The Deeds of Benaiah and You by Chris Shude, 3-12-22

Good morning.

The lion had taken yet another victim. Many had tried to hunt it down. This was a crafty one. All through the summer and fall months, the beast had raided the sheep pass, leaping over the fences forcing its way in and carrying off, its prey. And now winter was coming. And a decision was made to lay a trap. So a pit was dug. And it was camouflaged in the hopes that the lion could be trapped. And it had to be deep. Because a lion has a vertical leap of nearly 12 feet. And they can reach lengths of over eight feet from tip to tail. So, it was going to be quite a job setting this trap. The pit needed to be at least 20 feet deep. And now it was a waiting game. The pit was dug in an area where the lion's tracks has been found up in the foothills and the snows of the season were on the way. But the question remained, who would deal with the lion if it was trapped?

The Bible is filled with little hints of stories like stories where our imaginations can run a little bit. And think about what might have led to the events that we read about. We always need to keep in mind that these are real people that we're talking about. These are events that happened. They're not just little stories, they're not little dusty bits of history or myth. You know, keep in mind that human beings are interesting, both now and then. And our lives, even as boring as you think your life may actually be, it's actually pretty fascinating. And we can learn from both our own personal experiences, as well as the experience of those who came before us. And so, we're going to do a little bit of that today we're going to look at one of David's mighty men. Let's go ahead and turn a second Samuel 23.

And as we are turning there to be reminded something that Paul wrote to us in Romans, in Romans 15:4 Paul wrote that whatever things were written before, were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. So again, the stories that we read about in scripture are not just for entertainment, they're for us to learn from and to take inspiration from, and for us to be comforted. So, we remind ourselves that man is to live by every word of God, not just some of them or just the ones that we like. So, let's look at 2 Samuel 23. Look at verse 20. We're going to see who it was, who took care of that lion. So, its "Benaiah was the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man from Kabzeel, who had done many deeds. He had killed two lion-like heroes, and he also had gone down and killed the lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day. And he killed an Egyptian, a spectacular man, the Egyptian had a spear in his hand. So, he went down to him with a staff, wrested of the spear out of the Egyptians hand and killed him with his own spear. These things Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada did, and won a name among three mighty men. He was more honored than the 30 but did not attain to the first three. And David appointed him over his guard."

So, let's recognize we have no idea exactly how the lion ended up in the pit. It doesn't say. You know what I laid out at the beginning of the message or something that could have happened, maybe it was even a likely scenario. Why doesn't God tell us? Why doesn't he tell us how that line ended up in the pit? Because it's not the point of the story. If God includes something in this word, it is vitally important. If he does not, it might be interesting, but it's not as important. For example, on what day was Jesus Christ born? We don't know. God didn't tell us. We know what they he was not born on. But the fact that God's Word does not tell us today, it doesn't even come right out and tell us the time of the year, though we can do some deductive reasoning.  You know, we put on our Sherlock Holmes thinking caps and we can look at the scriptures and we can pick up some clues to make a good guess. But the fact that Scripture does not tell us means that it is not a vital important. So, we don't know how the lion ended up in the snowy pit, we can speculate. But in the end, it's not the point it doesn't really matter how the lion ended up in the pit. What matters is that Benaiah went into the pit and killed it. That is what we are told. And there is something in there that we are supposed to learn from. Go back to the passage again, this is 2 Samuel 23:20-21. First off, we see that in verse 20, we read that he had performed many deeds. And then we read about these three specific deeds of Benaiah that are called out. The latter part of verse 20 and kill the two lion like heroes of Moab. So that's one other meeting gone down and kill the lion in the midst of the pit on a snowy day, there's number two. And then of course, the third one is he killed in ejection, a spectacular man.

