2 Samuel 23:8-39 Why the Credits Role

You're listening to a podcast of Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan. This week, Pastor Don Filsak is preaching from his series,

The Warrior Poet King, Study of Second Samuel. Let's listen in. Well, good morning, everybody.

Good morning, and welcome to Recast Church. I'm Don Filsak. I'm the lead pastor here. And God has given us another week in the books, right?

Praise Him. He's given us another week for challenges, another week for growing, another week of His undeserved blessings raining down on us, regardless of how difficult or tough your week may have been.

How many of you could raise your hand and testify that God has been good this week? God has been good. This morning, we have another week for gathering together as a people who are increasing in our love for God and our love for others, growing in faith, growing in community, and growing in service together.

We're nearing the end of Second Samuel. I started this series, started preaching through the book at the start of 2022.

So here we are, the second to the last message in the book. It's been a year of marching through the twists and turns of the life of King David.

Highs, lows, and everything in between. Sin, victories, all kinds of stuff that demonstrates that his life was a real life like yours and mine.

This week, we're going to see the credits roll. We're going to see the credits roll like you see the credits roll at the end of a

Marvel movie, but there's still a trailer left for the next movie kind of at the end. Anybody know what I'm talking about?

If you know, you know. You stay at the end of the movie, and then there's another thing yet to come.

So, despite the fact that this week we're looking at the credits, next week is going to be one last story about the life of David that God desires for us to hear before we wrap up the book of Second Samuel.

And here we see an important event in the life of David. I'm sorry, next week we're going to see an important event in the life of David, but here we see the list of names similar to the way the credits rolled at the end of the movie.

There is something very important about credits. It wasn't just the star actor that made the movie work.

It wasn't just the director that made the movie work. It wasn't only the producer. It was a whole lot of people that made the movie, and we know that.

Despite the fact that most of us, unless we think there's something to stay for, leave. And if you've ever stayed to the end of the credits, it was a whole lot of people.

Any of you ever actually just stay for the credits, watch them? There's a lot of people. A lot of people that go into a single movie, right?

And there was more that went into the ancient kingdom of King David than than just himself.

And there was more than just mere battle, and I want to point that out because what we're going to see is credit.

We're going to see the credits roll in David's life, and we're going to see a very narrow sliver of credit given to his valiant army.

But I want to point out to you that a valiant army was a significant requirement for the maintaining of a geopolitical kingdom in the

Bronze Age. That era of human history, the Bronze Age, if you wanted to stay around, you had to have a military force of defense.

And to be honest, let's just be real, a strong military is a pretty significant thing for maintaining a geopolitical nation in 2022 as well, is it not?

So we acknowledge that even now despite the fact that back then it was just significant and vital for survival.

But the fact that so much of the conclusion of the life of David is taken up here and given credit to his valiant, mighty men shows the centrality that a strong military had in those ancient days.

But it's important to understand the overarching point of this text before we read it together. And it's just simply this.

Here's the point. You read the book of, you can read the book of Numbers. Lots of lists of names.

You can read Chronicles. Lots of lists of names. You can even read Romans chapter 16. Lots of names.

And you can brush over those. You can read this text about the mighty men. You can just brush over those names.

But here is what God wants you to walk away from here with, here's the silver bullet this morning, the main nugget.

People matter. People matter to our God. David was not alone as the king over Israel.

He wasn't the only one that mattered. But there were others. All people matter. There's some credit due to others here at the end of the book about the establishment of God's kingdom.

Some men deserve some honor. Because God wasn't just solely doing something in David.

He was working through a bunch of people to establish the security of his people. And he was doing that for a reason. Why was he establishing the security of the people of Israel?

It was so that they could be the conduit through which the Messiah would come to the world. All of this focused on the bringing forth of a

Messiah named Jesus Christ. The establishment of Israel was all about that.

That one would come from the line of Israel who would save and rescue people from their sins.

The protection of Israel was for the bringing forth of Jesus who was prophesied to come from the line of the Jews. Even in a passage commending a bunch of guys for acts of might and valor and bravery, there is a link to God's plan to bring the

Savior of the world through the Jewish people. And God used David's mighty men to gain victory over the enemy nation surrounding

Israel to help them to keep being a people. So let's open our Bibles or your apps or your scripture journals to 2

Samuel chapter 23. And we're going to read 8 through 39. Bear with me and be glad.

You can rejoice that I'm the one up here reading these names and you're not. So if I butcher them,

I usually do fairly good with confidence and very few question me on the reading of these things.

And yet today I may stumble at a couple of points. Some of these names just don't roll off my tongue very easy.

But we'll bear with it together because this is God's word. Again, He loves people and He loves that I'm about to read these people's names.

Names of people that God knew. These are the names of the mighty men whom

David had. Joshua B'Shebeth, the Tecumelite. He was chief of the three.

He wielded his spear against 800 whom he killed at one time. And next to him among the three mighty men was

Eliezer, the son of Dodo, son of Ahohi. That one just does not roll.

He was with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle. And the men of Israel withdrew.

He rose and struck down the Philistines until his hand was weary and his hand clung to the sword.

And the Lord brought about a great victory that day. And the men returned after him only to strip the slain.

