Answers Bible Curriculum 2nd Edition Unit 8 Lesson 77
This week in Sunday school, we come to the famous battle between David and Goliath. However, in our seeming familiarity with this story, do we actually misremember and/or misinterpret it? What is the record of David’s battle with Goliath meant to teach us about God? And how can we apply the truths of this account so that we walk more steadily in faith today?
Our main text for this lesson is 1 Samuel 17:1-58.
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all right well it’s time to get started so good morning and welcome to the calvary community church sunday school class i am david kaposia today we are continuing in our chronological study of the bible and we’ve been moving through the book of first samuel and that brings us to the one of the most famous accounts in the bible that is the battle of david and goliath now you may know this record well this piece of history well but there’s always the danger for a popular or famous section of scripture to actually be misremembered or misunderstood and misapplied so to underscore this point let’s just do a little quiz and this is to be done in your heads but take a look these nine questions and see if you can answer them test yourself as to how well you could actually answer them number one who killed goliath number two who was leading the israelite army number three how old was david during the battle number four why didn’t david wear any armor number five what weapon or weapons did david take into battle could you even draw a picture of them number six what weapon was used to kill goliath number seven what was goliath’s challenge to the israelites number eight who is the hero of this section of scripture and then number nine what is the most important message of this passage of scripture we’ve heard a lot about david and goliath but do we really know this account as well as we think well let’s go to this section of scripture with fresh eyes and make sure that we are understanding the bible as it actually is written we also of course want to be paying close attention because we want to be transformed by this text the spirit of god has laid this text before us this morning so that we would be changed by it encouraged convicted instructed and so we’re looking for that this morning so let’s go to the lord now and pray that he will indeed change us through his word just as we were meant to be changed pray with me heavenly father we come to your word now because we are coming for food we need your word more even than physical bread that’s what your word says we live on every word that comes from your mouth we need that for spiritual strength we need that to do the work that has been that has been set before us in our lives so god we pray that your word would be effective this morning that you would be so kind in your spirit as to empower me to be able to speak your word accurately and helpfully and clearly and lord you and would also work in the hearts of the people lord that they would be paying attention to it humble themselves before your word and be applying it into their lives lord for any who are listening who do not know you jesus christ i pray that they be saved even by the word this morning as they hear about the mighty god that you are especially to deliver in jesus name amen all right well please take your bibles and open to the book of first samuel first samuel chapter 17 is where we’re going to be this morning we’re going to be looking at the whole chapter remember the last time that we were in chapter 16 we saw how the spirit of god came upon david after he was anointed remember samuel the last judge and a prophet of god he anoints david with the holy oil and it says after that after he was anointed he was anointed in the midst of his brothers their spirit of god came upon david powerfully now at the same times the spirit was coming upon david for unique empowerment it was departing from saul and instead a harming spirit an evil spirit was sent to saul now how was this spirit dealt with remember there was a way that saul had a there was a means for saul easing the torment that the spirit brought him and what was that means it was actually david david was a skilled musician he could play the harp well and when david played in saul’s court it eased saul’s mind so that’s the context in first samuel 16 let’s start looking at the beginning of first samuel 17. as i said we’ll go through the whole chapter but we’re just going to start with verses 1 to 16.
we’re going to look at the situation in which israel and saul find themselves a dangerous predicament so take a look starting in verse 1.
it says now the philistines gathered their armies for battle and they were gathered at soco which belongs to judah and they camped between soko and azekah in ephesus damim saul and the men of israel were gathered and camped in the valley of elah and drew up in battle array to encounter the philistines the philistines sit on the mountain on one side while israel stood on the mountain on the other side with the valley between them then a champion came out from the armies of the philistines named goliath from gath whose height was six cubits and a span get a bronze helmet on his head and he was clothed with scale armor which weighed five thousand shackles of bronze he also had bronze greaves on his legs and a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders the shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam and the head of his spear weighed 600 shekels of iron his shield carrier also walked before him he stood and shouted to the ranks of israel and said to them why do you come to draw out or draw up in battle array am i not the philistine and you servants of saul choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me if he is able to fight with me and kill me then we will become your servants but if i prevail against him and kill him then you shall become our servants and serve us again the philistines said i defy the ranks of israel this day give me a man that we may fight together when saul and all israel heard these words of the philistine they were dismayed and greatly afraid now david was the son of the ephithide of bethlehem and judah his name was jesse and he had eight sons and jesse was old in the days of saul advanced in years among men the three older sons of jesse had gone after saul to the battle and the names of his three sons who went to the battle were eliab the first born and second to him abinadab and the third shama david was the youngest now the three oldest followed saul but david went back and forth from saul to attend his father’s flock at bethlehem a philistine came forward morning and evening for 40 days and took his stand all right we’ll stop there for now but as we do let’s start our analysis of this passage by just doing basic observations of the text what details do we actually see in the passage we see here that israel is at war with the philistines their enemy are the philistines who live by the coast two sides have drawn up in battle array on opposite sides of the valley of elah both sides taking good defensive positions by the way let me see if i can pull up my yeah so here’s the google image of the ila valley and this has been labeled with some helpful labels from my israel geography teacher michael grassanti dr grasanti but you can see that we have well likely where the israelites would have been on the one side of the valley of ela philistines on the other side both on these kind of hills or mountainous areas good defensive positions you have the brook ela going in the middle azekah over here ahsoka over here you can still see the battle site today that we’re talking about in this passage anyways just want to show that to you before the battle takes place a man named goliath comes forth from the side of the philistines and he speaks and notice the details we get about goliath in verses 4 to 7.
