After tending to so many animals for the sacrifices and hunting wild animals both large and small, Benaniah would have developed a great respect both for the animals themselves and for God’s creation.
At about the age of fourteen after seeing so many animals killed, he would have developed a conscience. He understood the ways of his people but his experience with the animals and his understanding of the scriptures left Benaniah with a dull aching in his heart.
Throughout his time in the wild he would have seen the beauty of his first swan, count the eyelashes on a deer that was that close to him, marvel at the size of a golden eagle and the ability to feel a lion’s roar when out in the wide open pasture lands at night and how quietly a bear, a very large bear, can move through the tall grass and just disappear.
And playing games with the children he would meet as the caravans moved through. There was the time a large Bedouin boy who liked playing a game of ‘Janbiya’ called for some games.
Benaniah had learned the game from some other Bedouins and his first few ‘lessons’ were very painful.
The larger boy liked to play because he could use his height to his advantage and have his blade reach the back of his opponent. Benaniah did not like this obvious tilting of the literal scale, so when the boy started the game the next time, Benaniah went down into the game circle, without saying a word.
Once the daggers were pulled and the wrists grasped, the older boy was quite astonished when he had to put forth more effort than he had ever had to do in the past, even though he was larger than Benaniah.
The lighting quick maneuver Benaniah used, one learned from wrestling sheep during the butchering process, allowed Benaniah to land two quick hits amounting to two points and with that, showed the true nature of the larger boy.
Who did not play anymore after losing so quickly.
Leave a Reply