David’s Mighty Men (3)—Taking on the Giants - All The LORD is near Daily Devotionals for 2024

Abishai the brother of Joab was chief of another three. He had lifted up his spear against three hundred men, killed them, and won a name among these three.
1 Chronicles 11:20

David's Mighty Men (3)—Taking on the Giants
Abishai means "my father is Jesse," or "my father is a gift," and his mother Zeruiah was one of David's sisters (1 Chr. 2:15-16). Jesse was the father of David, while Abishai was one of Jesse's grandsons. Abishai was the most renowned of the thirty mighty men but was not one of the first three (11:21). His younger brother Asahel, a fast runner, was killed by Saul's general Abner (2 Sam. 2). His other brother was the powerful Joab who became David's leading general, yet he was not counted among the mighty men—the three or the thirty. Joab may have been a believer, but he was full of selfish interests. Abishai, however, had real faith and genuine love for David, just as the other "mighty men" linked with the king after God's own heart. When King Saul hotly pursued them, Abishai advised David to kill King Saul on an occasion the Lord seemed to have given. David refused to do so because Saul was God's anointed (1 Sam. 26:9-11).

Abishai defended David several times because he remained his loyal supporter. "When the Philistines were at war again with Israel, David and his servants with him went down and fought against the Philistines; and David grew faint" (2 Sam. 21:15). One of the remaining giants sought to kill David (v. 16), but "Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid, and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, ‘You shall go out no more with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel'" (v. 17). Four giants of Gath, including Goliath, "fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants" (v. 22).

Today, we fight a different kind of giant (2 Cor. 10:4-5; Eph. 6:10-20). Let us put on the "whole armor of God."

Alfred E. Bouter