An Encouragement to do Exploits in God's Kingdom

Text 1 Chronicles 11 Time 4 11 20 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church (Zoom)

As we continue to look at 1 Chronicles we come to Chapter 11. In Chapter 10 our author covers the close of Saul's reign and his death. For the rest of this first book the focus is on David and his reign. Now whenever we hear about David it is important that we think of the Promised Messiah. The Messiah is The Son of David. David then gives us a foretaste of what is to come. 

In 1 Chronicles 11 we begin with a general introduction to the reign in verses 1-9 and then in the rest of the chapter the author talks about David's mighty men and their exploits. Here is a reminder then of Christ's kingdom and of the need for heroes in it. So two things 

1. Consider the king - hailed as king by his people and growing more powerful 

1. The King in Hebron - hailed as king by his people 

In verses 1-3 we read that after the death of Saul All Israel came together to David at Hebron and said, ... and they give three reasons why they want David to be their king 

1 We are your own flesh and blood. 

2 In the past, even while Saul was king, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns. 

3 And the LORD your God said to you, 'You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler.' 

And so (3) When all the elders of Israel had come to King David at Hebron, he made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD, and they anointed David king over Israel, as the LORD had promised through Samuel. 

So they make him king as they are related to him, he was their great leader - even in Saul's time - and this is what God promised him - that he would shepherd God's people and be their ruler. 

In a similar way, we declare Jesus Messiah to be the King party because he has become a man and identifies with us and because he is our great king and leader, a mighty warrior, and because the kingdom has been given to him by the Father. 

2. The King in Jerusalem - conquering opposition and growing more powerful 

And then in verses 4-9 we read how David and all the Israelites marched to Jerusalem (that is, Jebus). At that time Jerusalem was still occupied by the Jebusites. The Jebusites who lived there we are told said to David, "You will not get in here." Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion - which is the City of David. This is a particular part of Jerusalem. We then get some background (6) David had said, "Whoever leads the attack on the Jebusites will become commander-in-chief." We read that Joab son of Zeruiah went up first, and so he received the command. David then took up residence in the fortress, and so it was called the City of David. He built up the city around it, from the terraces to the surrounding wall, while Joab restored the rest of the city. The last thing we read here, in verse 9, is And David became more and more powerful, because the LORD Almighty was with him. 

Here we focus on Christ's leadership in the kingdom. It is not simply that we accept him as Lord and King but he himself conquers despite opposition and then builds up his kingdom. What resistance there is but he triumphs. Like David he becomes more and more powerful because his Father is with him, 

2. Consider the king's mighty warriors and seek to serve the Lord 

From verse 10 we learn something of David's chiefs, his mighty warriors. They gave strong support to David's kingdom to extend it in fulfilment of God's promise. They are great examples to us today of the sort of outlook and attitude that ought to mark us in our day. 

10 These were the chiefs of David's mighty warriors - they, together with all Israel, gave his kingship strong support to extend it over the whole land, as the LORD had promised 

And so he says (11a) - this is the list of David's mighty warriors: He mentions two of the three mighty warriors Jashobeam (not the name found elsewhere) and Eleazar. He also mentions Abishai and includes a story that involves the three. He then speaks of Benaiah of whom he says (25) He was held in greater honour than any of the Thirty, but he was not included among the Three. And David put him in charge of his bodyguard. The chapter closes with a long list of other mighty men who served David, presumably men who belonged to the thirty at different times. 

As David had his three and his thirty so Jesus would have his three (Peter, James and John) and his Twelve and his seventy for that matter. 

It makes us think of the history of the church too, and, if I can put it this way, the three mighty men - Augustine, Calvin and Spurgeon and then Luther who is not one of the three but was truly mighty as was George Whitefield too. 

And then with them all the other mighty men - Chrysostom and Hus and Wycliffe and Tyndale and John Owen and Daniel Rowland and Jonathan Edwards and Wesley and Carey and Moody and Lloyd-Jones and Billy Graham, etc, etc. 

We will never be among the great but they should inspire us to at least do what we can. 

So six things 

1. Learn from Jashobeam who killed 300 men in one encounter 

Jashobeam, a Hakmonite, was chief of the officers; he raised his spear against three hundred men, whom he killed in one encounter. Not that we are thinking at all of using a spear against hundreds of men - but we could at least be more prayerful. We could delve more into the Word. We could have more faith and show more love and be more hopeful. 

Spurgeon is said to have preached to 10,000,000 people during his lifetime. He had preached over 600 times before he was twenty. One woman was converted through reading a single page of one of Spurgeon's sermons wrapped around some butter she had bought. 

The New Park Street Pulpit and The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit - the collected sermons of Spurgeon during his ministry with that congregation - fill 63 volumes. The sermons' 20-25 million words are equivalent to the 27 volumes of the ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. The series stands as the largest set of books by a single author in the history of Christianity. 

2. Learn from Eleazar who took a firm stand and led his men to a great victory 

12-14 Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodai the Ahohite, one of the three mighty warriors. He was with David at Pas Dammim when the Philistines gathered there for battle. At a place where there was a field full of barley, the troops fled from the Philistines. But they took their stand in the middle of the field. They defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the LORD brought about a great victory. 

Now our victories may be much less impressive on the face of it but let's take our stand nevertheless and let's look to the Lord for success over temptation and sin. 

