At the Name of our God
Notes
Transcript
1 Samuel 17
1 Samuel 17
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.
This is a very well known story in the Bible, it is where the would be king David faces the giant Goliath. This text holds a lot of theological significance in it and I want to focus in on the words of David here in this passage.
The first thing I want to draw our attention to is 1 Samuel 17.45 “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.” David knew he was not alone in this fight and knew that God was on his side so he had every reason for confidence. Oddly enough the punishment for anyone that defied God in the way that Goliath did, whether Jew or not, was to be stoned. Goliath got the just punishment for his actions.
The other significant part of this passage that I want to draw our attention to is the reasoning statement that David gives at the end of verse 46, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. The death of all the Philistines here was not for no reason, it went to show the entire world that the God of Israel was still there and Just as powerful as before.
The story of David and Goliath is a story of God preserving his people, and he is still doing that today. Oftentimes in our ministries we get discouraged when it does not seem to be going as good as you wish, press on. God used a shepherd boy to defeat a giant, he will work how he wants we must just be faithful in obedience just like David.