Ishbibenob is a name found in the King James Bible, appearing 1 time in the text.
Who This Was
Ishbibenob was a descendant of the giants, one of the sons of “the giant” named in the closing chapters of 2 Samuel. He appears in a single verse of Scripture, during the later years of King David’s reign, when Israel was again at war with the Philistines. The Philistines had produced men of extraordinary stature and strength, and Ishbibenob stood in that line. He is described as carrying a spear whose head weighed three hundred shekels of brass, and as being girded with a new sword—a formidable warrior by any measure.
The scene is a battlefield. David, the aged king and sweet psalmist of Israel, had gone out to fight, but he was no longer the young man who once felled Goliath with a sling and a stone. Ishbibenob fixed his attention on David and “thought to have slain” him—the text presents his intent as settled in his own mind. Yet the blow never fell. Abishai, son of Zeruiah and David’s loyal commander, came to the king’s defense and struck Ishbibenob down, killing him. The passage gives no record of anything Ishbibenob said, no confession of faith, no act of mercy. He is remembered only for the threat he posed and the swift end he met.
What Scripture says of him is brief and sobering: he was a giant, he was armed, he intended to kill the Lord’s anointed, and he was slain by Abishai. His story is one of a strong man undone, a reminder that brute strength and a new sword are no match for the purposes of God concerning His servant.
The Name
The name Ishbibenob is Hebrew, and its meaning is not clearly recoverable with certainty. The first element, *Ish*, is the common Hebrew word for “man,” and the *ben* portion means “son of.” The final element, *nob*, is the uncertain part; some have suggested a connection to the city of Nob or to a root meaning “bark” or “speak,” but no meaning is well established. It is best to say plainly that the full sense of this name cannot be confidently determined from the text or from reliable lexical evidence, and we should not invent one.
A Closing Thought
Ishbibenob was strong, well armed, and confident—and he still fell. His one verse reminds us that power and weapons are not what ultimately decide a life. What mattered was not the weight of his spear but that he set himself against the Lord’s anointed. There is a quiet comfort here for the weak and the aging: David could not save himself that day, and God raised up Abishai. Our strength will fail us too, but the Lord knows how to keep His own. Better to be a defender in His story than a giant against it.
At a Glance
- Gender: Male
- Testament: Old
- Mentions in the KJV: 1
Where It Appears in Scripture
- 2 Samuel 21:16 — And Ishbibenob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David.