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“These
be the names of the mighty men whom David had: the Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief
among the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite: he lift up his spear against eight
hundred, whom he slew at one time. 9
And after him was Eleazar the son
of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they
defied the Philistines that were gathered together to battle, and the
men of Israel were gone away: 10 he
arose, and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave
unto the sword: and the LORD
wrought a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to
spoil. 11 And
after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered together
into a troop, where was a piece of ground full of lentils: and the people fled from the Philistines. 12
but he stood in the midst of the ground,
and defended it, and slew the Philistines:
and the LORD wrought
a great victory. 13 And
three of the thirty chief went down, and came to David in the harvest time unto
the cave of Adullam: and the troop of
the Philistines pitched in the valley of Rephaim. 14
And David was then in an hold,
and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. 15
And David longed, and said, Oh that one
would give me drink of water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the
gate! 16 And
the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water
out of the well of Bethlehem, and took it, and brought it to
David: nevertheless he would not drink
thereof, but poured it out unto the LORD.
17 And
he said, Be it far from me, O LORD,
that I should do this: is not this
the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would
not drink it. These things did these
three mighty men. 18 And
Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief among three. And he lifted up his spear against three
hundred, and slew them, and had name among three. 19
Was he not most honourable of three?
therefore he was their captain: howbeit
he attained not unto the first three. 20
And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son
of a valiant man, of Kabzeel, who had done many acts, he slew two lionlike men
of Moab: he went down also and slew a
lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow: 21
and he slew an Egyptian, a goodly
man: and the Egyptian had a spear in his
hand; but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the
Egyptian’s hand, and slew him with his own spear. 22
These things did Benaiah the son
of Jehoiada, and had the name among three mighty men. 23
He was more honourable than the thirty,
but he attained not to the first three.
And David set him over his guard. 24
Asahel the brother of Joab was
one of the thirty; Elhanan, the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, 25
Shammah the Harodite, Elika the
Harodite, 26 Helez
the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, 27
Abiezer the Anethothite, Mebunnai the
Hushathite, 28 Zalmon
the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite, 29
Heleb the son of Baanah, a Netophathite,
Ittai the son of Ribai out of Gibeah of the children of Benjamin, 30
Benaiah the Pirothonite, Hiddai of the
brooks of Gaash, 31 Abialbon
the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite, 32
Eliahba the Shaalbonite, of the sons of
Jashen, Jonathan, 33 Shammah
the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Hararite, 34
Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of
the Maachathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, 35
Hezrai the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite,
36 Igal
the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite, 37
Zelek the Ammonite, Nahari the
Beerothite, armourbearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah, 38
Ira an Ithrite, Gareb an Ithrite, 39
Uriah the Hittite: thirty and seven in all.” Introduction [Audio
version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED679]
“We
are coming to some notes, not necessarily chronological, but some of the last
things of David’s life, we saw some of the victories over some of the giants,
and then moved into an early rendition of Psalm 18. And then David kind of signing off in the
beginning of chapter 23, where he says ‘Now these be the last words of
David.’ Not the last thing,
we’ll hear from him again, but the last thing prophetic, the last Psalm, “David
the son of Jesse said, The man who was raised up on high, the anointed of God of
Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel,” how he signs off that way, “the
Spirit of the LORD
spake by me, and his word was in my tongue, the God of Israel, the rock of
Israel spake to me. He that ruleth over
men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.”
And seeing the Kingdom no doubt,
seeing the LORD,
his greater Son, “he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun
riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the
earth by clear shining after rain.’
‘Although my house be not so with God,” he wasn’t seeing that on
the horizontal, in the present, it’s something he saw prophetically. ‘yet he hath made with me an
everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure. For this is all my salvation, and all my
desire, although he make it not to grow.
But the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away,
because they cannot be taken with hands:
but the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff
of a spear; and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place.”
(verses 1-7) and it is a place that is separated, outer darkness. The
Extra Names That Show Up In 1st Chronicles Now
he switches now and says this, “These be the names of the mighty men
whom David had.” The parallel
passage is in 1st Chronicles chapter 11, if you want to read
through, there’s a few details there, a few notes that aren’t given here. There are one or two apparent
discrepancies. In the list of notables
in 1st Chronicles there are 16 extra names. But it seems that was recorded later, it
seems the picture we have here is somewhere in the timeframe when David had
taken the throne in Hebron and he was there for seven years, and then moving
into the era where the whole kingdom was united under him and he finally took
the Jebusite city and united the kingdom.
