Old Testament - 1 Samuel 17 - June 17, 2022

 6/17/2022 – 1 Samuel 17

This is where we learn about David and Goliath. The first thing I learned today is that in those times, it was not unusual for opposing armies, which were generally quite small, to select one representative from each side to fight a personal contest—the outcome that ‘one man against one man’ would determine the winner of the battle. And it seems to me, it would greatly reduce the number of casualties of war.

Goliath was 9 feet 9 inches tall. They believe the weight of Goliath’s armor was about 150 pounds, and his spearhead’s weight to be somewhere between 12 and 24 pounds.

Goliath went out with all these heavy, but protective, things, and called out to the Israelites to send one of them to fight him. If David lost, he and all of the other Israelites, would be slaves to the Philistines. Goliath challenged the Israelites again and again, morning and evening, for 40 days.

David had certainly been a help to King Saul, and but at this time –even though he was serving as Saul’s armor bearer, he was not a fighting man and had evidently been permitted to leave the battlefield to return home for a short time. His father, Jesse, was certainly aware of this simmering battle, as his 3 older sons were there as soldiers. Jesse had David leave home, go to the site where the armies were, and take food for his older brothers.

The interesting thing we learn about David is that before leaving on his father’s errand, David found someone else to be the keeper of the sheep while he was gone. He would leave no one in the lurch. When he arrived where the armies were, again he was careful to leave his carriage (the footnotes say that means baggage) with the ‘keeper of the carriage” (v 22). He then ran to where the armies were gathered, he found his brothers, and then he heard Goliath. He saw that no one in their army would volunteer to fight this giant of a man. Instead the Israelite soldiers fled from Goliath.

In v 26 David speaks to the soldiers: “What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” David’s eldest brother, Eliab was angry with David and said “Why camest thou down hither? And with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightiest see the battle.” 

David’s words were told to Saul, who then had David come to him. Saul told David that he was no match to Goliath. David told Saul about the time when he saved his father’s sheep by killing a lion, and a bear and pulling the sheep from the animal’s mouths. David ended with “The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee.”( v37)

David refused the armor Saul wanted to put on him. He took what he had always used: his staff and a sling, and he only stopped to select 5 stones. Goliath berated David as he came to battle. David’s reply was “…Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou has defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee, and I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistine this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hands. “ (v’s 45-47)  

David then ran toward Goliath, picked one of his stones, loaded his sling shot, and the stone not only hit, but sank deep into Goliath’s forehead. 

David publicly attributes his abilities to the Lord, and he never took the glory upon himself.