2Sa 23:18-23 | KingComments | STEP | After the three most important heroes, another group of three is called heroes. Of these three, two are mentioned by name. The first is Abishai, who is called “most honored of the thirty”. He is mentioned several times in the history of David. However, the heroic deed mentioned here has not been mentioned before. He turns out to have once killed with his spear three hundred enemies.

‏ 2 Samuel 23:18-23

Abishai

After the three most important heroes, another group of three is called heroes. Of these three, two are mentioned by name. The first is Abishai, who is called “most honored of the thirty”. He is mentioned several times in the history of David. However, the heroic deed mentioned here has not been mentioned before. He turns out to have once killed with his spear three hundred enemies.

Benaiah

The three deeds Benaiah has performed are:

1. killing the two sons of Ariel of Moab,

2. killing a lion in a pit at a time when there was snow; and

3. killing an Egyptian with his own spear.

Benaiah was a very determined man. Nor is it the case that after one victory he thought it was all right. Benaiah is a man with great courage and perseverance.

From his achievements we can learn important spiritual lessons. We must remember, however, that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual [forces] of wickedness in the heavenly [places]” (Eph 6:12). The three enemies that Benaiah defeats and kills are a picture of three spiritual enemy powers that we face in our lives. We will see that Moab is a picture of the flesh in the believer, that the lion here is a picture of satan and that the Egyptian is a picture of the world.

The first enemy consists of two sons of Ariel, in a different translation: two heroes, from Moab. Moab means ‘from the father’. Who is the father of Moab? That is Lot (Gen 19:36-37). From what the Bible says about Lot, we see what kind of man Lot was. He was a man who loved the world. He looked at the outward appearance. He was guided by the lusts of the flesh (Gen 13:10-11), that is by the old nature that every believer still has in him. In Moab we see a picture of the flesh and its deeds (Gal 5:19-21).

In the history of Moab, two characteristics are visible that stem from the lust of the flesh. One characteristic is laziness, the other is pride (Jer 48:11; Isa 16:6). We can give each of these two sons of Moab a name. The name of one son is Laziness and the name of the other son is Pride. These two ‘heroes’ are also a danger to our lives as Christians. They also want to exert their influence in our lives. Perhaps one ‘son’ is a greater danger than another. Be that as it may, we have to deal with them if we want to live dedicated to the Lord.

After Benaiah has defeated the two men from Moab, he doesn’t take it easy to enjoy his victory. He keeps an attentive eye on whether new danger is threatening somewhere. As soon as it presents itself, he acts with courage and determination.

What is the case? A lion has fallen into a pit. A special feature is mentioned that it is a snowy day. Benaiah could have thought: ‘That lion is well there, it is no longer a threat to anyone; let him be, and he will die by himself.’ But Benaiah is not like that. We can imagine that he thought: ‘That lion may have slipped through the snow and ended up in the pit. What happened to the lion can also happen to a human being. For example, children love to play in the snow. Imagine that one of those children also slips and accidentally ends up in that pit. You can’t stand the thought. Benaiah doesn’t think about it, he goes down into the pit and kills the lion. He does not think about himself, but about the risk for others.

Benaiah acts according to the meaning of his name. His name means ‘built by the LORD’. In his dealings with the LORD, the LORD has formed him into a man of character. He does not have the strength to fight the lion in himself. But he says, as it were: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13). This is not the language of the boaster but the language of faith in the Almighty. To Him, the lion is a little one. Did not his king David also speak this language when he said, “For by You I can run upon a troop; and by my God I can leap over a wall” (Psa 18:29)?

The lion is here a picture of the devil who is out to devour (1Pet 5:8). In the most impossible places, where we think he can’t do much, he tries to make victims. He also has a preference for children. We can learn from Benaiah, even though we may not have any children and we are not even married yet. It is a question of being aware of the dangers to which our children, those of ourselves and those of our brothers and sisters, are exposed. With what do children come into contact at school, on the street? It is cold in the world. There is a thick layer of snow. The snow makes the world attractive and makes the cold forget.

Unfortunately, it is no exception that the cold meets the children when they come home. No one is waiting for them to drink anything with them, no one is asking how they have been, no one to spontaneously tell their story to. Yes, there is a ‘cuddle corner’. The PC is turned on or the smartphone is taken to go ‘on the net’ and the chat can start. With whom? There are always ‘nice’ people, to whom they can tell their story, who do have attention. The snow looks so attractive, the cold is forgotten, they are getting closer and closer to the pit … . If you recognize this, act as Benaiah.