Sometimes early it seems in that period our record here in 2nd
Samuel 23 is recorded, and he had these notable men with him then. It seems later in Chronicles when it was
recorded, there were others then that were added to the list that were not at
this early stage. So that would account
for some of the extra names. Interesting
thing, it says here, “These be the names” the Holy Spirit wants
us to know who they are. Because we’d
have studies, we’d have gone through this, we’d have never heard any of them,
remarkable men, remarkable women in Scripture so often involved in things that
are kind of off the center of what we’re seeing, what we’re studying, and now
David kind of signing off, he sees himself as a sweet psalmist of Israel. He doesn’t say ‘You know, I was the king,
I was the warrior,’ because somehow David knew that all of those things
happened in and around his life with the assistance of God, it wasn’t him
himself, he wasn’t a solitary figure, that will be Elijah. When we come to Elijah, there are those in
Scripture that are very solitary and remarkable to look at their lives. David was a man among men, David was a man
that had prophets around him, David was a man that had commanders and military
men around him, David was a man when he gathered to Adullam, we started to see
the gathering of the greatest army Israel would see. David was a man amongst other men, and those
other men and women that were faithful to him, loved him, cared about him. So David, as he comes to the end and he’s
signing off, he calls himself the sweet psalmist of Israel, he knows that he
had committed murder, had committed adultery, he had failed, he’s not bragging
at all, and he signs off as the sweet psalmist of Israel, and probably in that
he has affected more lives than any other thing relative to his life. The Psalms for 3,000 years now have come
under and uplifted the broken hearted, have encouraged us, spoken to us. In every generation since David, of Israel
and of the Church, and in that what an incredible influencer of mankind, of the
redeemed. But in this passage we see
what an affect he had also on those who were around him, and how they followed,
how they stood up. They loved David for
what he was. When David came out onto
the battlefield as a youth to face Goliath, some of these mighty men were
there, they were young. And the thing
they took note of with David, you know David was different from Israel in this,
Israel knew about their God, David knew their God. Israel knew about their God, Israel had
religion, but David knew his God, and that giant did not loom in his vision,
Goliath did not intimidate him, David says to him ‘Who do you think you
are, defying the armies of the Living God?’ David didn’t just know it, but he knew his
God. And these men, and those who
gathered around him, stepped up to that.
As we read through this we’re going to see some incredible victories. Twice we’re going to hear specifically ‘And
the LORD
wrought among them,’ like he did with
Samson, like he did with Samson. And
we’re going to see those who step up to fight the king’s battles always have
divine assistance. It tells us in Romans
15:4, the things that were written aforetime were written for our learning and
our encouragement,’ upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Look, the picture we have here is of God’s
anointed king, his greater Son Jesus Christ, and of those who decide to come
alongside of the king and fight the king’s battles, demonstrating their loyalty
to the king. And what we see in those
pictures is a picture of divine assistance, remarkable things that take place
for those who are not afraid to take a stand.
And the beautiful thing about this is, some of these pictures, they’re
not grandiose, some of them are remarkable, a guy who kills 800 soldiers
himself, enemy, that’s Samson-like stuff, you know. But there are others, who do lesser things,
but they do them in the same measure of loyalty and faithfulness. And that’s how God, you know, he’s going to
say ‘Here’s the three, here’s the dominant three among all of David’s men,
these guys were the center-three, man.’ And
then there was another three after them, before we get to the 30 there was
another three, and he only names two of those three. And then it says ‘They weren’t like the
first three, but they’re greater than the other 30,’ and then it goes
through 30 names of others, which is broadened in Chronicles. And look, most of them, 16 of them I believe,
are from within David’s territory, but there are Amorites named, and Hittites
named, and Gibeonites named. David in
his special guard had Cherethites and Gittites from Gath, just remarkable, all
of these saw David, and they saw David’s relationship to his God, and they
became loyal to the king. So the picture
here is very interesting. Again, we’re
told in 2nd Timothy, ‘that if we’re going to serve the Lord,
that we should be a vessel of honour, and that applied to every good work.’ a
vessel of honour for every good work, not fit for every great work. And our pride and our ego always want to look
there, but fit to every good work, every good work. Again, we see Jesus leave the multitude to
take care of one woman at the well, it was a good work, he had been involved in
greater works. We see Phillip leaving
the revival in Samaria to go down, led of the Lord, to minister to one
Ethiopian eunuch. He’s a vessel fit to
every good work. And God decides on the
ramifications and the repercussions of all of that. Look, in our lives, it isn’t how big or how
noticed it is by other people, because we’re going to have a list of names here
that you never heard of that are written in heaven, that God has taken note
of. And God hasn’t called us all to the
same thing, he hasn’t given us all the same gifts, not all the same
calling. Jesus himself says, ‘To one
is given so many talents, to another given so many talents,’ all of this is
relative to faithfulness, and that’s what we’re going to see in the lives of
these individuals. And some of the
pictures are remarkable. ‘These
are the names,’ the Holy Spirit wants us to know, ‘These are the
names of these guys, you need to know them.’
Soldiers
Of The LORD Adino
the Eznite It
begins by saying “These be the names of the mighty men whom David
had: the Tachmonite that sat in the
seat,” we’re not sure if that’s a Hebrew phrase that actually gives us a
longer name nobody wants to say, but we do know this, “chief among the
captains;” he was the captain of the captains, the chief captain, “the
same was Adino the Eznite:” so he couldn’t be a an Eznite and a
Tachmonite, so it seems there’s a discrepancy with the first part of the
phrase, it’s telling us that he’s one that sat in the gate, one no doubt who
gave war counsel, he’s one who David trusted in. Listen to this, “he lift up his spear
against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time.” (verse 8) Now that’s a guy you want in your posse. And this ain’t with an Apache helicopter,
this is like jawbone of an ass stuff, like Samson you know. Now when you go to 1st Chronicles
11, it says he killed 300, that seems to be the error in the number there,
because we’re going to find out that Abishai killed 300, and he wasn’t of the first level. It seems like the truer number is here, ah,
he killed 800 with a spear, this is Samson stuff. The LORD
is giving him victory, he didn’t do it himself.
But look, this is a guy who enters into something where he was against
impossible odds, they’re impossible odds.
That’s not his business. This guy
is faithful, he lifts up his spear, that’s what God gave him. The odds are impossible, but he said ‘LORD,
that’s not my business, it’s your business, whether I’m going to get
slaughtered, faithfulness is my business, my calling is my business here, the
odds here are completely against me, completely impossible, it has nothing to
do with me, that’s your problem LORD. This is your army, and your victory,’ and
I think, ‘What kind of faith is that?’
