Fight Like A Man: May Your Hand Freeze to The Sword!

By Brian Pruitt

FIGHT LIKE A MAN

Iron Sharpens Iron! Get ready for sparks to fly in this sword-sharpening, fire-igniting, journey. Fight Like A Man is a manifesto for manhood. Within its pages is a clear reminder that we are born male, but we must choose to be men. There are no participation trophies handed out at the end of this fight. As men, we must be fully engaged and fight for the gold medal, which is our families. Brian Pruitt takes his readers into an extraordinary passage of scripture where Eleazar, one of David's mighty-men models to all men how and when to fight like a man.

The question has been asked once before in history, and now Brian Pruitt asks us once again. "If not us, then who? If not now, then when?" It's time to fight for faith, family, manhood, and fatherhood. It's time to Fight Like A Man!

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Mar 5, 2024
• ISBN: 9798350943801

Book preview

SWORD 1

Eleazar’s Story

It was Martin Luther King Jr. who said, If a man has not found something worth dying for, then he has yet to find anything worth living for. It’s this mind set that reveals the heart and the fear of all men.

It may be unspoken, but I assure you that in the silence of the night, most men would say that their greatest fear in life is insignificance. The fear of having left this earth and having never mattered drives us on a daily basis and causes many sleepless nights. We may not all fear death, but we all fear dying without anyone knowing or caring that we were here. The fear of never finding something to die for haunts every man. Did I matter to my family, wife, children, community, generation? Did I make an impact? Did I find something in life I was so passionate about that I was willing to die for it? Was my hand frozen to a worthy cause? You may never hear us say the words, but I assure you we all wonder, do I matter?

In 2 Samuel 23 we see the significance of the life of King David, as well as the impact of the lives of thirty-three men, who stood and fought by his side. While all of these men performed great feats and left their mark on the earth. We will look at one man who embodies how every man should fight for what and who he loves.

His name was Eleazar, and in 2 Samuel 23:9-10, Eleazar challenges every man who will fight for any cause throughout history, how to swing a sword. The entire chapter of 2 Samuel 23 bleeds with excitement and screams the stories of great warriors, who found worthy causes to die for. Eleazar’s story, which is captured in two verses, tells of a battle that probably lasted hours. So often; this is the story of great men like you and I. Our lives seem to be summed up by one statement or two verses, on the front of a tombstone, that describe a battle that took us a lifetime to win. Eleazar’s story specifically teaches all of us how to maximize the moment and fight like a man. 2 Samuel 23:9-10 reads:

9 Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodai the Ahohite. As one of the three mighty warriors, he was with David when they taunted the Philistines gathered at Pas Dammim for battle.

Then the Israelites retreated, 10 but Eleazar stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day. The troops returned to Eleazar, but only to strip the dead.

Wow! Powerful! It was this incredible, movie scene of a scripture that sparked a revival in my heart and the writing of this book. This passage of scripture embodies the climax of every great movie you have ever seen. If there was ever a movie that inspired and challenged you, the same fuel can be found right here in the frozen hand of Eleazar.

As I read these two passages, my imagination ran wild. Eleazar and David so confident in the ability of God to bring about victory over their enemies, head towards Pas Dammim for battle. Interesting enough in the Hebrew the words Pas Dammim means: The Border of Blood, The Palm of Blood or the House of Blood. So to add to the excitement, the battle takes place at a location known for major blood shed. It is the border where blood has been shed, by bloody palms and many have lost their lives and family members' lives. It is literally the place in scripture where David and Goliath faced off and David walked away with the sword and the head of a giant. Pas Dammim, the border of blood.

Eleazar and David show up at this familiar place of battle and taunt the Philistines in an attempt to draw them out to fight. I can’t help but to think maybe Eleazar and David saw four or five of them and thought, Surely we can take these guys. Knowing that if things got out of hand that the armies of Israel was not far behind them, they were willing to take some risk. Then, after one taunt too many, the four Philistines become irritated and begin to approach the border of blood.

As they moved forward, it was slowly revealed that they too had an army with them, only much larger in number.

At that moment the Israelite armies turned and ran in fear leaving Eleazar and David to fight. While I am sure that David piled up a body count that day, the Bible does not focus on the feats of David this time. Instead, this was Eleazar’s moment to leave a story that would inspire men for ages to come. We are all presented with these defining moments or opportunities to take a stand and fight. These are our opportunities to inspire men for ages to come.

