David and Goliath

Intro

In the 2018 Super Bowl, the Philadelphia Eagles faced the powerhouse New England Patriots. The Patriots had Tom Brady — the most decorated quarterback in the NFL — while the Eagles had Nick Foles, a backup quarterback who had almost quit football the year before.

On paper, the Eagles were outmatched. Analysts said they needed to “be like the Patriots” if they wanted to win: play safe, copy their style, and try to out-Brady Tom Brady. But the Eagles’ coach and Nick Foles chose a different path — they leaned into what made them unique. Foles, a committed Christian, later said he felt God had prepared him for that moment, and instead of caving to the pressure of doing it “the world’s way,” he played boldly.

The Eagles shocked everyone by winning 41–33, and Foles was named MVP. Afterward, he gave credit to Christ and said he was playing not for man’s approval but God’s glory.

Like Saul’s armor on David, trying to fight battles “the world’s way” often weighs us down. Israel tried fear and armor, but David said, “The Lord who delivered me… will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine” (1 Sam. 17:37).

David didn’t win because he was stronger — he won because he trusted God. Nick Foles didn’t win by becoming Tom Brady — he won by being faithful to who God made him to be.

And we do not win our battles by thinking we are David and if only we do the right things we will win but by understanding that David is a picture of Jesus. We need to understand that without Jesus in our lives we will lose. Without fully committing to God, we will lose. If we want to live this life, if we want to not fall prey to sin and temptation then we must trust in God. He is the victor not us.

You see we are not the hero of our own story. The real hero is God. If we were the real hero of the story then we will lose. This should give us Joy becasuse then our victory does not hinge on our own strength but on the strength of God.

David and Goliath

The next time we see the Israelites they are gathered for war with the Philistine army. We are going to go through the all to familiar story and then see what we can learn from it.

1 Samuel 17:1–2 CSB

The Philistines gathered their forces for war at Socoh in Judah and camped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim. Saul and the men of Israel gathered and camped in the Valley of Elah; then they lined up in battle formation to face the Philistines.

To get a bit of a better picture of what was going on here I found a literal picture of the valley of Ellah looking from what used to be the town of Azekah. The Israelite army on one hill and the Israelite army on another. It likely looked a little difefrent at the time, but you get the idea.

1 Samuel 17:4 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.

The height of Goliath varies. We do not know exactly, some manuscripts say that he was 6 cubits and a span, some 4 cubits and a span, we do not know for sure. Besides the fact that the emausrement for a cubit was the distance between the elbow and the middle finger tip. A span is the distance between the thumb and the little finger when they hadn is fully extended. So the distance varies depending on the size of the person.

So the height of the giant Goliath is anywhere from 7-9.5’ tall. Lots of people say he was 9’9” but the reality is we do not know for sure. but the measurements we do have give us a range, which either way is still quite tall. I found the picture of a man slightly tall;er then me that I take as a good representation of David and Goliath. His name is Halfthor Bjornson. He is close to 7’ tall and his wife beside him is around 5’5” He just broke the world deadlift record by lifting 505 kg off the ground.

The average Jewish Male people say, based on archeological evidence is around the 5’5” give or take. Though David would have been more muscular then the Lady in the picture.

Golioath was heavily armoured. wearing about 200 poulnds worth of heavy armour. carrying a spear with a 15 lb tip on it. For the size of Him, not our of the question.

But instead of fighting an actual battle they were going to see who would win by each putting forward a champion. The Philistines choose the man named Goliath.

1 Samuel 17:8–10 CSB

He stood and shouted to the Israelite battle formations, “Why do you come out to line up in battle formation?” He asked them, “Am I not a Philistine and are you not servants of Saul? 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.” Then the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel today. Send me a man so we can fight each other!”

What happened after this announcement was the Israelites where terrified. so we move on to David, the consecrated king who went from being the minstral of the king to being at home again for a while.

1 Samuel 17:17–20 NLT

One day Jesse said to David, “Take this basket of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread, and carry them quickly to your brothers. And give these ten cuts of cheese to their captain. See how your brothers are getting along, and bring back a report on how they are doing.” David’s brothers were with Saul and the Israelite army at the valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines. So David left the sheep with another shepherd and set out early the next morning with the gifts, as Jesse had directed him. He arrived at the camp just as the Israelite army was leaving for the battlefield with shouts and battle cries.

So David being told by his father to go to the battle and bring some food faithfully went along. As a good boy, faithful t the Lord God he went along.

He arrived at the battle just at the time Goliath came out. As was natural, he dropped off the supplies with the quartermaster. He went to His brothers and asked how they where doing. and while they where having a conversation the giant goliath came out.

I think that the height of goliath ranges because the point is he was a big scary giuy. So intimidating He must have been that It scared the whole army. This was omething that was sometimes done to avoid largesacel bloodshed. Occasional, not routine: Ancient armies generally preferred full battles, but duels did occur when a particularly strong or symbolic warrior wanted to assert dominance. Risky: If the champion lost, it could humiliate an entire nation Practical limits: Even if a champion won, enemies didn’t always keep their “one battle, winner-takes-all” promises (since armies often fought anyway).

Golioath came out and gave the usual demand to fight the champion of the Israelites. The faith that David had was inspiring

1 Samuel 17:26 CSB

David spoke to the men who were standing with him: “What will be done for the man who kills that Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

none of the had the faith to withstand the giant. we all know the story.

David wasnt scared to fight the giant so He volunteered while everyone else was scared.