And next to him was Shammah, the son of Agi, the Hararite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi.

There was a plot of ground full of lentils and the men fled from the Philistines. But he took a stand in the midst of the plot and defended it and struck down the

Philistines. And the Lord worked a great victory. And three of the thirty chief men went down and came about harvest time to David at the cave of Adullam when a band of Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim.

David was then in the stronghold and the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem. And David said longingly,

O that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate. Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the

Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and carried and brought it to David.

But he would not drink of it. He poured it out to the Lord and said, Far be it from me,

O Lord, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?

Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did. Now Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zariah, was chief of the thirty.

And he wielded a spear against three hundred men and killed them and won a name beside the three.

He was the most renowned of the thirty and became their commander, but he did not attain to the three.

And Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, was a valiant man of Kabziel, a doer of great deeds. He struck down two aerials of Moab.

He also went and struck down a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen.

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. These things did Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and won a name beside the three mighty men.

He was renowned among the thirty, but he did not attain to the three. And David set him over his bodyguard.

Asahel, the brother of Joab, was one of the thirty. Elhanan, the son of Dota of Bethlehem. Shammah of Harad.

Elika of Harad. Helaz, the Paltite. Irah, the son of Ikesh of Tekoa. Abiezar of Anathoth.

Mabunai of Mabunai, the Hushethite. Zalman, the Ahohite. Maharai of Netopha.

Helab, the son of Banna of Netopha. Ittai, the son of Ribai. Ribai, yes.

Of Gilead. Of the people of Benjamin. Every time I say his name, it makes me hungry.

Benaiah of Pirithon. Hidai of the Brooks of Gosh. Abielbon, the

Arbethite. Asmabeth of Behurim. Eliabah, the Shalbenite.

The sons of Jason. Jonathan. Shammah, the Hararite. Ayam, the son of Shirar, the

Hararite. Eliphelet, the son of Ahasbi of Macca. Eliam, the son of Ahithophel.

Ahithophel, the Gilanite. Hezro of Carmel. Parai, the Arbite. Egal, the son of Nathan.

There's a name I can pronounce. Nathan of Zoba. Bani, the Gadite. Zelic, the

Ammonite. Nahari of Beeroth. The armor bearer of Joab, the son of Zariah. Irah, the

Ithrite. Garab, the Ithrite. Uriah, the

Hittite. 37 in all. Let's pray. Father, I thank you that you are a

God concerned with people. You don't have to pay any attention to us.

You could have wadded this whole universe up and thrown it in the trash bin and start it over again. We could just be robots or automatons.

We could be people unworthy of credit rolls and no attention from you whatsoever.

But instead, you have seen fit to work in and through humanity. Humanity made up of individuals.

Individuals who bear names. Individuals who bear histories. Who come from places and are heading places.

Father, I thank you that you have met us here and I don't believe that there's anybody in this room that's not here in part because they've met you in some way, shape, or form and they want to know you better.

That you're drawing hearts. You're drawing us all into this epic and huge story of the things that you desire to do.

Not just in history, but in our present and in our future as well.

Father, I pray that you would help us to rejoice and lift our voices as the people who are being impacted by you day by day.

In the good and in the bad and everything in between. That you are the one who gives victory.

We may stand in the lentil field with our sword in our hand, but we are mortal and you are the one accomplishing what you desire to accomplish.

Father, I pray that you would help us to trust you more as a result of hearing this message this morning. Hearing this text and singing these praises to you.

Gathering together with your people. I pray that we would grow in faith. We would grow in community. We would grow in service.

And that our faith would be stronger. Even going into an election week and all the stresses and strains of this season of life.

Seasons that seem to just repeat themselves over and over again. Cycles of difficulty and frustration.

And even for some, I'm sure we would confess fear. Father, I pray that you would turn that around to faith and trust that you have a plan.

That you are good. And that we come before you to worship you now in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, yeah, you can go to be seated and make yourself comfortable.

I do ask that you please reopen to that list. 2 Samuel 23 verses 8 through 39.

And we're going to walk through that text. If at any time during the message you want to get up and get more donut holes or coffee, take advantage of that.

You're not going to distract me if you need to get up and stretch out or use the restrooms or whatever. While David was running from Saul, before he was king, he collected people.

Most of them were battle -hardened men who were particularly skilled in the ancient art of combat.

And over his entire life, he built up an inner circle of men that were known as the Thirty. The way that it's used in the

Hebrew language demonstrates it's kind of like an office. It's a gathering, a group of people that were designated as the

Thirty. So in many places we see mention of the armies of Israel in general and even a couple of times in this chapter, we're going to see that the armies of Israel will flee, while members of the

Thirty will stand their ground. A distinction between the general army and this group of crack troops, these elites.

They were elite and it appeared to be quite an honor and likely something official to be numbered among the

Thirty. There's an indication that there were Thirty at any given point, and yet most scholars believe that when one died, another was chosen to fill a spot so that the number would always be at least

Thirty. So there were always Thirty, but those who had once served among the Thirty and passed away are still honored here in our text, so that we're going to see that the numbering of the

Thirty is actually 37 by the end of the text. That can create some confusion, but at any given point, there were

Thirty, but some of them passed on. We actually have record of Asahel, for example, he died fairly early in David's reign.

