The Bible Binge: Dying to Win (1 Samuel 17:38-58) (FOM)

Killing the giants

Some years ago there was a movie called, Facing the Giants. And the by-line was “Never give up. Never back down. Never lose faith.” It’s a feel-good story. In fact, there’s an iconic scene in that movie that had a life of its own. The death crawl scene.. one of the football players crawls 100 yards blindfolded with a teammate on his back. The death crawl is the movie: How to beat the giants in your life. The football team wins because it improves its determination and effort. When faced with giants in life, whether it’s bad cars or financial issues, simply don’t give up. God can do the impossible, if you just put in a lot of effort.

We love the underdog stories. Is that the story of David and Goliath? The underdog who wins even though there are insurmountable odds? Taking down the giants we find in our life? In fact, slaying or killing the giants is as much of this story as the underdog. Search Christian books on Amazon and you’ll find at least a half dozen books with “five smooth stones” in the title. Some of them were the five smooth stones of success, or the five smooth stones of leadership. Whatever the topic, the smooth stones are a metaphor for taking out those giants in our lives that would do us harm.

Is that the story of David and Goliath? All of these examples are why this Bible story just may be the most popular of our Bible stories in our culture. There are universals in the story, especially the story of the underdog. The little guy who seemingly has no chance to win, shocking the world by winning decisively. We love those stories, we want to tell those stories, and David and Goliath checks all the marks, including a love story… which isn’t in our text today, but in the end, David gets the girl, he gets the King’s daughter as he had been promised. This story has it all.

The Book of Samuel

Our story comes from the book of Samuel. Samuel is where we find ourselves in our Bible Binge. In our Old Testaments we have First and Second Samuel, but in the Jewish Old Testament First and Second Samuel were just one book, the book of Samuel. The book of Samuel is probably written by the royal prophet to David’s court, Nathan the prophet. And the book tells the story of how David came to be kind. And it answers a key question:

Who will rescue Israel?

Who is going to rescue Israel? There was no king in Israel. Everyone is doing what’s right in their own eyes. God provides Israel a king, but it is a king that comes from nowhere. The story of Samuel is the story of David. Yes, it is the story of King Saul as well… but Saul is the foil. Saul is the people’s choice. Saul is the seed of the serpent, the theology of glory. This is how we would do it if we were king for one day. Saul sets up David, a man that God created after his own heart. David is Israel’s champion. And the story that is the centerpiece of David’s ascent to the throne is one of the most famous stories in all of the Bible.

David vs. Goliath

1 Samuel opens with Israel at war. Or rather, their #1 enemy at the time, the Philistines have come to make war on Israel. They are at Israel’s doorstep. If they win, more than likely, the Promised Land is lost. This is not simply another battle. But a war for the land God had promised to his people. We get to chapter 17 and we find the big bad of our story. The notorious Philistines are famous for their giants. And their champion is a big, bad dude named Goliath… standing 9 feet, 9 inches tall. His armor weighs at least 120 pounds. Goliath has no use for Israel or her God. He challenges Israel:

Choose one of your men and have him come down against me. If he wins in a fight against me and kills me, we will be your servants. But if I win against him, and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us. (1 Samuel 17:8-9)

Over the course of the next few hours and possibly days, David, a shepherd, a teenager, the one who has been anointed to be Saul’s successor, is headed to the middle of the valley to take on Goliath. It’s not King Saul. It’s not the best soldier that Israel has to offer. In fact, King Saul and his army are cowards in this story. They are hanging back. Saul is supposed to be the one taking on Goliath. He doesn’t. Instead, there’s this teenager, a shepherd kid. Probably late teens… you had to be 20 to fight in Israel’s army. David ends up doing what King Saul should have done. David hears the Giant breathing his threats, finds out what this is about and offers to take up the challenge.

David walks to the middle of the valley without a spear. He has five smooth stones and a slingshot. And he has God himself on his side.

