The second half of 2 Samuel 21 recounts a series of wars that broke out between the Davidic Kingdom and the Philistines. Each encounter is described in only a few verses. This is the first, verses 15–17:

Again war broke out between the Philistines and Israel. David and the men with him went down and fought the Philistines and David grew weary. Ishbi-benov — who was a descendant of the Raphah; his bronze spear weighed 300 shekels and he wore new armor — tried to kill David. But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid; he attacked the Philistine and killed him.

The Bible tells many tales about the battles of King David and his armies. This one is the sole reference in the Bible to the Philistine Ishbi-benov. The rabbis are curious about who he is and why he sought to kill David.

Ishbi-benov’s enormously heavy spear and his family lineage both suggests that he was a giant. In fact, the Talmud suggests that he was none other than a brother of Goliath. This would give him a motive for seeking to kill David: to avenge his brother’s death at the latter’s hands. But this explanation is not enough for the Talmud which turns to another story in the Bible to provide more context.

In chapters 21 and 22 of 1 Samuel, David flees King Saul, who wants to kill him, and seeks refuge with Avimelech, a priest in Nov. David is not honest with Avimelech about his true predicament. Instead, he says that he is on a mission from Saul. Later in the chase, when Saul learns that the priests of Nov gave safe harbor to David, he has them all killed. The Talmud brings a midrashic tradition that holds David accountable for their deaths, which may have been averted if he had been honest with the priests. This is a heavy misdeed but God, this tradition suggests, allowed David to select his punishment:

God said to David:  Is it your desire that your descendants will cease to exist or that you will be handed to the enemy? 

David said before Him: Master of the Universe, it is preferable that I will be handed to the enemy and my descendants will not cease to exist.

Seeking to protect the future of his family, David chooses to be captured by an enemy, a punishment that, the rabbis contend, is carried out by Isbi-benov. The biblical text gives few details about the actual encounter between David and Ishbi-benov, and no clear indication that Ishbi-benov actually got the better of David in any way, so the midrash supplies that detail as well:

When Ishbi-benov saw David he said: “This is that person who killed Goliath, my brother.” He bound him, doubled him over, and placed him on the ground, and then he cast him under the beam of an olive press to crush him. A miracle was performed for him, and the earth opened beneath him so he was not crushed by the beam. That is the meaning of that which is written: You have enlarged my steps beneath me, that my feet did not slip. (Psalms 18:37)

The Talmud supplies further details about how David’s companion, Abishai ben Zeruiah, came to his aid. But let’s step back for a moment: What engenders this whole midrash? Possibly the mysterious giant’s name, as Rav explains:

Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: Ishbi-benov is a man (ish) who came to punish David over matters of Nov. 

King David holds a prominent place in the biblical narrative. He finds favor in the eyes of God and the people of Israel. He unites the kingdom and expands its power. His covenant with God secures the claim of his descendants to the throne for all of time. Yet, the Bible neither hides his character flaws, nor shies away from telling of his failings. 

The midrashic tradition continues on today’s daf. By creating a backstory for Ishbi-benov, not only do the rabbis seek to explain his motivation for chasing after David, but they also take advantage of his presence in the verse, and the particulars of his name, to close an open loop from David’s past and hold him accountable for a small deception that had tragic consequences.

Read all of Sanhedrin 95 on Sefaria.

This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on March 22, 2025. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.