I want you to understand with me from the very start that David had a lot of mighty men. In fact, there were thousands of men who fought under David’s command. However, as when we get to David’s final words here in II Samuel 23, David begins to narrow this down to a small list of men, 37 in fact, according to verse 39. But there were 30 men that we know were specified by name as David’s Mighty Men.
These were men who were known for great skill, for great feats of courage on the battlefield. They were men who loved their King, and they were loyal to David. They loved the nation of Israel, and I believe they loved God. And I would go as far as to say that I believe their strength and victories came as a direct result of their faith, because some of the things they are recorded as doing were not natural things – they were supernatural things: they were not ordinary things – they were extraordinary things!
Verse 8 tells us about a man by the name of Adino who slew 800 of the enemy with a spear at 1 time. Now folks, that’s not ordinary, because you and I couldn’t take on 800 toddlers at one time. Verse 9 and 10 tells us about Eleazar, a man who found himself in a fight against the Philistines, and when he looked around, he found that everybody had abandoned him and run away. Yet he stayed in the fight and God brought a great victory. Then was Shammah, who stood in the middle of a pea patch, a lentil field, and when the Philistines came to take it, he stood alone when everyone else ran away, and again, God wrought a great victory.
But through the rest of the list, it just gives us a bunch of names – we don’t know exactly what they did or what they accomplished, we only know that they were some of David’s top mighty men. Now, I can’t speak for you, but for me, it’s very easy to just start skipping over that list of names. So, it’s easy when you’re looking at this list for some names to get lost on the list. In fact, that’s really the focus of my message during this great day in the history of our church. I’ll tell you folks, we are going to have some great days, and this is certainly one of them, but I’m just as sure that there will be some days that aren’t so great.
But as I began to really home in on this chapter, I realize there are some names on this list of men that we really get to know their deeds, men like Adino, Eleazar, Shammah, Abishai and Benaiah. But then there are other names that just seem to get lost on the list: They are not an Abishai or a Benaiah, or an Adino, or Eleazar or Shammah. There are four men that I notice really get lost on this list, there may only be a few words about them, and there may not be anything mentioned about them. But I really want us to notice this, and I hope you can each apply this in your perspective ministries:
THE MIGHTY MAN WHO’S FIGHT WAS FORGOTTEN (18-23)
There is something I noticed about this list that is very interesting. The first group of men that were mentioned in verses 8-12, was a list of 3 men – Adino, Eleazar and Shammah. This is an elite list of the top three – these were David’s:
- Delta Force Operators,
- David’s Tier 1 guys.
- They Best of the Best.
But then in verses 18-23, there is another list of three men that are given. These guys are what you might call the Tier 2 Special Forces – the Rangers, The Green Berets, The regular Navy Seal Teams, Marine Force Recon/Raiders.
Verse 18 says of this group “They had a name among three.” It then goes on to list Abishai in verses 18-19, who was among this second group, but didn’t make to cut into the top 3. Then in verses 20-23, it mentions another mighty man that didn’t make the top 3 named Benaiah.
Now this is where this list gets interesting. We know that the top three are Adino, Eleazar and Shammah. But when you get to this second list of three, we only learn two names – Abishai, who was the captain of this group three, and Benaiah, who David would set over his guard. But we are never given the name of the third person. Whoever this mighty man was seems to be “Lost on the List.”
Now I find this to be very interesting, because to make this list meant that he was in the top 6 of the 37, which made him better than most on the list. He had to have done something to of made this list of the top 6 list of David’s Mighty men. Yet, he is not mentioned. Now verse 39 clearly tells us that there were 37 mighty men listed here in total. But I have read this message over and over and all I can come up with are 36 names list. Whoever number 37, I believe is because this man is to second group of three got “Lost on the list.” He obviously did something to make the list – but the truth is, the man has been left out.
Now I’m not going to say that the Holy Ghost forgot to breathe this man’s name to the author to put him on the list, because we don’t believe in errors of the Scripture. So that means this man was left out intentionally.
Men, here is the message to you in this: there are going to be times in your service to God that you are going to be overlooked and underappreciated. You’re not always going to be recognized for what you do. And it will be a wonderful day in your ministry when you can:
- Die to self.
