The second book of Samuel ends with chapters that have seemingly had a life elsewhere and are here recorded lest they be lost, bits and pieces of Davidic lore and feats of battle that warriors would love to recount around a campfire.

We have to fill in the blank spaces, but one snippet I have never forgotten comes from an early period in David's life when the Philistines are overrunning the land. It must have been so galling for him to realize that even his hometown of Bethlehem is occupied by these enemies. Contrast that with the fact that his temporary headquarters is in the cave of Adullam.

One day he says, longingly: "Oh, for a drink from the well at the gate of Bethlehem!" We can almost hear him, can't we? There's nothing like water from a place where the enemy now drinks.

Three of his chosen warriors don't need to hear any more. They set out for Bethlehem, infiltrate the Philistine lines, draw water from the well and bring that container back to David.

He is stunned by their bravado and probably fearful of other wishes he might have idly expressed. As he puts it: "The Lord forbid that I drink this. Can I drink the blood of men who went at the risk of their lives." He then pours out the contents of the container as a libation to the Lord. It is a gift more precious
than gold.

This incident also says something about the personal inspiration that David stirred among those who served him. It might have been more logical to end this book with the death of David but that is saved for the first book of Kings. Instead, we have memories of the past, bits of the good old days that belong to every memory. I Chronicles 11 covers the same ground, with nothing more than a dull listing of names. In 2 Samuel we meet, ever so quickly, warriors like the one who killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day. That must hide a tale! Or the brave Beniah who dispatches an Egyptian with a spear that he pulls from the hand of an enemy.

After each tantalizing tidbit comes the refrain: "but he did not attain to the Three." Those are David's chief warriors, the envy of every soldier, the poster boys for the Davidic army.

Bible references: 2 Sam. 23: 13-23