing 18,000 Edomites and placing garrisons in Edom (1 Chron 18:12, 13).

In David’s old age Abishai rescued him from death when he was pressed by a Philistine giant in a battle with the Philistines. The giant Ishbibenob was slain by Abishai. As David returned to Jerusalem after the death of Absalom, though Shimei welcomed David and confessed his sin, Abihsai said: “Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the Lord’s anointed?” (2 Sam 19:21). Once more David rebuked and restrained Abishai. In the struggle to regain control of the nation after Absalom’s rebellion, Joab killed Amasa, and Joab and Abishai pursued Sheba the son of Bichri, a Benjamite, who instigated rebellion against David. The pursuit ended in the dispersal of Sheba’s army and his death.

The exact status of Abishai among David’s great men is difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain. KJV following the Heb. text states that Abishai “was chief among three” (2 Sam 23:18). But David’s three mighty men, Adino, Eleazar, and Shammah (2 Sam 23:8, 9, 11), did not allow the inclusion of Abishai. Consequently KJV adds the word “first” (without textual support) to the last statement of 2 Samuel 23:19: “...he attained not unto the first three.” This presumes that there were two groups of three mighty men of David and that Abishai was the most renowned of the second group of three. The RSV, following certain Syr. MSS which read “thirty” rather than “three” in several places (2 Sam 23:18, 19; 1 Chron 11:20, 21), read that Abishai “did not attain to the three” but he “won a name beside the three” as the “chief of the thirty.” The RSV seems more plausible, but the textual evidence for KJV is better.

Abishai prob. died before the struggle between Adonijah and Solomon because he is not mentioned on either side of that conflict.