2 Samuel 23:13-39

2 Samuel chapter 23 beginning with verse 13 and reading through verse 17 to start we’ll be looking at the whole chapter the end of the chapter through verse 39 tonight and three of the 30 chief went down and came to David in the harvest time under the cave of adulam and the troop of the philistines pitched in the valley Refium. And David was then in hold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. David longed and said all that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate. And the three mighty men break through the host of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, 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. May God bless to us the reading of His sacred and holy word this evening. Brasidas was an enterprising and successful Spartan warrior during the early years of the Paul Panician War, the second one, 431 to 404, BC, between Athens and Sparta. And when Brasadosidas complained that Sparta was such a small, his mother said to him, my son Sparta has fallen to your lot, and it’s your duty to adorn it. In other words, Brasidas was to add to the beauty, the splendor, the distinction of Sparta, by making it greater or better. The Spartan general successes against the Athenians tilted the balance of the war toward, back toward the Spartans. Now, as a Christian soldier, you may look at the kingdom of God and you may complain about its smallness. But your duty is it not to adorn the kingdom? Isn’t it your duty to, in a sense, expand it to, to make it greater? Are you working to expand the kingdom of God? God carefully recognizing. those who help to maintain and extend his kingdom. In the Old Testament, under David, we see this in the case of the mighty men that we started studying last week, who were recognized and honored for their service here, and we find a whole list of them in this section of Scripture. This is an everlasting tribute to these men, as the scriptures above. forever. They have an everlasting tribute to their contributions to God and God’s king and his kingdom. Now, what was done, we said last week, literally, and physically in the Old Testament, often provides a type of what is to be done spiritually with regard to the New Testament. And for this reason, we find in the New Testament often, military expressions are used with regard to Christians, like fight the good fight of faith, put on the whole armor of God and so forth. So to spiritually benefit from this passage, I suggest that we transfer the teaching about these mighty men to the heroes of the faith in the New Testament. Now, we’ve already considered the special trio of heroes in verses 8 to 12, Adeno, Eliezer, and Shama, who were the chief, the three chief mighty men. And we compared them, as we looked at the New Testament, there were those who were classified as pillars of the church in the book of Galatians, and we said that Peter and James, John, and certainly Paul were chief apostles, and we see them standing out. But now we must consider the second trio of heroes, verses 13 to 23, And then a whole list here, an extended list of heroes, in verses 24 to 39. Let me begin by saying this, do you value your king enough to risk your life in service to him? And we see that in verses 13 to 17. We have the exploits of a second group of chief mighty men here. They didn’t have the same level. They were on the same level as the first three. But they were. still among the elite of David’s fighting men. Now, these include, it seems, Abishai and Beniah, who will take up in a moment. You’re not told when this incident took place. Some have placed it at the beginning of David’s reign, because you remember, at the very beginning, the Philistines tried to overpower him, invading the land, to put him down. in 2 Samuel chapter 5, for instance, when we studied that. David, because of a massive Philistine invasion, is hiding out in the hold, verse 14 indicates, and this perhaps suggests to us the stronghold of Adolum, which the scripture indicates here. There was a garrison of Philistines in David’s hometown. of Bethlehem. And we thinks about that, which was about six miles south of Jerusalem, about 12.5 miles west, southwest of Adulam. When he thinks about this situation, you can imagine him giving momentary vent to his homesickness and desire that he might drink from the well there at Bethlehem by the gate, little realizing that these three might, might, men are going to risk life and limb to get him a drink of water from the well at Bethlehem. And at great risk. We see that they didn’t just, you know, try to sneak in under the cover of darkness, but we read they broke through the lines of the flusiness. They fought their way through here to obtain water from the well. The odds were certainly stacked against them, but we see that these mighty men by God’s power were greatly enabled to do marvelous and seemingly impossible things. So they make this 25-mile round trip with a flask of water in their hand when they come back from the well of Bethlehem. A stunning achievement. Now, you should realize that serving Christ may mean risking Christ may mean risking your life. It may mean venturing your life for the cause of Christ. In order to please Christ who