Before I give you the outline, I want to highlight a couple of things that I think we need to get out of the way at the start of a list of credits that are honoring these men.

Something that I think is important for us to understand as Christians. The first is that it's good to honor those who have served well.

Now you go, yeah, duh. But maybe. But maybe not.

Maybe we haven't done a good job of that. In this case, we're going to see acts of bravery, we're going to see acts of heroism, and these

Thirty are honored, these 37 are honored. We see a list of their names where they are commended.

God apparently loves to list the names of people who have particularly exhibited faith and trust in Him.

The New Testament, of course, includes its own share of lists. We have the list of the

Twelve, His Twelve disciples, His inner circle. And if you just consider the ending of the book of Romans, where chapter 16 is completely taken up with honor and love and thanks and greetings expressed to those who have served the church with Paul well.

We know that, and many of the epistles of Paul conclude or contain lists of people's names.

Again, I mentioned in the introduction that one of the primary messages that you should get out of this message this morning is that God loves people.

He's concerned for individuals. Not just corporately. Not just nations. Not just a smattering of, yeah,

I kind of love generally recast church or something like that. No, He loves the individuals and He knows names.

And He has no problem recalling those names in a list like this. I think it's good to get this out of the way at the start, by the way, that there's commendation given in Scripture simply because Christians, in particular

Christians like me, with a bent towards a Reformed view of God and a deep commitment to the doctrines of sovereign grace, well, let's just be honest,

I'm not sure that people that go down that road do gratitude very well. And I think

I would just encourage you to think in your own heart and in your own mind and in your own life how well do you do gratitude.

I mean, we might think in reason like this from a Reformed perspective, doesn't all glory go to God alone?

Soli Deo Gloria is one of the five solas that the entire

Reformation movement was based upon. Soli Deo Gloria, glory to God alone, why would

I thank you? Why would I thank the middleman? Why wouldn't I go straight to God might be the thought of some people.

Isn't it glory to God alone by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone as revealed in Scripture alone?

Be done with it. So we could adopt an attitude that says why thank people?

Anybody know what I'm talking about? There's a little bit of awkwardness in evangelical and conservative

Christian circles about thanking each other. Doesn't that really belong to God we might wonder?

We're just tools that God applies in the lives of each other. So only give Him thanks might be the thinking, but it's important to note that the

Bible shows us something different. Does it not? Is it not here in this very text demonstrating something different than that?

And if we call ourselves biblical then we're going to take on what the Scriptures are showing us, not some convoluted false humility or attempted false humility when it comes to thanking each other.

No, no, just give the glory to God. Don't thank me or whatever. And I experience that as well.

I think all of us do. I'm not just pointing at you guys. When somebody thanks you for something, are you sometimes just awkward about it?

Anyone? Like standing at the door, somebody says, thanks for the message, Pastor. Glory to God alone, man.

It's just His. That was His. Do you take the knee and Tebow right there? What do you do? Oh, no, that was

His touchdown. That wasn't me. I didn't catch that ball. No, of course not. So we can adopt that kind of attitude, right?

Do you see that? And so it's important for us to see from the get -go, as far as just setting the table for us this morning, thanks is baked in this message.

It's right in there. So it is good to honor those who serve well. The second thing that I think all of us need to take on, this is very un -American, what

I'm about to say, but we kind of know it in our gut. Some receive more honor than others.

We joke about participation trophies. I joke about being the most improved player on my freshman basketball team.

We all know what that means. Not that good to start with.

Not that good at the ending. But better. There was improvement. God doesn't give everyone the same trophy.

God doesn't give everyone the same gifts. God doesn't even, in this text, give everyone the same honor. Not everyone wields a spear like Joshua B'Shebeth.

Not everybody's that good. Not everyone is called to take the stand in the lentil field. Shama was.

Not everyone can excel spreadsheet like Zach Lloyd. Just not everybody can do that.

And yes, I use that as a verb. You can excel spreadsheet. That's a verb. When it comes to Zach, he can make that thing do stuff that I don't even know if the designers meant it to be able to do that.

He just gets that. But where we see God using a person and then them responding in faith and applying their skills and their gifts and their talents for the glory of the kingdom of God, it is good to recognize them.

It is good to thank them. It is good to recognize the glory of God using each other.

And it should not be an awkward thing in the church. It should be a normal thing. With those caveats out of the way, it is good to give thanks.

Some will receive more honor than others, but the outline looks like this. A little bit of a technical outline.

First, verses 8 -11 is the three. Then the unnamed three, verses 12 -17.

Then the two commanders, verses 18 -23. And then the 30 listed out in verses 24 -39.

So that's your four points. The three, the unnamed three, the two commanders, the 30, all centered on those numbers.

Three guys stood out above all of the military of Israel according to this text. They were mighty warriors who were powerful in battle.

Joshua B'Shebeth is given to us as the name of the guy who was chief of the three.

The ones who stood out were the three. Among the 30, among the military of Israel, there were the 30, and then above them were the three, and they were crazy skilled warriors.

