David"s Mighty Men

                                                                                                                                

Aloha Dearest Family,

                In II Samuel chapter 23 we read about King David’s “special forces”, a group of about 37 men who were famous and well known for their exploits among the children of Israel as well as other nations. These men were not only known for their courage and commitment to the King, but their trust in God. And this is why they were called “mighty”. We start learning about these men in verse 8: 

These are the names of David’s mighty warriors:

              Josheb-Basshebeth - a Tahkemonite that was chief of the Three; he raised his spear against eight hundred men, whom he killed in one encounter.

Eleazar - son of Dodai the Ahohite. As one of the three mighty warriors, he was with David when they defied the Philistines gathered at Pas Dammimd for battle. Then the Israelites retreated, but Eleazar stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day. The troops returned to Eleazar, but only to strip the dead.

          Shammah  - son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines banded together at a place where there was a field full of lentils, Israel’s troops fled from them. But Shammah took his stand in the middle of the field. He defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the Lord brought about a great victory.

  

The exploits of these first three are astounding. They could have retreated from the fight like the rest of the army, but they stood firm and refused to retreat. And because of this God could strengthen them in battle. We also learn of a couple more men mentioned in the scripture.

               Abishai -  the brother of Joab son of Zeruiah was chief of the Three. He raised his spear against three hundred men, whom he killed, and so he became as famous as the Three. He became their commander, even though he was not included among the first three.

Benaiah - son of Jehoiada, a valiant fighter from Kabzeel, performed great exploits. He struck down Moab’s two mightiest warriors. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. And he struck down a huge Egyptian. Although the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club. He snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear. Such were the exploits of Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he too was as famous as the three mighty warriors. He was held in greater honor than any of the Thirty, but he was not included among the Three. And David put him in charge of his bodyguard.

The scripture then goes on to mention more than thirty more (you can also read about them in I Chronicles 11:10-47) Now you may ask, what set them apart from other men and how did they get such courage?

Many years earlier, their King, as a young shepherd boy, stood against a giant named Goliath in battle. If you remember the record, King Saul and his army were fighting the Philistines but when Goliath showed up and asked for a man to fight, no one volunteered. They were all terrified of this man and fled with fear. Everyone, that is, except for David who wasn’t even old enough to fight in the army. Because of David’s courage and unshakable trust in God, he won a great victory that day.

David taught his men to do the same for they followed his example. There is no other way to achieve these victories that are written about in the Bible. Only by trusting in the God that can do the impossible can you achieve their kind of success. David probably reminded these men of the heroes of the past. Men like Gideon and his 300 men against the massive Midianite army. Or of Samson who killed 1,000 men with a jawbone of a donkey. He taught them they could do the same. God has not changed! What He did for these mighty men He will do for you. 

                What kind of giants do you face in your life? Is it fear, sickness, poverty or feelings of hopelessness? With God you can defeat them all. As Jesus said, “With God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26) In our family, when we face a crises, we go on the offensive with a sword - the sword of the spirit which is God’s Word (Ephesians 6:17). First we pray and let our requests be made to God, then we continually proclaim scripture over it, having full trust that God is working on our behalf. Before too long we have the victory that we requested. We do this every time a problem arises. We don’t get weary because God is always faithful as our burden bearer. It works every time. And if God wants me to face off against an army of Philistines, I am ready- bring it on! 

                                                                                Love Always, Ray