Oct 6, 2019
War Stories # 6
In Christ Alone, 1 Samuel 17
By Louie Marsh, 10-6-2019
Intro: last picture Sumo & kid
To win my battles I need too…
1) RECOGNIZE what’s actually going on.
Now the Israelites had been saying, "Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his father's family from taxes in Israel." 1 Samuel 17:25 (NIV)
Our story opens with a stalemate. The army of Israel is facing off against the army of the Philistines. But there’s no fighting. Because as happened in those ancient times a challenge to single combat had been issued. The champion of the Philistines, Goliath of Gath, had challenged anyone from the Israelite army to face him in armed combat. For days he would come out, bellow his challenge, mock Israel and their God, and then retire satisfied that no one would ever dare to challenge him.
Goliath was a big man. How big? The most used Hebrew text says he was six cubits and a span, which comes out to about 9 feet tall. However there is an alternate reading of four cubits and a span which amounts to about six feet six inches tall. Since the cubit was not a fixed measurement it’s hard to be precise. So let’s split the difference and say that the G man was about 7 feet tall and that David was of average height for his day, which was five and a half feet tall.
So picture a man five and a half feet tall facing off against a fully armed and armored man like Shaq, or for you wrestling fans out there a young, fit and armed and armored Andre the Giant.
Now that’s pretty scary!
Goliath was a professional warrior. He had fought and killed many times. He wore the best bronze armor, and carried a spear, javelin and of course an oversized sword. He was nothing if not confident when he saw David take the field.
David asked the men standing near him, "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?"…The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you." 1 Samuel 17:25,37 (NIV)
At this time David, the youngest boy in his family, was in his early teens. His three older brothers were in the army and their father sent David to bring them some food. Like everyone there David heard Goliath’s challenge and was amazed that no one would answer it. He was offended that no one would stand up and challenge Goliath in the name of their God.
2) REFUSE to let the doubters derail you.
When Eliab, David's oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, "Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle." "Now what have I done?" said David. "Can't I even speak?" He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. 1 Samuel 17:28-30 (NIV)
And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?" Mark 5:25-30 (NIV)
Do we have this kind of God stopping faith??
While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. "Your daughter is dead," they said. "Why bother the teacher any more?" Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, "Don't be afraid; just believe." Mark 5:35-36 (NIV)
He went in and said to them, "Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child's father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. Mark 5:39-40 (NIV)
He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum!" (which means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!"). Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. Mark 5:41-42 (NIV)
3) When you face your giant – RESTATE the certainty of victory.
Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." 1 Samuel 17:36-37 (NIV)
David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give all of you into our hands." 1 Samuel 17:45-47 (NIV)
4) RELY on the right armor.
Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. "I cannot go in these," he said to Saul, "because I am not used to them." So he took them off. 1 Samuel 17:38-39 (NIV)
So, untrained and seemingly unprepared, David volunteered. He had no armor on, because he couldn’t fit into any and wasn’t trained to fight in it anyway. King Saul had made the offer of his armor and David refused it. So, like the true politician he was, Saul was covered. If David died he could say I tried to help him but he refused. If he won then of course Saul would take as much credit as possible. Either way he was safe to sit back and enjoy the show.
As young David took the field he carried only two weapons with him, a staff and a sling. We know Goliath saw the staff because he mocked David for thinking he could attack him with a little stick. He must have seen the sling as well. It’s a measure of just how arrogant and over confident Goliath was that while he saw the sling he paid it no mind. Goliath was insulted that they had sent this boy out to face him. He would toy with the little pipsqueak and then swat him like a fly!
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NIV)
You see David’s sling wasn’t like our slingshot. It was a well-known weapon in ancient times. Most armies had groups of slingers that would go out in advance of the infantry and soften up the enemy with their stones.
By Roman times the sling was still in use. Roman military texts recommended archery target practice at about 200 yards but Slingers are known to hurl their projectiles as far as 440 yards – that’s a quarter of a mile. And they were incredibly accurate. One ancient writer noted that the best slingers “would wound not merely the heads of their enemies, but any part of the face at which they might have aimed.” Experiments demonstrate that missiles leave a sling in excess of 60 miles per hour. One Roman writer noted that opponents in leather armor were in far greater danger from sling missiles than arrows. Even if the stone did not penetrate the armor, it was capable of inflicting a fatal internal injury. Unarmored bodies were easily penetrated by sling stones. An ancient medical book included instructions for removing lead and stone sling missiles from the bodies of wounded soldiers.
Clearly Goliath didn’t take David seriously at all. David challenged him to come to him and fight, and that’s what Goliath did. After all Goliath had the size advantage, the weight advantage, the equipment advantage and the experience advantage. All the smart money was on him and he knew it.
The shepherd boy facing him had only one advantage – his faith in God – something Goliath doubtless didn’t consider for even a moment.
David taunted the giant daring him to attack him. With an outraged roar Goliath began advancing upon David even as David moved towards him. But suddenly David stopped, put one little stone in his sling and began to whirl it in an underhanded motion. Almost immediately it was moving fast it was nothing but a blur to every watching eye. Then at just the right moment David released the stone. It flew straight and true to its target in probably less than a second. It hit Goliath in the forehead just beneath his helmet and penetrated into his brain. In an instant Goliath lost all control of himself and collapsed forward with a resounding thud his arms and armor rattling.
David took the Philistine's head and brought it to Jerusalem, and he put the Philistine's weapons in his own tent…As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine's head. 1 Samuel 17:54, 57 (NIV)
And just like that it was over. A low moan must have come from the Philistine side even as the Israelites collectively drew in their breaths in astonishment. It happened so quickly many of the onlookers must have done double and even triple takes, rubbing their eyes to make sure of what they had just seen. Could it really be possible that the monster Goliath had been killed by a mere boy and just one stone?
David made sure that there would be no question that the giant was dead. Quickly pulling Goliath’s sword from its scabbard David decapitated Goliath and then stood victorious holding the bloody head high. As blood and gore dripped from the gruesome trophy the demoralized Philistines broke and ran. In mere seconds the Israelite army followed in hot pursuit. Thus David’s personal victory became his nation’s victory as well.
One person standing in faith and refusing to give into his fear or to popular opinion changed his world. The real moral of this story isn’t about David at all, nor about his rocks either. It’s about his faith in God. When we trust and love God like David did then we too can stand strong even when everyone and everything around us says we’re wrong. David stood with God and you and I can too.