And how many times today might you and I be called to stand against
impossible odds. Listen, where you work,
where you go to school, where you’re going to get mocked, where the culture is
mocking us, where everybody does not care about morality or Biblical truth at
all might assail us, that has nothing to do with us, that’s not our business,
our business is to tell the truth, our business is to lift up our spear, our
business is to do what the Lord has called us to do with what he’s given in our
hand. And the fact that the odds are
impossible is his problem, not ours. And
sometimes we pray with people who say ‘I don’t even want to go to work
tomorrow, my attitude is so bad, I don’t care if they go to hell, I’ve tried, I
have to minister to my heart, I can’t take it anymore, it seems like the odds
are against us,’ it’s not your business, it’s just to be Light, to be Salt,
to be faithful, to a good work, not to do a great work. Who knows what God might do, if you’re
willing to lift up your spear in a situation that’s impossible, who knows what
he might do. 800 he defeats here, by
himself. We’re going to find out in 1st
Chronicles 27:2 he becomes one of the commanders over 24,000, he becomes a
commander of 24,000 men, this Adino. Eleazar
the son of Dodo--Gripping the Sword of the Spirit--the Word of God “And
after him” of the main three “was
Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite,” now you wouldn’t have made fun of him
if you saw him, he’d cut your head off, “one of the three mighty men
with David, when they defied the Philistines that were gathered together
to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away:” “Dodo,” Dodia in a different place, it has
a much different sense in Israel today, one of our guides, David, for years
worked with us, when you go over there ‘Hey Dodo, Dodo!’ it’s a very
endearing term over there. I understand
it’s not here. It doesn’t necessarily
tell us “the men of Israel were gone away” that they fled, we’re going to see
that in another place, but it seems they went in a different direction [leaving
him cut off, alone], “he arose, and smote the Philistines until his hand was
weary, and his hand clave unto the sword:
and the LORD
wrought a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to
spoil.” (verses 9-10) “he arose,” that’s what he was called to
do. When the army returned to him all
there was left to do was take up the spoil.
Let me read it to you in 1st Chronicles, we get a little bit
more of the picture, it says “After him,” after the first man we
looked at there, “was Eleazar the son of Dodo,” so we know we got
the same guy, “the Ahohite, who was one of the three mighty’s, he was
with David at Pasdamin, which is Ephes-dammim, and there the Philistines were
gathered together to battle, where was a parcel of ground full of barley.” Now the way it’s expressed, the
parcel of ground is full of barley, it’s harvest-time, “And the people
fled before the Philistines,” gives us a little bit of a different
picture, “and they set themselves in the midst,” him and David, “they
set themselves in the midst of that parcel and delivered it, and slew the Philistines,
and the LORD
saved them with a great deliverance” or
a great salvation. So typical in that
day, the enemy would come, particularly at harvest-time, they would go through
the fields, take what they wanted to and burn down the fields, the supplies of
the people. This guy Eleazar is a guy
who knows David and it says he was with David at Ephes-dammim when David killed
Goliath (1st Samuel 17:1).
And it seems they might be back in the same area again. This is a guy who loved David, this is a guy who
knew David knew God and not just about God, this is a guy who learned to fight
from David, and learned to trust in the LORD
in the battle, this is a guy who would stand by his king, and take up his
sword. He was one of the three most
mighty, and it says he was with David when they defied or they taunted the
Philistines, maybe David went out and said ‘I’ll kill you, cut off your head
and give your carcass to the birds of the air,’ a little boy saying this to
the giant, you know, “when they defied the Philistines that were
gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away:” it
says, “and he arose,” now 1st Chronicles says “him and
David took their stand in the middle of the barley field, and they smote the
Philistines,” it says here of Eleazar “until his hand was weary, and
his hand clave unto the sword: and the LORD
wrought a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to
spoil.” (verse 10) He
fought, look, he took a stand, that was his calling, that was his
responsibility, against incredible odds.
But he takes a stand with his king, ‘If David’s going down, I’m going
down, if David’s living, I’m living, you’re God’s man, you’re God’s king,
you’re God’s anointed, I’m with you.’ And
he stands there with him, you’ve seen Braveheart, just imagine what it’s like
fighting all day long with a sword and a shield. I guarantee you, you have any idea what it’s
like to go a 3-minute round in the ring? you watch a fight on TV, you have no
idea, when that 3-minutes is over you want to die. You fight all day with a sword in your hand,
and historians have records of men who fought all day in battle with a sword in
their hand, and at the end of the day they couldn’t open their hand to leave go
of the sword. And there are records of
the hand and the sword having to go into a tub of warm water until the muscles
in the hand would begin to relax and they could peel the hand off the
sword. Of course the picture here is the
Word of God, the Sword of the Spirit. What’s
the big deal, it’s a barley field? Drop
back, fight another day. But it’s God’s
barley field. It’s the king’s barley
field. What’s the big deal, it’s only a,
ya it’s a movie, we shouldn’t see it.
What are we surrendering? The
defeat in our life always comes from surrendering barley fields. Nobody is doing great with Christ, they’re on
fire as a Christian, they’re reading the Word every day, and they get up some
day and say ‘I’m going to commit adultery today, it’ll be great!’ That never happens. It’s barley field by barley field, it’s the
thing that we think is unimportant or small that we negotiate or we surrender,
and we learn to make a habit of that. And
are we willing to take up our sword until no one can take it out of our hand? Are we willing to stand next to the King
against impossible odds? It’s his
territory, it ain’t somebody else’s, it’s his.
