David & Goliath

Intro

1 Samuel 17:4–11 ESV

And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And his shield-bearer went before him. He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not 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 be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” And the Philistine 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.

1 Samuel 17:16–23 ESV

For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening. And Jesse said to David his son, “Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers. Also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See if your brothers are well, and bring some token from them.” Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took the provisions and went, as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the encampment as the host was going out to the battle line, shouting the war cry. And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. And David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage and ran to the ranks and went and greeted his brothers. As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him.

1 Samuel 17:26–58 ESV

And David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall 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 defy the armies of the living God?” And the people answered him in the same way, “So shall it be done to the man who kills him.” Now Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab’s anger was kindled 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 presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.” And David said, “What have I done now? Was it not but a word?” And he turned away from him toward another, and spoke in the same way, and the people answered him again as before. When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him. And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!” Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” So David put them off. Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine. And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.” Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds 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 that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.” When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. 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. And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron. And the people of Israel came back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camp. And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent. As soon as Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this youth?” And Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.” And the king said, “Inquire whose son the boy is.” And as soon as David returned from the striking down of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. And Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”

Identifying the Enemy

In this chapter, the Israelites and the Philistines have set up to do battle. The Philistines have a great champion that has “defied the ranks of Israel” looking for a champion to come and fight him from the ranks of Saul.

What side are you on?

We tend to think that we are right all of the time.

We must always make sure that we are aware of what God is doing and be sure that is what we are doing.

What are you known for?

We see a description of Goliath as a great warrior.

We see a description of David as a Shepherd errand boy.

We see a description of the army and king of Israel as cowards in the face of this threat in Goliath.

What are you known by?

Goliath refers to the Israelites as “servants of Saul.” This shows a great issue.

Those that oppose them, that don’t know them intimately, know them as servants of Saul, not as servants of the living God.

Who would be an enemy of that side?

One of the great ways that you can objectively evaluate your motives in a situation is to see what things who opposes what you stand for.

In this situation, the Philistines serve false Gods and sought to destroy the Israelites, this should help reinforce their position as servants of the living God.

In many cases when we see that those who come against us, are those who disregard the living God and are pursuing worldly ambitions, it should reinforce our confidence as servants of the living God.

If we find ourselves in a situation, however, where our enemies are concerned with serving the living God, we should evaluate ourselves in our actions.

What threat are you concerned about?

Getting distracted from the real threat.

The infighting that likely happened among the Israelites.

David’s brother accusing him of evil motives wanting to watch the battle.

Measuring the threat.

How great the threat is should have a direct relationship with how much attention and time that we give the threat.

The size of your opponent.

There are somewhat conflicting reports about the height of Goliath.

6 ft. 9 or 9ft. 9.

Regardless he was much larger than nearly everyone present. And a highly skilled warrior.

I say nearly, because if Goliath was 6 ft. 9, Saul wouldn’t have been dramatically shorter than him.

Understanding how big our threat is, gives us perspective as to how dramatic the consequences of our inaction will be.

For them, Goliath was huge. Defeat would lead to demoralization of the troops and a crushing defeat.

It also gives us an understanding of how dramatic a victory will be.

A victory would (and did) lead to the confidence of the people of Israel and a crushing defeat for the enemy.

A game of comparisons

However tall Goliath may have been, he was much more large and powerful than any of the people there, in and of themselves.

The problem the people who cowered before them faced was a perspective problem.

They were so concerned with Goliath, that they forgot the hugeness of the God that they served.

It wasn’t that Goliath was so big, it was that, by themselves, they were so small.

Francis Chan - I not so big, you so small

It is not as though David was so prolific of a person that he was unafraid of Goliath.

He had a proper perspective.

“For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God.”

It wasn’t about him versus Goliath. It was about Goliath standing in opposition to God. David knew that if he fought him, and if God was with him, he could not lose.

All of this is important because we must keep in mind that...

Remembering that the offense is not directly toward you.

As the Israelites fought they should have remembered that they were the chosen people of God to live in covenant with Him.

They should have remembered that God fights for them.

The offense was as David said, a defiance of the armies of the living God.

Like any who have opposed God, Goliath would face the same fate as the others who have opposed him previously.

Goliath would meet the same end as his god Dagon he cursed David by fallen bef

Choosing your Weapon

What weapons are available to you?

Ourselves

Holy Spirit

Prayer

Scripture

When you prepare to face your enemy, what weapon should you take?

Choosing a familiar weapon vs. one that is foreign to you.

If we want to be successful we should familiarize ourselves with what we need to do battle with

Sharing our story with others to share the Gospel.

Apologetics, helpful if we know them.

Better to share what you confidently know then venture in uncomfortably.

Fighting the Battle

Knowing your enemy and facing them.

If you have done everything else correctly, you should be ready to fight when the time comes.

You should have the confidence to face the situation because you are confident on where you stand and you are confident in how the battle will go.

You are confident because you understand....

Who will really be doing the fighting?

You will be ready because you remember that God is the one doing the fighting.

Awarding the Credit

Remembering who fought the battle.

Remembering our place in all of it.

Staying humble through victory.

Enjoying God’s blessing while being humble.

Decision

-What battles are you facing?

Have you evaluated your place in them?

Are you fighting for things that matter?

Are you fighting the right enemy?

-How are you fighting your battles?

Alone or dependent on God?

Relying on God for the victory?

-Are you following through on the battle?

Obedient in doing what you are called to?

-Are you staying humble in victory? or defeat?

-Or have you been doing it all on your own and realizing that you are fighting against God?

Turn to him today.