The Benaiah Option: A Portrait of Godly Violence
Introduction: Our Anemic Age
We live in an age that is terrified of genuine masculinity. It is an age of soft hands and even softer opinions, an age that has traded the sword for a trigger warning and the breastplate of righteousness for the padded walls of a safe space. Our culture produces men who are fluent in the language of therapeutic psychobabble but are utterly illiterate when it comes to courage, duty, and honorable violence. They know how to deconstruct everything and defend nothing. And the church, tragically, has often followed suit, presenting a sanitized, domesticated, and frankly, anemic version of the Christian man. We have traded the lion of the tribe of Judah for a declawed housecat.
Into this pale and beige landscape, the Word of God drops a character like Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the contrast is jarring. The list of David's mighty men in 1 Chronicles 11 is not a polite suggestion; it is a divine commendation of a certain kind of man, a man whose deeds are recorded for our instruction. This is not an embarrassing back-alley of the Old Testament that we are to hurry past on our way to the Sermon on the Mount. No, this is part of the grammar of godly manhood. These men were loyal to God's anointed, David, and they were instrumental in establishing his kingdom, a kingdom which was itself a type and shadow of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.
To our modern sensibilities, Benaiah is a problem. He is violent. He is dangerous. He kills Moabites, lions, and giants. He is everything our neutered culture despises. And that is precisely why we must pay close attention to him. The Spirit of God saw fit to memorialize these specific acts, not as brutish displays of testosterone, but as examples of covenantal faithfulness expressed through righteous might. Benaiah shows us that true masculinity is not toxic; it is a tool. And like any tool, it can be used for building up or for tearing down. In the hands of a man submitted to God's king, it is a glorious instrument for establishing order, protecting the innocent, and defeating the enemies of God. Benaiah's resume is a portrait of godly violence, and in it, we find a picture, a shadow, of the greater Benaiah, the Lord Jesus, who descends into the pit to slay the lion of Judah's foe.
The Text
Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, mighty in deeds, struck down the two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and struck down a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day. He had also struck down an Egyptian, an impressive man, five cubits tall. Now in the Egyptian’s hand was a spear like a weaver’s beam, but he went down to him with a club and snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear. These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and had a name as well as the three mighty men. Behold, he was honored among the thirty, but he did not attain to the three. And David appointed him over his guard.
(1 Chronicles 11:22-25 LSB)
A Mighty Man's Resume (v. 22)
We begin with Benaiah's pedigree and his first recorded exploits.
"Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, mighty in deeds, struck down the two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and struck down a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day." (1 Chronicles 11:22)
First, notice his lineage. He is the "son of a valiant man." Courage is often a generational gift. Godliness is not hereditary, but a godly heritage is a tremendous advantage. Fathers who are valiant for the truth, who fight the good fight, often raise sons who know how to stand. Jehoiada, his father, was a chief priest, a man who stood for God's order against the usurpation of Athaliah. Benaiah comes from good stock, a family defined by covenantal loyalty.
His first great deed is that he "struck down the two sons of Ariel of Moab." The name Ariel can mean "lion of God," which is likely a title for two particularly fearsome Moabite champions. Moab, you will remember, was a perennial enemy of Israel, born of incest and characterized by pride. These were not just two random soldiers; they were the best Moab had to offer. Benaiah took them both on and defeated them. This is a picture of a man who does not shrink from confronting the enemies of God's people, no matter how fierce their reputation.
But the next deed is the one that captures the imagination. "He also went down and struck down a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day." Every detail here is significant. This was not a lion in an open field, where a man might have room to maneuver. It was in a pit, a confined space, where the lion had every advantage. And it was on a snowy day. The ground would be slick, the footing treacherous. Every circumstance was against him. A sensible man, a pragmatic man, would have left the lion alone. But Benaiah was not merely sensible; he was faithful. He saw a threat to the flock, a danger to the people, and he went down into the pit to face it. He did not wait for ideal conditions. He did not form a committee. He embraced the danger of his calling. This is courage. It is not the absence of fear; it is acting righteously in the face of fear, for the good of others.
This act is a beautiful, earthy picture of what our Lord Jesus Christ did for us. The devil, our adversary, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). And we were all trapped in the pit of our sin and death, with no way out. The conditions were impossible. But the Son of God, our Benaiah, did not stay in the safety of heaven. He went down. He descended into the pit of our fallen world, into the grave itself, to face the lion on its own turf. And on the cross, He struck the decisive blow, disarming the principalities and powers and making a public spectacle of them.
