The Philistines were the traditional enemy. The very word "Philistines" was one to strike terror to the Hebrew heart. But this man was reckoned one of the first three of David's mighty men because of his conduct that day.
Eleazar quietly, quickly gripped his sword and fought the enemy single-handedly. Up and down, left and right, hip and thigh he smote with such terrific earnestness and drive that the enemy turned and fled.
We are also told that the muscles of his hand became so rigid around the handle of his sword that he could not tell by the feeling where his hand stopped and the sword began. Man and Sword were one that day in the action of service against the nation's enemy.
When we so absorb this Book (The Sword) and the Spirit of Him who is its life that people cannot tell the line of division between the man and the God within the man, then shall we have the mightiest power as God's intercessors in defeating the foe. God and man will be as one in the action of service against the enemy.
This illustration is taken from Quiet Talks on Prayer by S.D. Gordon