In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day

1st Chronicles 11

We see that David was anointed as king over Israel. God gave David a description the job, “He was to be a shepherd over the people.” This would be fitting for David as he already had training as a shepherd and he knew the details of watching over sheep. This is what God requires of a leader, to be over his sheep. A leader over sheep is responsible to feed the sheep and watch over them. 

The main move of David as king was making a place or city of his own. As of now Hebron was somewhat a capital for Israel but David saw Jerusalem and that it was already fortified by the Jebusites and knew that Jerusalem would be a good stronghold for Israel. 

David’s Mighty Men

From verses 11 to the end of the chapter we see that there is a description of David’s mighty men. If you want you can read 2nd Samuel 23 and compare. We see that there were 3 men who stood above the 30 mighty men. The man who is at the top of the list is Jashobeam who killed 300 men with his spear at one time. That is a pretty amazing task. From there we see Eleazar did not flee in defending a bean field for his king. Instead he stayed and fought. In 2nd Samuel 23, we see that his he fought so long and so hard that his hand was fastened to his sword.

We see that Benaiah killed a giant, warriors of Moab, and a lion in a pit on a snowy day. If we compare him to the task of David we see that Benaiah did things like David. He was around his leader and it paid off as he acted like his leader. The rest of the names we do not know what they exactly did but we know that their names are recorded in Bible forever. They were faithful warriors for the king.

Fighting a Lion on a Snowy Day

As we read about Benaiah, we read about how he killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day. It is easy to read over this and say cool. We need to understand that it was not easy to kill a lion. Especially a lion in their pit or nesting area. If it was a female lion protecting cubs, watch out! If you killed a lion during this time, you were considered a great warrior already because the lion is a mighty animal that could rip you to shreds. Not only was it a lion in a pit or nesting area, it was after snow had fallen. Have you ever tried to run in snow? It is not the easiest thing to do. In fact you get really tired, fast. He was able to kill a lion on a snowy day. We do not know why. We do not know if this lion was a threat to anyone. We just know that he did. I think he did it to show how faithful he is to the king. He was in a way showing off that he would do anything to protect or fight for the king. 

We have been placed under the King. Now, God will not ask us to kill a lion, but what about making a stand? What about sharing the Good News? We should be bold for the King, Jesus Christ. At his name every knee will bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord (Phil 2:10). Even more so being bold, we need to be able to fight against the schemes of the devil, who crouches around like a devouring lion (1st Peter 5:8). Stand even when the ground seems shaky,even though God is the solid ground in which we stand. Fight even though, the devil seems overpowering. God is bigger and in control over the devil. Do not give into the sin that entangles you. You can overcome the temptation that the devil throws at you (1st Corinthians 10:13). Keep fighting, the devil does not give and we can not afford too, but realize that Jesus fought for us and continues to fight for us.