Fighting Giants with a Stick (v. 23)
Benaiah's courage is matched only by his shrewdness and faith in God's provision.
"He had also struck down an Egyptian, an impressive man, five cubits tall. Now in the Egyptian’s hand was a spear like a weaver’s beam, but he went down to him with a club and snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear." (1 Chronicles 11:23 LSB)
Here Benaiah faces another impossible foe. An Egyptian giant, five cubits tall, which is about seven and a half feet. This man is a walking siege engine. And he is armed to the teeth. He carries a spear "like a weaver's beam," the same description used for Goliath's spear. This is a weapon that could impale a small car. The mismatch is comical. The Egyptian has the size, the reach, and the superior weaponry.
And what does Benaiah bring to this fight? A club. A stick. This is David and Goliath all over again. It is a deliberate echo. Benaiah is not trusting in the arm of the flesh. He is not relying on his own equipment. He is trusting in the God of Israel, who does not save by sword or by spear. He goes down to him, closes the distance, and with what must have been astonishing speed and skill, he disarms the giant. He "snatched the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear."
This is a profound spiritual principle. The enemies of God are always defeated with their own weapons. Haman is hanged on the gallows he built for Mordecai. The cross, the Roman instrument of torture and death, became the very instrument of our salvation. Death itself, the devil's greatest weapon, was used by Christ to defeat death. "That through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Hebrews 2:14). Benaiah's victory over the Egyptian is a microcosm of the gospel. God takes the enemy's greatest strength and turns it into the means of his undoing.
Honor, Rank, and Service (v. 24-25)
The passage concludes with a summary of Benaiah's reputation and his role in David's kingdom.
"These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and had a name as well as the three mighty men. Behold, he was honored among the thirty, but he did not attain to the three. And David appointed him over his guard." (1 Chronicles 11:24-25 LSB)
Benaiah's deeds earned him a name. He was famous, honored among the elite warriors of Israel. This is not worldly fame-seeking. In a covenant community, a good name, earned through faithful service, is a blessing from God. He was honored, but there was a limit to his honor: "he did not attain to the three." There was a hierarchy even among these mighty men. There were levels of authority and renown.
And Benaiah was content with his place. We see no hint of jealousy or ambition. He was honored among the thirty, and that was enough. This is a crucial lesson for us. In the body of Christ, there are different gifts, different roles, and different measures of influence. A godly man does not strive for a position that is not his. He faithfully executes the duties of the post God has given him. Benaiah's ambition was not for rank, but for service.
And his faithful service was rewarded with greater responsibility. "And David appointed him over his guard." The king entrusted his own life to this man. This is the ultimate position of trust. The man who would go down into a pit to kill a lion for the sake of the sheep was the man David wanted protecting him. His character was his qualification. He had proven he was willing to lay down his life for the kingdom.
Conclusion: The Benaiah Option Today
So what are we to do with this? We are not called to go out and hunt lions or fight literal giants. But the principles embodied in Benaiah are timeless. We live in a world full of pits, and there are lions in them. The lion of pornography is in the pit of the internet, devouring a generation of young men. The lion of cultural Marxism is in the pit of our universities, devouring truth. The lion of apathy is in the pit of our churches, devouring our zeal.
The Benaiah option is to refuse to walk by on the other side. It is to see the threat and, trusting in God, to go down into the pit and fight. It means a father going into the pit to fight for the souls of his children. It means a pastor going into the pit to fight for the purity of his flock. It means a Christian man in the workplace going into the pit to stand for righteousness when everyone else is running for cover.
We face giants, too. The giant of a hostile state, armed with the spear of legislation. The giant of a decadent culture, armed with the spear of media and entertainment. And we often feel like we are facing them with nothing but a stick. But our trust is not in our own resources. Our trust is in the God who gives the victory.
Benaiah was mighty because he served a mighty king. His strength was derivative. He was a loyal man, and his loyalty was to God's anointed. Our strength, our courage, our manhood, is found in our absolute loyalty to the greater David, King Jesus. He is the one who descended into the ultimate pit, who defeated the ultimate lion, and who disarmed the ultimate giant with his own weapon. And now He calls us to be His mighty men. He calls us to take up our cross, to fight the good fight, and to be valiant for the truth. He is not looking for sensible, pragmatic men who are good at risk assessment. He is looking for men who will hear the roar of the lion, look to their King, and go down into the pit.