The Three Chiefs

"Three of the thirty chiefs also went down and came to David at the time of harvest to the cave of Adullam; and the army of the Philistines had encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. David was then in a stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. And David had a longing and said: Oh, that someone would give me a drink of the water from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate! Then those three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David; but he would not drink it, but poured it out before the Lord. And he said: Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do such a thing; would I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives? So he would not drink it. These things did those three mighty men." (vv. 13-17).

I presume that these three men are the three already mentioned. We find them working together here to give David a drink of the water from the well of Bethlehem. We discover that, because of this, these men receive the highest mention. There was another group of three mentioned in the chapter, but they did not attain to this group of three (vv. 19,23). We may ask why these men received greater acclaim from David. It is simply this: while all of them did wonderful things for David, these three paid attention to David's need. Their quest for water to give David a drink went straight to his heart, and it was an expression of what they thought of him. They paid attention to his personal delight, and this was considered more precious than all the exploits the others did for him.

The lesson here is that giving to the Lord is a greater thing than doing things for the Lord. We give to the Lord in worship – this pays attention to His heart, and He values it more than our service. This is an important lesson that we need to learn well. Do not misunderstand me, the Lord appreciates our service, but worship is something He values more. Now, if this is the case, then we know where the emphasis of our lives should be. Let us be very attentive when we are in His presence, paying attention to His heart.

Now I know that we can become unbalanced in this and think that service is not important. But that is not what I am saying. Our service, as you know, should flow from our worship. These three chiefs did many exploits for David – in fact, what they did in battle exceeded everything the others did in this chapter. Perhaps it is because they had a proper balance in these things.