One of David's mighty men; name meaning uncertain — possibly 'My father is strength' or 'Father of the oak valley'
ʾĂḇî-ʿalḇôn appears in the list of David's mighty warriors (2 Samuel 23:31), where he is called an Arbathite. The name is difficult: ʾaḇî (my father) + ʿalḇôn (possibly from a root related to strength, or a place name). In 1 Chronicles 11:32 the same individual appears to be called Abiel. He is among the thirty warriors who formed David's elite fighting force — men of extraordinary courage and skill who were the backbone of Israel's military.
The list of David's mighty men (2 Samuel 23:8–39) is more than a military honor roll. These men embody the qualities celebrated in Proverbs: courage, loyalty, self-sacrifice. Three of them broke through Philistine lines simply to bring David water from Bethlehem's well — and David refused to drink it, pouring it out as an offering to God (2 Samuel 23:16). Devotion expressed through deeds of dangerous love. Abi-albon, one of these thirty, participated in a fellowship that foreshadows the apostolic community gathered around the Greater Son of David.