is your captain, it may require you putting your life on the line. Jesus said unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me, for whosoever will save his life shall lose it. And whosoever will lose it. his life for my sake shall find it. Matthew 16, 24, and 25. I was reading about John G. Patton, who was a 19th century missionary to New Hebrides and the South Seas Islands. And he met a lot of opposition for well-meaning people at his church in Scotland, where he resided, when he announced his plans that he was going to go to this area of the world. The natives of New Hebrides were cannibalistic people. Horror stories were circulating about these savages. Recently, a ship containing 317 Chinese coolies were wrecked on a reef in the South Pacific. And there was an island in the South seas which appeared to be uninhabited, and yet it had plenty of food. So the ships crew put the coolly’s ashore, set out for help in a small boat promising to return. Well, they did return five months later with a larger vessel, only to find one Chinese coolly still living on the island. All that was left of the 316 was a pile of bones and pig tails. They had been eaten by the cannibals. So you could understand. the Christian people at the church where Patton resided and where he worshiped, concerned. One church member moaned the cannibals, the cannibals, you’ll be eaten by the cannibals. But Patton was willing to venture everything in order to expand the kingdom of God. And here’s what he said. I confess to you that if I can live and die serving my Lord Jesus Christ, it makes no difference to me, whether I’m eaten by cannibals or by worms. For in the great day of the resurrection, my body will rise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer. So he says, I don’t really care. Either way. In a New Testament, we read of several people who put their lives on the line in order to help with the growth of the kingdom of God. For instance, turn with me to the book of Romans chapter 16, verses 3 and 4, if you would. If we had the time, I would, you know, we could read this whole chapter. Because in this whole chapter, we have a list of people that were mentioned here, and we might classify them as New Testament heroes of the faith, people who stood out in service to the Lord. But I want to focus on verses 3 and 4. He says here, greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus, who have, for my life laid down their own necks unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. To help Paul in his missionary journeys, they put their necks, if you would, on the chopping block, where they could have been put to death. They could have had become martyrs. They ventured everything in order to help Paul in his wife. work. Look at Philippians chapter 2, if you would, and verses 24 to 30. He says here, but I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly. Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Apaphroditus, my brother, and companion and labor, and fellow soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants, for he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness because that ye heard that he had been sick, for indeed he was sick nigh unto death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but also on me, as also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him, therefore, the more carefully, that when he shall see him again, he may rejoice, and that I may be less sorrowful. Receive him, therefore, in the Lord, with all gladness, hold such in reputation, because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life to supply your lack of service toward me. He had brought money to help out Paul’s missionary work in other places, and this man had risked his life. It was, became sick and almost died here, as we see in this situation. So here are at least two instances in the New Testament that we find where people ventured at all. As a Christian soldier, when you serve as Jesus Christ, you never know what will be required of you. Whether you spend yourself for Christ and disease overtakes you and you die, or you are a martyr, really doesn’t matter. In either way, you are serving Christ, and you both count as giving you. You both count as giving your life for the service of Christ and the kingdom of God. May God give us such a heart to be willing to do such a thing, to lay down our life, to realize that we are serving the Lord and whether we lose our lives, it is certainly for the advantage of Christ, and we will gain all, even if we lose our life in this world. So we find here this idea of laying down their life, risking your life for the king. And we have that in our text here in this passage of Scripture in 2 Samuel 23. Now, such a supreme sacrifice by you is viewed as an offering unto the Lord. verses 16 and 17 of our text, you’ll notice here that David was sort of flabbergasted when they handed him this flask of water from the well of Bethlehem. He was so overwhelmed because he realized these men had risked being killed just so he could have a drink of water from this well at Bethlehem. That was a risky venture they undertore. So he refused to drink it. He counted it too precious for him just. to swallow down because