The remainder of Chapter 23 talks about some of the valiant warriors who were always on David's side. Yesterday we looked at the exploits of three especially brave men, referred to as "the Three". Today we'll talk about a whole list of courageous soldiers.
"Abishai the brother of Joab son of Zeruiah was chief of the Thirty. He raised his spear against three hundred men, whom he killed, and so he became as famous as the Three. Was he not held in greater honor than the Three? He became their commander, even though he was not included among them." (2 Samuel 23:18-19) We are quite familiar with Abishai now and his brother Joab, as they are the nephews of David through his sister Zeruiah.
"Benaiah son of Jehoiada, a valiant fighter from Kabzeel, performed great exploits. He struck down Moab's two mightiest warriors. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. And he struck down a huge Egyptian. Although the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club. He snatched the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear. Such were the exploits of Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he too was as famous as the three mighty warriors. He was held in greater honor than any of the Thirty, but he was not included among the Three. And David put him in charge of his bodyguard." (2 Samuel 23:20-23) Benaiah has previously been mentioned as being over the Kerethites and Pelethites. It's generally believed that these two groups from the Levant were related to the Philistines but who, for whatever reason, allied themselves with David. They stuck with him through thick and thin, even leaving Jerusalem with him to protect him during Absalom's attempted coup.
"Among the Thirty were: Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan son of Dodo from Bethlehem, Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite, Helez the Paltite, Ira son of Ikkesh from Tekoa, Abiezer from Anathoth, Sibbekai the Hushathite, Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite," (2 Samuel 23:24-28) You'll recall that Asahel was slain by Abner, the army general of King Saul.
"Heled son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ithai son of Ribai from Gibeah in Benjamin, Benaiah the Pirathonite, Hiddai from the ravines of Gaash, Abi-Albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite, Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan son of Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam son of Sharar the Hararite," (2 Samuel 23:29-33) Several of the men on this list will be listed again in the book of 1 Chronicles with some of their duties outlined there.
"Eliphelet son of Ahasbai the Maakathite, Eliam son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, Hezro the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, Igal son of Nathan from Zobah, the son of Hagri, Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, the armor-bearer of Joab son of Zeruiah, Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, and Uriah the Hittite. There were thirty-seven in all." (2 Samuel 23:34-39) Eliam the son of Ahithophel is presumed to be one of David's fathers-in-law because Bathsheba's father was named Eliam and we were told that Ahithophel (the now-deceased former advisor of David) had a son named Eliam.
Uriah the Hittite, Bathsheba's first husband, is on the list of David's mighty men. We already knew he was an honorable man, choosing to suffer the privations of war with the troops under him instead of enjoying the comforts of home when called to Jerusalem by David. We already knew he was a brave man who didn't hesitate to approach the wall of the city of Rabbah of the Ammonites when ordered to do so by General Joab, even though getting too close to the city wall resulted in his death. But we didn't know that he was among the best of the best of all the men who ever fought in Israel's army during the days of King David. This knowledge makes David's treachery against him all the more reprehensible.
But the author does not linger on the subject of Uriah. He knows we already know all about this courageous man's untimely and unfair demise. Instead he moves on in tomorrow's passage to other matters concerning the troops and to another unwise decision made by David.
I don't know about you, but sometimes I find myself disappointed by the actions of the characters on the pages of the Bible. But then I have to remind myself that it would be disappointing to other people if they had to read a detailed account of all the mistakes I've ever made. We are looking at these people's decisions in hindsight, which is an advantage they did not have as they went about their day to day lives and dealt with unexpected situations as they cropped up. They made decisions while undergoing hardships, while suffering from anxiety, while caught off guard by difficulties they didn't see coming. You and I have had to make decisions under those types of circumstances too and our decisions haven't always been the right ones, just as the decisions made by the men and women of the Bible weren't always the right ones. So even though I find myself time and again wanting to call out to David to stop and think about his choices, I can't judge his choices without being a hypocrite since I've made bad choices myself. If someone read about my life I'm sure there would be times when they'd like to call out to me to take some time to think about my options before taking action. None of us can go back in time and undo what we've already done. But thanks be to our merciful and loving God, we can repent of our mistakes and receive forgiveness for them.
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