Joab’s brother Abishai… He was the most famous of “The Thirty” and became their leader, but he was not as famous as “The Three.”
Useless, all useless (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3). I have no desire, Lord, to spend my life building castles in the sand. If only I can find my name even as a footnote in Hebrews 11…
Benaiah… was another famous soldier; he did many brave deeds.
Help me to be brave, Father (Joshua 1:9). When all is said and done, will I have accomplished brave deeds worth noting?
Other members of “The Thirty” included: Asahel, Joab’s brother… Eliam son of Ahithophel from Gilo… and… Uriah the Hittite. There were thirty-seven famous soldiers in all.
It’s worth noting that Joab isn’t in the list. Abner killed Asahel (2 Samuel 2:23), so this group existed before David became king. David had Uriah assassinated (2 Samuel 11:14) to cover up his adultry with Bathsheba. I am convinced that Ahithophel was the real conspirator against David (2 Samuel 17:1-3) and that Absalom was the malleable tool (2 Samuel 16:20) he used to exact his revenge on David for defiling his cherished granddaughter.
On another occasion the Lord was angry with Israel, and he made David bring trouble on them. The Lord said to him, “Go and count the people of Israel and Judah.”
This is reminiscent of how God pushed Pharaoh to act against the interests of his own people (Exodus 4:21). You always respect authority, Lord: king of a nation, CEO of a company, father of a family… (Romans 13:1-5).
David saw the angel who was killing the people, and said to the Lord, “I am the guilty one. I am the one who did wrong. What have these poor people done? You should punish me and my family.”
By all appearances, what David is saying is true. The reality, however, is that God was angry with the people under David’s authority (Israel) but he had (?) to first go through that authority in order to punish them (1 Samuel 12:24-25). By that reasoning then, it behooves us to look a bit deeper when a leader falls…
The king answered, “No, I will pay you for it. I will not offer to the Lord my God sacrifices that have cost me nothing.”
Indeed (Luke 21:1-4)…