Looking Through David's Lens
1 Samuel Chapter 17
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?"
Our reading today is from Chapter 17 of 1 Samuel. This is well known story and you will benefit if you have your bible open on your lap to follow along. Today you may see this familiar story from a new or different point of view.
Every week most sit in a pew probably in the same spot. You look at this pulpit and you see the same thing every week, you are familiar with this pulpit. Today I'm looking at the same pulpit you are - only from the giving end and not the receiving end and it looks much different to me than it does to you. But it is the same pulpit isn't it? It is all a matter of perspective.
In the next part of this hour we will look at a passage of God's word from the lens of David. What did David see that others did not?
The lead in to this lesson goes like this: Our personal sense of inadequacy may actually prove to be our ultimate qualification in serving God. Our personal short falls may actually prove to be our ultimate qualification in serving God. In other words, to view things in an upside down way from current culture. Motivational speakers will tell you that you can accomplish anything that you envision, or overcome any challenge you might face or any difficulty that you may confront.
This of course runs contrary to what the scriptures have been teaching us. Look at the stories of Jehoshaphat and Gideon. In each instance the power of God is clearly seen best against the background of human shortfall.
In considering this lesson, those of us who find ourselves self reliant will find ourselves rebuked. And in considering this, those of us who feel powerless and potentially useless will find great encouragement.
And in light of that - we come to one of the most familiar stories in the Old Testament. There is a reason why the story is here. There is reason for the great detail of the story. And it is a favorite because it is dramatic and exciting.
It is possible to take any verse out of context. So if you want the full historical context you should read the preceding chapters in your bible. And you will read of Saul and the story of the Ark of the Covenant.
Background
In a sense, the National Government of Israel is headed by Saul, the king. The people are taxed. The young men must serve in the military. One of the primary duties of this government is to keep civil order and defend the nation from enemies.
The Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant, probably thinking that they captured the God of Israel. While in possession of the Ark their own god topples and falls. So frightened they returned the Ark to Israel. But the war is not over. There are ongoing skirmishes with the Philistines. From this stand point it looks to me as a religious war.
Unfortunately, the place where the people look towards for leadership provides no leadership at all. Saul proved to be a disaster. He had great potential as a leader marked by a significant start, certainly a man of gifts from God. Yet when it came to the crunch he made a dreadful mess of things.
In chapter 15 verse 26, the same individual who anointed him as King had to stand before him and say 'for you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel.'
In chapter 17 the war with the Philistines comes back into center stage. And this is where the great champion of Gath is introduced to us, Goliath. This giant of a man stands and taunts the army of Israel.
The answer of God to the challenge is not to go out and find a bigger giant or to go out and find a stronger individual. The answer of God to the challenge is actually to go out and produce on the stage of human history a shepherd boy, the most unlikely of individuals to be presented with this most phenomenal challenge.
If you have read chapter 16 you will be familiar with an event takes place that was not widely known. God orders Samuel to anoint a new King. Samuel thinks this mission through and figures that this action would get him killed. So God gives Samuel a cover.
Just as there are top secret plans of Government that deal with the security of a nation. The appointment of David is top secret as it deals with God's plan. We can derive that the family kept this anointment secret to protect Samuel and David and probably the whole family.
The anointment could have been interpreted as a conspiracy to overthrow Saul as king. So you see, most likely no one could tell a soul without putting the whole family in danger. The fact that David is God's newly anointed King is not widely known. Does that make sense?
As a result of the anointing the spirit of the Lord came upon David, and came upon David in great power. It is this that provides the backdrop to the familiar material in Chapter 17.
Now when we come to the bible it is important that we not come in the spirit of familiarity but with the spirit enquiry. This is in particular the case when the material is well known to us. Be patient when you read the bible and ask God to make is sensibly clear to you.
As I often do, I have borrowed this lesson from another. When I heard it I was moved by it. Perhaps the timing was just right - I needed the lesson. So I'm compelled to echo with variation what I learned. So you see this lesson has been through my heart first.