We don’t read about spectators at his performance. Nor does it say that he took the dead lion out of the pit to show it triumphantly as a trophy to others. Maybe he never told others anything about it. But God has noticed it and has it recorded in His Word so that we can learn from it.

This fight with the lion in the pit, where no one was present or watched except the LORD, is reminiscent of fighting in the prayers, as we read of Epaphras: “Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God” (Col 4:12). Such a battle is fought hidden in the inner room (cf. Mt 6:6). Inconspicuous for people, but perceived by God we may fight for others in the prayers.

For those who may feel useless, there is an enormous opportunity here to serve fellow believers in a great way. He or she can fight in the prayers for the families of the believers, especially for their children. More than ever, it is necessary to pray for the families. This is what the devil’s attacks concentrate on. This call to prayer does not only apply to older believers. It is to be hoped that young people will also understand the need for it. Take more time to pray for the spiritual salvation of the children of the believers and for all the children we have in our circle of acquaintances. Thus we can become a hero of the true David.

In the victory Benaiah achieved in secret, he resembles David. David also defeated the lion in secret, and also the bear (1Sam 17:34-35).

Even after his second victory Benaiah isn’t keen on taking it easy. The enemy is also not the enemy to give up the battle after a defeat. He appears each time in a different form. This time Benaiah has to deal with an Egyptian. Just like the previous enemies, this one is also one of stature. A gigantic stature of no less than two and a half meters looms up in front of him (1Chr 11:23). Such an appearance will have impressed many people in Israel, but not Benaiah.

Egypt is a picture of the world. We see that in the book of Exodus. It is the land that has kept the people of God in slavery for a long time. When God wanted to deliver His people from it, the king of Egypt offered fierce resistance. Even when the people of God had left, Pharaoh wanted to take them back and bring them back under his rule. This is an illustration of what happens when someone converts. Then he is saved by God from the present evil world (Gal 1:4).

But let’s not think that this will rescue us from this enemy forever. Certainly, he has no authority over us anymore. Yet he will try again and again to gain possession of a certain area of our lives. The danger remains that certain patterns of our old life will reappear with us. Surely it had its attractive sides, isn’t it? Not everything was wrong, was it? There are a lot of things we can enjoy, we don’t have to be foreign to the world, do we?

These are not in themselves reprehensible reasonings. But beware: are we certain that such reasoning is not intended to undo our break with the world and are we sure that it will not diminish our commitment to the Lord Jesus? In our old life we used to be absorbed in music or sports or we could only think of beautiful clothes or beautiful cars. With that we have broken. Is it therefore wrong to listen to music, do sports, look good or use a car? No, but let’s remember that what we used to live in and for, can become the pattern of our lives again if we don’t act like Benaiah with the Egyptian.

How does Benaiah gain the victory? First of all, he goes there with a club or, better, a staff (Darby Translation). Someone is using a staff when he is on his way. The staff says something about being a pilgrim, a stranger on earth, someone on his way to his destination. For those who know Christ as Redeemer and Lord, the destiny is not this world. After all, he has been delivered from that. Our destination is heaven, to which we are on our way. If we are well aware of that, we have a weapon against the enemy. If the world wants to entice us to take part in its entertainment and join its efforts, let’s keep the staff up. By this we say: I do not belong to you, I belong to heaven.

With his staff in his hand Benaiah snatches the spear from the hand of the Egyptian. This speaks of a strong performance. He doesn’t ask the Egyptian to be so kind as to hand over his spear, but he takes it from his hands by force. Then he gives the Egyptian with his own weapon the death blow. Here too he follows the example of his king, David. David killed the giant Goliath with by using his own weapon (1Sam 17:51). This points in a wonderful way to the Lord Jesus, who defeated the devil with his own weapon, death (Heb 2:14).

Colossians 3 tells us how to apply this killing of the Egyptian. We are called there to consider our members who are on earth as dead. One of the members mentioned there is “greed, which amounts to idolatry” (Col 3:5). Thus is written in the following verse: “And in them you also once walked, when you were living in them” (Col 3:7). That means it’s about things we used to live in. The challenge now is to radically deal with this as soon as we notice that something from the past is going to take hold of us again, when we feel feelings that we used to cherish in us again. We must not give them the chance to take possession of us again.

This is only possible by remembering what the Lord Jesus did for us on the cross to deliver us from it. There He achieved the great victory. In that victory we may stand. We may say that we are more than victors through Him Who loved us (Rom 8:31-39). This is the death blow to the Egyptian.