Benaiah

Biblical Record

The name is interpreted to mean "the LORD has established." Several men in the Old Testament bear this name. This article concerns Benaiah the son of Jehoiada of Kabzeel.

David's mighty man. 2 Samuel 23:20–23 records three of his feats of valor:

• He killed two men of Moab.
• He went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion.
• Armed only with a staff, he confronted an Egyptian who carried a spear, wrested the spear from the man's hand, and killed him with it.

The text assesses him this way: "He was more honourable than the thirty, but he attained not to the first three" (2 Samuel 23:23). David set him over his guard. 1 Chronicles 11:22–25 contains the same account, and this parallel passage gives the Egyptian's height as five cubits. Second Samuel 8:18 and 20:23 state that he was over "the Cherethites and the Pelethites," the king's personal guard. According to 1 Chronicles 27:5–6, he commanded the division of the army that served in the third month. The same passage identifies his father Jehoiada as a priest and also names his son Ammizabad.

Solomon's accession and the purge. In 1 Kings 1, when Adonijah sought the throne, Benaiah did not side with him. Together with Zadok and Nathan, he took the lead in bringing Solomon to Gihon and making him king (1 Kings 1:36–38). At the command of the newly enthroned Solomon, he put three men to death:

• Adonijah (1 Kings 2:25)
• Joab, who had taken hold of the horns of the altar (2:29–34)
• Shimei (2:46)

After Joab's death, Benaiah became commander of the army (2:35; 4:4).

Significance in the Bible

Benaiah was a key figure who held military power during the transfer of royal authority from David to Solomon. Joab's support for Adonijah and Benaiah's support for Solomon are understood to have decided the outcome of the succession struggle. The New Testament does not mention Benaiah.

Interpretations and Issues

• The meaning of "ariel": In 2 Samuel 23:20, the Hebrew word describing the Moabites he killed is of uncertain meaning. Translations therefore render it variously, as a personal name or as something like "lionlike men."
• Assessment of Joab's execution: Interpretations fall into two camps. One sees it as a just execution carried out according to David's final charge (1 Kings 2:5–6), avenging the guilt of shed blood. The other reads it as the text's candid record of a political purge in which the new regime eliminated its rivals.
• Further identifications: Some hold that his father Jehoiada is the same person as the Jehoiada of 1 Chronicles 12:27. The text, however, does not state this directly.

In the Korean Church

In sermons, the scene in which he "slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow" is often cited as an illustration of courage and daring in the face of crisis. His siding with Solomon is also sometimes presented as an example of loyalty.