he is called the champion of the philistines one who goes out between and he’s heavily armored his coat of mail or his coat of scales this armor it’s said to weigh 5 000 shekels now the precise weight of a shekel is debated but one reckoning is that this coat of mail weighed about 125 pounds now that’s a lot for perspective the average u.s soldier reportedly carries about 60 pounds of gear into battle though he may carry as much as 120 pounds of gear on an extended patrol well for a u.s soldier that weight includes his weapon his armor and his ammunition but for goliath just the main armor piece alone is 125 pounds or maybe more he’s wearing additional armor he’s got bronze greaves that is shin armor he’s also heavily armed we hear that he has a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders now a javelin was used in the ancient world and in the classical period it was a precisely weighted spear that was meant to be thrown to impale enemy soldiers or disrupt enemy infantry formations if you’ve got javelins raining down on you you can’t keep your tight order because you’re going to try and avoid those spears coming down so it would either it was meant to strike soldiers disrupt formations but also stick into and weigh down enemy shields if a big spear runs into your shield and it’s constructed in such a way it will stick into your shield and be basically like a dragging weight on it and you can’t use your shield anymore and that makes you more vulnerable in battle javelins were a serious word of ice goliath has one of these javelins he also has a spear we’re told with a shaft like a weaver’s beam that means this spear probably was two to two and a half inches in diameter and probably about eight feet long so that’s just the wooden the wooden shaft but then when you add the iron spear head this spear probably would have been about nine to ten feet long and that spearheaded itself 600 shekels or probably about 15 pounds so this is another weighty piece of equipment that goliath wields with skill he also has a shield carrier to give goliath a large shield or some other equipment as necessary in battle maybe some more javelins and not mentioned in this section but goliath also has a sword presumably a large sword so he’s heavily armored heavily armed and is also incredibly big our text says six cubits in a span now a qubit was an ancient measurement of about 18 inches though there are longer and shorter versions of the cube in ancient times and even in the bible but if we do a quick little math calculation if a cubit is 18 inches 6 times 18 and we get 108 inches or basically nine feet so just from that section of it it’s nine feet as for this span what’s a span well span was another ancient measurement corresponding to the length between the tip of one’s thumb and one’s pinky when a hand is stretched out of course you had different sized hands in ancient times so that did vary a little bit but a span was considered to be about half a cubit or nine inches so according to what we have here in our text goliath was a little less than 10 feet because he’s about nine feet from the cubic calculation and nine inches from the span calculation so can you imagine meeting somebody who’s nine feet nine inches tall that is a large man and all this height was likely packed a lot of weight and muscle goliath was an extremely large warrior oh yeah dwayne and judy mentioned that max bowling ball weight is about 16 pounds and compare the spearhead of about 15 pounds you can that’s a lot of force behind any sort of spear attack for sure because of the weight just the spearhead so he’s heavily armed he’s heavily armored he’s tall he’s a big guy and he’s extremely confident in himself verses 8 to 11 he issues a challenge to face any man of israel in mortal combat and claims that the results of the duel will determine the fate of the two peoples whoever wins their people will be enslaved to the other side now notice for how long goliath issues this provocative challenge to israel twice a day for 40 days according to verse 16 morning and evening now what’s israel’s reaction to goliath’s challenge well look at verse 11 it says they were dismayed and greatly afraid now those are pretty similar descriptions to be dismayed is kind of to be afraid so why are they mentioned together isn’t that kind of overkill well it’s for emphasis anytime you see repetition in the bible or similar terms being used together it’s usually for emphasis it’s an underscore that these people are really distraught they are really scared because of goliath now where’s saul in all this oh he’s not mentioned specifically but he would be included in verse 11 which means he’s afraid too and remember saul was one of the tallest men in israel that was actually one of the reasons he was selected as king or at least confirmed as king he was said to be a head taller from his shoulders up than everyone else so naturally the people would look to saul to be their champion i mean they literally said about their king we want a king who will fight our battles for us saul this is your opportunity literally we need you to fight this battle against their champion but saul doesn’t really match up with the physical specimen who is goliath even though saul is probably an impressive looking warrior himself he’s no goliath and he doesn’t go out to face the philistine really by doing this saul was leading all israel into fear if the king’s afraid what are the people going to be actually not a single israelite is willing to risk facing goliath in battle they’re all afraid and consider how many thousands of soldiers must be with saul there’s not one man who’s willing to go out and face goliath but what had god said to israel in the torah in the law of moses regarding battle and fear we’ve looked at this before but i’ll mention to you again deuteronomy 20 deuteronomy 20 verses 1 to 4 says this when you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you do not be afraid of them for yahweh your god who brought you up from the land of egypt is with you when you are approaching the battle the priest shall come near and speak to the people it shall say to them hear o israel you are approaching the battle against your enemies today do not be feign-hearted do not be afraid or panic or tremble before them for yahweh your god is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to save you that’s an amazing promise battle remember was a fundamental place for israel to be exercising faith in god they had this incredible promise from god but they had to actually go fight and show their trust in god but they are clearly not doing so here and saul is leading them in lack of faith but what about david we’ve already been introduced to david at this point in first samuel where is david why isn’t he with saul’s army well we hear in verse 15 that david has duties at home as the youngest son of jesse he must go back to take care of the flock at bethlehem so he’s not able to follow saul on the war campaign he was able to serve in saul’s court a little bit but apparently he’s been away for some time now all right with these observations let’s pause and talk about some interpretation for a moment actually just one interpretation question right now oh by the way if you’re wondering about kiafa here that’s kerbet kiafa one of the arc one of the great archaeological sites this appears to be a fortress ruin from solomon’s time and it’s part of just affirming what the bible says about the davidic monarchy in solomon anyways so that’s right near the valley of eli one question to ask before we move on god promised victory to his covenant people if only they would believe in him so why doesn’t israel believe in god here why doesn’t israel have faith in god was it not exactly what we’ve been seeing over the last few chapters it is because they are looking at only the appearance of things they’re caught up