In the past you led us in war. You led us even though Saul was the king. The Lord said to you 'David, you will be the shepherd of my people, the Israelites. You will become the leader over my people.'"
All the leaders of Israel came to King David at the town of Hebron. David made an agreement with them in Hebron before the Lord. The leaders anointed David. That made him king over Israel. The Lord promised this would happen. The Lord had used Samuel to make that promise.
David and all the Israelites went to the city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was called Jebus at that time. The people living in that city were named Jebusites. They
David said, "The one who leads the attack on the Jebusites will become the commander over all my army." So Joab led the attack. He was Zeruiah's son. Joab became the commander of the army.
This is a list of the leaders over David's special soldiers. These heroes became very powerful with David in his kingdom. They and all the Israelites supported David and made him king, just as God had promised.
This is a list of David's special soldiers: Jashobeam the Hacmonite was the leader of the king's special forces. Jashobeam used his spear to kill 300 men at one time.
Eleazar was with David at Pasdammim. The Philistines had come to that place to fight a war. There was a field full of barley there. The Israelites ran away from the Philistines.
Once David was at the cave of Adullam and the Philistine army was down in the Valley of Rephaim. Three of the Thirty Heroes crawled flat on the ground all the way to that cave to join David.
David did not really want this, he was only talking, but the Three Heroes fought their way through the Philistine army and got some water from the well near the city gate in Bethlehem. Then Three Heroes brought the water to David, but David refused to drink the water. He poured it out on the ground as an offering to the Lord.
David said, "God, I cannot drink this water. It would be like drinking the blood of the men who risked their lives to get this water for me." That is why David refused to drink the water. The Three Heroes did many brave things like that.
Joab's brother, Abishai, was the leader of the Three Heroes. Abishai used his spear against 300 enemies and killed them. He was as famous as the Three Heroes.
Then there was Benaiah son of Jehoiada, from Kabzeel. He was the son of a powerful man. Benaiah did many brave things. He killed two of the best soldiers in Moab. One day when it was snowing, Benaiah went down into a hole in the ground and killed a lion.
And Benaiah killed a big Egyptian soldier. That man was about 7?feet tall. The Egyptian had a spear that was very large and heavy. It was as big as the pole on a weaver's loom. Benaiah had only a club. He grabbed the spear in the Egyptian's hands and took it away from him. Then Benaiah killed the Egyptian with his own spear.