Warrior profile: Shammah
Our next warrior profile comes from 2 Samuel 23. This chapter contains a list of King David’s mighty men, and is one of my favorite sections in the Old Testament.
Today, we’ll be looking at a guy named Shammah. There’s not a lot of information we have about Shammah, but what we do have is profound.
11And next to him was Shammah, the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the men fled from the Philistines. 12But he took his stand in the midst of the plot and defended it and struck down the Philistines, and the Lord worked a great victory.
2 Samuel 23:11–12 (ESV)
But he took his stand…
It’s important to recognize that in the Old Testament, the Philistines are a picture of sin, and the Israelites are God’s chosen people. This helps set the context for what we can learn from Shammah.
When the Israelite army fought against the Philistines, the passage says that “the men fled from the Philistines.” This was bad news for anyone that chose to stay and fight, because in a battle, it tends to be that those that are abandoned on the front lines are overwhelmed and killed (see Uriah the Hittite…)
Shammah, however, didn’t flee with the rest of the army. He took his stand and fought, even though everyone around him was running in fear of the power of the enemy. He recognized that the right thing to do was to stand firm and resist.
We shouldn’t take our cues from Christians (or just church people) around us who are fleeing from the power of sin in their lives. When the alleged statistics tell us that over 70% of men in the church struggle with pornography, 50% of marriages end in divorce, or whatever other statistic you want to include, it’s easy to justify giving up the fight. Why not just flee? Everyone else is doing it…
Even if you see God’s people around you fleeing from the power of the enemy, don’t flee with them. Take your stand against sin, not because it’s an easy victory, but because it’s right.
The Field of Lentils
The most interesting thing to me in this passage is that it mentions that Shammah took his stand in a “plot of ground full of lentils.” I believe that this a significant revelation in our fight against sin.
Normally, you wouldn’t consider a field of lentils as a valuable strategic location to defend. Sure, it makes sense to make a last stand if the Philistines were attacking Jerusalem or some other position of power or tactical advantage, but a field of lentils? Why not retreat with the rest of the army and regroup?
Interestingly, the location of this battle (Lehi) was also where Samson killed 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey in Judges 15. Why would this place that appears to hold little geographical significance be the venue for not just one, but two epic battles in the Old Testament?
What if it’s not about the strategic value of Lehi or a particular field of lentils, but to teach us something about how we are to do battle with sin.
Can you look at your life and find areas of compromise? Are there areas that you’ve deemed as being “good enough” in holiness? It’s all too easy to rationalize and say, “this field of lentils isn’t really all that important to defend.” Or perhaps, “this is just an area that I struggle with in my life.” Which is another way of saying that the power of sin in that area is just too strong to be completely eradicated from your life.
As Christians, we are called to be holy, as God is holy. Jesus doesn’t do partial salvations. He saves us by exchanging our sin for His righteousness as the perfect sacrifice. His Spirit sanctifies us and guides us into all truth. God’s desire is to transform us into the image of His Son. There is no such thing as a tolerable amount of sin in the life of a believer.
If the Lord is bringing your attention to one of your “pet sins”, it’s because He wants you to take your stand in faith and kill it. Don’t flee from the difficult battles. There is no field of lentils in your heart that Christ has not purchased with His blood. Do not give ground to any sin in your life, however small.
The Lord will work the victory
This brings us to our last point. It wasn’t Shammah’s legendary battle prowess that won the day. It was the Lord who worked the great victory.
This is how the Christian life is supposed to work according to the Bible. God provides both the instruction and the power to carry out the instruction. We receive the instruction and His enabling power, and obey in faith. Then He works through us, the church, to accomplish what He will.
The issues arise when we go rogue and operate in our own wisdom and strength (or lack of them), or when we fail to obey when He instructs us.
When we recognize that Christ has defeated death and sin, we can stand with confidence, and the Lord will work a great victory.
Conclusion
Do you see God’s people around you fleeing from the power of sin? Are there battlegrounds in your life that you’ve deemed as “acceptable losses”? Are you tired of struggling with the same sins over and over again?
I encourage you, believer, to be like Shammah. Take your stand in the midst of the plot and defend it, resting in the Truth that Jesus has already won the war. When your focus is on Him, He will work a great victory in and through you.
Until next time,
Be a warrior…
Stand in the breach…
Hold the line…
- Isaac C.