David and Goliath

1 Samuel 17:1-58

Key Verse 17:47

All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD'S, and he will give all of you into our hands."

Today we would like to think about how David defeated Goliath, and saved the flock of God from the grip of their enemies. 

First, the Philistines gathered their forces for war (1-25) 

In the Book entitled "The Art of War" the ancient Chinese military strategist named Sun Tsu said, "Know your enemies and yourself, and then you will fight a hundred times and yet will never lose even once." So knowing your enemies is one of the keys to win victories. In a spiritual battle, the same principle applies: we need to know who our enemies are and what they are after. 

In the passage the Philistines came out to war against the Israelites. In what respect were the Philistines "enemies" of God and God's children? The Bible has plenty of episodes answering the question. But two episodes are prominent: the story of Samson and Delilah (Judges 16); and the story of the ark of covenant in the territory of the Philistines (1Sa 5-6). 

We remember the story of Samson and Delilah. Samson was a believer but Delilah was an unbeliever. 2 Corinthians 6:14 says, "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?" But Samson had second thoughts. He married a Philistine woman named Delilah – Miss Philistine - for her physical beauty. She worshiped the idol god called Dagon. She regularly worshiped at Dagon's temple. God hates idols such as Dagon. Yet, out of lust, Samson married Delilah. What was the result? The marriage ended in a disaster. Samson got his two eyes poked out, and he died in Dagon's temple as he pushed the two pillars of Dagon's temple over, causing the temple to collapse. 

The episodes recorded in 1 Samuel 5-6 also tell us what God thought of the Philistines. The strange miracle that took place inside of Dagon's temple is mysterious. Would someone rise and read 1 Samuel 5:1-4? Another amazing miracle is recorded in 1 Samuel 6:7-12. Let us open the Bible and read this passage. The two cows carrying the ark of the Lord's covenant moving straight to the Israelite’s territory indicates that when it comes down to honoring and serving the Lord, even the unintelligent looking cows did a far better job than average humans, for the cows denied their natural instincts (to be with the calves). The two cows worked together to carry the ark. This miracle indicates that even the cows knew that the God of Israel is truly the God of the living. Yet, the Philistines came out to defy the living God.  

There is another reason why the Philistines operated as the enemies of God. Look at verses 4-7. "A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him." This passage says the Philistines relied upon the flesh. The expression 'He was over nine feet tall' is symbolic of human pride. The word 'bronze' which is repeated four times, and the word 'iron' in the javelin's "iron" point, as well as the massive amount of bronze used to equip Goliath point to the glory of man-made products. The word "champion" suggests that Goliath is the embodiment of humanism and materialism. It refers to the people and society glorifying what is fleshly rather than God the Creator. 

What then was Goliath after? Look at verses 8-11. "Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us." Then the Philistine said, "This day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other." On hearing the Philistine's words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified."

On many occasions, we can learn God's truths the best from what our enemies are saying. And the message the Lord God desires to convey to us through the mouth of Goliath is this: “Flesh cannot persuade flesh to obey God." With human efforts alone, it is impossible for one to fully obey the Lord. 

Goliath said, "Am I not Philistine"? "...are you not the servants of Saul?" Who was Saul? 1 Samuel 9:2 answers the question: "Saul [was] an impressive young man without equal among the Israelites." Here the expression "without equal among the Israelites" screams out a message demanding attention. That is, although Saul was the "best citizen" of all, still without God’s spirit, he was a no match for Goliath (1Sa 16:14). No wonder that when Goliath asked Saul and Saul's [not the Lord's] servants to produce a man to fight and kill him, no one could dare to come out and meet the challenge.       

 

Second, who is this uncircumcised Philistine? (12-58)

Who then could defeat Goliath and establish the rule of God and thereby build a sane society where God's flock could enjoy life to the full? 

Let us read responsively verses 12-24. Here what verse 14 says has a very important message: "David was the youngest." In the Hebrew language, the word "David" consists of three letters, "dalet, vav, and dalet." Unlike the English alphabet, each letter of the Hebrew alphabet has meanings. One of the meanings of the letter dalet is pauper. And David has in his name two of them. The letter vav which is the sixth letter has 6 as its numerical value. The number 7 is God’s number, but the number 6 is man's number. Six is seven minus one, and man is short of God's perfection. This indicates that the name David means the one who is poor and needy. No wonder that all the days of his life, David learned to cry out to God and gained strength from the Lord. 

David was the youngest, indicating that he was the least of all. Yet, the Lord trained him to rely on God so he would become more than a conqueror despite his weaknesses. 

Let us read verses 25-27 altogether. "Now the Israelites had been saying, "Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his father's family from taxes in Israel." David asked the men standing near him, "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?" They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, "This is what will be done for the man who kills him."" This passage says that the Lord God chose David to remove "disgrace" from Israel. 

When David volunteered to go out and fight with Goliath, Eliab his oldest brother severely rebuked him saying, "How dare you?!?" In addition, even king Saul discouraged him from going out to fight. But David overcome the jeerers inside, and successfully persuaded King Saul to allow him to go out and fight. Look at verses 34-37. "But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you." This passage tells us how he successfully overcame the jeerers inside, and stood up for the challenge. 