3. Learn from the Three about devotion to the Lord 

15-19 Three of the thirty chiefs came down to David to the rock at the cave of Adullam, while a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. At that time David was in the stronghold, and the Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem. David longed for water and said, "Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!" So the Three broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out to the LORD. "God forbid that I should do this!" he said. "Should I drink the blood of these men who went at the risk of their lives?" Because they risked their lives to bring it back, David would not drink it. Such were the exploits of the three mighty warriors. 

This I think gives us an insight into the attitude of the three. They were ever listening to their lord and master. He had only to express a wish and they were committed to doing all they could to see it fulfilled. What a model we have here. Oh for such devotion to Christ in us. 

With that we see how David 1. Repents for his own weakness 2. Denies his own appetite. He longed for the water of the well of Bethlehem but, when he had it, he would not drink it, because he would not so far humour himself to gratify a foolish fancy 3. Devotes himself to God. That water which he thought too good, too precious, for his own drinking, he poured out to the Lord. 4. Is tender toward his servants. Again he points us to Christ. 

4. Learn from Abishai another great warrior 

20, 21 Abishai the brother of Joab was chief of the Three. He raised his spear against three hundred men, whom he killed, and so he became as famous as the Three. He was doubly honoured above the Three and became their commander, even though he was not included among them. 

My attempt to suggest a who's who in Christian history just now was not easy and once you start on this road there are anomalies. Here is this man Abishai, Joab's brother and Asahel's too. He had authority over the three though not included among them. Whether people acknowledge us or not, let's serve faithfully. 

Think of Horatio Gates Spafford (1828-1888) the author of the hymn "It Is Well with My Soul". Horatio was a Chicago lawyer. He lost all his possessions in the great Chicago fire. After that, he lost his only son to a disease, aged four. He then planned a family holiday and was held up for business reasons. His family went ahead any way and on the ship all four of his daughters died and his wife survived. Whilst going to meet his grieving wife, he got the inspiration for the hymn, "It Is Well with My Soul". 

Think of Spurgeon again and the amazing things he did. When he arrived at The New Park Street Church, in 1854, the congregation had 232 members. By the end of his pastorate, 38 years later, that number had increased to 5,311. (Altogether, 14,460 people were added to the church during Spurgeon's tenure.) The church became the largest independent congregation in the world. 

Spurgeon once addressed an audience of 23,654 - without a microphone or any mechanical amplification. 

Testing the acoustics in the place he preached beforehand, Spurgeon shouted, "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." A worker high in the rafters of the building heard this and became converted to Christ as a result. 

5. Learn from Benaiah who did many great exploits 

Then in verses 22-25 we read about Benaiah - again not of the three but greater in honour than all the thirty also listed. 

22-25 Benaiah son of Jehoiada, a valiant fighter from Kabzeel, performed great exploits. He struck down Moab's two mightiest warriors. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. And he struck down an Egyptian who was five cubits tall. Although the Egyptian had a spear like a weaver's rod in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club. He snatched the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear. Such were the exploits of Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he too was as famous as the three mighty warriors. He was held in greater honour than any of the Thirty, but he was not included among the Three. And David put him in charge of his bodyguard. 

This time we have a string of amazing exploits - striking two Moabites, Moab's best; fighting a lion; defeating a giant Egyptian with his own spear. Sometimes God's people do achieve amazing things.

William Carey translated the Bible into Bengali, Oriya, Marathi, Hindi, Assamese and Sanskrit and also translated parts of it into 29 other languages and dialects! Henry Martyn, who died so young, translated the New Testament into Urdu, Persian and Judaeo-Persic. He also translated the Psalms into Persian and the Book of Common Prayer into Urdu!! 

6. Learn from the mighty warriors listed here 

The last thing here is a list of men, where nothing is said of their exploits. However, we are assured that they are all mighty warriors. More than 40 are listed not just thirty. Presumably as the years passed some died and the people who made up the thirty changed over the years. There are fresh names from 41ff (Adina son of Shiza the Reubenite). 

26-47 The mighty warriors were:

Asahel the brother of Joab,

Elhanan son of Dodo from Bethlehem,
Shammoth the Harorite,
Helez the Pelonite,
Ira son of Ikkesh from Tekoa,
Abiezer from Anathoth,
Sibbekai the Hushathite,
Ilai the Ahohite,
Maharai the Netophathite,
Heled son of Baanah the Netophathite,

Ithai son of Ribai from Gibeah in Benjamin,

Benaiah the Pirathonite,

Hurai from the ravines of Gaash

Abiel the Arbathite,

Azmaveth the Baharumite,

Eliahba the Shaalbonite,

the sons of Hashem the Gizonite,

Jonathan son of Shagee the Hararite,

Ahiam son of Sakar the Hararite,

Eliphal son of Ur, 

Hepher the Mekerathite,

Ahijah the Pelonite,

Hezro the Carmelite,

Naarai son of Ezbai,

Joel the brother of Nathan,

Mibhar son of Hagri,

Zelek the Ammonite,

Naharai the Berothite, the armour-bearer of Joab son of Zeruiah,

Ira the Ithrite,

Gareb the Ithrite,

Uriah the Hittite,

Zabad son of Ahlai, etc, etc, etc

There was great variety. Some were from David's own family or from his home town (Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan son of Dodo from Bethlehem). Some were Levites (Abiezer from Anathoth). Some were from Saul's tribe Benjamin (Ithai son of Ribai from Gibeah in Benjamin). Some were Gentiles (Zelek the Ammonite, Uriah the Hittite, Ithmah the Moabite). Regardless of background, let's seek to be faithful soldiers in the Lord's Army.