again in externals they look at goliath and they say there’s no way anyone can beat that giant this was saul’s problem right right he just looked at the externals this was israel’s problem when they looked for a king even samuel was tempted to start thinking this way when he was looking for a new king to anoint remember what god said it says do not look at his outward appearance for the lord sees not as a man sees man looks at the outward appearance but the lord looks at the heart it’s the same thing these are these israelites are not believing god because they’re walking by sight and not by faith and truly from a human perspective when you’re just looking with your eyes goliath looks unbeatable and so israel’s fearing instead of fighting unless we look down on israel too much i mean consider if you were tasked with facing goliath or you had you were one of the men or one of the people of israel looking on from the battle line would you go down there to face goliath could you imagine facing off against a nearly 10-foot warrior who’s fully armed and armored totally confident battle hardened and maybe you’ve never been in battle before and all you’ve got is your dinky sword or dinky spear you’re going to go down and you say i think i would yeah yeah i would do it well if you want to know how you would have responded in this situation just ask yourself how you respond to challenges to your faith today do you believe god when you face a trial or a temptation or do you doubt do you disobey out of fear and out of anxiety do you respond to challenges with courage or with fear well god soon arranges for his anointed one david to arrive to the battlefield let’s hear about david’s revival and the preparation he makes for battle in our next section of the chapter in verses 17 to 40.
follow along with me as i read starting verse 17.
then jesse said to david his son take now if your brother’s an ifa of this roasted grain and these ten loaves and run to the camp of your brothers i run to the camp to your brothers bring also these ten cuts of cheese to the commander of their thousand and look into the welfare of your brothers and bring back news of them for saul and they and all the men of israel are in the valley of elah fighting with the philistines so david arose early in the morning and left the flock with a keeper and took the supplies and went as jesse had commanded him and he came to the circle of the camp while the army was going out in battle array shouting the war cry israel and the philistines drew up in battle array army against army then david left his baggage in the care of the baggage keeper and ran to the battle line and entered in order to greet his brothers as he was talking with them behold the champion that philistine from gath named goliath was coming up from the army of the philistines and he spoke these same words and david heard them when all the men of israel saw the man they fled from him and were greatly afraid men of israel said have you seen this man who was coming up surely he is coming up to defy israel and it will be the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free in israel and david spoke to the men who were standing by him saying what will be done for the man who kills this philistine and takes away the reproach from israel for who is this uncircumcised philistine that he should taunt the armies of the living god people answered him in accord with this word saying thus it will be done for the man who kills him now eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men and eliabe’s anger burned against david and he said why have you come down and with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness i know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart for you have come down in order to see the battle but david said what have i done now was it not just a question and he turned away from him to another and said the same thing and the people answered the same thing as before when the words which david spoke were heard they told them to saw and he sent for him david said to saul let no man’s heart fail on account of him your servant will go and fight with this philistine then saul said to david you are not able to go against this philistine to fight with him for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth but david said to saul your servant was tending his father’s sheep when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock i went out after him and attacked him and rescued it from his mouth and when he rose up against me i seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him your servant has killed both the lion and the bear and this uncircumcised philistine will be like one of them since he has taunted the armies of the living god and david said yahweh who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear he will deliver me from the hand of the philistine and saul said to david go and may yahweh be with you then saul clothed david with his garments put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with armor david girded his sword over his armor and tried to walk for he had not tested them so david said to saul i cannot go with these for i have not tested them and david took them off took his stick in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook and put them in the shepherd’s bag which he had even in his pouch and his sling was in his hand and he approached the philistine well dramatic build up here but also some really poignant details let’s take some time to observe them notice in verses 17 and 19 why david is sent to the battle his father jesse sends him to his brothers to take them food and to find out how they are in verse 20 before david leaves note that he finds a keeper for the flock he’s daryl looked in his duties there and after david arrives according to verses 28 23 he leaves the supplies of the baggage keeper greets his brothers but then he witnesses goliath goliath’s defiant challenge once again given to fearful israel david then hears in verse 25 that saul has promised certain rewards to the man who kills goliath and notice what these are saul promises riches he promises a daughter in marriage so a marriage into the royal family and he also promises freedom that is freedom from taxation for the man and his family in israel those are some pretty nice rewards and at this in verse 26 notice david expressed his surprise and he asked for confirmation and notice why david’s so surprised basically he says this is just a philistine and look at what he’s done he’s defied the armies of god himself david can’t believe that this philistine would do this and that such a reward would be offered to the one who will strike him down now in verse 28 how does eliab david’s oldest brother react to the words of david well with judgment and anger eliab accuses david of being derelict in his duties as a shepherd and he also accuses david of coming down simply to watch the battle like with some spectacle or show of course david protest his innocence in verse 31 however word reaches saul that david is asking about the reward for fighting goliath and expressing confidence in goliath’s defeat and so saul sends for sends for david notice in verses 32 and 33 how saul reacts when david offers to fight goliath don’t worry saul take care of this philistine for you saul tells david you can’t do it you’re not able to face goliath or to defeat him and why saul points out david you are a youth you’re so young and goliath is a very experienced warrior now the term youth as translated in our new american standard the hebrew term behind it most basically refers to a male of marriageable age who has not yet been betrothed so kind of around that age marriageable age so you’ve become a man officially and hebrized but you’re not yet married not yet betrothed so this would probably be a term to describe someone between the ages of 13 to 20.