Yesterday on behalf of Dr. John Jun I had the honor of meeting Dr. Tim Park who is the department chair of the graduate division of the Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary. In my conversation with him, he made a remark on where the Christian churches in the U.S. might be heading. He said that very rapidly American churches are losing spiritual power, and that sooner or later, they would no longer function as God's instrument. What he said is quite alarming. It made me ask questions like: "Will the U.S. be able to function as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation?" “Will God be able to use us as a shepherd nation?" The Goliaths of humanism and materialism are rising up against the causes for which this nation stands - In God We Trust. But what young David said to Saul gives us a clear direction on how we should stand up against the Goliaths of our generation. Let us think about David's words in detail. 

First, David's statement teaches us to live with a clear sense of identity as shepherds for God’s flock. 

"Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep." This statement reminds us of our Lord Jesus’ call to Simon Peter saying, “Feed my lambs.” When Jesus said to Peter, “Take care of my sheep”, Jesus gave the call not just to Peter, but also to all Christians. So, we must regard ourselves as shepherds called to keep our Heavenly Father's sheep.  

Second, an absolute sense of responsibility as a shepherd for God's flock

David said, "When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God." Here in keeping his father's sheep, David went through seven steps: No 1, he stood vigil in tending and protecting his father’s sheep; No. 2, while he fell asleep even for a few seconds at night, ferocious animals like a lion or bear broke into the sheep pen and took away the sheep. Then the sheep cried out saying "Baa!” The minute he heard the cry, David woke up, and went after the lion or bear. No. 3. He ran until he caught it. Then he struck it. No. 4. Because he struck it hard, the animal fell flat. So, he was able to rescue the sheep from the beasts’ mouth. On some occasions, the sheep went half way down the throat of the bear or lion but still he pulled the bloody sheep out and bound up its wounds. No. 5. On some occasions, the lion turned on David trying to strike him with its paws. Then what did he do? Did he get scared and run away? No. He "seized it by its hair and pulled it hard. Then the lion cried out saying, "Ouch!" and the sheep fell from the mouth. Then No. 6. David struck the lion. The lion fell flat. But the lion did not die yet. It only played dead. So, step no. 7 was necessary. "David killed it", so it would never come back. This is what we mean by an absolute sense of responsibility. In praying for our children and Bible students, we must shepherd over them with the same sense of responsibility.   

Third, absolute faith in the Lord

How then was David able to discharge his duty as the shepherd? Was it because of his super human efforts? No. Look at verse 37. "The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you." The expression "The Lord who delivered me..." shows us that David had a personal faith in the Lord. His faith was not a theoretical faith but a practical faith which he acquired through his personal experience in keeping his father's sheep in the field. In my conversation with Dr. Tim Park he made a surprising comment: "Christians cannot learn "faith" in a seminary school; they learn faith only from meeting challenges in practical lives, especially in mission fields." I fully agree with him. So if anyone wants to learn faith in God, by all means try to feed one sheep and shepherd over him or her.   

Practically then how did David fight Goliath? Look at verses 38-40. "Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. "I cannot go in these," he said to Saul, "because I am not used to them." So he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine." David fought Goliath not with the "conventional weapon" such as "guns and knives" but with “his personalized weapon”. What was his personalized weapon? It consisted of four different tools: his staff, five smooth stones, the pouch of his shepherd's bag, and a sling. 

The remainder of today's Bible passage says that David had too use only "one" sling shot to cut down Goliath. But just in case he carried a staff and not just one or two but "five" smooth stones. Why? The answer is obvious. Just in case he missed the first shot, he wanted to launch the second, the third, and even the fifth. In case Goliath falls apart, only half dead, he wanted to use the staff to finish him. In this way, David knew that Goliath was not a joke; he knew that Goliath was not a push over; so he was "fully prepared for the challenge." 

A careful observation of the tools David employed, the method David used, and the way in which he actually came in contact with the enemy shows us that David had a "practical" faith, not a "fortune seeking" faith. Let us read verses 41-49 responsively. We can divide this passage into two parts: what David said to Goliath in verses 45-47; and what David did in verses 48-49. Look at verses 45-47 again. The messages are three fold: the means of the battle, and the cause for the battle, and the absolute conviction of the victory for the battle. These three are the absolute things one “must have” for an absolute victory. These three make a solider of Christ to act decisively, landing a deadly blow on God's enemy with deep conviction. 

Look at verses 48-49 again. "As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground." Observe the three action parts: No. 1, as the Philistines moved closer to David to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line..." This is the first and foremost important step. As the enemy advanced, David advanced faster. No. 2, David ran quickly to do what? Yes. To "meet" his enemy! A lot of people are afraid of facing the enemy "face to face" or "eye to eye". But we must remember: escaping from a problem is never the solution to the problem, for the problem will never go away until it is resolved. No. 3, the finishing part: Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground."   

The rest of the battle recorded in the passage is just a follow up of what David accomplished. But let us read verse 58, “Whose son are you, young man?" Saul asked him. David said, "I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem." Here the expression "the son of...Jesse of Bethlehem" reminds us of Jesus who is our true hero of heroes in whom absolute victories over the all kinds of enemies are guaranteed all the time. 

In conclusion, let us read verse 47. “All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD'S, and he will give all of you into our hands." Today we learned that the Lord God enabled David to defeat Goliath to teach us that by faith in the Lord God, we can win victories over our enemies, especially materialism and humanism. Then we can lead ourselves and the flock of God to green pastures where our Lord Jesus can make our cups overflow. In this increasingly wicked generation, like David, may the Lord bless us to lead the flock of God and raise them as powerful soldiers of Christ. 

One word: the battle is the Lord's

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