The Few, the Humble, the Mighty Men of David
[18] Now Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the thirty. And he wielded his spear against three hundred men and killed them and won a name beside the three. [19] He was the most renowned of the thirty and became their commander, but he did not attain to the three.
[20] And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was a valiant man of Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds. He struck down two ariels of Moab. He also went down and struck down a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen. [21] And he struck down an Egyptian, a handsome man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but Benaiah went down to him with a staff and snatched the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear. [22] These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and won a name beside the three mighty men. [23] He was renowned among the thirty, but he did not attain to the three. And David set him over his bodyguard.
2 Samuel 23:18–23 ESV Read More
These little bits are short descriptions of David’s Mighty Men, a group of his best fighters that were with him for a long time and did valiant deeds while they served the king. There are a couple of places in this section where you’ll see the phrase “But he did not attain to the three.” The three the writer is talking about are Josheb-basshebeth, Eleazar, and Shammah. These three guys were the toughest, bravest, meanest, etc etc. of all. They were legendary in their own time!
But how awesome is it that they were so respected, these other men didn’t even try to beat them or become one of them? Or was there something more to it?
I was part of a ministry once that had an unspoken rule. Anybody that wanted to teach in front of the whole group should never ask to speak, they could only be asked by the leadership. If someone came forward and said, “I’d like to teach the message to the whole group some night,” they would be directed to a small group or the Rescue Mission, but they would be marked and almost never teach in the larger group setting. It was an arbitrary and elementary way of spotting pride, but it kept a lot of wackos out of the pulpit!
David’s mighty men that are listed are the ones that served the kingdom the best. The surprises are that the politically motivated, political leader like Joab didn’t make the list! As if to add insult to injury, Joab is mentioned because his brother and his armor bearer made the list. (Oh come on! My armor bearer made the list and not me! Seriously!) These men were not mighty because they excelled in competition with each other, but because they served one another and advanced the kingdom.
Another surprise in this list is that The Three each have their exploits listed, but some of the others did even greater and bigger and badder things. Benaiah that killed the lion in a pit on a snowy day killed two Ariels before that, and nobody even knows what an Ariel is. Some scholars say they were lions, some angels, some say they were angelic lions. Whatever they were, he killed two of them. Even though “being part of the three” was a big deal, there isn’t a mention of any of these guys competing to join them or get in on that title.
Finally, note that Uriah the Hittite, the murdered first husband of Bathsheba, is in this list. Whether that increases the betrayal of David by having him killed, or increases the honor of David by adding Uriah to this list, it is wild to see him here. It brings even more attention the fact that these men were mighty not because of what they aspired to, but because of their actual deeds. They may have had war stories to tell, but their mantle of humility hid their might as they served the king.
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