Fight in Your Bean Field!

Shammah gets my imagination spinning every time I read about him. His mention in the Bible begs for a good backstory plot. Shammah was listed in the top three of David’s Mighty Men, but his paragraph in the Bible only tells of the time he stood in a lentil field and fought off the Philistines.

Joshebbasshebeth (yikes, try pronouncing that name) was hailed as the band of Mighty Men’s chief and was recognized for killing 800 men with his spear at one time. Eleazar fought beside David, defeating the Philistines, until his hand was so weary it wouldn’t unclench from the hilt of his sword. Even Benaiah, who wasn’t part of David’s top three Mightiest Men, gets kudos for killing a lion in a pit on a snowy day and for killing a tall Egyptian with the Egyptian’s own spear. Poor Shammah doesn’t have any kill numbers listed after his name, nor was a cool weapon or battle buddy mentioned. His praise was for fighting in a bean field (2 Samuel 23.)

This bean field (technically, a legume field) was in Lehi, a part of Judah. I’m not sure where the other Mighty Men were when the Philistines attacked, but Shammah had stayed behind, stood his ground in a bean field, and saved his homeland from the Philistines. Shammah lived out Ephesians 6:13, “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”

I joke to my boys when I leave the house for them to “Hold down the fort,” but that is what Shammah did. The Bible recognizes his sacrifice in staying behind to hold down the bean field, for he saved his family, his people, and his city from an enemy attack.

 A movie that makes me cry every time I watch it is It’s a Wonderful Life. In the movie, George Bailey longs to travel, but life keeps getting in the way, and he’s never able to leave his hometown of Bedford Falls. He feels like a failure, but with the help of an angel, he learns the impact he had on his community.

God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. - 1 Corinthians 1:28-29

At least Shammah got his own paragraph in the Bible. There are many unsung heroes today who stay behind and don’t get the glory, but God sees them. I think of my mom, who taught inner-city kids, who were bused into the elementary school where she worked, to read. She did everything short of standing on her head to hold their attention and develop a love for reading.

My son’s wrestling coaches are another. They’re unpaid volunteers with a passion for wrestling and how it develops a child’s self-esteem. They spend endless hours at long tournaments in hot, sweaty gyms, usually giving up family time on both Saturdays and Sundays, and every day after school for practices and duels.  

There are also several men at my church who, for almost five years now, have gotten up at the crack of dawn on Sunday mornings, in freezing snow, extreme heat, or torrential rain, driven a trailer to our remote pop-up location in a theatre, and set up for church. Afterward, they break everything down again. They’re the first there, and the last to leave, and I’ve never heard a single complaint. 

While these heroes’ fights might not be in a bean field, they pour themselves out for God’s glory. We may not feel like what we do is important, but God sees and rejoices over our humble offerings. It’s not the act that God delights in but our heart condition. Paul, who’d fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith (2 Timothy 4:7), referred to himself as a drink offering poured out (2 Timothy 4:6). A drink offering in the Old Testament was the humblest and least impressive of the sacrificial offerings, yet Paul likens his life to one of these, saying he may not be impressive, but he gave his all to God.  

But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first. - Matthew 19:30