37 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, armor bearers to Joab the son of Zeruiah,
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Zelek the Ammonite,.... Who was so either by birth, and became a proselyte; so the Targum says, he was of the children of Ammon; or is so called, because he had sojourned some time in their land, or had done some exploits against them; unless he was of Chepharhaammonai, a city of the tribe of Benjamin, Joshua 18:24,
Naharai the Beerothite; native of Beeroth, a city in the same tribe, Joshua 18:25,
armourbearer to Joab the son of Zeruiah; Joab had ten of them, this perhaps was the chief of them, 2-Samuel 18:15; who was advanced to be a captain, and therefore has a name and place among the thirty, very likely for some military, exploits performed by him; he is in the list of David's worthies, though not Joab his master, as before observed; the reason of Joab being left out is either because he was over them all, as before noted; according to Josephus (t), Uriah the Hittite, after mentioned, was an armourbearer to Joab.
(t) Antiqu. l. 7. c. 7. sect. 1.
Zelek the Ammonite, Nacharai the Beerothite (of Beeroth: see at 2-Samuel 4:2), the armour-bearer of Joab. Instead of נשׂאי, the Keri and the Chronicles have נשׂא: the latter reading is favoured by the circumstance, that if more than one of the persons named had been Joab's armour-bearers, their names would most probably have been linked together by a copulative vav.
*More commentary available at chapter level.