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Naval Battle Life Lessons from Mighty Men – Benaiah Part 2  He also killed an impressive-looking Egyptian. The Egyptian wielded a spear, while Benaiah attacked him with a club. He grabbed the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear. 2 Samuel 23:21 (NET Bible) John Paul Jones, known as the father of the American navy, is mostly famous for one simple phrase uttered as the ship under his command was being shredded by the canons of a vastly superior British Navy. The year was 1779 and Jones was in command of the Bonhomme Richard, a recently rebuilt merchant ship carrying 42 guns. On September 23 of that year the Bonhomme Richard dueled the 50 gun British frigate HMS Serapis off the Yorkship coast of England. Rather quickly the extra guns of the Serapis did their damage and Jones was forced to consider alternate strategies as direct conflict was impossible. During a lull in the blasting of the cannons the British commander taunted Jones asking him if he was ready to surrender. Instead of surrendering Jones replied to the British commander with a taunt of his own, "I have not yet begun to fight!" True to his word Jones directed the Bonhomme Richard to come alongside the Serapis. The crew of the American ship, though on fire and beginning to sink, brought the two ships together. Despite being outgunned the Richard was a bigger ship with a larger crew which soon began to board the Serapis overwhelming the smaller number of British sailors and causing their captain to surrender. Soon the very ship that had been bombarding the American vessels was their flagship. You have to believe that John Paul Jones and Benaiah would have gotten along well. Nearly 3,000 years before Jones’ skillful captaining of the Bonhomme Richard Benaiah employed a similar strategy before a nameless Egyptian foe. Attacked by a spear and defending himself with only a club (the ancient Israelite version of being outgunned) Benaiah managed to turn the tables on the Egyptian who would lose his life by the tip of the very spear that he carried. Often in our lives we tend to make judgment calls about whether or not circumstances are good or bad without all of the information. What we fail to recognize in these times is that often given time our perspective will change. Events that at first appear to be negative and detrimental can prove to be a tremendous blessing in the long run. Just when you think you have reached the end of your rope you might not yet have begun to fight. Staff Writer: Aaron Sharp |
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