13 He was with David at Pasdammim, and there the Philistines were gathered together to battle, where there was a plot of ground full of barley; and the people fled from before the Philistines.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Compare this passage with 2-Samuel 23:9-10.
Barley - In 2-Samuel 23:11, "lentiles." The words for barley and lentils are so similar in the Hebrew that we may fairly explain the diversity by an accidental corruption.
He was with David at Pas-dammim--It was at the time when he was a fugitive in the wilderness, and, parched with thirst under the burning heat of noonday, he wistfully thought of the cool fountain of his native village [2-Samuel 23:15; 1-Chronicles 11:17]. This is a notice of the achievement, to which Eleazar owed his fame, but the details are found only in 2-Samuel 23:9-11, where it is further said that he was aided by the valor of Shammah, a fact corroborated in the passage before us (1-Chronicles 11:14), where it is recorded of the heroes, that "they set themselves in the midst of that parcel." As the singular number is used in speaking of Shammah (2-Samuel 23:12), the true view seems to be that when Eleazar had given up from exhaustion, Shammah succeeded, and by his fresh and extraordinary prowess preserved the field.
barley--or lentils (2-Samuel 23:11). Ephes-dammim was situated between Shocoh and Azekah, in the west of the Judahite territory. These feats were performed when David acted as Saul's general against the Philistines.
*More commentary available at chapter level.