They were the most decorated elite soldiers in all of David's military. It's interesting to think that we have very little recorded of the actions of Joshua B'Shebeth at all.

We don't know much about what he did. We know one instance of valor, and yet the assumption ought to be in our minds that there's a lot of unrecorded valor, a lot of unrecorded bravery that they're just giving us a sample, exemplary event in the life of Joshua B'Shebeth, but he did a lot of other things.

This man who lived out his life under King David is his military, he is his apex special operator.

He is the elite of the elite. I might even just go so far as to say the best of the best of the best.

In verse eight, we see an astounding example of his military prowess. Some of you might be unimpressed, and actually kind of, it's gruesome.

He killed 800 enemies in one battle with only a spear, and you go, wow! Killed 800 people, that's impressive.

Many of us don't really relate to spears very well. You're like, well, isn't that for throwing? Well, there's actually two words in the

Hebrew language for this type of implement. There's javelin. It's translated javelin in different places in the

Bible. That's a throwing implement. That's for hurling at somebody. Sharp on both ends, you throw it, and it's done.

You don't always recover those. Then there's the spear that was meant to be maintained in your hand.

You didn't let go of it. You didn't chuck it at people, generally speaking. You generally thrust it.

Gross. Not a lot of cutting edge on a spear. You guys getting the picture?

A little short head on it, just a couple little cutting edges. That's what's so impressive about this military action of Josheb the

Shebeth, killing 800 in one battle with just a spear.

Spears are not weapons that would be wielded to rack up kills. Without getting too graphic, slicing blades with longer edges would be the kind of weapon that you would use to rack up more kills.

Josheb, here in the text, is first. He stands head and shoulders above everybody else in his military might.

Second was Eleazar. He stood his ground in a battle with the Philistines. All the army retreats. Run! He rose up.

He stood up and stood his ground against the Philistine army, struck down the

Philistines until they fled. What you have to have in your image here is that the

Philistines were powerful enough to create fear in the entire military of Israel.

They all retreat, and this dude, Eleazar, stands his ground there and says, and by the end of the battle, they're afraid of him.

And when the army of Israel finally returns to see what all the commotion is about, all they had left to do was to search for spoils.

Now there's two primary theories that exist about his hand getting stuck to the hilt of the sword here. Yes, the Hebrew in verse 11 has an indication that he can't let go of his sword.

It's stuck to his hand. By the end of this battle, he's either cramped up or something. The least gruesome of these is that there's an actual disorder in the tendons that can be caused from overuse and it actually can lock up.

So that's one possibility. One commentator that I read this week went all full on gruesome and basically said, congealed blood gets sticky.

End of story. So you can just imagine what that, he can't get the sword out of his hand by the end of this battle.

Either way, note that the text indicates something interesting here. Here in verse 10 as well as in verse 12, the

Lord brought about a great victory that day. And we see this comment in verse 12 as well.

We have to recognize all victories, church. Hear me carefully. All victories are

His gifts. We will be tempted to think that at the end of the day it is

Eleazar that won this battle. Or that Joshua B'shebeth is the one who won the battle.

We're going to be tempted to credit ourselves as the ultimate cause of the victory. Or powerful people as the ultimate cause of the victory.

Or even circumstances, or even worse than that yet would be fate won the victory.

But it is God who here in the text is credited with using bravery and acts of daring to bring forth

His plan. His victory for His people. Let me state this all a different way so that you can hopefully by the reverse, by stating the reverse, you get what

I'm going about here. We can be brave, stand our ground, and still be cut down, right?

Is that right? Raise your hand if that's true. That's true. I mean, when it came to Joshua B'shebeth, there in the battle with his mighty spear, and he's...

How many of you know that an arrow could have took him out? How many of you know that somebody else could have got through his defenses?

And it's just a matter of time. And maybe somewhere around 620 somebody gets him. So who gets credit for this victory?

God. God kept him standing. We can be brave and still be cut down.

So who made sure that none of those 800 killed Joshua B'shebeth in that battle? Who kept

Eleazar standing there until the Philistines fled? And the third is in verse 11 where we read about Shammah standing his ground in a field of lentils where he stood alone and shouted at the

Philistines, No soup for you! Right? Because that's the only thing I know to do with lentils is make soup.

So I just picture that being the case and he struck down the Philistines until they fled. Some of you know what

I'm talking about if you know, you know. Right? Who struck down the

Philistines in the field full of lentils? The Lord gave the victory. Our bravery and acts of daring do not win the day, church.

They may be used by God to win the day, but He has the final say in the matter. Amen? He has the final say in the matter.

We stand in faith, hoping that maybe if He sees fit,

He will deliver us. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego saying to Nebuchadnezzar, you can throw us in the fire and God could save us if He wants to.

We don't know if He's going to or not, but we will not bow to your pagan idols. We won't do it.

And this might be the day we go home. This might be the day we die, but this is where we draw the line.

This is where we take our stand. And that's it. So we see in these first three a reminder that while we may include names in the credits of the victories,

God is the one working them. And we may offer thanks to each other, but we always keep in mind that God is the one who grants or withholds the victory at the end of the day.