what it took to obtain it. And therefore we read, he poured it out under the Lord in verse 16. He looked at it as it representing the blood of these men that went in jeopardy of their lives. And I think there’s an illusion here, at least in the Old Testament you remember the blood of the sin offering was poured out at the base of the altar. And we sort of have that idea. idea here, I think. Since the water represented the blood of these men, blood belongs unto Jehovah, David dared not to drink it here. So he pours it out to the Lord as if it were a sin offering, if you would. It was costly. It was too precious. We should see that this is not an act of waste. Not that he didn’t appreciate what these men did, but it was an act of worship in what he did. same type of thing in the New Testament. Martyrs or Christ are considered as offering themselves unto the Lord as a sacrifice. Remember in Paul’s last epistle it would appear to us in 2. Timothy 4.6, for I am now ready to be offered in the time of my departure is in hand. He says in 2. Timothy 4.6. 6. He He sees himself about to be put to death by Caesar or the preaching of the gospel and what does he see it as? I’m being offered up. I’m being martyred, but I’m being sacrificed, if you were. In the book of Revelation chapter 6, we read, I saw under the altar at the base of the altar, the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God and for the testimony in which they held and they cried with a loud voice. saying, how long, O Lord, holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood? Their blood was shed and they were found under the altar, as if they were a sacrifice. It was part of the sacrifice of the sin offer. So when you risk everything for the cause of Christ, it is in a sense, an offering under the Lord and with such sacrifices, our Lord is pleased. So do you value your king enough to risk your life in service to him? Second, are you prepared to face formidable obstacles as a Christian soldier in your service to the king? Now let me begin with verse 18 at this point and read through verse 23. In Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Uriah, was chief among three. He lifted up his spear against 300 and slew them and had the name among three. Was he not most? honorable of three, therefore he was their captain. Howbeit he attained not under the first three. In Maniah, the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Capziel, who had done many acts, he slewed two lion-like men of Moab. He went down also and slew slew a line 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, plucked the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and slew him with his own spear. These things did Beniah the son of Jehoiada and had the name among three mighty men. He was more honorable than the 30, but he attained not to the first three. And David set him over his guard. Here are the brave deeds. of Bishai and Baniah. It seems that Abishai was captain of this second group of Mighty Men, we’re told in verse 18. Both men were premier leaders of the 30 Mighty Men. And Bishai, you find them repeatedly by David’s side. He’s willing to go into Saul’s camp, remember, and when they got the flask and the spear, he was the one that went with David into the camp. Beniah was placed over the guard troops. We’ve heard about him serving in David’s kingdom, especially tasked with protecting the king. And remember, he took the place of Joab, and was given that position. Abishai Spear won him laurels by chalking up 30 kills in battle, extraordinary feat, for one man. We do not know when this occurred, but we do know that it was done by God’s empowerment, just as we mentioned, last week in verse 10 and verse 12. These mighty men, whatever they did, were given the victory by God. And I suggest you that same would hold true here with regard to Abishai and Beniah and what they were able to accomplish. Beniah seems to have come from a family line whose exploits were well known. He was a son of a valiant man. Beniah’s brave acts certainly earn your respect when you read about him. two fierce and powerful champions of Moab described here as lion like men were slain by the fearless Benaya. Benaya went down into a pit during winter season and had it out with a lion. He came out of the pit, but the lion did not. And armed with merely a staff, Benaya went one-on-one with some massive or giant, if you would, Egyptian, armed with a large spear probably for thrusting, not for throwing, and Benaya ripped the spear from the Egyptians’ hand and used it on him and killed him with him. Sort of like David, killing Goliath with his own sword. All this was done by God’s empowerment, I believe, as well, as I mentioned. So the deeds of Abishai and Benaya. Let me say, as the scripture says, you must endure hardships as a good soldier of Jesus Christ in 2 Timothy 2.3. We should realize that there are going to be formidable opposition, there’s going to be a formidable opposition to our endeavor to fight the good fight of faith. There are going to be enemies. Remember how Bunyan portrays this in Pilgrim’s progress, whether he has lions or giants or Paulian or Hobbesen or Hobgoblins. or wild dogs or whatever the case may be. It’s