SHAMMAH shăm’ ə (שַׁמָּ֣ה; LXX, Σομέ; desolation, waste). 1. A son of Reuel, son of Esau and Basemath—a daughter of Ishmael. He was a tribal chief (Gen 36:13, 17; 1 Chron 1:37).

2. The third son of Jesse of Bethlehem and brother of David. He fought, with two older brothers, in the campaign against the Philistines under Saul and was with the Israelite forces in the valley of Elah when David killed Goliath (1 Sam 17:13, 19). He was present when Samuel chose the king of Israel from the sons of Jesse but was passed over in favor of David (1 Sam 16:9). Shammah is the same as Shimeah, father of Jonadab (2 Sam 13:3), the Shimea of 1 Chronicles 2:13, and the Shimei of 2 Samuel 21:20, 21 who is called the father of Jonathan who slew a deformed giant of the Philistines.

3. A Harodite perhaps from the Harod of Judges 7:1 (the present ’Ain Jalud, “spring of Harod”), and one of David’s thirty mighty men (2 Sam 23:23, 25). It is said that for the fifth month of the year he was the captain of a division of 24,000 troops of David’s army, and is called Shamhuth the Izrahite (1 Chron 27:8). He is also called Shammoth of Harod (11:27).

4. A son of Agee, a Hararite (2 Sam 23:11) and one of the three mightiest of David’s warriors. Some scholars believe that he is the same as Shammah the Harodite. He is described as defending successfully and alone, after the other troops had fled, “a plot of ground full of lentils” from a band of Philistines (2 Sam 23:11, 12). The parallel passage (1 Chron 11:10-14) attributes this incident to Eleazar, the son of Dodo. He is thought by some scholars to be one of three brave men who brought water to David from the well of Bethlehem (2 Sam 23:13-17).