Benaiah

(God builds, creates) — the name of the following persons: a) (2 Sam. 23:36 [as given]) son of the priest Jehoiada, of Kabzeel, one of David’s great and mighty men, distinguished by his enterprise and bravery on various occasions, such as: he struck down two sons of Ariel of Moab, killed a lion in a pit in time of snow, and an Egyptian giant (2 Sam. 23:20–22; 1 Chron. 11:22, 23). Benaiah remained faithful to David also during the conspiracy of Adonijah (1 Kings 1:8), and, having put Adonijah, Shimei, and Joab to death by Solomon’s command, became, after the death of the latter, commander-in-chief (1 Kings 2:35; 4:4); b) (1 Chron.

11:31; 2 Sam. 23:30) a Pirathonite, one of David’s thirty mighty men; c) (1 Chron. 15:18, 20; 16:5) a Levite, a contemporary of David, who played the psaltery with a delicate voice; d) (1 Chron. 15:24; 16:6) likewise a priest, contemporary of David, who blew the trumpet before the Ark of the Covenant; e) (2 Esdras 9:26) one of the Israelites who returned from Babylon to Jerusalem and, at Ezra’s urging, put away his foreign wife; f) (1 Chron. 4:36) one of the princes of the tribe of Simeon; g) (2 Chron. 20:14) a Levite of the sons of Asaph, ancestor of Jahaziel.