He had fought off lions and bears to protect the sheep. This was part of the job of a shepherd after all. So David’s theory was that if it be God’s will to protect the sheep through Him he can protect the Israelites through Him.

Five smooth stones.

Youi see Saul offered David His armour and David said no, he would fight the giant with what he had. He went to this creek, somewhere along this creek anyways.

I have gone over this before but a sling was not the underrated weapon that media portrays it to be. it was not the impossible like the stories portray. Goliath was heavily armoured, and in close combat He likely could have won. but I did some research, how deadly was the sling.

David - Balearic Slinger

Short answer: about 80–110+ mph (35–50+ m/s), depending on skill, ammo, and style.

A controlled experiment that compared throwing styles measured an average of ~37 m/s (≈83 mph) for the Balearic style specifically, with overhand/sidearm styles a bit faster (≈42–43 m/s). CORE

Experimental archaeology and reportage commonly put expert slingers around ~100 mph (≈45 m/s); Scientific American noted Roman sling bullets “up to 100 mph” in expert hands. Scientific American

So for a historical Balearic slinger using stones, a realistic ballpark is ~35–50 m/s (≈80–110 mph), with higher speeds possible for top experts under ideal conditions.

The story of David and Goliath is a perfect example of the deadly efficiency of the sling in ancient warfare. Although the bow and javelin are much more famous ancient weapons, a sling weapon was just as important to ancient skirmishers. Due to the small size of its missiles, making them nearly invisible when released at such high velocities, the sling was particularly hard to defend against. This is especially true considering that the blunt trauma caused by the small stones upon impact could damage organs, shatter bones, and cause concussions or kill those struck in the head, even when the victim was armored. In the 1st century B.C., the Roman medical writer Celsus stated that sling stones could even penetrate skin and become lodged within a victim’s body. The most skilled slingers of the ancient world were even more accurate and had a far greater range than many archers, making them some of the most prized skirmishers available.

David won the battle and cut off the head of the giant. Riches and the kings daughter where promised, the head was taken as proof, the philistines routed and decimated. God was setting David up as the nexct king and the hero of Israel.

Why didnt Goliath just chuck the spear at him? He was probably to busy laughing and cursing the godof this puny man coming at him with stones. He didnt take Him seriously which he should have.

1 Samuel 17:43 CSB

He said to David, “Am I a dog that you come against me with sticks?” Then he cursed David by his gods.

The story of David and Goliath is told as a story of an underdog fighting some great giant that they are not expected to defeat. but I have been learning that I think we may have it wrong.

1 Samuel 17:45–47 CSB

David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with a sword, spear, and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of Armies, the God of the ranks of Israel—you have defied him. Today, the Lord will hand you over to me. Today, I’ll strike you down, remove your head, and give the corpses of the Philistine camp to the birds of the sky and the wild creatures of the earth. Then all the world will know that Israel has a God, and this whole assembly will know that it is not by sword or by spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord’s. He will hand you over to us.”

If the battle belongs to the Lord then there are some things we need to learn about this story. If we really believe in a mighty God who is all powerful then He will do what He has promised to do. He can win the battle for us. But this also means a few things for us.

1. We’re Not the Hero

“You keep infusing yourself into the stories of the Bible like you’re the hero … You’re not David.”

The first thing to understand is that we are not the hero of the story. we are not David and Goliath is not our problems.

Many of us read the story as a formula: find your giant, grab your five stones, attack.

But that mindset gets the story upside down and makes us the central figure, not God. we must start with the understanding that we are not the hero of the story. God continues to use the week and what the world would see as foolish to shame the wise. To show that the glory is His alone.

God is the hero of the story not us. We must stop thinking that we can win the battle on our own, we fight this battle on our knees in prayer. God uses us for His glory, He uses the trials we go through for what He knows is our good. one of my favorite worship songs describes this well. it says.

There is hope in every trial For I can trust the Lord He will turn my heart towards Him And help me bear the thorn So in faith I follow Jesus On the road not understood For I know that He is working For His glory and my good - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yQ42RU3Nh8&list=RD4yQ42RU3Nh8&start_radio=1

2. The Real Hero Is God

God—never us—is the hero. So, I want to be straight, I love you enough to be straight. You’re not David. … If that’s true, you’re in a lot of trouble, because you miss. You’ll miss all five.”

You see when we place ourself into the shoes of David and say that we can slay our giants we miss the point. we miss the gospel—and what David actually points to: Christ himself. This looks foreward to Jesus. How He did something that we could not. He lived a perfect sinless llife so that He could be the sacrifice ofr our sins.

Our sins where the giant we could not slay. We are the Israelites cowering in the corner in fear for our lives not knowing hwat on earth to do. Our only hope of freedom from our sins is through giving our lives to Jesus.

Thi does not make us perfect or trial free. David went through some pretty rough times after this yet. which is why next we are going to go into one of the psalms he

3. Why This Matters for Our Joy

If we are the hero, then everything hinges on our performance and I have to tell you, if my joy is contingent on my success then I will not be finding much joy in my life.

But if God is the hero, then even in our weakness, we can rejoice that the story isn’t ours to win—it’s His to fulfill.

Here’s how one summary captures it: When we put ourselves at the center, our peace and joy depend on our performance. But if God is at the center, we’re free—His rule gives us real joy and rest. Tim Challies

“No, you are not ‘David’ slaying the ‘Goliath’ in your life ... we are more like the cowering Israelites. … The Lord is the defeater of Goliath. This story is really about Jesus.”

So then what have you done with Jesus? Is He the hero of your story or are you still the hero of the story.