Benaiah

Benaiah (Hebrew: בניהו‎, "Yahweh delivers", or possibly, "the son of Yahweh builds up" is a common name in the Hebrew Bible. In the etymology of the name, the first part of Benaiah comes from the root-verb בנה (bana), which is a common and ubiquitous Hebrew verb meaning "to build". The second part of Benaiah is יה (Yah) = יהו (Yahu) = יו (Yu), a derivative of the Tetragrammaton. The Hebrew word בן (ben), meaning son, is also thought by some to come from the verb בנה (bana).

Son of Jehoiada

In the Hebrew Bible, Benaiah, son of Jehoiada the priest, came from the southern Judean town of Kabzeel and was father of at least two sons, Ammizabad and Jehoiada (1 Chr. 27:5, 6, 34). He was a mighty warrior of great valor and courage, renowned even amongst David's Thirty, although he was not part of The Three (2 Sam. 23:20-23). Benaiah came to prominence by striking down two of Moab’s powerful heroes, by fearlessly descending into a water pit and killing a lion, and by overcoming exceptional odds to slay an Egyptian giant with the victim’s own spear (1 Chr. 11:22-24). David put Benaiah over his personal bodyguard (1 Chr. 11:24, 25) having command over the Cherethites and Pelethites. Benaiah remained loyal to King David during the rebellions of Absalom and Adonijah (2 Sam. 8:18; 15:18; 20:23; 1 Kin. 1:8, 10, 26; 1Ch 18:17) and according to the Chronicler, was appointed over the third rotating division of the army, a force of 24,000 men (1 Chr. 27:5, 6).