1 Samuel 17:1-30
David and Goliath
1 Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle, and were gathered at Sochoh, which belongs to Judah; they encamped between Sochoh and Azekah, in Ephes Dammim. 2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and they encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array against the Philistines. 3 The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, with a valley between them.
4 And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6 And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. 7 Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him. 8 Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9 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.” 10 And the Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.” 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
12 Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse, and who had eight sons. And the man was old, advanced in years, in the days of Saul. 13 The three oldest sons of Jesse had gone to follow Saul to the battle. The names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 14 David was the youngest. And the three oldest followed Saul. 15 But David occasionally went and returned from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.
16 And the Philistine drew near and presented himself forty days, morning and evening.
17 Then Jesse said to his son David, “Take now for your brothers an ephah of this dried grain and these ten loaves, and run to your brothers at the camp. 18 And carry these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and see how your brothers fare, and bring back news of them.” 19 Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.
20 So David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, and took the things and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the camp as the army was going out to the fight and shouting for the battle. 21 For Israel and the Philistines had drawn up in battle array, army against army. 22 And David left his supplies in the hand of the supply keeper, ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers. 23 Then as he talked with them, there was the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, coming up from the armies of the Philistines; and he spoke according to the same words. So David heard them. 24 And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were dreadfully afraid. 25 So the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel; and it shall be that the man who kills him the king will enrich with great riches, will give him his daughter, and give his father’s house exemption from taxes in Israel.”
26 Then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “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?”
27 And the people answered him in this manner, saying, “So shall it be done for the man who kills him.”
28 Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger was aroused against David, and he said, “Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.”
29 And David said, “What have I done now? Is there not a cause?” 30 Then he turned from him toward another and said the same thing; and these people answered him as the first ones did.
This well known account of the encounter of David and Goliath has deeper lessons for us than just felling a giant with a sling and a rock. It is a account of one who heard the slanderous blasphemy of the enemy of God and answered with the question, “is there not a cause to stand for God’s name” to give a defense (1 Peter 3:15-16) for Him who is the omnipotent and sovereign God over all? The Philistine army taunted the armies of the LORD God from their mountain on one side of the valley and maligned His name by saying He had no power to defend Israel who was set on the opposing mountain before them. This defiance meant defamation and blasphemy in belittling God and His people who were challenged to meet and defeat their immense champion and have the Philistines serve Saul and his people, or be def and serve them. That was the ultimatum of the ungodly. Nobody was brave or seemingly foolish enough to face such a giant opponent in battle until little David the shepherd and secretly anointed future king heard these offenses and went on the offense to offer himself as the one to stop the mouth of this arrogant blasphemer. This challenge had gone on for forty days until David was delivering supplies to his brothers on the front line and asked what reward there was to take on this uncircumcised Philistine who continued to defy the armies of the living God. The offer of riches and a king’s daughter as wife did not entice David, but provided a cover for the part he would play to defeat the enemy and defend God’s good name for all history. His brothers derided him for speaking out, no doubt to mask their own fear. David answered them with, “What have I done now? Is there not a cause?” The brothers accused him of abandoning his task over the sheep and of pride and insolence of his heart to really just come to see the battle since he was too young and small to fight. David just ignored them and kept saying to all who could hear how this uncircumcised and ungodly warrior had to be silenced because righteous indignation welled up on him to fight against such defamation of the LORD and threatening of His people. We must ask ourselves in fighting the good fight of the gospel for the souls of those called to hear and become God’s people through the message preached for repentance and faith in God’s word and work on the cross to deliver them from the enemy, “is there not cause to stand and fight the good fight (1 Timothy 1:18, 6:12) for God’s good name?” We are called to don the spiritual armor of readiness to engage the enemy in steadfast (Ephesians 6:10, 11, 13) hope and assurance of our calling to wield the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17) to set them free from the taunting affront of the enemy.
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