More notes on the lists of David’s leaders
Meditation Points:
- As Joab, whom we know to have been the “general” of David’s army, is not mentioned in these catalogues, we see here listed the military leaders beneath him.
- Immediately below Joab was a group of three captains, the first of whom was Jashobeam the Hachmonite (1 Chron 11:11). Several commentators have suggested that the text of 2 Sam. 23:8 should read “Jashobeam the Hachmonite” for “He who sits in the seat of the Tachmonite”, and “he lifted up his spear” for “Adino the Eznite”, and that “800” includes those slain by his men and “300” represents those who he personally killed.
- “The Lord wrought a great victory” (2 Sam. 23:10, 12). Always, to God be the glory, great things he has done!
- Some people won’t lift a finger to help, but they come quickly to join in the spoils (23:10).
- What was so important about the water of Bethlehem (2 Samuel 23:15)? Have you ever longed to eat or drink something that you remember from your childhood? Many an American who has been traveling around the world tasting the delicacies of foreign lands has, after a few weeks, longed for an old-fashioned hamburger. Often we must be away from the familiar and comfortable before we actually appreciate the simple gifts of God.
- Three men (the three leaders just mentioned?) risk their lives to retrieve water for David. There was no order to do so; but there was a desire to please their commander-in-chief. Does your love of Christ sometimes make you reckless in seeking to show your devotion to Him?
- David refused to drink the water, considering it to be as precious as the blood of the men who risked their lives to bring it; and so he poured out the water as an offering of thanksgiving to God. (On a personal note, I was ministering in Czechoslovakia in the early 1990’s; and I told a pastor friend from Pennsylvania that we couldn’t buy peanut butter. Not long later, in the mail we received a package with several large plastic bottles of peanut butter–the postage was $75.00! I remembered how David refused to drink the water; then I got out a knife and some bread and began to enjoy my newly arrived peanut butter.)
- A snowy day (1 Chronicles 11:22). We don’t often think about snow in Bible lands, likely because we forget that there were mountains. Even at sea-level, here in Athens, we had snowmen, frozen water lines, and blocked highways this past winter. But we don’t have lions.
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