Sivan 1 – Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada the priest

Sivan 1, 5785; from sunset May 27, 2025, to sunset May 28, 2025

(The first day of the third month)

This is the name Benaiah (“Benayahu”) as seen in the Aleppo Codex, one of the oldest, most complete Hebrew manuscripts.

It’s a new month and that means a new military commander is keeping watch over the kingdom. King David set up a military guard that rotated every month. Each month had a leader and 24,000 men. Today in the Bible, Benaiah takes command.

And the children of Israel, according to their number, the heads of fathers’ houses, the captains of thousands and hundreds and their officers, served the king in every matter of the military divisions. These divisions came in and went out month by month throughout all the months of the year, each division having twenty-four thousand. – 1 Chronicles 27:1

The third captain of the army for the third month was Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, who was chief; in his division were twenty-four thousand. This was the Benaiah who was mighty among the thirty, and was over the thirty; in his division was Ammizabad his son. – 1 Chronicles 27:5-6 (NKJ)

The name Benaiah may mean the “Son (Ben) of the Lord (iah),” or it could mean “Built Up (banah) of the Lord (iah).” The majority of Bible dictionaries choose the second option. There may also be an ancient connection between these two words as the son was seen as the one who builds the family.

The name Benaiah is among the most popular in the Bible. There are at least twelve different individuals with this name. The best known of these is our Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, who starts out as a military sub commander under king David (2 Samuel 8:18), but rises to prominence by murdering the two sons of Ariel of Moab, killing a lion in a pit on a snowy day, and an Egyptian with his own spear that he snatched from his hand (2 Samuel 23:20-21). After that, whenever David or Solomon needed something done, they called on Benaiah. In a short period of time, he kills Adonijah the son of Haggith (1 Kings 2:25), the general Joab (2:34) and Shimei the son of Gera from Benjamin (2:46). He was mighty among the thirty; and over the thirty.

Did you know that you can view any of our posts whenever you’d like?

Visit our home page at https://todayinthebible.com

where you can find them organized by month

in the “Archives” section on the right side of the page.