It’s blood bought, it was at Ephes-dammim, Ephes-dammim means “the
boundary of blood,” and no doubt it was called that because of how many battles
that took place there. It is very
interesting, that the Philistines and Goliath couldn’t come past Ephes-dammim,
they couldn’t pass the boundary of blood, and that’s where we stand, on
blood-bought barley fields. The price
that has been paid is incredible, for you and I to be changed, for our lives to
be changed. ‘Well you’re a
Bible-thumper, you’re too legalistic, it’s ok to have a drink once in awhile,’ it
ain’t for me, I lived that way before, that ain’t for 200 people on Monday
night in our addiction meeting, I have no desire at all to put down my
sword--and in my life the King shed his blood in that barley field, I’m not
surrendering it to anybody, it ain’t mine to surrender. [Comment:
the Calvary Chapels, starting out in Costa Mesa, California, having
started out as a sort of a spiritual hospital-type church, reaching out to
those caught up in a Hippie alcohol and drug-crazed culture, doesn’t believe in
drinking alcohol, esp. for their pastors or anyone serving in ministry, as that
would stumble those they are trying to minister to. The Bible actually allows drinking in
“extreme moderation.” I know from
experience that no one will ever become alcoholic if they never drink beyond
that guideline of extreme moderation. But drinking more than extremely moderately
can and does lead to alcoholism, I know from personal experience. So be warned.] And the way defeat comes is always increment
by increment, giving up little thing, little thing, little thing, because there
are no little things in the Kingdom, if they’re blood-bought, they’re all big
things, they’re all big things. And
Eleazar gets to stand, I’d rather be standing next to the King when it all
comes down, I don’t know about you guys, and anywhere else, it’s all coming
down, and hold onto the Sword and not surrendering, so that it becomes an
extension that I can’t even let go of, an extension of my right hand. Look, I remember years ago when I moved to
the West Coast, I had played music for years, that’s not a lot of exercise, and
when I moved out there, I got put on a construction site with a bunch of
wood-butchers, and I still have my rigging-ax and my worm-drive with a skyhook
on it, I was joycing for two years after that, hanging joyce all day. But for the first couple weeks I had
hammer-hand, I’d lay in bed at night going Aahhh, I’d take Tylenol, my
hand was all clawed up like this, it hurt to try to straighten out my fingers,
my whole forearm felt like it was, it was just killing me, I couldn’t sleep,
because I was used to doing nothing, and all of a sudden all day now I’m
swinging this rigging-ax. Imagine this
guy, all day long swinging a sword, to where the hand wouldn’t even open. You know what? I pray, that we swing our swords, to the
point where our hand won’t even open, so that if somebody came, they couldn’t
get it out of our hand. And you need to
have one you like, you need a big one, you can have a big one, this one’s a
dagger, it’s just the right size, I carry it around with me, fits in my hand, I
don’t need one of those Pharisee Bibles that you need a friend to carry it for
you. [I use a Holman Super Giant
Print Edition, King James Version on my desk for transcribing these
sermons, that’s kind of my Olde English Broadsword 😊] Get one you like, get one you read, get one
you’ll obey. People say ‘What
translation you read?’ Read the one
you’re going to bring your life in line with, they’re close enough, certainly
get a translation, NIV or American Standard, a good one King James [King James
has fewer translation errors from the original Greek and Hebrew, NIV and
American Standard have some errors, along with the New King James as well. I suspect that is why Pastor Joe seems to use
the King James Version exclusively for his expository sermons]. But have it in your hand for so long, that
your hand will cleave to the Sword, and take your stand with the King. Because it’s all blood-bought, all the
territory that we’re able to stand in.
Remarkable, it’s the principle, in our culture lines are blurred, what’s
right and wrong anymore? I look at
things, and it’s insanity [it’s even worse now, than when he preached this in
2010], Isaiah says when a nation’s coming to an end, right is called
wrong, wrong is called right, evil is called good, good is called evil, there’s
a principle. And I’m going to
take a stand. I know you want me to take
a stand. You don’t want the pastor who
lives a compromised life. I don’t want a
congregation that does either. Do you
think I should lead the good life so the Holy Spirit will stay here at church,
and you guys can go play and do whatever you want to do? I need help, every joint, every ligament
supplies, I’m as dependent on you as you are on me. And we live in an era where we need to make a
stand. Because our present culture
doesn’t know where the border of Ephes-dammim is, the boundary of blood, our
present culture doesn’t know where the barley field begins and ends. They just want to run in and ravage
everything and take it away, and we should be men and women of principle, of
truth, of the Word of God. Just
remarkable, Eleazar, the son of Dodo, some people, that’s all they’re going to
remember. He had a great victory, he
used the sword, he used the Word of God.
Let me tell you something, Jesus, Matthew chapter 4, tempted by Satan,
all three times he answers “It is written,” Jesus himself, he
doesn’t let go of the Sword. If he does
that, that’s our example, “It is written.” Shammah
the son of Agee Now
here’s the next guy, “And after him was
Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite.