So we're going to begin looking today at what we can learn from these three deeds of Benaiah. And I hope you will find it fascinating and encouraging to see all of the little hidden treasures that God has placed in his word. We are going to take a couple of detours, go down a couple of wormholes, but I hope you'll find it interesting. But if you would like a title, it is "The Deeds of Benaiah and You" Part 1. The Deeds of Benaiah and You. Now before we look at the deeds of Benaiah, we're going to get a little grounding in what we can find out about him in scripture. It's not going to. take us too long to do. So first off in 2 Samuel 23, verse 20, we're given the information that he was from Kabzeel. Now Kabzeel was the most remote city in the southern part of Judah. And it was about 10 miles from the border with Edom. Now that piece of information alone, gives us some insight into what kind of man Benaiah it would have grown up to be, it would have been like growing up in a little town in the wild west of America, away from the comforts of the large cities. And then on top of that if you had one of Judah's major enemies less than a day's walk away. In addition, Edom to being right next door, you can also pick up from reading scripture about that time during the time Saul, David, early in Solomon's reigns, early in that time, there were plenty of raiders, there were bandits who preyed on the merchant caravans and people that were traveling some of the roads. So, it would not be surprising if the trade routes from Kabzeel were looked at, as targets for the bandits, they were out in remote areas. So, you would probably grow up to be pretty tough and self-sufficient, in a place like Kabzeel. Now, the name itself means "God gathers". That's interesting for us to think about, I think. In light of all of the prophecies that we have in scripture talking about God, gathering Israel from all over, no matter how far, no matter how remote, they might be, perhaps when the city was founded out on the frontier, it was named as a reminder of those promises. Were also given the name of his father Jehoiada. It is likely this is the Jehoiada he came 1 Chronicles 12:27. Jehoiada was a priest who supported David in his ascension to the throne. So, we would then see that Jehoiada, and Benaiah were of the tribe of Levi. Now in the culture of the Middle East, at that time, much more care was given to the naming of people in places than we take today. In our society, we tend to pick a name based on how good it sounds with our last name, or just happens to be a popular name. Or people might get creative and that's how we get kids named after cars. But in the Bible, a name is extremely important. Names have various uses. They could record an aspect of your birth, or the reaction of your parents to your birth. Your name could relate to something important about your family. This one was very common, names were used to establish an affiliation with God, a relationship to him. And that was the case for both Jehoiada and Benaiah. Jehoiada's name means 'knowledge of God". And Benaiah, his name means "God has built up". So, when we step back, we look at the meaning of Jahoiada's and Benaiah's names. When we put it together with where they were from, that they were also the priestly class, we get the sense that Benaiah grew up in a family that feared the Lord. They relied on Him for protection and looking to HBenaiahim for the blessings required to live and thrive in a frontier town. So, Benaiah grows up in Kabzeel. But eventually, he leaves there. And he meets David, the rises up through the ranks, helped along by the deeds he performed, especially those three mighty deeds that we are going to take a look at today. And Benaiah becomes one of the mighty men of David. So where did Benaiah fit in the organization? To answer that question, this is where we take the detour down the wormhole, and we will get back eventually. But to answer the question, we need to take a step back. And we need to understand that the organization of the military is THE Central organization, the central structure of David's reign as king. We need to take a little bit of time to digest what that means and how important it is. When God told David that he would not be the one to build the temple, David was told you shall not build a house for my name, because you have been a man of war, and has shed blood. So, the rule of David was a major change in the direction of government in ancient Israel. Now, prior to Saul, as the first king, Israel had been a fairly loose Federation of autonomous tribes, there was no central government. And if Israel had simply obeyed God, and looked to Him, that would have been great, the tribes would have grown, they would have prospered, and all would have been well. But we know, however, that Israel would not obey God. They demanded a king for themselves, like all of the neighboring nations. Now, this is a big change, with very far-reaching consequences. So, you're talking about moving from local tribal governance, decentralized government. Local government, at its lowest levels is more responsible to the needs of the people and more respectful of the rights of those people. Central governments tend to grow in power, and in scope, and they do it at the expense of personal rights. Solomon wrote that there's nothing new under the sun. So it should be no surprise that 1000s of years later mankind, we're still arguing over the right kind of government. But let's look at what was happening with ancient Israel in this demand to have a king. First off, by demanding a king, Israel was admitting that they did not believe that God would protect them and bless them. Israel, in essence, was rejecting God as their king. And second, they recognize that if they were not willing to rely on God, to protect them, and to fight for them, then they were going to be at a severe disadvantage to their neighboring enemies. During the conquest of the Promised Land, the Israelites mainly used guerrilla techniques. It was strike hard, they would strike fast, they would use ambushes, they would have a skirmish they would retreat. And the army was manned by militias, provided by each of the tribes. The call would go out, they would respond by gathering wherever they needed to go. And when they were looking to God for guidance, this worked. And we see that it worked over and over again, because the results of any battle was in God's hands. And no human army could change the outcome that He had determined. Now the problem with this model is when the focus is no longer on God in His guidance. When that happens, and human nature kicks in. You have all of the infighting with competing interests of the various tribes. Now another thing that happens when you don't have a centralized point of power when that central point of power is God, or if it comes in the form of a human king, you can't pull together a standing army. This is a hugely important point. In order to have a standing army, there must be a support structure in place. You have to have craftsmen to make the weapons, make the armor, you need housing, to put the men into when they are not out fighting battles, you need to have land set aside for training. And on top of all of this, you need to make sure that they're properly fed and clothed. In those first few 100 years in the Promised Land, that was something that just they were in no position to do that, again, they were autonomous tribes. Now if we think about it, it makes sense that God would not want a standing army for Israel. In order to have a standing army, you need to have that centralized authority. And in the world at that time, that meant one thing.

