Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man, great in exploits, of Kabzeel he it was that smote two lions of Moab; and he went down and smote a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day.
Benaiah served David, and this verse gives his record in one line: two Moabite fighters killed, and a lion killed in a pit on a snowy day. Commentators ask what his names mean, why the snow is mentioned, and what a lion in a pit has to do with us.
The verse gives three names before it tells us anything he did: the man, his father, and his hometown. One writer takes them together as a description of the man God had made.
Benaiah means "Whom God has built"; Jehoiada, "Jehovah knows"; and Kabzeel, "God has gathered." Put these meanings together, and we learn this. Benaiah was the son of one whom the Lord knew ("I know my sheep"). God Himself had built him up in the truth. And he knew his place in God's assembly (Kabzeel).
Older translations call the two Moabites he struck down "lion-like men." The Hebrew behind that phrase says more still.
In 2 Sam. 23:20; 1 Chr. 11:22, we read that Benaiah killed two "lion-like men," which some prefer to translate "two sons of Ariel." The Hebrew is literally "two lions of God."
Benaiah's record has three parts: the men of Moab, the lion, and the Egyptian of the next verse.
He is specially singled out for his victories over (1) two men of Moab; (2) a lion; and (3) an Egyptian. How these three remind us of (1) the flesh; (2) Satan; and (3) the world. In the service of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is a great day when we accept the condemnation of the cross upon sin in the flesh. From then on we walk and war after the Spirit.
Benaiah went down into the lion's den at the worst time of year. One writer sees a picture of Christ in that descent.
He went down into a pit to slay a lion; surely a lovely picture of the One who went down into the lower parts of the earth, having gone down into death... When Benaiah went down into the pit it was "the time of snow," everything was in the grip of winter, there was not a trace of life to be seen. It was the same with the blessed Lord Jesus. He went down into death to destroy him who had the power of death, and there was not a breath for God in the whole universe... Benaiah came up out of the pit victorious, having killed the lion. In the same way the blessed Lord rose out of death. He had burst its iron gates and destroyed its power forever.
Another writer sets that snowy day beside the day Adam fell.
It was on a snowy day this happened; the circumstances of the conflict were all against Benaiah; yet he was victorious. When Adam fell, the circumstances of Eden were all in his favour. But Christ met the foe in the temptations, in Gethsemane, and at the cross. How very different His circumstances were from those of the first man when he fell before the enemy!
Benaiah did not wait for better weather, and he fought on the enemy's ground. Commentators find the same pattern in a believer's fights today.
On a snowy day he did not hesitate to go down into a pit and kill a lion. The faithful are like him now. Sometimes they have to enter the closest conflict with Satan under the most distressing circumstances, and they overcome him by the sword of the Spirit. He also killed an Egyptian with the Egyptian's own spear. We may sometimes see the same thing now. A worldly man opposes the servants and the truth of God, and the very weapon he used against them defeats him. So God turns the wrath of man to praise Him.
Benaiah fought the way David fought. One writer traces where that likeness led him.
Benaiah walks faithfully in his master's steps, and his great affection for David leads him to reproduce his model's traits. Such a walk finds its reward: "David set him in his council" (v. 23), a place of confidence, intimacy, and communion. Benaiah shares his master's secrets, learns his plans from him, and sees the king's face at all times. What a blessed portion!
- Built — his name means "whom God has built," his father's "Jehovah knows," his town "God has gathered." The deeds came out of a man God had already made.
- Three — Moab, lion and Egyptian stand for the flesh, Satan and the world; even the enemy's own spear becomes the weapon that defeats him.
- Down — he went down into the pit, the enemy's own ground, and killed the lion there. Christ went down further, into death itself, and rose.
- Snow — the day was against him and he still won. Adam fell in Eden's easy conditions; Christ won in the hardest.
- Council — he copied his master's victories, and David gave him a place close to the king, with a share in his secrets.
He also smote the Egyptian, a man of stature, five cubits high and in the Egyptian's hand was a spear like a weaver's beam; and he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and slew him with his own spear.
The list of David's mighty men saves its longest entry for Benaiah, and his last fight looks hopeless: a staff against a spear like a weaver's beam. Why does God record this one duel in such detail, and what can a staff do against a spear?
The match was uneven. One writer reads it in the light of the cross.
The Egyptian was a huge man, and he carried a spear like a weaver's beam. Yet Benaiah defeated him with only a staff in his hand. He pulled the spear from him, turned it against its owner, and killed him. It is through the cross of Christ that we get the victory over the world by faith in the Son of God who makes known the Father's love to us. The world lifted up its hand against Christ. Yet the death He died defeated the world for faith. So one could write, "far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."
One writer lines this fight up with David and Goliath, and finds meaning in the weapon itself.
David beheaded Goliath with Goliath's own sword. In the same way Benaiah "snatched the spear out of the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear." The spear, like the sword, is a symbol of the power of death. As another writer has said, "Death is the best weapon in the arsenal of God when it is used by the power of life." This was Benaiah's experience in his fight with the world — the Egyptian. Take the whole history, and we learn that this child of grace… meets and overcomes the flesh, Satan, and the world. This too was of grace; but, while it was of grace, it shows the path and the possibility open to every believer.
Egypt is not a random nationality here. One writer reads it as a picture of the world, and puts Benaiah's win beside Christ's own.
Do we not see the glory of the world, and its bondage for the people of God in Egypt? But we read of One who said, "I have overcome the world" (John 16:33)… Benaiah kills the Egyptian with his own spear. In the same way we read of the Lord's great triumph in Hebrews: "that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death" (Heb. 2:14). If the Lord has overcome the world, He can enable us to overcome it also.
Benaiah did not invent his tactics. One writer traces the likeness back to love for David, and follows it through to its reward.
He killed the Egyptian just as David had struck down Goliath. David had taken the giant's sword to cut off his head, and Benaiah put the Egyptian to death with his own spear. Benaiah walks in his master's steps, and his great love for David leads him to reproduce his model's traits. Such a walk finds its reward: a place of confidence, intimacy, and communion. Benaiah shares his master's secrets and sees the king's face at all times. If we love the Lord Jesus, and follow and serve Him, we will be rewarded with a nearness like that of John, the disciple Jesus loved, whose place was closest to Him.
The pattern did not stay in the past. One writer sees the same reversal when people oppose the truth today.
He also killed an Egyptian with his own spear. The same thing can sometimes be seen now. A worldly man opposes the servants and the truth of God, and the very weapon he used against them defeats him. So God turns the wrath of man to praise Him.
- Staff. Benaiah went down to a giant with only a staff in his hand. He did not win by matching weapons, and writers point to the cross as the ground of that victory.
- Spear. The spear he pulled from the Egyptian's hand stands for the power of death. When the power of life uses it, death becomes God's best weapon.
- World. The Egyptian pictures the glory of the world, and Egypt pictures its hold on God's people. The One who has overcome the world can make His own overcome it too.
- Master. Benaiah fought the way David fought. Love for his king had reproduced his king's traits in him.
- Reward. That walk ends in nearness to the king, a place of confidence and communion. And the old reversal still happens: the weapon raised against the truth turns on the one who raised it.