And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where was a
piece of ground full of lentils: and the
people fled from the Philistines.” (verse 11)
This is going to be the same lesson, “But he stood in the midst
of the ground, and defended it, and slew the Philistines:” notice this, as
it said back there with Eleazar, it does with Shammah, “and the LORD
wrought a great victory.” (verse 12) Now to him, look, he thought he was
alone. Eleazar stands in the field with
David the king, Shammah stands in the field by himself, that’s not what it says
at the end of the verse, it says the LORD
was there with him, and the LORD
wrought a great victory. He’s promised
to never leave us or forsake us, even to the end of the age. Listen, Paul says, in 2nd
Timothy chapter 4, verse 16 and 17, he said at his last appearing
before Caesar he says ‘No man stood with me,’ he said, ‘but
the Lord stood with me.’ That’s
what Shammah said here, the LORD
stood with him, and the LORD
gave a great victory. Listen, sometimes
we want to do this [say this], ‘I don’t feel him, I don’t feel him, he said
he’d be there, but I don’t feel him.’ But
what does that mean? I’m going to tell
you where Jesus is when you don’t feel him, he’s standing right next to you not
wanting you to feel him. That’s where
he’s at. Because he said he’d never
leave us or forsake us. And part of us
growing up, is not having to feel him, but to believe he’s there, because his
Word will stand forever. Again, those of
you who have listened to me, pray for me, poor old pastor, those of you who are
new, here this first time, my girls, who are ten years apart, and when Joanna
was 16 Hannah was 6, and Hannah would still sometimes say to me ‘I need some
Daddy love,’ and what she meant was she needed a hug, needed to feel my
presence. She was younger, she just
wanted that. Now Joanna was 16, and I
enjoyed coming up to her when she was around her friends ‘Let me give you
some Daddy love,’ ‘Get out of here!’ just embarrass her around her
friends. But she understood better at 16
my commitment to her, the cost of a Christian education, the sacrifices that we
made, the things that we did because we loved her, she was able to comprehend
them greater. The younger one was much
more dependent on feelings, the older one knew better. And as he is maturing us, we have to get past
‘I don’t feel him, I don’t feel this, I don’t feel that.’ That’s a good thing to talk to kids in
elementary school about, you don’t say to them ‘What do you think?’ you
say to them ‘What do you feel?’ ‘But
when I became a man I put away childish things.’ When we’re in a terrible situation
and don’t feel his presence, we know he’s there with us. We know God paid the ultimate price for us,
not to loose us, to be steward over our lives.
And when we don’t feel him, he’s standing right next to us, regardless
of whether we feel him or not. Eleazar
stood in a field with David, what a day it must have been, the two of them
swinging their swords, Philistines piled up around them, that’s a great day,
the day when you can’t let go of your sword [Battle of the Matanikau with John
Basilone]. Shammah is still alone, no,
not alone, because it says “the LORD
wrought a great victory” with him. The
Three Mighty Men Break Through Enemy Lines To Get David A Drink Of Water Verse
13, we’ll read down to verse 17, great stories of David’s mighty men. “And three of the thirty chief went down,
and came to David in the harvest time unto the cave of Adullam: and the troop of the Philistines pitched in
the valley of Rephaim. And
David was then in an hold, and the garrison of the Philistines was
then in Bethlehem.” now
it would seem, because earlier, when he had been in Adullam, the garrison of
the Philistines at that point in time, Saul was on the throne, was not in
Bethlehem, it seems this would be the era after Saul was dead, David is making
the transition from Hebron probably to Jerusalem, uniting the kingdom. We read several times here the Philistines
attacked again. It seems now David then
is in Adullam, a place he had been familiar with as a boy keeping his father’s
flocks, the place that he had fled from Gath when he was drooling on his beard
to get away from the king of Gath. He’s
back now in the caves of Adullam, which he knew well, and three of the mighty
men are there with him. And he is there,
and the Philistines have now set up a garrison in Bethlehem where David grew
up. “And David longed, and said, Oh
that one would give me drink of water of the well of Bethlehem, which is
by the gate!” reminiscing no doubt, some feel he might have had a fever at
this time, it doesn’t say that, it’s conjecture, we don’t know that for
sure. And I’m sure he’s not saying to
the guys ‘Somebody go put your life in jeopardy, get me a drink of water.’ He just must have sat there saying ‘Man,
those were the days, can’t believe the Philistines are in Bethlehem, can’t
believe mom and dad’s old house is in enemy hands, that really bugs me, sitting
here in this stinking cave. They’re
going to get theirs, I remember when we were kids, we would hit the well right
outside the gate of Bethlehem, the water was cold year-round.’ “And the three mighty men brake
through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of
Bethlehem, and took it, and brought it to David: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but
poured it out unto the LORD. And he said, Be it far from me, O LORD,
that I should do this: is not this
the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would
not drink it. These things did these
three mighty men.” (verses 13-17) Now
in Bethlehem today there’s remnants of an aqueduct that the Romans had built,
but there’s some wells in the shepherds fields around, not right in Bethlehem,
but evidently by the gate in this day there was a particular well, the water
was cold, and David was sitting there dry and thirsty. And you know, sometimes you’re in those most
difficult times in life, and you reminisce, you think about your childhood,
think about early days. In fact
psychologists tell us that people at the very end of their life, live more in
their earlier days than they do in the present.
And here’s David saying ‘Man, I remember, those were the days, we
could run and play, grab some of the water out of that well, it was so good, so
cool.’ “And the three
mighty men brake through” it’s a word of violence, “And the three
mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the
well of Bethlehem, and took it, and brought it to David: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but
poured it out unto the LORD.”
(verse 16) Look,
this is over a 12 mile hike through enemy
territory from Adullam to Bethlehem.