Okay, let's turn over to 1 Samuel 8. We're going to read a passage that tells of God's thinking behind this idea of Israel getting a king, one that's familiar to us. But as we go through this passage, take note of how many of the warnings that are given contain references to the military, and the structures that would support the military. 1 Samuel 8:4-22, starting in verse four. "And all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Rama, and said to him, Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us, like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said give us a king to judge us. So, Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you. They have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works, which they've done since the day that I brought them out of Egypt, even to this day, with which they have forsaken Me and serve other gods, so they are doing to you also. Now therefore, the heed their voice. However, you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the King who will reign over them. So Samuel told all of the words of the Lord's, of the people who asked him for a king, and he said, This will be the behavior of the King who will reign over you. He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots, and to be his horseman, and some will run before his chariots, he will appoint captains over as 1000s and captains over his 50s. We'll set some to plow his ground and repurpose harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and weapon for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers cooks and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants, he will take a 10th of your grain and your vintage and give it to his officers and servants. And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young man, and your donkeys and put them to his work. He will take a 10th of your sheep, and you will be His servants. And you will cry out in that day, because of your King, who you have chosen for yourselves. And the Lord will not hear you in that day. Nevertheless, that people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, 'No, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles'. And Samuel heard all the words of the people and he repeated them in the hearing of the Lord. So, the Lord said to Samuel, heed their voice, make them a king...."

So hopefully you noticed how many of those warnings were around the military, the building up of forces and all of the structures that are needed to support them. So, you can't do that if it's a bunch of federated tribes. Because it's one thing to fight for your tribal land. If it's under attack, you're going to fight for the death no matter what the odds, no matter how long it takes, but to fight for another tribe, and their land and their situation in that same way?  No, you have family back home. You'd had crops that you needed to plant or to harvest, etc. When you Look at the history of the tribes of Israel in the book of Judges, you'll see this happening over and over, you would have relationships between the tribes would weaken, they would break down and start squabbling back and forth. And then you would have this door opening to attack from the outside of the tribes, then you need that strong central authority figure to pull a military together. And in that time, it would be a judge given by God to take on that role. And you see that over and over again. Now, Israel's enemies at the time, prior to David especially, they were much more organized. They were better equipped. They had more powerful weapons, they had better armor, they had more sophisticated battle strategies. And so, from a human point of view, there's no question that Israel was outmatched by their enemies. You know, recall the report that came back from the spies that were sent into the Promised Land, those spies came back, and they were pretty freaked out by what they saw. It was very intimidating, seeing these giants, so they were very small in their own eyes there. And so, they needed God's help, if they were going to defend their lands and to defeat their enemies. And that was just as God intended. See, the Lord Himself would fight for Israel, to show all the world, His glory, His mind his power.