and saul says this is what you are david you can’t face goliath but david responds in verses 34 and 37 by offering some assurances to saul notice what david says david relates how he killed both a lion and a bear while protecting sheep even in close combat seizing animals by the beard now i’ve never faced an animal in close combat but i don’t know if i would try seizing it by the beard by the the fur on the face that’s what david did and these were certainly impressive feasts even in ancient times but notice whom does david credit for these victories against animals he said it was yahweh it was yahweh who delivered me from their their pause and enabled me to overcome them david then expresses confidence god will do the same for me against this philistine well in verses 37 to 38 solox agrees to let david fight and he offers him armor and garments for david to wear but david chooses not to use this armor why not well according to verse 39 it’s a simple reason he hadn’t tested them you see david has spot before but apparently he’s never fought an armor he’s not used to fighting with armor on either with saul’s armor or with anyone else’s armor so if he were to try and go out in armor all of a sudden he might make some dangerous battle mistakes simply because he’s not used to his equipment this would be like a quarterback switching to a new kind of glove right before the first snap of the super bowl you just don’t do that or a chef being asked at the last moment to cook thanksgiving dinner in an oven and a kitchen that he’s never used before you’re just asking for trouble you’re asking for mistakes to happen when you’re unfamiliar with the equipment and in a high pressure situation so david says in fact i don’t have time to get used to this equipment i don’t have time to train with this i’m just going to go with what i’m used to so he just uses his shepherd’s equipment by the way what does david not even mention in the discussion with saul the reward and what is the equipment that david takes with him what does he take in the battle against this heavily armed champion of philistia well we see it in verse 40. david takes his shepherd’s stick the staff it takes five smooth stones which he places in his bag and he takes a sling now what’s a sling well i’ll put some pictures there on the screen to help you get an idea sling is another ancient weapon it’s also found used in classical times under the greeks and the romans also called a shepherd’s sling sling was essentially a twisted cord with a pouch in the middle a slinger would nestle a blunt projectile like a stone or a sling bullet made out of clay or lead into the pouch you then swing the cord in a circle and then release one end of the cord at just the right moment to fling the projectile toward his target it’s a pretty simple idea though there were a few methods of release and you can see both of them there and the main ones most commonly a slinger would rotate the sling at his side in a vertical circle a quick overhand rotation would enable or would enable a slinger to make an accurate shot you could really be precise when you’re doing it overhand where as a quick underhand rotation to rotating backwards enable the slinger to sacrifice precise accuracy for increased range for instance a group of slingers they might all use the underhead underhand rotation method for raining down sling bullets on a formation of enemies there you don’t need precise accuracy you just want the distance now a horizontal rotation which is probably what we commonly think of when we think of david facing goliath it was sometimes used but it’s not the preferred method and why because it’s not very accurate the slightest missed timing of release when you’re doing it this horizontal rotation it would mean that you would completely miss the target because instead of going straight it goes to the side or something like that whereas if you’re just doing it from the side and you mistime your release well the distance might change but at least you have the right direction so side rotation was usually better now a good slinger needed only one rotation one rotation to send this stone to his target which is probably again not what we think of it we imagine i don’t know this is what i imagine is like winding up for a long time that’s not what they needed just maybe one or two sorry about that one or two slow rotations to nestle the bullet in the pouch and then release slings rivaled and even surpassed ancient bows in strike distance and experienced slingers could be highly accurate according to judges 20 16 there’s a there was a group of slingers in israel a group of left-handed man from gibeah 700 of them who were said to be able to sling a stone at a hair and not miss now that’s impressive now some arch some armies in ancient and classical times they featured groups of dedicated slingers that’s all they did they slung stones but there were other armies that equipped all their soldiers with slings and so everybody would use the slings at a distance but then they would use other weapons when they closed for melee combat so a little bit of background on slings this is one of the weapons that david takes with him into battle well with these observations let’s pause again to ask two interpretation questions i like your comment there mark the people were afraid of goliath but david was afraid for goliath since his orientation was vertical toward god that is yeah david’s like man goliath such a fool to be making such a challenge against the armies of the living god and this guy’s a toast whereas yeah the rest of israel thought that they were toast if they were going to face goliath now just a few questions here before we move on why is eliab so quick to accuse david of evil it’s pretty striking right well clearly iliad resents david for some reason why text doesn’t say but we can come up with some pretty strong possibilities it may be this is just the frequent fleshiness that often exists between older brothers and younger brothers i mean if you’ve ever been in a family you know that older brothers they tend to pick on and pass judgment on the younger sibling this is just the way that the sinful flesh manifests itself in fact this probably is true on some level between david and eliad because of david’s response he says what have i done now it seems like they’ve had a history of