Abshai son of Zeruiah etc. The question arises that, in the book of Psalms, the text attributes this war to Joab and says “twelve thousand” (Ps 60:2), whereas here it attributes it to Abshai and—as in the book of Samuel (2 Samuel 8:13)—says “eighteen thousand”! Furthermore, in two of the books it says “Edom,” whereas in the book of Samuel it says “Aram” (ibid.)! It seems that the Edomite war took place at the same time as the Aramean war, because that is what the text says in Psalms: “When he fought with Aram-Naharaim and with Aram-Zobah” (Ps 60:2). So these eighteen thousand were from Aram and Edom: when it says in one place “Aram,” it means together with those who were with them, namely Edom, and when it says elsewhere “Edom,” it means together with those who were with them, namely Aram. And the reason it says here that Abshai waged this war and says “eighteen thousand,” whereas in Psalms it says “Joab” and “twelve thousand,” is that Abishai did battle first and killed six thousand of them, after which Joab came and killed twelve thousand of them. This, then, is the meaning of vayyashov Yoav (=and Joab [smote] once again) in Psalms (ibid.)—that is, after Abshai. The reason the text here attributes the entire war to Abshai is that he started it. In the book of Samuel, however, the text attributes it to David (2 Samuel 8:13), because he is the essential one.