Here’s what David says, beginning with verse 45:

You come against me with a sword, spear, and javelin; I come against you in the name of the Lord of Armies, the God of the ranks of Israel.

Goliath has been cursing the God of Israel. David takes that as the framework for the story. We get that part. This is good versus evil. The true God versus the false god. David even says, when this is over, everyone will know that Israel has a God. But that’s not all David is saying. “I come to you in the name of the LORD of Armies”. Well now. That is something different. We’ve seen this before. The Angel of the Lord who showed up to Abraham. The Angel of the Lord that showed up to Moses… the LORD of Armies, the captain of God’s great angelic military. We’re not told that the Angel of the Lord is visible in this story, but David certainly is referencing him here. David isn’t simply referencing some nebulous God in the sky. He’s being very specific. Our God is present among us. Our God dwells among us. Our God fights for his people.

And David doubles down on this thought. He then tells Goliath this:

Today, The LORD will hand you over to me. He will hand you over to us.

In our rush to see ourselves as David, which is what we tend to do with this story, we turn this into more of a “God helps those who help themselves” idea. But that’s not what is happening here. It’s not.. the LORD of Armies is here to help me. No, the LORD will hand you over. This is a divine action. This is divine judgment. This is God’s doing. this is all God’s doing. David does say “I will strike”, but that is simply an explanation of exactly how the LORD of Armies is going to win the day. David is the divine agent bringing divine judgment. The captain of the LORD’s Armies is going to accomplish all of this through David as His stand in. This is God fighting for His people. God is the champion here, not David. This is a picture of bigger things, no doubt, but this is a picture of God himself being the conqueror.

David finishes his speech to Goliath and the rest is history. David slings the miracle shot. Goliath dies. God’s promises and God’s people in God’s land remain and continue. Through the king in waiting who walked into the middle of the valley so that God’s gospel of salvation for weak people would go worldwide. And everywhere that God’s name is known there he establishes his kingdom, forever.

We are not David in the story

David did have a tremendous amount of faith and courage, but that’s not what we are primarily supposed to see. We are supposed to see what God looks like when he comes to the aid and the rescue of his people when they are helpless against giants who would do them harm.

And yes… that’s the uncomfortableness of the story. We’re not David in this story. We’re Saul, the king, and the men who are cowering in fear and unbelief in their tents. That’s who we are in this story. We’re all the places in this story where we find lack of faith, and neediness, and helplessness. We need a champion and the champion won’t be us, can’t be us. We don’t have what is necessary to take on the giant. We are in need of a Savior.

The Promise of Victory

We don’t realize we need a savior here. What is it that we’re after when we tell this story like this? We want to win. We want victory. There’s a huge victory in this story. This represents an unbelievable victory. And if you know anything about the story of Israel and the constant threat that the Philistines were to Israel in that day in that part of the world, this story has a nationalist vibe. There is something to see here regarding that aspect. David takes out the champion of the bad people. The enemy. The constant source of grief and suffering. That’s some kind of victory when their Big Bad goes down. And that kind of story appeals to us. The negatives in our lives are real. It’s real temptation. It’s real sin. It’s real health issues. It’s real relationship issues. We live in a broken world. And we want victory. We want a win. How many times do you find yourself muttering under your breath, “I need a win today”?

We’re always looking for the win. We’re built to win. Our culture reinforces this over and over and over… and the books we’ve talked about are part of this. We have to win. Nike’s “Just do it” isn’t simply about self-fulfillment. It’s self-fulfillment aimed at getting the win. They aren’t going to spend billions on advertising shoes for losers. For coming in second. Success is determined by the winning. So we come to a story like this, and we say, “A-ha, David won.” How’d he do it? Let’s do that. We need five smooth stones in order to win. What are the five smooth stones I need in order to win the day and get where I need to go in life?

Who is David in this story?