maybe elia criticizing or rebuking david it may also be that david or elia presents david being anointed instead of iliad remember that didn’t happen too long ago david was anointed in the midst of his brothers maybe elia still has a chip on his shoulder over that because he’s the oldest it may also be that eliav is ashamed of his own fear in light of david’s courage david’s doing what’s right it’s making eliab look bad making the rest of israel look bad iliap doesn’t like that we don’t know exactly it could be a combination of these reasons but isn’t this actually pretty sad i mean david is doing what’s right he’s expressing righteous confidence in god and what’s the response of his own brother immediate opposition and condemnation david how dare you say something like that i know what’s really going on in your heart but you know isn’t this pretty true the christian life puritan commentator matthew henry he helpfully observes that christians should expect opposition the one they try to do what’s right and not just from those outside the church but many times from within the church even from those closest to you those who want to support you and encourage you sometimes maybe in your family or in the church you’ll be looking to do what’s right you’ll be going out on a limb for the lord being bold for the lord and instead you’re instead of confirmation and encouragement you’re met with opposition you feel like suddenly you’re alone but like paul says in second timothy 4 this was at the end of his life when he was expecting martyrdom he said everybody abandoned him no one was with him anymore nobody stood with him except the lord he said the lord stood with me and strengthened me another question how old is david is david a boy or a young man well by modern standards we might consider david a boy since he was likely in his teens maybe late teens we often don’t consider people to be adults until they reach 17 or 18 or maybe even 20 or 22. but back then david would have been considered a young man and he realized he was a man a young man yes but a man he is described as a youth in our passage but also as a young man you remember the description though in first samuel 16 david is described as a mighty man of valor a warrior a handsome man david even puts on armor provided by saul granted doesn’t take it with him but he does put it on and the armor seemed to fit fine there’s no indication that the armor just didn’t fit but david wasn’t used to fighting in the armor and that’s why he choses to go without armor is made for men not for boys so despite many cartoons maybe you’ve seen of a little boy david going off to face goliath that’s probably not accurate david’s a man a young man but a man and he’s strong courageous experienced in fighting but not seasoned in battle he’s only faced animals not really people speaking a battle let’s see how the battle itself unfolds and what is its aftermath look now at the last section of our chapter verses 40 to 58 follow along as i read then the philistine came on and approached david with the shield bearer in front of him when the philistine looked and saw david he disdained him for he was but a youth and ruddy and with a handsome appearance the philistines said to david am i a dog that you come to me with sticks and the philistine cursed david by his gods the philistine also said to david come to me and i will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field and david said to the philistine you come to me with a sword a spear and a javelin but i come to you in the name of yahweh of hosts the god of the armies of israel whom you have taunted this day yahweh will deliver you up into my hands and i will strike you down and remove your head from you and i will give the dead bodies of the army of the philistines of this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth that all the earth may know that there is a god in israel and that all this assembly may know that yahweh does not deliver by sword or by spear for the battle is yahweh’s and he will give you into our hands then it happened when the philistine rose and came and drew near to meet david that david ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the philistine and david put his hand into his bag and took from it a stone and slung it and struck the philistine on his forehead and the stone sank into his forehead so that he fell on his face to the ground thus david prevailed over the philistine with a sling and a stone and he struck the philistine and killed him but there was no sword in david’s hand then david ran and stood over the philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it when the philistines saw that their champion was dead they fled the men of israel and judah arose and shouted and pursued the philistines as far as the valley and to the gates of ekron and the slain of philistines lay along the way to shot rain even to goth and ekron sons of israel returned from chasing the philistines and plundered their camps then david took the philistines head and brought it to jerusalem but he put his weapons in his tent now when saul saw david going out against the philistine he said to abner the commander of the army abner whose son is this young man and abner said by your life o king i do not know the king said you inquire whose son the youth is so when david returned from killing the philistine abner took him and brought him before saul with the philistines head in his hand saul said to him whose son are you young man and david answered i am the son of your servant jesse the bethlehemite just amazing let’s observe this last section notice in verses 41 to 44 how goliath responds to david’s coming forward to fight him goliath disdains david mocks him curses him by goliath’s gods but how does david respond to goliath mocking and threats look at verses 45-47 david tells goliath that goliath has really taunted god and david comes to goliath in god’s name and god will cause david both to kill goliath and cause the israelites to kill the philistines also notice what david specifically wants everyone to know based on this battle in verse 46 he says i want everyone to know that there is a god in israel and in verse 47 i want everyone until you know that yahweh does not need a sword or a spear to deliver no it’s not delivered by sword or spear for the battle is yahweh’s verse 47.