Now the second section for the text is the unnamed three, verses 13 through 17. We see this account here of the bravery of three of the thirty.

Now these are three, we probably know their names because they're probably three of the guys that are mentioned later in the list, we just don't know which three.

But the circumstances seem likely to have occurred prior to David becoming king. I say that because he hung out at the caves of Adullam regularly during the period of time where he was fleeing from King Saul.

And we see lots of records in 1 Samuel of David hanging out near the caves of Adullam. But in this circumstance, whatever the context is, the

Philistines were garrisoned close by, close to the caves of Adullam, by David's childhood town of Bethlehem, probably getting ready to head up to Jerusalem.

They're about six miles to the south of Jerusalem. And he says, in passing, just in a passing comment, that's overheard by some of his military.

Man, I love the water in that well over there by Bethlehem, by the gate. We're told that this is during the harvest time, which you go, oh yeah, harvest time,

I get it. It's a particular dry time in Israel. And so a particular thirst likely drove this passing comment out of David.

This is his childhood home. This is where he grew up. He knew this well.

And there's just something about being near home anyways, but then there's also, in this context, the taste of the water.

How many of you know that the taste of the water that you grew up with is the water that you're used to, right? You know what I'm talking about? I grew up in Middleville, by the way.

On our sign, as you went into Middleville, was best tasting water in Michigan, two years running, 1991 and 92.

That was the claim to fame of Middleville, Michigan, up there by Grand Rapids. Good tasting water. I still miss it to this day.

Oh, that somebody would bring me a drink of water from Middleville. I mean, not that you need to do that or anything, but just kidding.

He makes this passing comment. And so these three mighty men overheard David's longing and the

Hebrew text says, they cut through. That's the Hebrew word that's used here in the text, cut through.

This is not a stealth mission. This is not night ops. This is not their infrared goggles or anything like that.

This is them just taking on the Philistines head on. We're going to get to that well and we're going to get our leader some water.

They cut through the Philistine lines to the very gates of Bethlehem where they drew water while defending themselves.

Now, how many of you know you've drawn water out of a well? Probably not many of us, but it takes some effort.

One of these guys literally is there with the rope in their hand getting the water while the other two are defending him.

That's the picture that you have to have in your mind. These guys have just fought their way to the city gates and are there drawing water for their king.

They return with the water to David. We don't know what kind of instrument, if they carried a bucket or what, but they have to carry the bucket of water.

This sounds like a video game, right? They have to carry the water through the enemy lines without spilling a drop or else, oh sorry, you've got to start over again.

Only probably not in this case. You don't get to start over again. Not extra lives or anything like that. They return with the water to David.

In verse 17, we see that this story is included as an exemplary action that shows the types of things that the 30 routinely did.

What they do here, what these three do, these three unnamed, maybe it's because of the nature of their needing correction that they're not named.

There's some debate about why not include their names. Well, they have to be corrected and we see that in the text.

They display a radical display of loyalty to David, their king, but it's shown to be at least a little bit misguided.

They overplay their loyalty to David to some degree because what they do here is considered by David to be to go beyond just mere thanks and mere gratitude to being worshipped.

They have worshipped him and he will not accept their worship.

He will accept thanks, he will accept tribute, but he will not accept a worship that belongs to God alone in this text.

He sees them as having crossed that line from thanks to worship and we'll talk about that a little bit later. But David refuses to drink the water.

Any of you just think, when you've read this before or you've seen this text, anybody just like is that honoring or dishonoring for him to do that?

It just seems kind of like they fought their way through. Why in the world would you not drink it? Just show them some respect.

But David refuses to drink this water but pours it out as an offering of worship to God instead because he sees too much elevation of himself in this scenario.

The sacrifice of his men has been a sacrifice he is not worthy of. They've risked their lives and blood to bring him a drink of water so he even equates the water itself with their life blood.

These guys are mighty. These guys are radically loyal to David and these guys needed a lesson reserving worship for God alone.

Now we move on to the third one in verses 18 -23 we see two commanders set over the 30, one of them set over the 30 and one of them over the bodyguard of David.

The Pelethites and the Cherethites are mentioned all throughout the text. That's his elite bodyguard, those who traveled in his entourage always near David, always ready to protect him.

They distinguish themselves, these two commanders, but not to the level of the three. So let me state up front that we might assume what we probably, what our

American minds want to do with this text is assume that Joshua Beshebeth as David's very best warrior should be the commander of the 30, right?

Did anybody think that? Like if he's the elite, if he's the head, if he's the most powerful man in David's military, should he not be commander?

Raise your hand if you think. Maybe he ought to be commander. Like that's the way that we have a tendency to think. He's the best of the best of the best.

He's top gun. So he ought to be the commander of the 30, right?

Well wrong, because some operations run on common sense. And David's kingdom was likely one of them.

Not everyone who can kill 800 people with a spear would make a good military commander.

Not every star running back makes a good coach. Not every star quarterback should be a coach.

So while Abishai and Benaiah are distinguished as commanders, they are not as powerful with weapons as Joshua, Eliezer, or Shammah.

The text goes over the top to say these guys are better running backs than him. These guys are better quarterbacks than him.

These guys are better at their position than Benaiah or than Abishai.