These three guys, there was water in other places. First of all, look, these three guys are
close enough to the king, they can hear his whispers and his sighs,
longing. This is loyalty. These guys are in the cave, and they are
close enough to the one they care about, that nobody else is getting closer to
him, these are mighty men, they got his back, and they’re close enough to hear
him say ‘Man, I’d love to have a drink out of the well by Bethlehem.’ Before you knew it, these three hombres
are on their way, they got their swords out, as they break through the line of
the Philistines, hacking them down, and they draw some of that cool water from
that well and bring it back to David. And
it says when they gave it to David, David wouldn’t drink it, he poured it out
before the LORD,
it’s the same word that’s used in the Old Testament as a wine-offering, a
libation, he pours it out in an act of worship before the LORD. “And he said, Be it far from me, O LORD,
that I should do this: is not this the
blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? ‘How
can I do this? How can I pull rank like
that? How can I be better than my
troops?’ “therefore he would not drink
it. These things did these three mighty
men.” (verse 17) Look,
they did it because they loved him. You
know, Mother Theresa, and I know some of you will yell at me if I say that, she
used to say “There are not great things we can do for God, only things we
can do with great love.” And these
men loved David. And they knew he
thirsted for something, and they were on their way. You know, in Amos it says ‘Woe
unto them who live on their lees,’ in their leisure. Well what is it like for us, if we hear our
King say ‘I am thirsty for souls, the end of the Age is coming, and it’s not
my will that any should perish, that the LORD
says to the wicked Turn ye, turn ye, why will you die and not live?’ How do we
respond, if we hear our King, are we close enough, are we close enough? Do we sit close, do we hear his longing and
his whispering? And what do we do if he
says ‘I am thirsty for souls, where you work, where you go to school, that
person that’s getting on your nerves, I didn’t put you there so they could get
on your nerves, I put them there so they could get on your prayer-list, I put
you there so you could get on your knees and weep over that person, because
they’re lost forever, they’re going to be lost.’ Mighty men, we don’t have their names,
they’re not named here. Who are the
mighty men and the mighty women today, that are praying, that are pouring out
their lives for the Lord, that just serve him because they love him? And you know, those who love him are the ones
who have gotten close, because he says ‘We love him because he first
loved us,’ the closer we get to him, the quieter we sit with him, the
more we drink in his Word, the more we listen to him, the more we
drink of the Well of Bethlehem as it were, the better we know him, the more we
love him, because we know that he first loved us. And what do we do? What do we do when we feel in our heart the
Lord is entrusting something of his heart to us, saying ‘Man I am thirsty
for this, longing for it,’ put on our swords, get our spears, get our stuff
and head off. And who cares what our
names are? We’re never told, we don’t
know these guys names, they’re part of the 30, but we don’t know which ones
they are. David would not do anything
that would jeopardize their lives on purpose, the Lord’s not going to
jeopardize us, it’s not the point of it here.
Abishai,
The First Of The Second Group Of Three “And
Abishai” and I like Abishai “the brother of
Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief among the three. And he lifted up his spear against three
hundred, and slew them, and had the name among the three.” (verse
18) he’s a guy who just needs direction, he wanted to kill Saul, David
wouldn’t let him do that. Then he wanted
to cut off Shimei’s head, said ‘David, when somebody curses at ya and throws
stones at ya, if you separate their head from their body, it all stops.’ David said ‘No, you’re not gonna do
that, you’re going to bring more aggravation to me on this day.’ But David was very glad back in chapter
21 no doubt, it says “Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with
Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the
Philistines: and David waxed faint. 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,” some new type
of armour “thought to have slain David.
But Abishai son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and
killed him. Then the men of David sware
unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench
not the light of Israel.” (2nd Samuel 21:15-17) So this is a guy who just needed some
direction, ‘Don’t kill him, no, no, don’t kill him, okay Abishai, kill that
one! the big one, that’s right, get him.’
He’s a good man, he’s a brave man, he loves David. Again, this family, you know, Abishai, Joab,
Asahel, these brothers, they were always bashing each other with sticks, what a
crew they must have been to raise when they were little, these guys were
ornery. But Abishai’s a good man, he
ends up again to be part of the leader of David’s army. “And Abishai the brother of Joab, the son
of Zeruiah, was chief among the three.
And he lifted up his spear against three hundred, and slew them,
and had the name among the three.” (verse 18)
So he’s not of the first three, but of the second three before the
30, he’s chief among them, but we only have the name of two of them here, that
is Benaiah and Abishai. But again, it
says he killed 300 by himself at one point in time. This is a man who was fighting the battles of
the LORD,
and as Samson did, he had God’s anointing with him. “Was he not most honourable of three?
therefore he was their captain: howbeit
he attained not unto the first three.” (verse 19) And
Benaiah, Warrior-Priest Now
this is a guy here, “And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant
man, of Kabzeel, who had done many acts, he slew two lionlike men of Moab: he went down also and slew a lion in the
midst of a pit in time of snow: and
he slew an Egyptian, a goodly man: and
the Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a staff, and
plucked the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and slew him with his own spear. These things did Benaiah the son of
Jehoiada, and had the name among three mighty men. He was more honourable than the thirty, but
he attained not to the first three.