well david as we see prevails over goliath remarkably but how exactly does david kill goliath verse 50 says david killed goliath without a sword only a sling verse 51 says david killed goliath with goliath’s own sword by cutting off goliath’s head hmm well notice how the two armies respond to goliath’s fall in verses 51-53 the philistines flee and israel pursues striking down many philistines and plundering the philistine camps notice the question though that appears near the end of the passage verse 55 saul asks whose son is this young man in verses 57 to 58 when david returns from the battle with the rest of israel he tells saul who he is i’m the son of jesse the bethlehemite okay now that we’ve made these last basic observations let’s turn again to interpretation questions how to resolve the difficulty of the contradictory reports on goliath’s death in verses 50-51 one says he was killed by a sling and others says he was killed by a sword well the text is a little ambiguous but there is a simple solution here this is very common in the old testament even throughout the scriptures what we have in verse 50 is probably a summary statement of the whole battle while verse 51 is a more specific description of goliath’s demise if you just take the battle as a whole basically david killed killed goliath with just a sling he didn’t have a sword when he went into the battle but if you want to be technical about it verse 51 is also true goliath wasn’t actually dead until david came with his sword goliath sword and cut off goliath’s head so likely goliath was incapacitated or severely injured by the slingstone but it was only by being beheaded that goliath was actually killed so these are not really contradictory just one’s a summary and one’s more specific another question that may have occurred to your mind though why does saul ask about david’s identity or david’s lineage i mean we saw chapter 16. david has already been introduced to saul why is saul asking about this background information on david this is a difficult question and of course this is where a liberal theologian likes to stand up and manifest his unbelief by saying see this is why you can’t believe the history of the bible this is two accounts stitched together that contradict each other and the original editor author just wasn’t smart enough to actually smooth out the inconsistencies he’s left them both here because they really contradict each other and he didn’t figure out couldn’t figure out a way to resolve it this is why you can’t believe the bible no no this is not true we’re quite aware if we know jesus christ that the word of god is true and as jesus says scripture cannot be broken and there is a solution to this apparent puzzling situation actually there are several solutions which would readily explain this reintroduction of david tusall and this re reintroduction of david’s lineage to solve i’ll just give you some of the possibilities it may be that david or that saul hadn’t gotten to know david all that well before saul did appreciate david but perhaps saul had many servants he appreciated even many armor bearers we heard that saul made david an armor bearer david probably wasn’t the only one and though david was helpful for alleviating saul’s feelings of torment by music perhaps saw only had a surface relationship with david yes chapter 16 says that saul loved david but again what’s the level of that love maybe it’s only on the surface so that’s one possibility another possibility is that saul had forgotten about david i’m not told how much time went by between david’s being at saul’s court and david’s appearing at the battle line with israel perhaps many months or even a couple of years went by where david was basically attending the sheep and no longer visiting the court of saul if so then saul may have no longer recognized david especially because david had been growing up another possibility is that saul asked this question out of amazement he’s dumbfounded about david not really in need of more information he’s saul is basically saying to himself and abner could this great warrior really be the humble shepherd who used to play the harp at my court go find out to make sure because i don’t think so that’s a possibility it may also be that saul asked this question because he now has a greater interest in david i mean after all saul had promised his daughter to the one who brought down goliath and that’s what david did so david’s family background is suddenly very important because he’s going to be integrated into the royal family so saul goes to find out david’s lineage curiously though saul does not immediately reward david with the bride that saul promised david will eventually marry saul’s daughter but only after jumping through a bunch more hoops many of these reasons or these reasons would explain why we have saw ask this question multiple reasons actually may have been tied together these are not necessarily mutually exclusive but there’s a clear there’s a way to explain this text without invoking the idea that the text is not trustworthy or that it’s contradictory it’s not really contradictory it’s just we don’t we don’t have the full explanation given to us explicitly in the text one other explanation is that chapters 16 and 17 actually overlap a little bit again kind of like with verse 15 verse 51 where you have this um summary statement being given and then it backs up and gives you the more specific description of what happened this may be happening between chapters 16 and 17.
chapter 17 kind of backs up their chronology where chapter 16 said oh yeah david became an armor-bearer and saul loved him it may be that chapter 17 is backing up and saying okay before he became an armor bearer and before saul really became to begin to love him these other things happened and this is again this is not contradictory this is just characteristic of the bible we see the same thing by the way in genesis 1 and genesis 2 and the same kind of objection is raised look we have a creation account that contradicts chapter two gives a different account than chapter one no it doesn’t it just backs up and gives more detail on something that was stated in a summary fashion in chapter one chapter 1 gives the whole creation week chapter 2 goes back and describes in more detail the creation of man it could be the same thing happening here between chapters 16 and 17 in explaining the introduction of david into saul’s court and his integration into saul’s family but again multiple plausible explanations the bible is trustworthy now one other big question i want to ask here oh that’s an interesting comment roy maybe saul is asking because he’s aware of the prophecy about a king coming from judah i want to find out whether david really was from the line of judah hmm interesting idea another question i want to bring to your attention here that is why is david so confident that he will defeat goliath i mean after all god never specifically promises david in our text that that that’s what’s going to happen so why does david believe that it will now here’s another question with multiple possible answers multiple explanations and again these answers are not mutually exclusive we are aware on the on the one hand that god promised to be with his people in battle he says if you follow me i will grant you astounding victories now this is generally true but it’s not absolutely true the bible does record how righteous rulers they sometimes experience defeat in battle even death in battle while evil rulers sometimes gain great victories and