- And die to recognition.
- When you don’t have to be recognized for every little thing you do.
And I’m going to tell you now, if you are in this thing to be recognized, if you’re in this thing to always get a pat on the back, and for you to get the preeminence, I’m going to tell you that you want be in the ministry very long!
If you do this for recognition, you are doing it for the wrong reason! Jesus really pegged those Pharisees didn’t when He said that everything they did, they did to be “Seen of men.” And when they gave, they had the trumpets sounded so everybody knew that they gave. You know what they did, “They hired a Mariachi band to come play so everybody would see them giving!”
The bible says, when you give, don’t let your right hand know what your left hand is doing. When you pray, get in what? Your prayer closet!
I must be careful here because I’m preaching about somebody that’s not even listed in the Bible, so just bear with me here. Do you recall that list of hall of fame of heroes in Hebrews chapter 11, men who the Bible says, “Waxed valiant in fight.” Well, I believe this list of men were apart of that group being mentioned there. You know what the writer of Hebrews says of these men?
“They received a good report.” So, men – don’t do what you do to receive a good report among men but do what you do so that you can receive a good report in Heaven! There is a God in Heaven that recognizes everything that you do for His Kingdom. Sometimes you’re going to feel left out, overlooked and lost on the list, but that’s OK – God knows who you are! Serve God because you love Him!
The Mighty Man whose Fight was Forgotten, but notice second:
THE MIGHTY MAN WHO FORSOOK THE FAMILIAR (29)
In the middle of verse 29, there is a man there by the name of Ittai. Now all we know about this man Ittai is that he was from Gibeah, and he was a Benjamite. Do you know who else was from Gibeah and was a Benjamite? KING SAUL.
There was a time when Saul sought to destroy David, but he was also losing men. Remember 400 of Sauls men left Sauls Army and joined David in the caves. I believe this man Ittai was very likely to have been one of those men.
I believe it is possible Ittai was from the same hometown, the same tribe, and may have even been in the same family as Saul, but I believe he made a decision in his life:
- He wasn’t going after the flesh anymore.
- He wasn’t going after this man that was rejected by God.
He left his own home and his own family and decided to follow David. So, there was clearly a point in this man’s life where he made the decision to cut all earthly ties to follow God’s anointed!
There is going to be a time in your ministry that you are going to have to decide that you are either going to follow what man wants you to do or what God wants you to do.
In Acts chapter 5, when Peter and the other Apostles were brought before the council of the high priests, the high priests said unto them, “Didn’t we command you not to speak anymore in this name?” And I love Peter’s response,
“We ought to obey God rather than man.”
Folks, unless you are willing to forsake the familiar, forsake all else, you’re never going to be a Mighty Man for God! I know that’s not killing a lion in a pit on a snowy day, I know it’s not slaying 800 at one time, but to be willing to leave your family, to forsake all else for the work of God, I don’t know about you, but that’s pretty Mighty to me!
The Mighty Man whose Fight was Forgotten
The Mighty Man who Forsook the Familiar
THE MIGHTY MAN WHO WAS FAITHFUL IN FOLLOWING (37)
In verse 37, “Zelek the Ammonite, Nahari the Beerothite, armourbearer to Joab the son of Zeruiah,”
We only get a small description of this man Nahari, and what we learn about him is that he is an armorbearer. This simply means he was the guy who bore the armor. You know what that means? That means he carried stuff!
- You carry equipment – that’s what you do.
- You’re not the front-line Special Operator – You’re the support guy.
- You’re not the man – you follow the man.
- You’re not in charge – You follow the one that is in charge.
The armor-bearer carries all the stuff, maybe the swords, the shields, the body armor, helmets, the extra food rations. You’re just dragging all the stuff behind somebody else. This is really an entry-level job. In fact, it was one of David’s first jobs as he was armor-bearer to Saul at one point.
Yet, here is this man listed among the top 37 of David’s Mighty Men and all we know of him is that he was a servant to somebody else.
You know what that means? That means that no matter how tough he was, no matter how much he accomplished, no matter how many victories he won, he was always willing to follow somebody else!