And David set him over his guard.” (verses 20-23) ok, Benaiah,
he’s the son of Jehoiada, he’s an interesting guy because he’s a priest, he’s a
priest turned warrior [there was one of those in the BBC’s The Last Kingdom]. We have several places, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, we
have priests turned prophet. But this is
the only one where we really have priest-turned-warrior, and he is a remarkable
man who loved David greatly. He is going
to be one of those who ends up, 1st Chronicles 27:5, over 24,000
men, Benaiah. Benaiah will be the one
who when David is dying, he tells Solomon ‘Look, look out for Shimei,
don’t trust him, and look out for Joab,’ and when David dies Joab tries
to take the other brother of Solomon and make him king instead of Solomon, and
Benaiah, our man here, executes Joab. So
Benaiah’s an hombre, he’s a tough guy, because he kills Joab when Joab tries to
lead a revolt against Solomon. And he
becomes commander-in-chief under Solomon, of his armies. And his son, whom he names Jehoiada, which is
typical, like his dad, he becomes Solomon’s Ahithophel, he becomes counselor to
Solomon. So his son must have been a
great combination of having a dad who was a priest, but had more fun swinging a
sword, he must have been a little bit more like his mom, a man filled with
wisdom, he ends up to be a counselor to Solomon, and you had to be something to
do that, because Solomon was the wisest man that ever lived. So here we have this man, “Benaiah, the
son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man, of Kabzeel, who had done many acts,”
and we’re told just a few here, “he slew two lionlike men of Moab:” what
are they like? I don’t want to meet them
in an alley at night, two lionlike men of Moab.
Some try to say men of Azial, that they’re the sons of the king of Moab. The Hebrew doesn’t allow that. Some say these were the two greatest warriors
that Moab had, these were Moab’s two best men.
And it says they’re lionlike, so I can imagine that they had long hair
like a mane, had a big beard I would imagine, they probably had hairy chests,
these guys were lionlike men. And
Benaiah, no big deal, they ran into the wrong priest on this day. “he slew two lionlike men of Moab: he went down also and slew a lion in the
midst of a pit in time of snow:” now this is not a lion-like man, this is a
real lion. Frank W. Boram says this is
three bad things together, a lion, in the pit, in the snow, ‘Lord, can I
fight a lion up on a rock in the sun?’ No,
this is a lion in a pit in the snow. It
may have been a situation where this lion was haunting a village or a
settlement, taking children, taking livestock, we don’t know that, it says he
went down, he knew about this lion. And
the lion’s in a pit, in some kind of a, you guys see that movie ‘The Ghost
In The Darkness’? Anybody here, just
me and you, was a great movie, wasn’t it?
I thought, those two lions are in the museum in Chicago, you can go see
those lions, ya they’re stuffed there.
All sharks and chiwawas should be stuffed there too, but, I’m just
joking. But these two lions lived in
caves, it’s a true story in the movie, they went into the cave, it was just
covered in bones, all of the human bones, animal bones. So somehow this lion had a reputation,
Benaiah goes, and a lion gotta be in a bad mood in snow, it would be my
opinion, he goes down into the pit where this lion lives. I don’t want to go in there with a 44-Magnum,
he goes into this pit, and he slays this lion, “he went down also and slew a
lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow:” Benaiah, I like this guy. “and he slew an Egyptian, a goodly man:” now
“a goodly man” gives you the wrong impression, it says in Chronicles
“he slew an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits high” he
was over seven and a half foot tall.
That’s a big Egyptian. He was
over seven and a half foot tall, “and he slew an Egyptian, a goodly
man: and the Egyptian had a spear in his
hand; but he went down to him” isn’t it interesting? “with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian’s
hand, and slew him with his own spear.” Egypt is always a picture of the
world, the staff is a picture of our pilgrim nature. We’re to be separate from the world, he goes
down to this Egyptian whose seven and a half foot tall “with a staff, and
plucked the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and slew him with his own spear.” I like this guy, “These things did
Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and had the name among three mighty men. He was more honourable than the thirty, but
he attained not to the first three.
And David set him over his guard.” (verses 20-23) Now look, again, gifts, calling, we differ,
you’re calling, your challenge in all of this is to faithfulness. I’m sure, and Billy Graham will say, ‘there’s
some grandma whose been more faithful ministering into the heart of her
grandson than I have been in the ministry of evangelism. And in that day when we stand before the
Lord, she will get greater rewards, because she has been more faithful in her
calling than I have in mine.’ Some
guys are defending barley fields, some guys are killing 7.5 foot Egyptians,
some guys are killing 800 all by themselves with a spear, some guys don’t even
have their name mentioned, they’re waterboys, some guys are on the list of 30,
and we don’t know what they did. Look,
is it wrong for us to want to be one of David’s mighty men? mighty gals?
Is that wrong? I don’t know about
you guys, I want to serve the Lord successfully, I want to serve the Lord
successfully, I don’t want to be on the other list [crap list, Joe? 😊]. It says that in Titus that God’s raised up a
people unto him that should be zealous of good works. It says in 1st Timothy chapter 3,
that he that desires an office of a bishop [Greek, pastor, elder], to be an
overseer, desires a good work, that’s a good thing. Look, Jesus’ disciples, they’re on their way,
they’re walking, he hears them bickering and arguing, he turns around and says ‘What
are you guys talking about?’ they
say ‘Oh, nothing, nothing,’ you can’t say that to the Lord, just
be honest. And he takes a little child
and sets the child in their midst, and he said ‘He who would be
greatest,’ because they were arguing over who would be greatest. That’s what they were arguing about. Two of them are going to get their mom to
say, ‘Hey, how about when you come into the Kingdom, my two boys, they’re
good Jewish boys, one’s going to sit on your right hand, one’s going to sit on
your left hand.’ And the Lord
says ‘It’s not mine to give.’ But
as they’re arguing over whose going to be the greatest, he doesn’t say to them ‘This
is really wrong.’ He directs it,
what he says is this, ‘Do you want to be great? Then you become the servant of all, there’s the
way to do it, you don’t do it the way the world does it, because in the world
they lord it over each other, the great men of this world. They have authority over each other’s lives,
they put their heel on the back of the other guy’s neck. You really want to be great in the Kingdom?’ Jesus
doesn’t say ‘Don’t want to be great,’ but he says ‘this is the way
it happens.’ Are you willing to
be a vessel of honour, fit to every good work?