Standing his ground as he and his buddy are surrounded by Philistines on all sides. In the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, swords start swinging, as iron meets iron, sparks start flying and as iron meets flesh, blood flows.

Eleazar’s every swing is intense yet intentional. Like a well-trained fighter, he swiftly moves through the chaos. Inflicting wounds upon his enemy that are fatal. One by one and two-by-two philistines drop to their knees critically wounded and dying.

What seems to be an hour later, philistines keep coming from every direction. Eleazar grows fatigue and wonders if he can keep up the grueling pace. The sword that once seemed light as a feather begins to feel like a thousand pounds. He, however, is reminded that he can’t stop fighting, knowing he is the only thing standing between the philistine armies and the city where his family lives. A loss today would not only mean his personal death but also the death or captivity of his wife and children. With the faces and legacy of his family in mind, Eleazar finds renewed strength. Feeling like he and his sword has become one, he fights for his family. It is his moment of significance. He has found something he is willing to die for, his family.

With one last swift swing, the battle has ended. Hundreds of Philistine soldiers lay at his feet on every side. Eleazar holds his position prepared for another round of attacks, but nothing happens. He slowly looks around and sees the large body count. The Israelite troops returned, and they were sure they would find Eleazar dead, but when they got there all that was left to do was take the spoils.

Beaten, battered, bleeding and bruised, he realizes that the Lord has given him a great victory, and at the top of his lunges he screams and roars out like a lion, the mighty name of his God. At that moment he turns to loosen his grip on his sword and becomes strangely aware that his hand will not open. Scriptures says he fought so hard that his hand literally froze to his sword. It is this picture of Eleazar’s hand frozen to his sword, fighting for his God and his family, that made me ask one question, What is my hand frozen to? I wrote this book to ask every man that exact question, What is your hand frozen to? The answer will determine not only your destiny but the destiny of the next generation. The answer will determine your true significance.

The Image of Man

Genesis 1: 26-27 Then God said, Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

It is in this passage of scripture we men find our beginning and our foundation. It is here in Genesis chapter one that God deputizes us into manhood by baptizing us in his image. God was literally saying in this passage of scripture you not only look like me, but you will operate as I operate. Your role as a man on earth will be similar to my role as God of the universe. I have made you in my image.

In my travels over the last twenty-three years speaking to men across the country, it is clear to me that manhood is under attack. The image of man has been distorted in our nation's eyes. Worse than that, they have deteriorated the image of man in the eyes of men. Like an Ultimate Fighting Champion (UFC Fighter) gasping for his last breath we have been beaten down by the words and thoughts of our society and the consequences at times of our own behaviors. Somewhere in this octagon of bare knuckle fighters we have found ourselves in a submission hold we never trained, planned, or created a counter move for. We are somewhere between being counted out by the referee of life or desperately tapping out ourselves, which comes with an even greater dishonor.

We are at the place in history where either this thing called manhood ends in a really ugly way or we find the strength to slip from this world’s choke hold and give the world the greatest comeback story ever. My mission is to help us do the latter.

The comeback starts with remembering who we are and who we were created to be. There is no better place to be reminded than in the book of Genesis. Men on a whole have come to a place in society where we have begun to question two things, our role and our image. We have responded as if our role is no longer important to the family and in society. We have believed the insults thrown upon men and have slowly become a self fulling prophecy. We have proven the critics right. We are forfeiting our role and losing our ability to lead in a world that needs our leadership.

God says. Let us make man in our image. Make (asah) — In the original Hebrew language means: To fashion, prepare, ordain, accomplish or squeeze. God said, Let us fashion or build man strong like us. Let us prepare man to accomplish the call of God in life, his family and in the earth. Let us squeeze man together out of the same magnificent splendor as we are. Let us build him with no quit. Let us put an ability to fight in him that this world has never seen. Whatever is in God is also in you. It is not to say that you are God, but it is to say that just as my own children are a creation of what is in me, so it is with us and God. God is faithful and faithfulness has been squeezed into you. God is a fighter and fighting has been squeezed into you. God is victorious and victory has been squeezed into you. Now grab your swords and fight like a man made in God’s image.

God not only said make man in our