Ahasbai (Hastings' Dictionary)
Father of Eliphelet (2 S 23"), and a member of the family of Maacali, settled at Beth-Maacah (20'''), or a native of the Syrian kingdom of Maacah (10"-). In the parallel passage (1 Ch ll'"-') we find two names, n£3n hn, Ur, Hepher ; both passages probably represent corruptions of the real name. J. F. Stenning.
This topic also has an entry in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Both articles offer independent scholarly perspectives.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia on Ahasbai
Ahasbai a-has'-bi ('achacbay, "blooming"): The father of Eliphelet, a Maacathite, a soldier in David's army (2Sa 23:34). He was either a native of Abel-beth-maacah (2Sa 20:14) or, more probably, of Maacah in Syria (2Sa 10:6). The list in 1Ch 11:35-36 gives different names entirely. Here we have Ur and Hepher, which simply show that the text is corrupt in one or both places. AHASUERUS or ASSEURUS a-haz-u-e'-rus, (Septuagint Assoueros, but in Tobit 14:15 Asueros; the Latin form of the Hebrew 'achashwerosh, a name better known in its ordinary Greek form of Xerxes): It was the name of two, or perhaps of three kings mentioned in the canonical, or apocryphal, books of the Old Testament. ⇒See a list of verses on AHASBAI in the Bible. 1. In Esther: There seems to be little reasonable doubt, that we should identify the Ahasuerus of Est with the well-known Xerxes, who reigned over Persia from 485 to 465 BC, and who made the great expedition against Greece that culminated in the defeat of the Persian forces at Salamis and Plataea. If Est be taken as equivalent to Ishtar, it may well be the same…
Smith's Bible Dictionary on Ahasbai
(blooming), father of Eli-phelet, one of David’s thirty-seven captains. (2 Samuel 23:34) In the corrupt list in (1 Chronicles 11:35) Eliphelet appears as “Eliphal the son of Ur.” (B.C. about 1050.)
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Easton, M.G. (1893) Easton's Bible Dictionary. 3rd edn. Thomas Nelson. [Public Domain]
- Nave, O.J. (1897) Nave's Topical Bible. Topical Bible Publishing Co.. [Public Domain]
- Hastings, J. (ed.) (1909) A Dictionary of the Bible. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Smith, W. (ed.) (1884) Smith's Bible Dictionary. London: John Murray. [Public Domain]
- Fausset, A.R. (1878) Fausset's Bible Dictionary. [Public Domain]A Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopaedia