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Episode 521: In this episode, Jeff and Chris dive into the incredible story of David’s mighty warriors from 2 Samuel 23. We will discuss the significance of David’s mighty men and their heroic exploits. We will also touch on the powerful lesson of loyalty and sacrifice demonstrated by David when refused to drink the water brought to him by his warrior. This episode serves as a reminder of the importance of surrounding ourselves with great people who inspire us to be better.
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You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome to the Bible Guys. Here we are. We appreciate you. Oh man, we're so excited to be here. I'm Jeff. This is Chris, Yes, that's me, and we are starting with a segment right off the bat. Why did they say right off the bat? Just it's gonna be a. Base starting starting with a segment right off the bat? Well, you know they say right off the bat, it's gonna be a baseball. Yeah, okay, so right off the bat with a social media minute. So these are people that have written in and I'd like to read number three. So I'm gonna red number one and three. Okay, okay, and uh these were chosen for us. We didn't, Yes, yes, correct, that always picks everything. So number one it says this is from Nick p. I didn't read these yet, I know I didn't, really. Nick, Yeah, and so Nick says, knowing your schedules, I really commend you guys for sticking with the podcast all this. This is a very thoughtful comment. It's always fresh, entertaining, and most importantly spiritually enriching. Thank you, guys. Oh that's cool. It's a very nice comment, really nice thing. Yeah, he's really trying to say, Hey, I know it's tough, but thank you so much. Yeah, so so Nick wrote that one in. Yes, this other one, the next one's written by a Nan mouse mouse man. Yes it really is. Oh anonymous anonymous? Okay, okay, since congratulations on your five hundredth episode of the Bible guys. Thank you so very much for the time you've all invested in sharing the Word of God with us and then giving your insight and teaching on what the passage says and how to apply it to our lives. Great job, Jeff and Kris and all of them. You're wanting to skip over, and I didn't skip over. And Chris, great job Jeff and Chris and all of them behind the scenes people responsible for the podcast. Looking forward to the next five hundred episodes. I'm so very grateful. May God continue to bless you. This is what you were wanting to do, you said, great job Jeff and Chris for all that's very funny, all right, And then this one is I believe it's probably from my wife. It is from liz Z is what it says. Yeah, I don't know how many Lizzy's we have listening, but there's a high probability. Yes, it's probably my wife from your Bride. She says, this is my most favorite every weekday. Oh, it's definitely my wife. I truly miss it each weekend. She's already told us that. And I'm married to one of these guys. Oh, there it is. Thanks, that's my wife. I've learned so much and grown in my faith. Congratulations on five hundred episodes. Nice, that's very nice. Thank you Liz for writing again, sweetheart. That was very nice. Yes, I appreciate that very much. And the anonymous one was probably my mom. She just didn't want to admit it. Right right, right, Well, and it was your mom, she would say, great job. Chris and Jeff. Yeah, that's true. Thanks for carry and Jeff along. Chris, Well, that's really nice. I'm always amazed that people write so many nice things. And yeah, and I very much appreciate it. Yeah. This week we had one of our fans, a little girl. How old was she? Oh? Yeah, yeah, yeah, she came up and you're talking about at the volunteer one on one meeting. Yeah, yeah, she was probably six, and. She brought us these little pictures that she made right to the Bible guys. Yes, so you got one and I got when I put it in my office. That's so great. It's really great, really cool, it's amazing. I just can't hardly believe it. Well, thank you, God's blessed us because of you guys listening all the time. So thank you so much. Yes, thank you. And today we're going to be launching right in to a second or the to the scripture. But before we do, we just want to remind everybody to like us and to share and subscribe. I think last week, in fact, actually it was this morning. I woke up this morning and I listened to the Bible Guys on my way to recording the Bibble guys and. Whatever is airing this morning. You had said that statistic we're forty eight percent of people, yeah something, have not subscribed, and you explained how it helps our algorithms to put in other people's feet. So I'm just. Reminded today, Yeah, it helps us get the word out, yes, to remind everybody else to subscribe. So great. That's the one way you can partner with. Us, Yes, help us do it. So I appreciate that very much. Okay, well, we are going to deviate from what's on our show sheet. Yes, every once in a while we do this, and then we have to go to apologize to des on this. But we came across the fact that we were skipping two chunks that I think are kind of important, one of them just because it's so cool. Yeah, and that's today's episode and then tomorrow it's a real pivotal moment, and so we have to deal with that as well in it's life. And just to remind everybody, the goal for this whole series is to hit the milestones of the Old Testament. So therefore we're not going verse by verse, right, we're going chunk by chunk, just sort of hitting the highlights. And so we realized we were skipping over a highlight that we wanted. To talk about. And I think originally we were thinking more general with regard to the highlights, and then we keep coming up to stories we don't want to miss telling. And so even though she was following this planet, we were following this planet was supposed to be way more general and just big chunks throughout the Throughout the thing, we keep coming up to these things like today's story. We just don't want to skip telling today's story. It reminds me of Steve Martin in that really super old movie. Did you ever see The Jerk in nineteen seventy nine? I think so. At the very end of the movie, he goes, I don't need anything else, and he just said, I just need this. Chair, this paddle ball, this thermos, and I don't need nothing else. And he walked by something he goes, I need this, and then he picks up a laugh, you know, and he walks down the street and he's like, I need this, and he keeps on picking things. And that's us. That's us. That's us. It's not dead. It's us. Yeah, that's right. So we're gonna read Second Samuel chapter twenty three, and we're going to pick up in verse eight. If you remember, up to this point, king David was Saul is dead. Now David was chosen to be king of Judah and a couple of outlying little villages. And then Ishboshev was Saul's son, and Abner, who was Saul's general, jumps in and elevates him and he winds up becoming king of the rest of Israel. And so this lasts for several years, and during that time there's still conflict now between David and Ishbosheth and Abner's armies. Yeah, and Judah and Israel. Yeah. So here's what happens. David continues to rise, and as he rises, his mighty men begin to rally around him, and he has like these special forces fighters. And so this is why we wanted to talk about it. Yeah. Yeah, And by the way, this is one of the greatest, my most favorite story in the Bible, not even kidding. This story that you're about to read is one of my very favorites in the entire Old Testamony. It's it's incredible. So we'll read. We'll start two Samuel, Chapter twenty three, Verse eight. It says, these are the names of David's mightiest warriors. The first was Jeshowa josh Oban yeah good, the Hackmannite, who was leader of the three, the three mightiest warriors among David's men. He once used a spear to kill eight hundred enemy warriors in a single battle. That's next in rank among the three was Eliezer's son of Doda I a descendant of Ahoah. Once, Eliezer and David stood together against the Philistines when the entire Israelite army had fled. He killed Philistines until his hand was too tired to lift his sword, and the Lord gave him a great victory that day. The rest of the army did not return until it was time to collect the plunder. Next in rank was sham a son of Aggi from Harar. One time, the Philistines gathered in Lehigh and attacked the Israelites in a feel full of lentils. The Israelite army fled, but sham I held his ground in the field and beat back the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory. Once during the harvest, when David was at the Cave of Adullam, the Philistine army was camped in the valley of Rafaeum. The three who were among the thirty, an elite group among David's fighting men, went down to meet him there. David was staying in a stronghold at the time, and the Philistine attachment had occupied the town of Bethlehem. David remarked longingly to his men, Oh, how I'd love some of that good water from the well by the gate in Bethlehem. So the three broke through the Philistine lines, drew some water from the well by the gate in Bethlehem, brought it back to David, but he refused to drink it. Instead, he poured it out as an offering to the Lord. The Lord forbid that I should drink this, He exclaimed, This water is as precious as the blood of these men who risked their lives to bring it to me. And so David did not drink it. And these are examples of the exploits of the three. And then if you keep going there verse eighteen, it says Abishai, son of Zuruyah, the brother of joeab was the leader of the thirty. He once used his spear to kill three hundred enemy warriors in a single battle. It was by such feats that he became as famous as the Three. Abishai was the most famous of the thirty and was their commander, though he was not one of the three. It was also benaia A son of Jehoida, a valiant warrior from Kabzil. He did many heroic deeds, which included killing two champions of Moab. Another time, on a snowy day, he chased the lion down into a pit and killed it. Once armed only with the club, he killed a great Egyptian warrior who was armed with a spirit. Benaiah wrenched the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with it. Theeds like these made bena as famous as the Three Mightiest Warriors. He was more honored than the other members of the thirty, though he was not one of the three, and David made him captain of the bodyguard. Yeah, these are some tough guys. You think these are some tough guys. Yeah, so, so many things in this whole passage about the three and the you know, the thirty, and that is the first that stands out to me always is every single one of these would make a fantastic movie. Yeah, exactly, you're reading this as a movie. Oh yeah, I mean another version, you know, it says that he was too tired to lift the sword, but another version actually says his hand was frozen to the sword, right, which means it's a really cold day. So he goes down and he actually, what does it say? He killed the entire Philistine army and they fled and another guy kills eight hundred warriors with a single spear right now, I mean, you know, how many is too many? You remember the princess bride, right, the princess bride. How many guards are there? Thirty? At my best? I cannot take so many, you know. And so it's like, you know, they're considering thirty eight hundred? Are you kidding me? Right? So, I mean, but the Bible doesn't lie. So if you ever wonder how many eight hundred people were in a standard basketball gym on the basketball floor, yes, if you set up chairs with people's knees to the back of the chair in front of them, you can't fit eight hundred people on a basketball floor. Yeah right, yeah, so think about it. That's a lot of people. Oh my goodness. You know, you ever exaggerated story sometimes where you're going down the road and it's like thirty miles an hour and you're like, dude, I was going like fifty, right, and so you know, but not even really sort of meaning to maybe you thought, you you know, we're going fifty. But God doesn't exaggerate. So if God says eight hundred, that means it's eight hundred. It's factual, and I just cannot even imagine the movie that would make for one. Guy to just it's just bodies flinging everywhere. Like neo neo, and mister Anderson's right, And anyway, the bottom line is is these guys all were epic warriors, and think about it, they did things here that are just as impressive as David's stand against Caliath. Yeah, right, and that's kind of what's being highlighted here. Yes, these guys are unbelievable talking about the three, and they're talking about two guys that are outside the three but as famous as the three, which. Means it's an encouragement for us that we should strive to hang around people who will sharpen our character. In this case, these warriors, you know, they were attracted to David because you know, David was brave. David was a man of faith, unbelievable faith, and so these men stepped out in faith, believing that God would be with them in battle as well. You know, nobody shall defy the army of the King of Israel and the or the you know, the Lord's army, and so anyway, it's just it's just an unbelievable thing. So anyway, all of. These things, and by the way, Ben and Ayah whatever his name is here Ben Ayah, Uh. He's got an honorable mention. And he's only the guy who went down into a snowy pit and killed a lion. It says there was also so we already talked about the cool guys, but hey, we should mention Ben Ayah. You know, we have time. He was more famous than the thirty. He didn't quite make the three, but you know he. Did many heroic deeds. By the way, he. Took on a guy with a spirit of the club, he killed the lion and the snowy pit, that snowy pit? Are you kidding me? And so anyway, it's just pretty great. Now. The other thing that stands out to me is the story about the well. And uh, you know, we we all have the food of our youth, oh right, and ratituy it was the it was the food critics, Uh, ratitui dish right. And for me, it's it's handled ice cream in Youngstown, Ohio. That's it. It takes you back to being a kid. Yes, but but David is like, I know that well, it's the well I grew up in. It's it's in Bethlehem. I grew up in the well, the well I grew up with. What did I say in Yeah, it's early. It's the well I grew up with. Well, I meant you, it's the town I grew up there. It was. It was really incredible. There was a crowd all around, helicopters, there was the TV things hanging upside down in the well. For yeah, it's the town he grew up in, right, Okay, yeah, definitely. And uh so you know when they dug wells back then, if you know, in order to go deep, they had to go very very wide wells. So like if you've ever been to did you guys stop at when you were in Israel? Did you stop at Jacob's Well? We didn't, Okay. So it's interesting because think of like a soda bottle, like a two liter of soda okay or pop whatever you wanna call it. So it's really really wide. And then it goes into like this tiny little, uh you know, nozzle where you pour the soda out, so it's you know, super small, like it'll fit a penny in it. But then you know, but then when when you go down a little ways, it goes wide well. That's what they did with Jacob's well. So Jacob's well they probably had you know, dozens of men digging it, you know, it was probably honestly, uh, it's as big it was as the circumference was like this room the size of this room. But then they would build a cap on it, and the well itself would only have a small little hole, right, so if you shine a light in there, you're like, wow, look how big this thing is. Well, in the case with the well at Bethlehem, it was a massive well, like just almost the same size, but they had three little openings. So there was three little openings of this well, but the same well. That makes sense, So then three different people could get water from the same well at the same time. From these three openings. So we had the choice when we. Were on tour in Israel and we only had time to go see one thing, and they said we can go either go see the field where Gideon defeated. The army, or we can go to the. Well at Bethlehem. And I was the only guy on the bus who sort of perked up, and I go, what the well at Bethlehem were the three you know, fought off the Philistines, and they got a cup of water and they're fighting with one arm and they're holding a cup of water or a canteen of water in the other arm, and they go back and. Are you kidding? Just to give their king some water, just because he said he wanted some. I'm like, let's go there. And I was the only one, and everybody else wanted to go see the field Borghinion was and I said, that's fine, so I conceded. And then the leader of the trip came up to me and said, you know, even though you were the only one, we all saw how excited you were, and so we all conceded. We're going to go to the well, which was really fun. So I got to take a picture and it was closed. You couldn't you couldn't drink from it because the well is spoiled, so so but I got the camera and I put it down there and I took a picture of it. And I just thought, wow, this is where it happened. And then for David to pour out a drink offering to the lord and he think about how much he wanted that water, and then they go get it. If I were the warriors, I'd be mad you know, I mean if I wasn't spiritual, you know, he's pouring it out. Oh thanks for this, But I'm going to pour it out of like what I just risked my life for that to fourteen people, right yeah, and. So but he pours it out because he's so grateful to him. Yes, right at that moment. Nobody deserves that kind of love of loyalty, right right, we're gonna pour it out. We're gonna give it to God instead. Well, think about think about in this moment, think about all the things, the earthly things that you've ever wanted, you know, all these things that you strive for, and in that moment to recognize that God is the provider of those things. Sometimes that's a hard thing to do for us, right you know, Like you know, we strive to get the promotion. We get the promotion, and we think to ourselves, wow, we earned that. And yet what David's doing here, as David is stopping and saying, I directly acknowledge that it is God who has blessed me with these relationships that I do not deserve. And so God, I pour this out the thing that I want the most in this moment, I'm parched, my mouth's dry. I longed for this water and I'm watching it poor get poured out before me on the ground. Because God, that's how much I love you. You're more important than even this glass of water that I wanted. Yeah, that's incredible. So the Bible goes on after we're done with this passage, goes on and names twenty six other tough guys, right that are part of this part of this group, a group of thirty and then you know, so there's thirty one men named total. So there's the leader of the thirty he's not, and then there's the three, and then there's you know, these these other guys, twenty seven others. So it's just really astounding. And the thing that strikes me so much about these guys one, it's incredibly gruesome. These are gruesome stories. We have to admit that eight hundred dudes get wiped out at once. Oh yeah, that's pretty gruesome. Yep. So that part's pretty gruesome. But there's a couple of things when I read this passage. One, God raises up hard men for hard times, and we can't be resentful or or you know, somehow look down on them. Instead, you realize, Okay, there are some really bad guys in the world. We need some really tough guys to stand against the really bad guys, right, Yeah, And so they're talking about these Philistines that and we've talked about the Philistines before, but the evil that they did, the oppression that they were committing, and nobody was standing against them. In Saul's day, Saul was pretty much inept. He couldn't he couldn't defeat them, which was so strange. And then Abner was a pretty good general, but he just couldn't seem to get a leg up. It was because God wasn't giving them the victory. But David had these fairly small armies compared to Sauls, and David was having victory often one because he was a great leader too, because God kept giving him victory and he had these mighty men. So David is going around having victories against these people. But it's because God sent really hard men to David. So being a hard man or a strong man or a tough man does not give you permission to be a bad man, right, right, So you have to use your strength for the protection of others. But then the other part of it is this, And this is maybe the most profound lesson I get from these because these stories are so cool, and I agree they'd make great movies. But the thing that I take away from it is like attracts like you attract what you are right on a regular I've recently had a conversation with a young person who has you know, was kind of admitting a series of bad choices and then said, I don't know why, but it's like I'm completely surrounded by bad people, right, And I said, well, you're making a lot of bad choices, dude, it's not just you're making bad choices. Apart from the bad people you're surrounded by. Maybe like attracts Like right, here's what I don't see. You know, I don't see a lot of groundhogs hanging out with zebras, right. Well, I mean I've never looked for but I've. Never seen it. Yeah, I've never seen seeing a lot of zebras in the bush. I've seen a lot of g I've never seen him just hanging out together, right. And and it's because we tend to attract the same and if we would so learning from David, the reason why David had almost Superhero type friends that were loyal to him was because he was a great man. And the reason why Saul could not win and he attracted a guy like Abner was because Saul was deficient in his character. And so if you want to be great, and you need to be surrounded by great people, but that means you need to make great choices, and it takes a tremendous amount of discipline. And so I go back again. I've said it so many times in this series. Those hidden valleys is where David became great. He didn't become great when he started recruiting tough guys. He didn't become great when he killed Goliath. He was already a great young man before he walked out on the battlefield that first day, right, and then he continued to maintain that greatness for a long time. He stumbles in his career, he certainly does, but for a very long time he maintained this integrity of this walk with God and this greatness, and he continued to draw great strong men to be around him, and they wind up delivering Israel. Ultimately. Yeah, so ultimately, when I read this chapter, I most of the time, when I preach this message or use this chapter. It is a challenge for us to surround ourselves with the right kind of friends, the kind of friends that are going to push us, to challenge us to sharpen us, to support us. And God creates us to depend on one another. Others are part of the equation of life, and we have to choose to surround ourselves with the people who we want to be like, who emulate people who are further along than us in our faith, in our walk, you know, in our character, people who have you know, emulated great character. And I'm telling you it's just a great, great message for us who you know, may have questions about our shaky friendships or are questionable friendships. There are probably people listening to this who think, you know, I have a pretty toxic friendship that I probably should get rid of, and uh, you know, maybe it's time, right So if you if you feel like it's the right thing to do, even though you love them, you know, hey, I'm still going to love you from afar, I'm just not going to spend as much time with you because you know, I just I just can't do it anymore. My dad has a bunch of funny sayings. I was like to teaching about his funny sayings. Did your parents have funny phrases every once in a while, Yeah, my dad always did. But he had some really really goodness too. It will always tease him. Shut the door, you know, anybody shut the door. He always has learn anything, right, we we'd be sitting there bleeding out, you know, there with a body part hanging if you're like learn anything. That was always his first thing. But he had a lot of really wide sayings and one of them that has carried with me my whole life is you either are right now or soon shall be, just like the crowd you run with. And that's what we see with David and as mighty men. That's great. Yeah, that's a great way to end. So hey, we will see you next time, hopefully on the Bible. Guys,