As we know from the story, Israel, obviously wouldn't have it, they wanted their king. So God finally gave them one. And the building of a standing military began. Saul began it, but David was the one who really pulled together the structure of the military of Israel. So, David certainly was a man of war, just as God said. And through David's leadership, Israel became a military powerhouse. Now, there's multiple pieces to this. David learned from fighting his enemies. He also likely learned a lot about Philistine military tactics during the time when he and his men were hiding out with them. But he would have been watching and would have been listening, determining the kind of strategies that they would favor in various situations, you know, the enemy had the high ground, what would you do? If they were caught in an ambush? How would they react? They would have been filing all of this knowledge away, would have also been thinking about what his response would be to their strategies. Now, there's a foundational principle in war. You also see it in sports, and other pursuits. The principle is that speed kills. If you study any military history, you'll learn that if a military force is able to move faster than the enemy, it can create a tremendous advantage so much so that a nimble and smaller force can defeat a much larger and slower force in the right circumstances. And that's played out over and over through history.for example. The forces of Genghis Khan, they would move so quickly. from one area to another European commanders who were accustomed to moving very slowly. They routinely overestimated the numbers of the Khans forces by a factor of 10 or more. They thought they had at least 10 times as many as what it actually was, because the Horde would swoop in, and they would attack and then they would retreat out of sight. And the European commanders, they thought they were pulling back to a camp that was out of sight, not realizing that the Horde was simply pulling back, and then moving over here to fight another European army on another front, and then pulling back from there, over and over again. They did not realize it was the same army. Now David would have understood this principle that speed kills. Now what David did that was very effective was he would take the more organized strategies of the enemy, more of like the pitched battles, we understand that the more organized something is, the slower it would move. But on top of that, he kept the guerrilla tactics that Israel was already using, that they were already accustomed to. Because those guerrillas attack those guerrilla tactics are by nature, they're more chaotic, they're smaller, they're more nimble. So, you can hit fast you can move. So David made sure that the Israelites were comfortable fighting a pitched battle, or a skirmish, like in an ambush. And you would have that flexibility and strategy. That was very powerful. So strategy is a big piece, but also during David's reign, the production of weapons became centralized, just as we read in 1 Samuel 8. Now that likely lead to some refinements, some improvements of the weapons. And then of course, one of the biggest changes is the formation of that standing army. This is where Benaiah comes back into the picture. Now, David, being the king, he was the supreme commander of the Israeliite armed forces, but he couldn't do it all himself. So just like the President today, David had a leadership structure that was put into place with advisors who would also carry out various strategies and orders. Now those leadership positions were filled by David's mighty men. And these were men who had distinguished themselves in battle and other deeds. That proved not only their military ability, but also their character for leadership. Now, the first three mighty men listed are Josheb-Basshebeth, Eleazar, Shammah, and those three men were probably like the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that our president has, they were the military inner circle for David, and Josheb-Basshebeth was the chief among the captains. So militarily speaking, he would be the chairman answerable only to David. And then the rest of the organization of the army fell below those three men. Now, let's go to 1 Chronicles 27, and see a little bit about how the army was organized at that time.

1 Chronicles 27, And the children of Israel, according to their number, the heads of fathers' houses, the captains of thousands and hundreds and their officers, served the king in every matter of the military divisions. These divisions came in and went out month by month throughout all the months of the year, each division having twenty-four thousand. 

Now, it's strongly believed that when we are reading about the armies of this time, that when we see 1000s, and hundreds, those probably are not literal numbers, they're probably not the numeric nnumbers. If you do a word study, it indicates that these were most likely names for a military unit. So you've got legions, platoons, troops, division squads, etc. For Israel, you have hundreds and 1000s. And in 1 Samuel 8, that mentioned 50s. And we don't know how many men might have actually been in 100, or 1000, might have been literal might not, again, doesn't really matter. But these divisions they came in, they went out, month by month, throughout all the months of the year, each division having 24,000 or 1000s.  1 Sam 27:2 "Over the first division, for the first month was Josheb-Basshebeth, and son of Zabdiel. And he in his division were 24,000 he was of the children of Perez, and the chief of all the captains of the army for the first month." Verse 5, The third captain of the Army, for the third month was Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, the priest, who was chief in his division. In his division was 24,000. This was the Benaiah, who was mighty among the 30, and was over the 30 and in his division was Ammizabad his son."

So we see that the standing army of Israel works similar to what the US has with the Army Reserve. You've got 12 divisions corresponding to the 12 tribes, with each tribe acting as the standing army ready for battle, one month per year. So in addition to having this force that was ready to go immediately, while the rest of the tribes were calling up their troops, they would have used that time to drill and to train. So, Benaiah led the third division, comprised of 24,000s of men might have been as little as 24,000. But in addition to that responsibility, David placed him as the commander over his personal guard, that is something that we read earlier in Second Samuel 23. Then on top of that, later in the reign of David, Benaiah was also in charge of the Kerathites and Pelathiaites And those were mercenary troops that supplemented the army. So you see that God did indeed build Banaiah up just as his name indicates, now later, Benaiah was also instrumental in carrying out David's wishes for Solomon to assume the throne. Eventually, he served as the chief of Solomon's army, and we read that in that role He carried out Solomon's orders to execute how to knock out an Adonijah, Joab, and Shimei and you can read all about that 1 Kings 2. Now all of this is fascinating history. But what does Benaiah have to do with us today? The answer lies in those three mighty deeds given in 2 Samuel 23. So we're going to start unpacking the first of the deeds is that he had killed two lion-like heroes of Moab. Now if you dig a little bit into this, you find that the words lion-like heroes, that is a best guess, translation of the word ariyel It's a compound Hebrew word, made up of two separate words. In the New Revised Standard Version, what you would see is two sons of Ariel of Moab. So the Hebrew ariyel  ismade of aryeh, just lion, it's the same word that you find in that second mighty deed listed where he went into the snowy pit to kill a physical lion. The second part is El, God. Now when you put them together the literal translation is lion of God. This word, also used as a name. So, as we saw that in the NRSV translation, it's possible that this is a word that was a title used for members of elite military troops. Where we have the seals, we have the Green Berets, the Rangers, etc. Moab might have had the ariels.