righteous men are slain and evil men survive and prosper so this promise of god is generally true and maybe david was clinging to that but could david really have known for sure that god would grant him the victory now it may be that david was relying on what was prophesied over him by samuel he’s going to be the future king of israel so i can’t die in battle if i’m going to be the future king i can go into the battle with boldness okay perhaps that was what was on david’s mind but david surely would have had to adopt the same attitude as jesus in the new testament which is you do not test the lord by his promises remember jesus was tempted to by satan to throw himself off of the temple because they say hey god’s going to protect you but jesus responded you don’t put the lord to the test you don’t act recklessly just because god promised that he will bring certain things about for you so that certainly would have to apply to david it may also be that this is just having to do with david’s special empowerment by the spirit as a as a result of the spirit powerfully coming upon david david is more connected with god’s will and so the spirit is leading david to fight goliath and giving david confidence that he will overcome goliath now while this may be true the spirit remember does not overcome or override decisions of faith the spirit empowered saul remember but saul chose to disobey god so even if this is part of the answer david still had to choose to trust god then go into the battle it may also be that david didn’t actually know for sure that he would vanquish goliath and survive the battle he believed that he would he wasn’t sure he just believed because of his his being attuned to god’s will by his love for god and by his empowerment by the spirit he believed that god would do a certain thing but he was ready for god not to do that this is the way that we see things unfold for daniel’s three friends later on in the old testament remember shadrach meshach and abednego unfortunately we know them best by their babylonian names rather than their israelite names but they tell nebuchadnezzar hey we’re not going to bow down to your god you throw us in the furnace we believe that god will deliver us out of your hand but even if not they’re ready for that possibility know that we’re not going to bow down to your god same thing might be happening with david here might be saying look god called us to be courageous in battle and to not endure those who blaspheme his name and bring shame on his people i’m going to go out there into the battle i believe that god’s going to bring him into my hand because i’m doing what’s what’s consistent with what god has called us to do but even if not i at least died knowing that i was obeying the lord and being bold for his name it’s possible whatever the reason for david’s utmost confidence and again it could be a combination of these reasons surely it does ultimately come down to one item why did david have confidence it’s because he believed the lord he was walking by faith just as hebrews 11 verses 32 to 34 says when recounting the great things that were accomplished by faith in the old testament david’s feet is right along with them it was done by faith and isn’t this again such a great contrast to king saul king saul’s the ever walk by sight man but david he walks by faith he knew from the scriptures and he knew from his own experiences confirming the scriptures that god is able to work powerfully on behalf of his people when his people simply believe in the lord he will work even through the weak and foolish even through young men without battle experience like david god indeed just as david testified and he wanted the whole world to see god indeed does not deliver by sword or spear but by his own power the power of his word being fulfilled on behalf of those who will put their trust in him god is able to grant deliverance and he doesn’t need your sword or your spirit to do it he works powerfully through weak vessels this is the lesson david wanted to teach israel this is a lesson that the writer first samuel wanted to teach his audience and it’s the lesson that the spirit of god wants us to learn today so brothers and sisters we need to hear what the spirit says to us via this account of david and goliath there is only one true god the god of the bible there is a god he is in heaven and he is active on the earth this god does not need man’s power man’s money man’s wisdom or man’s weapons to bring about deliverance rather the battle is yahweh’s god has promised to fight himself on behalf of his people and to deliver them and to provide for them god calls his people to in response walk by faith and not by sight when they do what’s the outcome god is delighted to put his awesome power on display through them and on their behalf using even young shepherds to take down pagan giants so we’re already seeing some application aren’t we we are meant to be changed by this account to become men women children of faith let me suggest a few more specific applications as we look to meditate more on this concept of really walking by faith in god and not by sight here’s one how should we be changed by this passage believe in your mighty god this is what we’ve already been talking about but you say oh yeah i do believe in god i hope that’s true but we don’t face pagan giants like goliath today do we and none of us are being called to go into battle against people who are almost 10 feet tall but we do have our own battles to fight don’t we now i don’t mean as some people who would be peddling the prosperity gospel i don’t mean that we should think of this passage and apply it by saying what is the giant of your life what is that thing that you just really want to happen have happened some prosperity or certain success that you’re looking for well you believe in god and god will make it happen no that’s not what this passage is saying but the passage is saying the principle that we see here is that whatever work whatever challenge especially into your faith that god has placed in your life you can believe the lord about it and he will bring deliverance and provision in the perfect way so it isn’t inappropriate for us to ask what is the giant in your life if we understand that properly what is that temptation what is that trial that you’re experiencing where you just say god i don’t know how i’m going to get past this god i don’t know how i’m going to be able to endure by remaining faithful to you lord i don’t know how i’m going to be able to evangelize this person i don’t know how that person is going to become saved lord i don’t know how i’m going to be able to respond in a righteous way to my spouse who’s sinning against me oh lord i don’t know how i can accomplish this work project because you know that i’m under a huge strain at home and lord i i hardly even know what to do at the job lord how am i going to do it this passage is written for those exact situations it’s the same thing that we’ve been seeing again and again in the old testament isn’t it israel was backed into a corner at the red sea they didn’t see any deliverance but god brought it israel went into the promised land they saw giants in the land they thought we’ll never be able to overcome them but then god brought them back 40 years later and he says look when i fight on your behalf nobody can stand against you look what i did with jericho look what i did at all these other cities the same thing here brothers and sisters though we don’t face actual giants in our lives we do face a version of this same