As I heard this lesson it was broken down into acts. Act 1 is on the field of battle. The first scene is in verses 1 - 3 where we are told that the armies of the Philistines and the army of Israel take up their positions against one another. It is an easy picture to get. The geography: They were in the Valley of Elah. It is about 12 miles west of Bethlehem. They had arranged themselves in the normal military strategy of the time, one group on one side, another group on the other and very often taunting one another.
But seldom in history is it recorded where two groups just scowl at each other. That is just what we have here, two opposing groups grimacing at each other in a valley.
Scene 2, the appearance of Goliath, here he comes standing over 9 feet tall. Some say he may have been as tall as 10 feet. He could look down on the head of 7' 1" Shaquille O'Neal. He was strong enough to be wearing armor that weighed in the region of 125 pounds. He had to have a very strong frame in order to handle this.
We are told that his spear is considerable. The shaft was as a weaver's rod. In other words the shaft was significant. And the point of it weighed about 15 pounds. That is virtually the same weight of two gallons of milk. The next time you are in the grocery pick up two gallons of milk so that you will have some frame of reference of the mass of the dart on this weapon. And in verse 7 we are told that he a shield bearer that walked out in front of him.
Scene 3 beginning in verse 8, has Goliath appearing and speaking. Goliath speaks and the Israelites react. Goliath lines consist of two questions and a straight forward challenge. Question 1 in verse 8, "Why have you come out to line up for battle?" Why do you folks even bother to show up? After all, no one is about to do anything. All you do is lineup. Why do you come out here and line up for battle? Question 2, "Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul?"
The challenge, why don't you chose a man and have him come down to me. And if I fight him and kill him then you will be our servant. And if the reverse takes place then we will be the servants of Israel.
In verse 10 Goliath defies the ranks of Israel, Give me a man and let us fight each other. You will notice in verse 16 that this wasn't the first time Goliath put this challenge out there. This was a challenge that sustained for almost 6 weeks. For 40 Days the Philistine came forward and he did so every morning and every evening. The people awakened in the morning and they heard him shouting 'I defy the army of the Israel; if you have someone brave enough to fight let him come out.' Eventually the day came to a close and out he came, the evening shadows began to fall and he said 'I defy the army of Israel. If you have someone that is willing to fight let him stand forward.'
And instead of producing a long line of volunteers, we are told that the king and his army responded with dismay and terror. Verse 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
Is there to be no answer to Goliath's challenge? Yes of course there is. God is answering as he does so often in an unexpected way. At the end of act one as the curtain closes we leave the army of Israel as a pathetic company, unable to provide a champion and at the same time unwilling to surrender and become the servants of the Philistines.
Now the curtain opens with act 2 beginning in verse 17. Subtitled - Meanwhile back a Jesse's ranch.
In verse 12 and following to verse 15 we have some family background. In chapter 16 we have something of this. We are told that the three oldest boys had followed Saul to the war and yet David because of his youthfulness was not one to go. He was a shepherd boy - he was an errand boy.
Now pause for a moment of just how unlikely it is that this boy would be the answer to the challenge of Goliath. Back in Chapter 16 verse 7, we are reminded of a very important principle that God had made clear to Samuel and through Samuel in the anointing of David.
Samuel was about to make the mistake of, thinking that Eliab was standing forward and was the first born and therefore the most likely. Samuel was about to make the mistake the Lord's anointed was standing before him. So it would seem most obvious that Eliab would fulfill the role of the future King. Then the Lord intervened and said to Samuel "Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
That principle applies not only to the choosing of their favorite as a new king but also to the issue of the central character Goliath in his entire verbal ruckus. The armies of Israel failed to look at the circumstances the way that God looks at them. They look at the circumstances from a human level. They look at the circumstances from the ground level, leaving God out of the equation to become pessimistic.
Who on earth can go fight this man he is so big. He'll kill anybody that goes out there.
They are going to discover that when David walks on to the playing field, sees the same circumstances, he comes to separate conclusion. They said, he is so big he'll kill us. David said, he is so big I can't miss.
