Eleazar, son of Dodai

BIBLE STUDY #815- CHURCH IN THE HOUSES TUESDAY, JUNE 3 - 9, 2014

Topic: “Eleazar, son of Dodai” 2 Samuel 23:9-10 When David begins to run from Saul, the men we least expected joined David to form an army. Those who joined him were people with debts and problems, in depression, who lacked a home and a family. This group of persons was David’s army, the army that the Bible calls “David’s courageous men”. 1 Samuel 22:2 “All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him”. They were men who had no hope in their lives, but they joined the king elected by God. Those without hope became DAVID’S COURAGEOUS! With King David they were no longer the poor and unhappy they were before, now they were called COURAGEOUS. They were men who did not fear what was ahead of them. Let us understand today that what is in front of us is the war we have at the moment. God, in His providence, turns men who are socially and morally discarded into an army of courageous! For this reason no one can underestimate himself and think that God cannot have him in his army and make him a courageous person. ELEAZAR, son of someone named Dodai, was one of the principal courageous of David’s army. Here there was no longer someone who had failed or in disgrace but rather he was ONE OF DAVID’S BEST MEN! Eleazar knew what he was battling. This man knew that by being with David he was going to be a fighter and not idle or a failure at all. Now he would be a man of war, not a man with regrets or failure. Notice the importance of how we look at ourselves; if we see ourselves with pity or with confidence that the one who called us (God) will be the one who will give us the victory. The one who called us needs from us to be warriors to make war; He sees us as His instruments of battle against evil. Many times we look at ourselves with pity and we are mistaken because of that. We believe that we are the victims when we are THE ONES WHO CARRY THE SWORD! We carry God’s sword to combat against the sword of the liars, the deceivers and the false. When they challenged the Philistines who had gathered there for the battle and the men of Israel were gone, Eleazar rose and wounded the Philistines until his hand became tired and stuck to the sword (2 Samuel 23:9, 10). The men of Israel left frightened running from the battle because of the fierceness of the battle. They all ran full of fear; the Philistines were a ferocious army, but God was not with them. The Israelites lost the confidence that God was with them. Then Eleazar stood alone. Therefore, he could not complaint or lament; he had to fight the Philistines even if he fainted later of his wounds and pains. That courageous man could not get tired, or move his tongue or his feelings; he needed all his strength to defeat the enemy. There was no fear in him; he was full of a supernatural courage. Such courage is not in one, it comes from God! Stay in the war ground and don’t run. If you run you have already allowed the enemy to win. Eleazar confronted the Philistines without caring about the inequality and harshness of the battle. He didn’t care about the numerous enemy troops or the cost of losing his own life. The lamentable of nowadays is that courageous persons are needed like this man in the Lord’s army and they are scarce. We love ourselves so much that we’re only concerned with what we have been asked to do in church. We’re concerned if we have been hurt or offended, if we have such or which problems. The truth is that we’re not willing to give our lives for the spiritual war for which we have been called. Many believers are involved in their many feelings, in gossip and ambitions, and for those causes they do not want or are willing to give themselves to God for the battle. The more they escape, the more they are annoyed with the church, the more they demand and talk, the sooner they stop being warriors of the Lord. Those who do this are only warriors to defend their own causes, but not to fight in favor of the work and the kingdom of God. Just like Eleazar did, we have to fight with the sword in hand challenging the most discouraging prognostic. As if this act of courage was not enough, the Scriptures stresses that he fought with such furiousness that his hand literally got stuck to his sword in the confrontation. This man swung his sword with such vehement, impetus and persistence that after hours his muscles and tendons began to contract in such a way that he was not able to let go the sword. TODAY, ELEAZAR SLEEPS IN THE TOMB TOGETHER WITH THE GREATEST OF BIBLICAL HISTORY! There is no rest for the true believer. How can we confront the strong dispute? We have to take the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Even if you feel fatigue it is not an excuse to rest from the battle against the enemy. Let us fight with courage until our tendons and muscles are contracted. Let us not complaint but rather fight with the sword of God until the fatigue, suffering the pain without taking ourselves away. Tolerate in the battle and you will win; drop the sword and you will lose! We’re here to win, not to lose. Amen.