You know where this is going, right? What is it that all of these ways of thinking about the story of David have in common? I’m David. I need to win, I have giants, I need five smooth stones. I’m David. David is a classic life story we tell to pump up our courage in facing the giants. Because we are David. We’re the little guy badly in need of a win. When we read this story like that, we are doing what we always tend to do with these Bible stories and Bible heroes.. we shape the text around the narrative of our lives. We believe that our lives run better when we are motivated by and informed by grand ideals to push us forward. And while there is some truth to that, the problem is that we end up making the text fit whatever is happening to me, whatever I need to happen.

We shape David’s story with Goliath to fit some sort of ideal for us to aspire to. We see ourselves as the potential hero of the story, if only we follow whatever principles those heroes were following in the story. This story was not written for us to find moral ideals to aspire to. David and Goliath is not written for us to find some sort of positive example for living life. It’s not here so that I would get a better grip on how I need to obey God, as important as that is. That’s not the point of David and Goliath or any other story in the Old Testament.

What it means is that Jesus is the point of all of these stories. And he can be found in the story of David and Goliath, but when we see where Jesus is at in the story, we get really uncomfortable. David’s story is filled with action. In fact, this story has more details written about it than just about any other single event in the Old Testament. Only the Exodus has more written about the details. We’re all about action, but what we tend to miss is the conversation between David and Goliath. Usually when we highlight the conversation, we’re looking at it through our lens for the need to win.

Jesus is the David who fights Goliath on our behalf

Jesus is the David here. Jesus is the champion. Jesus goes to the cross and defeats Goliath. In fact, Goliath’s head becomes a big deal in this story. We’re not going to read all the way through, but David cuts off the head and takes it to Saul. That’s also a tipoff that this isn’t about us being David. At the very beginning of time, right after Adam and Eve sinned, God promised that there would be an offspring who would crush the head of the evil one. David is doing it in the story. Jesus does it at the cross. The head of the serpent has been crushed and cut off.

That’s the story of David and Goliath. A picture of who Jesus is and what He does for us. David the future king shows us what it is like for our King to come and kill anything that would harm our soul. That would steal our soul away. That would kill us and send us to hell. Jesus has defeated that enemy because we couldn’t and can’t do it.

Jesus wins

There is victory here, but it’s not a victory that we do. It’s not for us to go win the day. In fact, it’s not really about winning. You know how Jesus ultimately defeated the enemy. If you had to write a “five smooth stones book” it should have this title:

The five smooth stones of how to be crucified.

That’s Jesus. Jesus dies to win. In fact, Jesus goes out to the middle of the field that day… and in order to beat Goliath at the cross… Jesus meets the giant and he lays down his sling, he lays down his five smooth stones, and Jesus dies. Say what? The picture being painted in the story of David and Goliath is what ultimately happens, but what we don’t see in this story is Jesus willingly losing in order to win.

We would never tell that story in a million years. This is why Christianity is mocked as a religion for the weak. Christianity is mocked as a religion for those who need a crutch. Because our champions would never lose. We’re all about winning! But we have to stop and ask ourselves: why are we always trying to win? Why is it that I’m always trying to one up the next guy. What is it that motivates me to always insert myself into the conversation and try to win whatever the conversation is about?

Our idea of fighting Goliath is just like Saul’s. Saul gives David his armor. David doesn’t want it. Saul believes that you beat Goliath by fighting just like Goliath. We do this all of the time, but we don’t realize the hopelessness of that position. We’re all about winning. We’re all about winning the game by being better at the game. We don't learn. We know better. We head into battle against sin, death, the devil, and our narcissistic self-sufficiency using the exact same weapons as the enemy. Just a little more knowledge, a little better communication, a better argument, a little more moral fortitude, a stronger will, a better skillset, a better position of influence, a more virtuous use of power, a little more faith.

And David and Jesus come along and they say, this isn’t how you win. You win by dying. You don’t play the game Goliath is playing. You don’t figure out how to be stronger. You win in weakness. You win with a cross.

Let’s Pray.