But what we have are two mighty warriors of Moab, who fought like lions of God. So, these must have been some pretty well known warriors, to have been mentioned, the best fighters that Moab had to offer. Take note of this, they sent the toughest fighters and Benaiah bested them both. And he might have taken them on at the same time. Could have even been likely, which I'd love to know the backstory on that one. Now, let's take a look at mobile app, there was a kingdom and a people to the east of Israel and Judah on the other side of the Dead Sea. Now you could do a pretty extensive study on Moab. But we're only going to hit on the high points today that relate to the message. Let's a focus on the symbolism of Moab. What does Moab represent? Was it just another kingdom that was in the way of conquering the promised land? Or is there a deeper meaning for us to understand? Now Moab, the word itself means the "seed of the father", or "flowing from the father". Remember a little bit ago we were talking about the importance of names. Here again, is the use of the name as one of remembrance. If you go to Genesis 19, we read about the conception and the birth of Moab and through the ancestral cobbling of lot in his daughter. This is a key to understanding let's go ahead Genesis 19:31-32 Don't turn around read. But this is a key to understanding the symbolism of Moab. Moab represents the physical flesh. In Genesis 19:31-32, we see this reasoning of the daughters of lot, it is physical fleshly reasoning. Now the firstborn said to the younger, our father is old. And there is no man on the earth to come into us as the custom of all the earth. Come, let us make our father drink wine. And we will live with him that we may preserve the lineage of our father. That is physical reasoning. It is showing a complete lack of faith in God, in the power that he has over all things, including over whatever may occur in our lives. God has power over all of those things. He is able to bring about of whatever is His will. He easily could have provided husbands for the daughters of Lot, but they took it into their hands in a most terrible way. Now the land of Moab it was in a Green Valley in the middle of the desert. So physically, it was a very beautiful, very abundant place. It was an excellent area to raise livestock it was well watered, had good soil for raising crops like barley and wheat, so it was physically desirable. What about the people of Moab? While they were pagans, and of course, there are many warnings of scripture where God warned the Israelites to watch out they are not to take up the customs and the false gods of the other nations in the land, in Moab, in several instances, was called out specifically, because Moab was particularly dangerous, because Moab and Israel shared ancestry. Abraham, of course, was the ancestor of the tribes of Israel. And Lot was the ancestor of Moab. And both Abraham and Lot shared ancestry through Terah. Terah was Abraham's father. And he was also the grandfather of Lot. So you have this physical thing that tied the Moabites and the Israelites together.

Now an example of the failure of Israel to resist the pull of Moab is found in Numbers 25:1-3 And I'm just going to go ahead and read this just for the sake of time, but it's just one of many examples. Number 25:1 says, Now Israel remained in the acacia grove (Shittim) and the people began to commit harlotry. With the women of Moab, they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So, Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel."

Now let's go ahead and go over to Jeremiah 48. Jeremiah 48, it's a lengthy passage. That is against Moab, pronouncing God's judgment on Moab and we're going to pick out just a few verses that highlight that this power of Moab, it lies in the physical that lies in the flesh, that is this tendency that we find also in Israel. And it's a tendency that we often find in ourselves, that we through our physical possessions, through our strength, that we can take care of things that we can prosper under. Jeremiah 48:1 tells us that this is against Moab is how it starts. Then let's drop to verse seven says "for because you have trusted in your works and your treasures, again, being physical, you also shall be taken". Verse 11, "Moab has been at ease from his youth, he has settled on his dregs, and he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into captivity, therefore, his taste remained in him and his scent has not changed".

Moab have been largely protected in that valley. They were able to defend it effectively. This allowed them to remain intact as a people, they were not being taken into captivity and moved around, as was so common in that time being emptied from vessels, that vessel being moved physically. Now that would lead to physical wealth, and it would lead to a sense of security. And it would also lead to the attitude that we read 0f in verse 29. "As we have heard, the pride of Moab, he is exceedingly proud of his loftiness and arrogance and pride of the hardiness of his heart".