Men, you will never be a leader if you’re not willing to be a follower. In fact, I will go as far as to say I hope there never comes a point in your ministry where you stop being a follower! The only way you are ever going to make disciples is by becoming a disciple!
So here is this man that is on this elite list of Mighty Men and the only thing we know about him to this day is that he was Joab’s armorbearer.
Listen, back in chapter 18, you’ll find that Joab had not one, but 10 armorbearers. 10 young men that carried his stuff! But this man apparently made the decision that if all he ever did was serve somebody else, if all he could do was be somebodies armorbearer, he was going to be the best armorbearer he could be!
I encourage each of you to just determine in your own lives you are going to be the best you can be right where God has planted you and you let God do the arranging of things in your life!
The Mighty Man whose Fight was Forgotten
The Mighty Man who Forsook the Familiar
The Mighty Man who was Faithful in Following
FINALLY NOTICE THE MIGHTY MAN WHO FORGAVE A FAILURE
There is a man mentioned in verse 39, “Uriah the Hittite.” Uriah brings up bad memories of some dark days in the life of King David. And these bad memories are not because of what Uriah did, but for what was done TO him.
The King that he served, the man he pledged his life to, stole his wife and then had him murdered. That’s about as bad as you can get in my book.
In the ministry, there are going to be some people, unknowingly, or sadly knowingly – that are going to hurt you. Unfortunately, that’s the reality of ministry. Somebody is going to hurt your feelings, they are going to let you down, they are going to disappoint you.
Listen guys, it’s just a part of life. Truth is, I’ve hurt people’s feeling before. I’ve had to go apologize to people; I’ve even had to apologize from the pulpit.
But here is the interesting thing about Uriah – Uriah went to his grave never knowing what David did. He went to his grave faithful to his king. He went to his grave as an honorable man who died what he thought was an honorable death. There was no bitterness in his heart and no malice in his heart! He only had one enemy when he died, and that was the enemy he was confronting on the battlefield.
But Uriah is not the name on the list I am thinking of here, but it brings us to it. But there’s another name on this list – and he did know what David did to Uriah.
In the middle of verse 34, there is this name “Eliam, the son of Ahitophel, the Gilonite.”
Back in chapter 11, verses 2 and 3 tell us, “And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
So here’s David, enjoying a fresh cup of coffee up on the rooftop of Lust, and he’s inquiring about Bathesheba. And one of his servant’s man’s up and says, “Hold on King, isn’t that your mighty man Eliam’s daughter and the wife of one of your other mighty men Uriah?”
Listen to me now, Uriah went to his grave never knowing what happened to him. But Eliam had to live with what happened. He had a son-in-law that was murdered by his King, he had a daughter that lost her husband and had an affair with the King. Then he had a grandson that died.
All we know about Eliam is what is written in these two verses, and I’ve shared both of them with you. So I submit this thought to you:
IF Eliam continued as a Mighty Man for David, and I assume he did as he is mentioned in David’s final thoughts as one of the Elite of the Elite, then there is only one way he could have done it:
HE HAD TO FORGIVE! I’m not saying he did, I’m only saying if he did. And if you are going to be and stay a mighty man for God, you’ll have to find forgiveness in your heart as well.
You’re going to have to forgive those who have wronged you. I promise you, in the ministry, you are going to get your feeling hurt and if you don’t learn to forgive people, that bitterness, that resentment will consume you and it will consume your ministry. What we do is forgive, and do you know why? Because we’ve been forgiven!
Do you know what Eliam’s name means in the Hebrew language? GOD’S PEOPLE. Now, if anybody ought to be forgiving it ought to be GOD’S PEOPLE!
Forgiveness is always right. You can choose to live with bitterness or you can choose to do what’s right!
I can’t speak for you, but I believe that man who forgave – that’s a mighty man; that man who just served as an armorbearer – that’s a mighty man to me; that man who forsook all for the cause of Christ – that’s a mighty man to me; and that man who served God faithfully whether you knew his name or not – that’s a mighty man! So, choose to be a Mighty Man!
Fighting for My Pea Patch 