And the distinguishing feature as we are about to discover is theological, meaning pertaining to God. It is about perspective. It is about learning to view things from the perspective of Godly insight. Rather than doing as the armies of Israel do; viewing the issues from a purely horizontal frame.
In the first scene of Act 2 -- David is given his to-do list from his father. I imagine that took place in the evening. He said I want you in the morning to go to your brothers and take grain, bread, and cheeses and hurry up to their camp. Verse 18 I want you to see how they are doing. And bring back so assurance of their welfare.
And to give his son some kind of context in which he is going, in verse 19 - They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting the Philistines.
Well of course Jesse is correct on two out of three. They are with Saul, They are in the Valley of Elah, but they are not fighting with the Philistines. They are standing against the Philistines but there is no fighting taking place.
Scene 2 of act 2 begins in verse 20. The scenery changes, we move from the darkness of evening when the instructions were given to the light of a new morning. David has left his flock with an assistant. Loaded up just as his dad instructed and he has reached the camp just at the most select moment.
It is the equivalent of arriving in Blacksburg for a Virginia Tech football game just as the teams are about to take the field. And all you want to do is run up and get to your seat as fast as you can. You don't want to miss a moment of it. That is if you are a Hokie fan.
Yet what he was to discover is the scent of expectation that he had was not then met by an ensuing battle, but was met by the sounds of silence, at least initially. He takes care of his father's business; he leaves the cheese and stuff with the quartermaster.
He hurries to his brothers and as he begins to say hello in verse 23. Their initial conversation is interrupted by something that would not have taken the brothers by surprise or any of the army by surprise. I was really quite ho hum by this time. But it really stopped David in his tracks.
And out on the battlefield routinely out steps the Philistine Goliath from Gath. And he shouts his usual defiance and David hears it. Now the shock of seeing Goliath was overshadowed by a greater shock that reverberated through David's system when he saw the reaction of the army to him.
Verse 24 "And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were dreadfully afraid." So here he is running up to his brothers, Stop drop off the food. It is clear that the whole thing is about to start. Into the field of view he goes, on to the sight of the armies of Israel. Out on the other side of the valley comes this man who shouts his defiance.
You can imagine David looking around at his brothers and everyone else, to the King and to Jonathan -- waiting to see who it is that is going to step forward and take this challenge. And instead of everybody taking a step forward they are all taking a step back. And there is, instead of excitement and endeavor and vision and bravery, there is a paralyzing sense if dismay and fear. This fear shrouds the army of Israel.
Now they had their routine down, they were in position. They were in their expected positions, but there is no indication that God was featured in their thinking. No indication that God featured in their thinking at all. In fact if you read this passage you will notice that God is absent in terms of the response of the armies of Israel right up and through this section.
Let me point out what might not be initially apparent to us. To the extent that Ephesians 6 tells us that we are engaged in a great and irreconcilable war against the enemy, a spiritual battle. Not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places. And in as much as being redeemed we are not only included in the family of God made part of His bride that is being prepared for the bridegroom. But we are also set in the ranks of the army.
Do you see how possible it is that Sunday by Sunday to be in position? Sunday by Sunday continue the well established routine. And to do so without hardly any thought of how the living God makes a difference to everything about us everything we face everything that we are called to do. And if that seems hard or cruel or unlike you then let me speak only of myself. For as much as I want to identify with this story and find myself as David, in David, with David. The fact is that I far too easily see myself in the ranks of the Israelite army. Standing there paralyzed, done, struck by fear. Standing there missing out on the fact that the living God lives within me and should make a difference to all of my days and all of my deeds.
If someone could look into my mind and see my response to the events of recent months, if someone was to overhear the mummers of my own heart, they may be able to conclude that this guy does not know the Living God at all. Because if he did then surely he would be different than what he is.
And the Armies took their position. And the armies marched out in their routine. And the armies stood in defiance against the foe. Then the foe rattled his saber, the armies recoiled with fear and with dismay.