These attitudes, of wanting to rely on our own physical strength, and possessions are very common for us, especially, of course, for those of us blessed to be in America. Even the poorest among us are hugely blessed with abundance, when compared to billions of people around the world that can be spiritually dangerous. So throughout the Old Testament, Moab is pictured as an enemy of Israel, even though it's a people that's related to them. So, Moab is a picture of the flesh, an enemy that we have that is obviously closely related to ourselves. Every one of us feels the struggles fighting against ourselves, there's physical urges that we have that can lead to sin. Let's go to Colossians 3. We wrap up looking at this particular deed. Colossians 3 Paul wrote about the need for us to defeat the lion-like warriors of Moab, in our own lives to overcome the physical holes of the flesh that we have. Colossians3:5 Paul tells us "Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, in covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked, you lived in them."

Let's move on to another great deed that Benaiah performed. We're given that, and again in 2 Samuel 23:21, says, "And he killed an Egyptian, a spectacular man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand. So he went down to him with a staff wrested of the spear out of the Egyptians hand and killed him with his own spear".  Now in 1 Chronicles 11: 23, that's a companion scripture and find out that this man was five cubits tall. That would be roughly seven and a half feet. That is big. Most of you know who Shaquille O'Neal is, was a basketball player in the Hall of Fame. Now, he is a big man. Shaq is 7-foot 1 inch. And he played at a weight as high as 395 pounds. The man wears a size 22 shoe. Now, a few years ago, we had an annual sales meeting in Orlando. And we were right next to the Universal Studios theme park. And there's this big area at the parks where it's open to the public. And they've got a bunch of restaurants and shops and whatnot. And one of the one of the restaurants is the ESPN Sports zone. It's a big sports bar. And outside, there are statues of players of various sports, but in the NBA area, they've got bronze basketballs. And like, you know, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, you know that, you know, the duck the handprints, well. They've got handprints of players in these bronze basketballs, and you can put your hand in the hands of these players. So, I put my hand in Shaq's hand, I don't have small hands, but they felt awful small, because it was only the tips of my fingers that were outside of his palms. huge, absolutely huge. So, I imagined that this is the kind of spectacular man that Benaiah was facing. He was facing a giant. So, Benaiah was massively overmatched in size and weaponry, and yet, Benaiah was able to defeat him. So, let's take a moment step back, let's remind ourselves of what Egypt represents in scripture. David's day, Egypt was still very powerful. It was still the leading nation of the day. It still had the armies it had the temples, it had the houses, the monuments, it had great pyramids that even now that cause us to look at them and wonder if we are still impressed with what is left of the Great Pyramids, can you imagine what it would have been like to see them intact or very close to being intact, like they were that Egypt was the pinnacle of wealth and power. And as such, the Bible uses Egypt is representative of the world in its ways. Egypt has a dual role that it plays in scripture. It is a place of refuge and protection. But it's also a place of oppression and wickedness. Abraham went to Egypt for refuge from a famine. Israel went into Egypt for refuge from a famine as well. And Jesus Christ and his family went to Egypt for protection from Herod. Israel and Christ both came out of Egypt as well. Let's face it, the world in its way, its ways in comforts, the appearance of wisdom; those things can look very attractive especially when we are struggling to stay on the righteous path that God sets before us. It is very easy for us to find fault with the Israelites in the wilderness when they start convincing themselves that we'd be better to go back to Egypt. They would be able to have food. It wasn't that bad making all those bricks. We have those same kind of urges in our lives, to look back at the good old days to see certain parts of our former lives with a kind of fondness that may not be appropriate or to think that the world was better Oh, it was better when I was growing up. Was it really? Has the world ever been good? Or is it just simply a matter of how rotten it is? In the account of Benaiah we've got this picture of the spectacular man of Egypt, very powerful. Don't give up. I don't have to kill you to come over here and join us. For some that might be a pretty convincing invitation to hear instead, Benaiah not only kills the Egyptian, but it kills him with his own weapon.

It's turned over to 1 Corinthians 3:8. Because it reminds us of a passage that we read in Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 3:18 "Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool, that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world, is foolishness with God, for it is written 'catches the wise in their own craftiness'. And again, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are futile".

So far, we've seen that Benaiah's deeds carried with them symbols for us, symbols of overcoming the flesh, physical pulls that we have within ourselves, that's Moab. And now we see that Egypt represents the influence of world. Ways that our society and culture have that can pull us away from doing the will of God, and Benaiah defeated both Moab and Egypt. And in part two, so where we come back to the snowy pit to uncover the lessons that lie for us there.