temptation it’s exactly as first corinthians 10 13 says right no temptation has overtaken you as such except that which is common to man we all experience the same kind of temptation different magnitudes but it’s the same question are you going to walk by faith are you going to walk by sight are you going to say i need to see the solution i need to see how god’s going to do something before i trust him or can you say as david really essentially said in his heart i don’t know how god’s going to do it but i know he’s going to do it so i’m going to i’m going to follow him i’m going to be bold for him i want to see his name exalted where do you need to do that in your life this is obviously true when it comes to salvation isn’t it i wouldn’t say that this passage is a metaphor for what jesus did on the cross but certainly there’s a principle there god is able to accomplish the salvation that you are not able to accomplish on your own that you were not able to do anything to contribute to by sending his son jesus the messiah he was able to totally pay for the sins of those who believe in jesus at the cross when jesus suffered the wrath of god and jesus instead gave those persons who believe in him his perfect righteousness that’s something that you embrace by faith and only those who have embraced that by faith will be saved from the wrath to come have you done that do you not only walk before the lord with faith in his salvation provision but also his daily provision for your life this passage is teaching us the spirit is teaching us we are to believe in our mighty god time is running short so i’ll just mention these two other applications quickly another application from this passage is that we got to be ready to stand alone and david was doing what’s right but he was immediately opposed by even his own brother and by the king his brother said when by you doing this you’re actually wicked and the king said hey it’s not a bad thing but you’re just not able and you know what we’re going to experience the same kind of discouragement in our lives people will be telling us we’re doing evil when we’re actually doing right and people will also be saying you can’t do it even if they think it’s commendable now again we need to have a humble perspective and not just be like oh well i’m not going to pay attention what anyone says if they’re telling you the truth then you need to listen maybe you are doing wrong or maybe you aren’t able to do a particular thing but but what they’re saying contradicts what the scripture says and you’re rightly interpreting that scripture and you’ve got even good counselors confirming your interpretation be ready to stand alone you know i think it’s kind of interesting that nobody goes out to goliath in the beginning but once david faces goliath everybody joins the battle you know that’s going to be true also for us sometimes you stand alone but once you do that other people begin to stand with you it’s not that they needed somebody to go forward before them but it just gives them that little bit more of encouragement you don’t know what kind of example you might be an encouragement you might be to someone when you go out and do what no one else is willing to do others will join with you and of course this is what our lord did first right he was the trailblazer he did what was right before the father alone everyone abandoned him and he stands with all those who might temporarily have to stand alone finally expect god to glorify himself through you you know it’s again remarkable that david is the only one who went out to face goliath yeah we like to think of this as the classic underdog story but it’s kind of a misinterpretation because really you know who the underdog in this fight was it was goliath because he didn’t have god on his side david had god david wasn’t really anything special in and of himself yes he had faith in god and that’s what made him powerful but not because david was powerful but because god was powerful and you know what that’s great news because we’re just like david there is no power in any of us and yet god he is with his people and he uses them powerfully you actually can do things like david did again not exactly the same but the same in type because god is with you yes you can train up godly children yes you can lead others to salvation you can disciple others you can do great things for the lord not on your power but in the lord’s power do you actually believe that you say no no god can never use me i’m nobody i’m nothing special i’ve never been good at you’re talking like moses you’re talking like moses in exodus chapter three and you’re going to get the same rebuke god says look i’m the creator i made man’s mouth i made you it’s not your power it’s not you that you need to trust in it’s me any of us could be like a david we could go down into the battle and see god do great things let’s not be like the rest of visual who just sat on the sidelines saying oh man i really hope some champion shows up and takes down this this giant because none of us can do it any of them could have done it if they had believed in the lord i often bring up that quote from william carey but i think it’s so apt remember william carey great missionary to india actually started the modern admissions movement a trailblazer really he’s famous for saying expect great things from god attempt great things for god we don’t expect anything great from god that we shouldn’t be surprised when god does nothing great because we’re not acting in faith so believe in your mighty god be ready to stand alone but never alone because god is with you and expect god to do great things to glorify himself through even you now god’s going to do it in many different ways and sometimes people are going to notice and sometimes they won’t but you know that if you’re walking by faith in the lord and you’re going into bold obedience for him it’s going to have an eternal impact and it will obtain an eternal reward all right i’m going a little bit over so i better stop there but that’s it for this week if you have other questions or comments about what we’ve talked about today please post them in the chat or email me daffkaposha gmail.com i’d love to interact with you but let me close our time in prayer next week we see just an amazing development in the in the record of history saul who’s just experienced this wonderful encouragement of david’s deliverance against goliath what does he do he turns against david because he sees david as a threat next time we’ll talk about how god raises up more provision for david and a man named jonathan who warns david let’s pray heavenly father we thank you for your word it is an encouraging word and lord forgive us for where we have been a walk by sight people and not a walk by faith people oh lord let us not do that anymore we need to finally learn this lesson and learn again what we have learned from your scriptures that you can believed even against impenetrable walls or giants or a whole land filled with fortresses you’re able to overcome them all and you can overcome any obstacle of faith in our lives so that we can endure trials and we can resist temptation and we can make disciples as jesus called us to lord the power is in you we are weak but you are strong so glorify yourself through us in jesus name amen all right thank you again for being part of this study today and i look forward to seeing you next week and hope you’ll join us for the live stream of our outdoor service at 11 o’clock here at the caliber youtube page otherwise i’ll see you next week