In Jehoshaphat's case it was Lord we do not know what to do but our eyes are upon you. In the army of Israel case in the Valley of Elah, it was Lord we do not know what to do and our eyes are not upon you. We are not even thinking about you. As a result God deliberately left this army.
Scene 3 the closing scene for today, in which David speaks for the first time. Check me out in your bible, as far I can tell this is the very first time David speaks in the Bible. He asks two questions. He receives an answer to the first question, which is less important than the second question. You will see them there in verse 26.
"What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel?" in other words, is there a reward? What happens if you kill him? If I take the risk, what is the deal?
He may be asking this just because he is a normal man. Or he may be asking this to try to figure out why no one has yet to meet this challenge. Is there no motivation here? What happens if you go out and fight this man?
And the answer that he gets is what we have already discovered in verse 25. Look at verse 25 in your bible, this whole verse is a summary of the conversations that have been taking place on the battle field. So when David asks the question, is there a reward, they simply reiterate it.
A soldier standing next to his friend, 'here we go again. Here he comes right on time, Goliath, same as yesterday. Here he comes to defy the army of the Living God.' 'Yes' says his friend, 'why don't you go and fight him?' 'Fight him? Are you crazy?' 'I'll tell you what if you fight him you will get a princess, you get a big check and you get tax free for your whole family forever.' The reply is 'If it sounds so good to you why don't you go fight him?' The friend says 'I'm not fighting him, you fight him.' And down the line it goes as they all recoil in fear and dismay.
And as understandable as the first question is, it is the second question that makes all the difference. "For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?"
You see David asks the question that the people fail to ask. Back in verse 8, Goliath's second question. Question one, "Why have you come out to line up for battle?" Question two, "Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul?" It was that point that someone should have stood up and said, Yes, we are the servants of Saul, But we are actually not the servants of Saul, We are the servants of the living God. Nobody recognized it, nobody faced it, and nobody said it.
And God sends David, a shepherd boy, on the field of battle. To say wait a minute, who does this loud mouth think he is? The people saw him as unbeatable, David saw him as uncircumcised, not knowing the Living God. Do you see the difference in perspective?
We serve a covenant keeping God. This man is not part of the covenant. We are identified as those under God's covenant care. Who does this fellow think he is that he can stand here and defy the army of the Living God? It's all perspective. They all saw the same thing. They saw it week after week after week. David gets one look at it and immediately puts his finger on it. It is a theological issue, meaning an issue pertaining to God, it always is.
It's not about how well the army is doing; it is not about how well Saul was doing as a leader, it is not about how many soldiers there are. It is not about these things, it is about God and His glory. And everything God is doing is about getting glory to His name.
And to those of us who are self reliant circumvent God's glory. He then shows us just how inadequate we are so that we will not rely on ourselves. He does so that we will then be understanding that all the Glory will be due to God. And whatever it takes to get us there, he will get us there, individually.
Let's do two things. Let's be humble enough to admit that we are able to identify with the failure of the army. We face our doubts and our dangers and challenges; we often react in a way that doesn't suggest that we serve a living God.
And let us learn from David to ask the right question, not what does this mean to me but what does this mean to God and his name and his glory. The important thing was not that the army of Israel be well regarded; the important thing was that God's name was not dragged in the dust of the Valley of Elah.
I'm looking at the clock. The defiant giant Goliath is not even finished off and we are just about out of time for now. But I have told enough of the story to conclude or make a point.
Turn quickly to Jeremiah 31: 31-34. Circumcision represented the covenant between God and the Israel nation. It meant I belong to the Living God. Jesus brought us a new covenant. This covenant is the conditional promises made to humanity by God, as revealed in Scripture. This new covenant is represented by baptism. Follow with me:
Jeremiah 31: 31-34
31 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah - 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
Do you know the Lord? Do you know the Lord in a new covenant way? Come and be baptized in Jesus' name who died for us so that and He will forgive your sins and they will be remembered no more.
Contributors: Alistair Begg; Indiucky