Now Abishai, it says right in the text, was only able to kill 300 with a spear. Lightweight class

Bush League, right? Like last time I checked 800 is bigger than 300, right? Yeah.

Abishai was trusted by David with military strategy. He's pretty powerful anyways.

But he was the brother of David's highest commander, Joab. Which I need to state right now might be confusing to some of us.

He is glaringly absent from this list of credits. And so glaringly absent that it requires some explanation.

I think we have some pretty good reasons why you don't see Joab's name in the list. And I don't know if anybody caught it, but kudos to you if you did.

If you read this and you've been kicking it around 2 Samuel for a while, you may very well have already thought, where's

Joab? Where is he? I thought he was the commander of David's military almost his entire life.

We know that he was deposed for a season and then even wheedled his way back into that role.

But most scholars think he is here in the text. That he is here. By number only.

But not by name. There are 36 names in this text. But in the end, the passage tells us there's 37 who deserve the honor.

Most scholars believe the 37th is Joab. Joab has been left out by name, but still included in the count.

Why would that happen? Those of you that have been here for a while might have an answer. He killed

David's own son. He killed David's crown prince, Absalom.

David said, don't touch Absalom in battle. Don't kill him. Save his life if you encounter him in battle.

And Joab caught him, strung up in a tree, hanging by his hair. The donkey had kept walking and he got stuck and tangled.

And Joab ran him through and said, good, that's done. Disobeyed David's direct order and killed his own crown prince.

His oldest living son. And it was likely still out of David's, he likely was still out of David's good graces when this happened.

He likely already was demoted when this list was compiled. And the recorder who compiled this list probably did not want to enrage

David by putting his name in a place of honor. Counts him, but he doesn't name him.

So it said of his brother Abishai that he was the most renowned of the 30, but did not attain to the military renown of the three.

And then there's Benaiah, who has been mentioned as the captain of David's bodyguard. He was also renowned, but not as mighty as Joshib, Eleazar, or Shammah.

It says in the text he struck down two heroes, Ariels of Moab. That word is unclear, and if you're reading it in the

English Standard Version, there's a little note there that says we're not 100 % sure what the word Ariel means, but it just probably likely means really mighty or powerful dudes of Moab.

And he killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day. What? How does that go down?

Now, I think I know how it happened, and if any of you guys, when you were younger, had a hold my beer moment, when you were young and you were dumb, guys walking around on a snowy day when they find a lion pacing in a pit, the lion's probably trying to get out, it's snowy, it's icy, the lion's leaping, can't get out, it's a steep enough pit, and so they're like, hey.

And then I think the rest goes like this, because I've lived some of these moments. Not with lions, but with other dumb things.

Dare, double dog dare, dead lion. Anybody have those moments?

Dare, double dog dare, dead lion. Only in my case, it would have been dare, double dog dare, dead done, right?

Like it's like, that's, I mean, or you would have been on the highlight reel of some kind of, you know, stupid thing or whatever.

He also, it says, faced down a really tall Egyptian with a spear, when all he had was a walking stick.

Now your translation, most of the translations that you have in your lap say really handsome man. I don't think so.

I don't love that translation, and I hate disagreeing with the ESV, but there's just some things sometimes that I look at and I go,

I think they probably had some strange, sometimes they take the least likely translation, the least likely because they don't want to be seen to be pushing the text in a direction.

But it says in the text, he went down to this Egyptian with a club, or I mean only with his walking stick.

The Egyptian has a spear. He takes the spear out of the Egyptian's hand and kills him with his own weapon.

And I say really tall because the word translated handsome is a word that in Hebrew literally means man of sight.

It's a metaphorical phrase that could be taken in a variety of ways and is in Hebrew. So a man of sight can be a man that everybody wants to look at.

Ladies. Or a man of sight can be a really tall dude who's able to see really well over everybody else.

So the translators need to make a decision whether it takes on the euphemistic meaning of a man able to see everyone or someone that everybody wants to see.

In context, I'm going to suggest to you that his stature probably mattered more than any accounting of his dashing good looks.

So Abishai and Benaiah won names for themselves, but they still, according to the text, fell short of the three.

Falling short is going to show up in the application. It's going to show up here in a moment when we walk back through the text and we talk about how to put it into our lives because the fact of the matter is there are varying levels of honor.

There are varying levels of honor and we have to deal with that. The last point is we get to the raw list in verses 24 -39.

Now when I was in college, me and my friends developed a tradition. The tradition went like this. You can't leave the movie theater until your name is actually, you see your name in the closing credits.

It has to be your first name, just your first name, obviously not your last. I'd still be there today. I've never seen a filsec in movie credits.

But I've seen dons. They're not as common anymore. It's tough. Sometimes my family still does that and we're like, oh, okay, we're done.

It's not that fun. There's not that many dons and lindos anymore. We did that.

You're going to be sitting here for a while if we apply that to this list. I have a curiosity in my mind about what names made it into English as usable words, usable names.

Why don't people name their kids Joshub anymore? You ever met a Joshub? I've never met a

Joshub, but he's a mighty man who's demonstrated here, I think that that would be kind of like a robust manly name to give to a kid, right?