always encountering something that he has to overcome. And certainly in Scripture, you know, we read these kind of things like in the Psalms, they gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion. Psalm 2213. Apollyan certainly would represent Christ, or excuse me, we represent. Satan himself. Hobgoblins were demonic forces that tried to cause him to fall when he had to walk along this little narrow ledge. The fierce dogs would attack you for your faith. For the dogs have come past me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. Psalm 2216. So like Abishai, you may find the enemy attacking, and it may be incredible odds. And from all direction. as the psalmist says in Psalm 118, 12, they can pass me about like bees. You find your enemies could be everywhere, surrounding. From all directions. Ten on inflicting harm upon you. Like I told you in the past about George Schweinforth, who wrote a book about the heart of the tribes, 1873. He said their boat was being towed down a river in Africa when the tow line was dragged across the grass on the bank of the river. And when it came to abandon the river, and the rope disturbed a swarm of bees that were nesting there. And remember, these are African bees. These are not just the little bees like the honeybees that we know. They were more vicious. And he said that in a moment a great cloud attacked the boat, and instantly the poor passengers were mercilessly being stung by these beasts. People were jumping off the boat into the water. Mr. Schweinforth said that so violent was the attack, he said that he himself jumped in the water, and still he felt the stings upon him. Later that day, in the evening, He said, I’d rather encounter half a score of buffaloes or embrace a lion and they’re running into bees again. It was that vicious. When your enemies swarm like bees, it isn’t a pleasant experience because they’re out to harm you and sting you. The Apostle Paul says, we were pressed out of measure above strength in so much that we disappeared of life. In 2 Corinthians 1-8. He was surrounded by enemies. not even were the Jews against him, the heathen were against him, and thirsted for his blood. It was impossible to escape his enemies on every side, whether he had Judaizers or the Jewish religious leadership or false teachers or heretics with the church, or the idol makers who he was cutting into their prophets by turning people to Christ and away from the worthless idols that they were worshipping. It didn’t matter. He was under fire and attack. We can expect if we’re servants, of Christ and soldiers, they’re going to have to endure hard attacks, hard ones. We may end up being wounded. We may be outnumbered. We may be hard-pressed and almost to despair. Our life may be threatened. These are the things that we find Paul saying about his situation. Are you prepared to face formidable obstacles as a Christian soldier in your service to your king? Thirdly, tonight, Do you see that God grants differing gifts to those who serve their king? In those in verse 19, it says, was he not most honorable of the three? Speaking of Bishai, therefore he was their captain. Howbeit he attained not under the first three. In verses 22 and 23, we have the same idea with regard to Beniah that he had not attained. under the first three that were mentioned. Not all great soldiers are the same caliber. There are degrees of skill and ability. The first group of mighty men were superior to the second group. And yet both groups were certainly showed great bravery and certainly fought with distinction. This applies, I think, a vivid illustration of the great variance in the spiritual gifts and graces that are granted to each of us as we go through this Christian life. Every man has this proper gift from God. One is granted, gifted in one area more than another, and your talents may be few, whatever they are, however, it’s your duty to use them for the cause of Christ. Not all are gifted like the apostles. Not all can match the achievements of the reformers like Calvin or Luther. Not all could write commentaries like the Puritans. Not all may have the sword skills of someone who preaches the gospel of Christ. But whatever gifts and grace is you’ve been given, make the best of them. And use them for the kingdom of God and Christ, your king will reward you. My fourth thought tonight is this. Does the honoring of those who bravely serve their king encourage you to do exploits also? Let’s look at. at verses 24 to 39 and here we have the list of the other mighty men. Aschahal, the brother of Joab, was one of the 30. Alhanan, the son of Dodo of Bethlehem. Shama, the Harorite, the Harrodite, Harodite, I should say. Alika, the Harodite. Helle. paltite. Ira, the son of Ikeh, the techoite. Abizaar, anethophyte. Mibonai, the Hushite, Hushathite. Zalman, the Hohite, Mahari, the Netothiteiteiteite. Haleb. Helleb, the son of Bona, a nette. metrophathite. Ittai, the son of Ribly, out of Gibia, of the children of Benjamin. Beniah, the pyronothite, Hidai of the brooks of Gaeas, Abai alban, the Arbathite, Azabeth, the Barhumite, Eliba, the Shalbun, the Barhumite, Eliaba, the Shalbon, of the sons of Jashan and Jonathan. Shama, the Hararite. Ahiam, the son of