Written & Illustrated by Nate Wilson © 1998
There were a dozen men in the Bible named Beniah, but the greatest one of all was Beniah, son of Jehoiada the priest, from the city of Kabzeel.
Beniah son of Jehoiada was considered one of the top five soldiers in the nation of Israel. He served as the captain of King David's own bodyguard. (The royal bodyguard soldiers that Beniah led were called "Cherethites and Pelethites.") Beniah was also responsible for governing the whole country every third month of the year with 24,000 troops at his disposal! (I Chronicles 11:22ff, 18:17, 27:6)
Beniah was a strong and skilled soldier. He gained fame for killing two mighty warriors from the nearby country of Moab. (The Bible calls them "sons of Ariel"--Ariel means "lion.") On another day, while it was snowing, he went down into a pit and killed a real lion! (II Samuel 23:20)
Beniah was very brave. During one battle, he went up to fight against a 7½-foot-tall giant from Egypt. Beniah wrenched the massive spear out of the giant's hand and killed him with the giant's own spear! (II Samuel 23:21)
At one time during King David's reign, a troublemaker named Sheba started a rebellion against the King. Many soldiers in the North of Israel sided with Sheba. David sent the few soldiers he had left, including Beniah and his royal bodyguard, out to capture Sheba and stop the rebellion. They found Sheba holed up in the walled city of Abel, so they built a siege ramp and began battering the wall to bring it down. However, a wise woman alerted the people of the city to what was going on, so the people killed Sheba. When David's soldiers saw that Sheba was dead, they left the people alone and returned to Jerusalem. (II Sam 20)
When King David was old, his son, Adonijah, threw a coronation party to crown himself king. Beniah was one of the few who didn't attend Adonijah's party and who remained loyal to King David. David instructed his loyal men to hold a coronation for his other son Solomon instead. At Solomon's coronation, Beniah gave the following blessing: "As Jehovah has been with my lord the king, so shall He be with Solomon, and shall make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David." They crowned Solomon King, and the people of the city all joined the parade. This put a quick end to Adonijah's party! (I Kings 1)
King David had promised three men that he would spare them from the punishment they deserved. However, before David died, he instructed Solomon to bring these men to justice, so King Solomon commanded Beniah to execute those men. Beniah "fell on" Adonijah the usurper, then on Joab the army captain who had killed innocent men, and finally on Shemei the prophet who had cursed David. Then Solomon promoted Beniah to captain of the entire army. (I Kings 2)
Beniah had two sons. Ammizabad served in his father's army, and Jehoiada (named after his grandpa) served as prime counselor to King David! (I Chron 27:6, 34)
Beniah son of Jehoiada is a man to be imitated!
BENIAH: Mighty Man of God
Text and Illustrations by Nate Wilson ©1998
I wrote this for my son, Beniah Wilson, since I couldn't find any other books about his amazing Biblical namesake. I hope the reader will forgive my departure from Semitic features on Beniah in my illustrations in order to make him look like my blue-eyed, fair-haired son.
Beni, may you grow to possess all the great character of Beniah son of Jehoiada!