Joshub. The chief of the mighty men of David. I don't know how we pick that.

It's neither here nor there because you guys are looking at me funny. As I said earlier,

God loves lists. He loves lists of names because lists of names are people.

Lists of people show those who were used by him to accomplish his purposes by their faith. In this text, this list is a bunch of men who were used to protect his people against enemies so that they could just flat out keep being a people.

These mighty men were used by God in the very narrow skills that they had of protecting the old covenant people of God.

He did so that they would still be around at the fullness of time when God would bring his son into the world through a young lady in the very town where one of these events took place.

A town that apparently had some fresh tasting water at the well by the gate. Bethlehem.

Let's allow the spirit to put this passage to work in our hearts and lives here this morning. I suggest five applications that struck me from this text.

These might be different for you so I'd encourage you to jot them down and maybe God by his spirit will jog you in some way that's like,

I probably ought to do that. That's what we're looking for when we hear a message. Not just more information, not just more data.

My goal isn't to just teach you a history lesson and have you leave here with like, oh now I know more about these guys.

The goal is that this gets into us in a way that next week looks different than this past week because we've encountered

God's word. That's what it means to put it into practice, to apply it, to grow in our faith. The first is let me just suggest to you is maybe what

God wants of you is to make your credits and then let them roll. Make your credits.

A passage like this should remind us that we have not arrived here today in life alone.

Who would make or who should make the credit reel of your week? Who should make the credit reel of your month or your year or your life?

Consider making a literal list this week and then following up with thanks.

Thanking both them and thanking God for them. Talking to God in prayer and saying thank you for the influence of this person in my life and then just offering them thanks.

Make a list of credits. I'm guessing that there's some family members in there. There might be some co -workers that are in there.

There might be some neighbors in there. There might be some childhood friends that you just kind of look back and you go, man you were there for me in dark times.

Thank you. Thank you. God used you in my life. Make your credits and let them roll. The second is never forget that God is behind all blessings.

I find comfort in knowing that God is the one who determines the outcomes. Even while we're out here swinging our figurative swords,

I don't guarantee an outcome by standing my ground in the lentil field. But I know that when victory does come, that He is the one orchestrating victory for His purposes and for the blessing of His people.

And I find comfort in that. I hope that you can this week too. To know that as you're in the trenches, as you're in the battle, as you're in the fight, the battle belongs to the

Lord. The third is despite the fact that I'm encouraging you to make a credit list,

I'm also encouraging you, as this text I think does, to turn all worship to God.

Make sure that in this process that you turn all worship to God. There's a distinction between worshiping someone and thanking them.

Thanks shows gratitude for benefit. It keeps things in perspective. Perspective particularly of the

God who gives gifts like victories, who gives gifts like talents and skills. And I can thank you while still worshiping

God for what He has done in you and through you. But what the three unnamed do in the middle of this text, what they did with such serious risk to get

David a mere drink of water showed an extensive adoration and desire to please who?

David. And he had to reject such a sacrifice because he knew he wasn't worthy of that level of worship, that level of sacrifice.

He wanted to be sure to point these men to God and His great worth of our sacrifices. The drink of water wasn't in the cause of God.

The drink of water was in the cause of David. And David knew it, and so he poured it out to God as if it were the very blood of these men offered to Him.

And he says, no, don't offer your blood to me. Offer your blood and your very lives to the

Almighty. He's the only one worthy of that. The fourth one is a little bit strange.

It flows all the way through this text, and it's going to be hard for you to hear. Be okay with and get comfortable with your position.

Be okay with and get comfortable with your position. Abishai and Benaiah were commanders, but it's emphasized over the top in the text.

They didn't hold a candle to the three. They were commanders. And the thirty were even under them.

While the army of Israel was under the thirty and contained many, many men that were under the thirty.

Now what I mean by this about getting comfortable with your position is not laziness, not a lack of work, or I'm not going to get ahead anyway, so God's just made me here, and I'm just going to do that.

But I would caution what I'm trying to caution against in this point, and what I hope God would lay on some of our hearts, is a caution against any sinful, ambitious expectation that we have adopted here as Americans.

The American way is that I'm supposed to just keep advancing, because I'm getting older. So I just keep advancing.

Why? Because you're getting older. Because I've got more experience. Because I've got more time. Because I've committed to the company.

Because I've been here longer. I'm supposed to just keep advancing. And the expectation in America is that time given to the company, whatever it is, will result in promotion and more responsibility.

It just has to. But what if you aren't made to be one of the commanders?

Oh no, we're all snowflakes. We're all meant to shine. We're all shooting stars, right? Don, how dare you say that we're not all made to be commanders?

We're all leaders. Right? But what if you are not designed or made to attain to the 30?

And we're never meant to advance to the status of the 3? Are you okay with it? Would you be okay with that?

Seriously. Talk to God. Here's what I'm encouraging in this. Talk to God and give

Him your life. Let Him guide you into the plans that He has for you.

He may choose to advance you. That's what we hope for. And He may choose to plateau you.

Maybe less down on our list of hopes, but maybe more to the point that God is working something.

But if you trust Him by faith, hear me carefully, church. Because I believe this with all of my being.

