Fighting in the Name of the Lord

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Fighting in the Name of the Lord

Focus on the Power of God Not the Size of the Giant

Picture of Jimmy Fallon in Shaq’s clothing. 

Goliath was even bigger. 9 feet, nine inches. 

Ladder to show the size?

Goliath is not an allegory for anything that opposes us - It is a true story of a young man who defeated a giant in the Strength of the Lord God working in Him.

1 We focus on the giant’s size, instead of the Lord’s power.

But We can certainly learn THIS LESSON - shakes it’s fist I think this is v 10 - I defy the ranks of Israel this day...!!

v 10 - I defy the ranks of Israel this day...!!

v. 1.11 - "  (NAS): When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

Focused on his size and his words.

David is called a man after God’s own heart. Perhaps it is because his default position was for the most part - “God can do this, He will use me, but God’s got this!”

David’s response, “ (NAS): For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?”

(FSB): The point of the passage, however, is not to ascertain Goliath’s exact height but to note his size and skill compared to David. The young, inexperienced David is victorious over the Philistine champion because Yahweh assisted him (see vv. 37, 46–47). Although Goliath appears invincible, God’s declaration in 16:7 indicates that height is insignificant.

1a. The Lord doesn’t fight the same way, He empowers and fights in different ways. 

- using weakness to astound the strong. 

- using patience as a form of his power. 

- Now, let’s talk straight from a moment. THis is a bloody battle - but it doesn’t progress the way that either army thought it would. 

Goliath is arrayed in his armor with the spear like a weaver’s beam!! He’s huge and there is this young man, hardly older than a boy - without armor - and only a sling. 

They were expecting to see David beaten to a pulp on the plain, and the giants sword flashing to end the battle. 

In the end it is Goliath’s sword does flash in the sunlight, but it is to lift the head of it’s owner into the hand of David the victor. 

(FSB): 17:39 David took them He stripped down to his standard attire, likely just a tunic and belt. He decides to meet heavy infantry with light artillery (his sling and stones), which is substantially more mobile and can give one the advantage in certain battlefield contexts. 

Slingers were complete companies in some armies. The best of them could throw a rock 1500 feet!! They were considered accurate at up to 600 feet. And David as an expert was only a few yards away from the Giant. 

David was thinking How Can I Miss?

His confidence was in the LORD! He Fought In the Name of The Lord!!

Yahweh God fights in unexpected ways. 

Weapons of the Shepherd:

- Stick, weighted on one end for throwing, and beating in close. 

- Sling, 

-Knife, sometimes a knife...

Be Confident in The Lessons God Has Taught You.

Saul and the Army of Israel were thinking How Can He Win?

David was thinking How Can I Miss?

BUT MORE SO - His confidence was in the LORD! He Fought In the Name of The Lord!!

Yahweh God fights in unexpected ways. 

David was a shepherd - used to doing what was necessary to protect and provide for the sheep.

Stick - should read this as a CLUB - weighted and knotted on one end. Used for up close bludgeoning. It could also be thrown

Sling - advanced weapon of the time. 100 mph, smooth stones were not for skipping - unless David meant to skip it off Goliath’s head. At that speed and force - GOLIATH WAS DEAD BEFORE DAVID DREW HIS SWORD. The headless Philistine was merely an exclamation point so the army got the point.

Crook

Knife

As King of Israel - he was prepared to protect and provide for the People of God, his sheep.

Stick - should read this as a CLUB - weighted and knotted on one end. Used for up close bludgeoning. It could also be thrown

Warfare and Policy Making

Sling - advanced weapon of the time. 100 mph, smooth stones were not for skipping - unless David meant to skip it off Goliath’s head. At that speed and force - GOLIATH WAS DEAD BEFORE DAVID DREW HIS SWORD. The headless Philistine was merely an exclamation point so the army got the point.

Crook

34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock,

Knife

35 I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him.

36 “Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God.”

Listen to his speech - the overtones are clear.

45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and 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 taunted.

46 “This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,

47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.”

Weapons of the Shepherd:

David was a shepherd - used to doing what was necessary to protect and provide for the sheep.

Stick - should read this as a CLUB - weighted and knotted on one end. Used for up close bludgeoning. It could also be thrown

Sling - advanced weapon of the time. 100 mph, smooth stones were not for skipping - unless David meant to skip it off Goliath’s head. At that speed and force - GOLIATH WAS DEAD BEFORE DAVID DREW HIS SWORD. The headless Philistine was merely an exclamation point so the army got the point.

Crook - support and climbing, also could be used to reach the sheep in tight spots.

Knife - no evidence that David even carried one.

As King of Israel - he was prepared to protect and provide for the People of God, his sheep.

Warfare and Policy Making

Application for Life

• Confidence in the Lord is our Greatest Weapon!

- He uses courage, patience, mercy, prayer, humility just as phenomenally as a sword or sling.

•Confidence is built by a life of faith (and testing!)

- Faith is strengthened by the very circumstances others want to run from!

- Did David run from the bear or the lion? No. And he killed the giant! à David’s mighty men were also giant killers!