Or do you want to be fit to every great work? The
Thirty Mighty Men Of David These
are David’s Mighty Men, they would not surrender a barley field. Here’s their names, I’m going to read through
their names, I’m going to get them all wrong, forgive me, but the Lord
evidently includes these, because he feels they should be notable, and when we
get to heaven [into the Kingdom of heaven, which will end up on earth], their
names are going to be recognized, here they are, “Asahel the brother of Joab
was one of the thirty;” remember he had been killed earlier [by
Abner] “Elhanan, the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, Shammah the Harodite, Elika
the Harodite, Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, Abiezer
the Anethothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite, Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the
Netophathite,” [laughter] listen, I’m going to
tell all you smarty-pants if you think you can pronounce these words. When you go to Israel, if any of you are
going with us, and you hear the Israelis say these words, you don’t even know
what they’re saying, because they’re so different from the way we say them, so,
I’m doing them correctly, smarty. I’m
going to be embarrassed when I go over there, “Heleb the son of Baanah, a
Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai out of Gibeah of the children of Benjamin,
Benaiah the Pirothonite, Hiddai of the
brooks of Gaash,” isn’t it interesting,
the LORD
knew, he wasn’t even from the city, he grew up by the crick, and his name’s
here, “Abialbon” that’s a tough name for a kid, man, “the Arbathite,
Azmaveth the Barhumite, Eliahba
the Shaalbonite,” those are way too many
vowels for a language without them, “of the sons of Jashen, Jonathan,
Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of
Sharar the Hararite, Eliphelet
the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maachathite,” here
we go “Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite,” now Eliam the
son of Ahithophel is important to us, because it tells us, ‘it was a time
of the year when kings go forth to battle, and David stayed back and saw a
woman on the roof next to him, her name was Bathsheba, and David sent and
enquired after the woman, and one said is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of
Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?’ So
one of David’s mighty men was Eliam, the father of Bathsheba, and he is the son
of Ahithophel, again, which helps us explain why Ahitophel was so bitter and
joined Absalom’s rebellion and why he hated David so much, because David had
taken his granddaughter and had sex with her and got her pregnant and killed
her husband. “Hezrai the Carmelite,
Paarai the Arbite, Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite,” from
Gath “Zelek the Ammonite,” there’s Ammonites, “Nahari the Beerothite,
armourbearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah,
Ira an Ithrite, Gareb an Ithrite,
Uriah the Hittite: thirty and seven in all.” (verses 24-39)
And sadly, it makes David’s sin with
Bathsheba all the more bothersome in some ways, that he took the wife of one of
his mighty men, one of the 30 greatest warriors in Israel that had put their
life constantly on the line for him. The
granddaughter of his best friend, the best counselor, Ahithophel, can’t imagine
that, and the wife of Uriah, a man who was a Hittite, a foreigner, who joined
himself to David and so loved the king, he constantly put his life in jeopardy
for the kingdom and for the king. I
believe David’s repentance was real [if it wasn’t God would have had him
executed], I believe David carried those things for the rest of his life. I believe the Psalms that most affect us,
that we love the most are the ones that David wrote in his brokenness after his
sin. I believe the ones that communicate
the greatest measure of God’s grace are the ones that David wrote after his
failure. I can’t prescribe that for
anybody, so wrong, and these men were so dear to him, so committed to him,
which exacerbates the issue. That’s a
different challenge. Challenge for us,
don’t surrender, don’t surrender barley fields, don’t surrender lentils, don’t
surrender a hill of beans to Satan and to this world. If you have God’s Word and you know what it
says, do not surrender even what the world would try to convince
you is the smallest, most inconsequential thing, because it is in the practice
and the pattern of that, the big things in life are finally overcome, they’re
eroded, they’re warn away [like the ancient city/town of Dunwich,
England]. Because if the Holy Ghost
comes to us and says ‘Don’t do that,’ and we say to the Holy Ghost ‘Hey,
I’m cool, I’m strong, I know the Word, there are other Christians who need to
worry about it,’ and like the Holy Spirit’s going to say, ‘Thank
goodness, I’m glad you’re so strong,’ it’s as we do that we become
desensitized to the voice of the Lord, to the Word of God, little by little as
we put him off, all of a sudden we find ourselves in a situation, and we say ‘How
did I get here?’ You got there by
surrendering barley fields. You got
there by surrendering one hill of beans at a time. You got there because you forgot those things
belonged to the King, they’re blood-bought, and you have no entitlements. The fact that we can stand, that we can be
free from addiction, that our mouths can come clean, that we understand what he
wants in marriage, that we understand the truth of his Word, the most practical
thing in life with our children and our grandchildren, what we let come before
our eyes, those simplest of things are not to be negotiated away. We should stand our ground in a world that
wants us to give ground, we should stand our ground with the Sword in our hand,
to the point where we can’t get it out of our hand, or our hearts, or our
mouths, or our minds. Because the Lord
knows our name, he never lets us stand alone.
And the things that we would surrender sometimes are things that are
blood-bought, that have come to us at incredible price. I can’t imagine what life would be like if I hadn’t
got saved in 1972, I’d probably be dead, or worse, living in whatever situation
I’d be in. I can’t imagine what I would
be like. No way my marriage would have
lasted 32 years, there’s no way I could have been the father that I should be
to my sons or to my daughters, there’s no way I could at least have taken an
attempt at being a pastor…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on 2nd
Samuel 23:8-39, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia,
13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA
19116] related
links: Audio
version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED679 |