And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was a valiant man of Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds. He struck down two heroes of Moab. He also went down and struck down a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen. And he struck down an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits tall. The Egyptian had in his hand a spear like a weaver’s beam, but Benaiah went down to him with a staff and snatched the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear. These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and won a name beside the three mighty men. He was renowned among the thirty, but he did not attain to the three. And David set him over his bodyguard.
In chapter eleven of this book the author is establishing David’s reign as the new king (subsequent to Saul’s death) and those who aided him in that endeavor. Prior to Saul’s death and while David was on the run from Saul, he had surrounded himself with some of these same men, but they were described quite differently than the above passage describes one of them:
1 Samuel 22:1-2 (ESV)
David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.
In the years of running away from Saul and now being made king over Israel, David’s ragtag group of men are now referred to as David’s might men. That is how the Spirit of God refers to them in this chapter. The above passage about one of them, Benaiah, is a great example of this transformation. As the above demonstrates this is quite a change. Benaiah is an example of what happens when you follow a man God chosen for leadership by God and one submissive to God’s leading in life. This is a great warrior. The above text recounts his defeating two warriors at one time, a lion in a pit on a snowy surface, and a warrior that was about 7.5 feet tall, of which he used the warriors own spear to kill him by taking the spear from him by his own mere staff. When God works in you there are great things recorded about you. Benaiah was just one of David’s mighty men. He was so great, but didn’t even measure up to some of the others. The point the author is making for us is that when God calls us to serve Him we can rest assured He will equip us and provide for us those needed to accomplish the task He gives us:
Hebrews 13:20-21 (ESV)
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
God equips us for where He leads us!
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