Regardless of your position. Regardless of where you're at in the organization. Regardless of your leadership potential or whatever.

If you trust Him by faith, He will use you. He will use you.

To His glory. And to the benefit of His people. He will use you. I like the metaphor of a carpenter with a tool belt.

Kind of in part because my Lord is a carpenter, right? I'm glad to be a tool in the hands of the carpenter.

He will use me to accomplish whatever He wants to do through me. But here is the point. I hope some of this rubs off on you guys too.

I only want to be found eager and ready when He has need of me. There may be some tools on that belt that don't get used as frequently as others, but are you ready?

Will you be ready when He says I need you? Lastly, I didn't mention it as we went through the list, but this one sticks out like a sore thumb.

Did anybody notice the last name on the list? Raise your hand if you noticed the last name on the list.

Go ahead and look at it for a second. See if it's familiar to you. Uriah the

Hittite. Beware, beware church, that your sins will follow you.

Your sins will follow you. Some of you know what I'm talking about. Some of you have sins that you committed in your youth that have haunted you down to this day.

There are repercussions to a life of sin, right? And I want to just suggest to you that this could be considered a mild warning, obviously, to avoid sin because of the repercussions of it.

But I'm honestly much less concerned with whether or not God uses this to motivate you and more eager to just point out what we should expect from our sin.

What should you expect? Because we all have it. So what's a reasonable expectation as a result of our sinful lives?

Here at the end of this list, we find Uriah the Hittite, the husband of Bathsheba, the

Bathsheba that David took to bed while her husband was out being valiant and one of his 30 elite troops in battle against the city of Rabah, against the

Ammonites. This is the very Uriah who David had put to death in an elaborate cover -up after he got

Uriah's wife pregnant. Do you think that it impacted

David to consider his name on this list? What do you think?

Here in a list of his 30 most decorated soldiers is a name of guilt and shame.

Our sins haunt us, church. Our sins bring shame. Our sins will not always be far from our mind.

God says, hold on to this one, God says that he forgets our sins when we come to faith in Christ.

And that he casts them as far as the east is from the west. At what point when you start heading west do you start heading east?

Never! If you just go west, you're always going west. They never meet. Metaphorical way of saying he has forgotten your sins.

They're not going to catch up with you anymore. Anybody want to say amen to that? So let's conclude this message by bringing our hearts and minds back to the only hope for sinners like us.

When that old shame rears its head in a list of names, maybe it's a Facebook post and you're like, oh, there's that name.

There's that person. Maybe it's some other social media or some other context in which you run into them.

Oh, that's a good reminder of my crappy past. Anybody have that, by the way? And the rest of you, no?

Never? The rest of you just never have any? My life's been good. I'm all good. Amen? When the old shame rears its head, when

Satan seeks to accuse us of sins we've already repented of and confessed, we turn back to the cross to remember.

It was there that my sin and shame was dealt with. So if you belong to Jesus Christ and He is your

Savior and your King, you've asked Him to save you, and you've asked Him to rule your life, then come to the tables and say this to yourself.

I'd be okay if you said it out loud. I am no longer under that shame. I am no longer under that shame.

I am no longer under the condemnation my sins deserve because Christ has suffered the penalty that my sins deserved.

And let's go out from here, church, giving credit to others while recognizing that God is behind every victory, and let's deflect all worship to Him, and let's be satisfied with the place that He has put us for today.

And go out with the warning that we need frequent reminders of grace because reminders of our sin will follow us, and they will find us where we least expect them, and they will haunt us.

So let's keep coming back to the remembrance of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us. Don't forget, here at the end of the service, there's going to be people in the back, in the prayer room, out the double doors, by the cafe there.

If you would like to pray with somebody, or even just have a quieter place to pray after communion, that room is available back there.

We want to encourage, encourage, encourage people to pray, and then sometimes it's just hard to pray alone, and you just need somebody there with you.

That's available back there. But, church, let's go out in the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Let's pray. Father, I thank You so much for Your mercy and grace that has been poured out on us.

We recognize that in David's life, there was just this, there's just this deep and dark pit of his sin.

It's glaring. It sucks all the light down into it. And yet, he was a man of confession, a man of remorse, a man of repentance.

We see here at the end a reminder of his sin. Father, I pray that You would meet us all as the sinners that we know ourselves to be.

And Father, if there's anybody in here who just is struggling to figure out that they're a sinner, I pray that You would point Your finger clearly to bring conviction and honesty, and to fight and war against self -righteousness in anyone's heart here.

But for those of us that are deeply acquainted with our own frailty, our own brokenness, our own sin, our own crud, the messes that we left behind, and the people that we've hurt,

Father, I pray that You would not allow that to rule our next week. But You would allow even the taking of communion this morning to be a line drawn in the sand of remembering that we don't carry that guilt and shame anymore.

Let this be a powerful event in people's hearts and lives this morning. And then if there's anybody here who doesn't know

Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, if there's anybody here who hasn't given their lives to Christ, I pray that You would give them a boldness to come and talk with me about how they can start a relationship with You by which

You are their Lord, their Savior, their King, and promise them eternal life and forgiveness of their sins.