Sharar, the Hararite. Lai, Phelait, the son of Ahat, the son of a hashby, the son of Maccathite, of the Macathite. Eliam, the son of Ahithraphel, the Gileanite, the Gileonite, Hezreth, the Karai, the Karam. Armalite, Paari, the Arbite, Igal, the son of Nathan of Zobba, Bonnie, the Gadite, Zeyl, the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bonnie, the Gatite, Zeylach, the Amonite, Nahari, the Birothite, armor bear to Joab, the son of Zariah, Ira, the Ithrite, Eira, the Ithrite, Gereb, right, Uriah the Hittite, 30 and 7 in all. You’ll forgive me if I had trouble with some of those names, because they’re not always easy to read. We see the honor roll here of the mighty men. Now, no exploits are actually given to us here. Some have a little bit more mentioned about them. Only an honor roll is given to us, and perhaps a lineage or a town. from which they came. The 30 seems to be a general distinction. Verse 39 indicates there were a total of 37 mighty men, even though we see with regard to verse 24, he was one, we hear Ashihel, was one of the 30. We see that some over time fell in battle. We know that Uriah, verse 39, died, and we know also that Aschahel, in verse 24, died. And it seems that others would be at it, First Chronicles, Chapter 1. Perhaps the 30 mighty men were maintained. It’s just that there were some that were died, and others were replaced them. But some of the ones that died are listed here at the end, and we know that, of course, Uriah, the Hittite, and we know that Asihael, have already died. So they were kept on the list, so to speak, but they had already died. And so that would be the way I would look at this. There is some question as to how to account for the 37 men, but the easiest answer is this. The first group of three, we have Adeno, Shama, and Aliazar, versus 8 to 12. And then we have the second group of three, Abishai, Beniah, and an unknown individual, versus 13 to 23. And then we have the general list of the mighty men. There are 31 names in verses 24 to 39. So if you add those up, you end up with 37. Joab is the army commander. It’s possible. He may be the unknown one that’s not mentioned in this particular portion of scripture. Now, their names are on this honor list because these men excelled and fought for and were in fidelity to their king. That means they excelled in fighting for the kingdom of God in this world. They were men whose deeds were not for God. Some of the names you were recognized. Ashahel, you remember, was slain by Abner at the beginning of David’s reign. He was the brother of Joe Abadab and Abishai. Al-Hananin in verse 24 was the brother of Elieazar that’s mentioned in verses 9 and 10. He was one of the chief mighty men, Eliasor. But his brother was also a mighty man. Eliam in verse 34 was told was the son of Ahithravel. This was David’s chief counselor. Until he forsook David and went with his son, Absalom, in the rebellion. You recall. Uriah, of course, was Bashiba’s husband, whom David had killed to cover up his adultery. Now, God raised up these mighty men to expand. and protect his kingdom in the Old Testament under the reign of David, who is, as we’ve been saying all along, a type of Christ. Now, the honor rolls of those who served Christ in the New Testament are found repeatedly. There are heroes list in the New Testament, not list of mighty men, but certainly of Christian soldiers who serve Christ. God would not have their efforts. lost or forgotten and sometimes just a name is mentioned or a very brief account of what they did. As we mentioned already, Romans chapter 16, Philippians 2, 19 to 30, Colossians 4, 2 Timothy chapter 1 verses 16 to 19, Phileman Versus 23 to 24. You find people mention and their service to the Lord, and they’re recorded in Scripture for all eternity. So, Scripture does indicate to us that even those who give a cup of cold water in the name of Christ will not be forgotten, but they indeed will be remembered. God would have you inspired, encouraged by the noble deeds of others that you may expire inspire to noble deeds yourself. To love your king, the Lord, Jesus Christ and valiantly strive against all the enemies of his kingdom to make self-denying sacrifices for the aid of Christ’s cause on earth is to aspire to be a mighty man in the New Testament and serve Christ. May the Lord indeed raise up mighty men in the church to serve and make you brave, make you bold enough to speak to advance the kingdom of God on this earth. Well, the Spartan warrior Brassados, when complaining about the smallness of the Spartan kingdom, was told by his mother, well, then go out and adorn it. And so we have the same thought that I would suggest you tonight. As a Christian soldier, you may look at your kingdom and say, well, I don’t see the kingdom of God advancing like I’d like it to be. I see small in our day. Well, it’s your duty to adorn it. Do what you can to advance it. And you are a soldier in the kingdom. What are you doing for the cause of Christ? What are you willing to risk for the cause of Christ? What formidable obstacles are you willing to brave for the cause of Christ? Use the gifts God has granted you and make your mark for the kingdom of God. Let us close if it would occur in night.