MIGHTY MEN

E. C. Burr

2 Samuel 23: 8 (‘… David had’), 9–12

What has been said, both in prayer and by our beloved brother who has just spoken, as to the history of our beloved brother whose body is before us now, draws me to this scripture. His history is well known to us, a history beginning, according to God, with his faith in our Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour. As the apostle Paul says, “Christ died for our sins … and … he was buried … and … he was raised the third day, according to the scriptures”, 1 Corinthians 15: 3, 4. Christ thus becoming the object of faith to men, and to our beloved brother, becomes the means of the eternal standing and security to which reference has already been made.

I suppose it might be more current with us all, when we have believed in the Lord Jesus and found how much we owe to Him, that we are surprised, as we should be surprised, that in the world He is rejected. The Man that the world needs and that every man and woman, young person, and even child, needs, and who is available to them—being the means of such blessing to souls—yet He is rejected. It is a position that we all have to understand as believers, that Christ is rejected.

This point in the history of David embraces a time when he was rejected. (In the first book of Chronicles the mighty men are put at the beginning

of the history; in Samuel they are put towards the close). But how this list of the mighty men begins is, “These are the names of the mighty men whom David had”. And that is related to the affection for Christ of which our beloved brother has just spoken, attachment to Him, so that it can be said of one and another that ‘He has them’; ‘the mighty men whom David had’.

They are not just men enlisted in the army, but they are men that David had. And the affection which our beloved brother had for the Lord Jesus would put him among the men that Christ had; men that, from another point of view, the Father gave to Him out of the world, but men that He had; “They were thine, and thou gavest them me”, John 17: 6. And there is a long series of men at the end of the chapter of whom nothing in particular is said, save that they were among the men that David had.

But, as the list begins, we have certain individuals. We have a man in verse 8 about whom I did not read, and then we have these other two men, and it is these two men that draw me to the recollection of our beloved brother. I refer first to Shammah because it says of him that he stood in the plot of lentils. There was “a plot of ground full of lentils, and the people had fled

… and he stood in the midst of the plot and delivered it”. Beloved, those who know our brother’s history will have no difficulty in identifying him with this kind of thing, the plot of ground perhaps speaking of a brother’s own locality. Our beloved brother has stood for the truth in his own locality, stood—we might say stood and stood—stood for the truth in his own place; stood in the area where the food was; stood to defend it.

I do not apply now in any detail what the Philistines might be, save that they are an element

which is opposed to the progress of the people of God, both as to enjoyment and as to the truth. But our beloved brother is identifiable as one who has stood in the plot of lentils in his day. And God gave a great deliverance. Issues arise in localities and they have to be resolved in localities. But, through their being resolved in the localities where they are, God may give a great deliverance to His people. May we thus have confidence in local assemblies.

We are all tested, both brothers and sisters, as to whether we have this kind of fibre; whether we are content to let someone else defend the truth or whether we ourselves will stand in the plot and defend it ourselves. For, as our beloved brother has said, not only will the savour of our beloved brother’s life among us remain, but his example will remain.

None of these first three men, I think, is heard of anywhere else save in the lists of the mighty men. It would be a great thing to find that one was inscribed in the divine record as one who had stood in a plot of lentils in his day and that, through him, God had given a great deliverance. Beloved, it tests us as to what we are in our own place; the place where we belong; the place where every issue that arises will be resolved. This plot of lentils was the place where the issue had to be taken up, and it was taken up. As I say, our knowledge of our beloved brother’s history gives us no difficulty in identifying him with this kind of thing. Are we prepared to be this kind of man?—this kind of woman, for that matter? Are we prepared to be this kind of person? because a meeting like this bears not only on the comfort of the saints, but on the continuance of the testimony.

I refer to the second man last. There was Joseb-Bassebeth in verse 8, and then there was Eleazar, and then there was Shammah. I refer to Eleazar because, in a sense, his experience is one that, for us, comes after the experience of Shammah, that is “He arose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary”. Beloved, I do not think this is the weariness that gives up or that thinks that conflict has gone on long enough and therefore one will retire from it. I think this is the weariness of “I am already being poured out” (2 Timothy 4: 6), that is to say, as far as this man was concerned, there was nothing more that he could do; but, even when he was weary, his hand still clave to the sword. We can see that, too, in our beloved brother, on account of whose death we are here today, that he fought until he was weary and his hand clave to the sword—even then. What an example for us!

I trust none of us have things patterned out so that we have in our minds a time when we will retire from testimonial energy and from conflict. This man went on until he was weary. I think it corresponds to “I have fought the good fight”, 2 Timothy 4: 7, A.V. I think this man corresponds to “I am already being poured out”. And again, through Eleazar, God gave a great deliverance. It shows what God can accomplish through people who are determined to go on to the end in the conflicts of the testimony.

Then it says, “the people returned after him only to spoil”. That is to say that what he stood for, and the way he stood, accomplished great things, accomplished deliverance, and out of it came vast profit for all the people, they “returned after him only to spoil”. No one else, after him, had to do anything. We shall never reach that kind of

situation where we can retire because one man has accomplished everything, save for what Christ as one Man has accomplished; but this man stood and he fought till he was weary and, after him, they returned only to spoil.

It is like Paul, as I say again, “I am already being poured out”, and after Paul the rest of us, I suppose, have returned only to spoil. We have found vast gain through what he did in his application of his life to the testimony, ultimately coming, as he says, to having finished his course. He went on in the combat until he was weary and God gave a great deliverance; for the rest of the people there was only spoil.

Well, beloved, may we be concerned not only to apply ourselves, to commit ourselves to continuing to apply ourselves, but may we also enjoy the spoil which comes from consistent adherence to the truth of God.

Words at the burial of Mr. J. Thomson, Croydon
25 January 1978

(The meeting was held at West Norwood, London).