I Samuel 17 Another Look at David and Goliath

The story of David and Goliath is one of the most well-known stories in the Bible.  So well-known that nobody wants to teach on it any more.  They figure everybody knows the story so well, they’ll just tune out when you try to teach it.  And besides, there’s nothing more to be said about it.  So we leave it for our youngest children in their children’s Bibles, because there is action and a good story.

But I don’t think most of us know the whole story.  We know the plot of the story, but I think we miss some of the important connections.  I want to focus on 3 parts of the story that I think most people miss.

1)         David’s past

Many of you know this part, but I wonder if you’ve put all the pieces together.

The prophet Samuel came to Bethlehem to anoint the new king of Israel.  He knew it would be one of Jesse’s sons, but he didn’t know which one. 

When he saw Jesse’s oldest son, he thought that this had to be the one.  And God spoke to his heart and told him, no, it’s not.  I don’t look at a person’s outward appearance.  I look at their heart. 

So he went through 7 of Jesse’s sons there, and God didn’t pick any of them.

So Samuel asks if there is another one.  Ah, yes, the youngest.  David.  He’s out tending the sheep.

David’s tending the sheep, because he’s the youngest.  Apparently the other brothers weren’t needed there.  They had more important things to do.  Like having lunch with the nation’s prophet.   The youngest of them could handle the sheep. 

Later, David is visiting the Israeli army camp when Goliath is challenging Israel to send their best warrior out to face him one-on-one.

When nobody was willing to challenge him, David said he would do it.  Why was David so confident?  When he was tending the sheep, he had killed a bear and a lion to protect his sheep.  He figured God would protect him here too.

David didn’t learn what he needed to learn in soldier school.  He learned what he needed to learn to kill Goliath while doing the things that nobody else wanted to do, unimportant things around the house.  Or you could say, the family business. 

They didn’t think David was important enough to attend the luncheon.  They didn’t flip to see who would watch the sheep.  David was the youngest, so he got all the jobs nobody else wanted.  And God took those experiences and made David a fit vessel for His service.  God was watching and knew David’s heart.  David was called to the meal and anointed king over Israel.

God prepared David for His service in ways nobody would have expected.  Moses spent 40 years tending sheep before God called him.

2) 2^nd part        The army’s presence

So the Philistine and Israeli army are standing on opposite hills while Goliath is challenging them to send out their champion.

This went on for 40 days, until David arrived to bring food for his brothers and their commander.  David hears the challenge, and their king lets David approach the Philistine adversary.

So where is God in all this?

If David had been there the first day, this would have ended a month and a half earlier.  Why didn’t God do something earlier?  Why didn’t God intervene? 

In rare cases, God will act unilaterally, like when He destroyed the Assyrian army overnight while they were sleeping during the time of Hezekiah. 

But generally God uses people.  He doesn’t make them do anything.  David believed that God would deliver the people through him.  He had seen what God had done in his life previously by protecting him from the bear and the lion when he was watching the sheep.  Israel was God’s sheep, and this Philistines was just like that bear and lion seeking to destroy God’s flock. 

But for 40 days, nobody was able or willing to face Goliath, and nothing happened in that time.  God was perfectly fine with waiting until David came along.

I wonder how many of us are waiting for God to change things, and He’s waiting for somebody to rise up and face the challenge. 

Was it God’s will for the Philistines to continually harass and oppress the Israelites, or was it God’s will to overcome them? 

It was God’s will for them to overcome them, but He was perfectly willing for them to go through all this until such time as someone would rise up and face it in God’s Name.

3) 3^rd part         The future’s prospects

In II Samuel 21, it tells of 4 other giant-sized Philistine warriors who were killed by David’s soldiers, including one of David’s brothers.

Once people saw what could be done, others thought they could do that too.

They, and people today, need to see and hear of other people doing things for God or with God, or overcoming tough circumstances for them to believe that they can do the same things or that things will work out for them too. 

Once people saw David kill Goliath, other soldiers thought, hey, I can do that too.  God will help me just like He helped David.  This is all for the same cause.

If David and these other Israelites had not believed that God wanted them to get victory over their enemies, they wouldn’t have.  Too many Christians, I believe, don’t know what God wants, so when Goliaths appear in their lives, they don’t know how to respond.  They may pray for God to deliver them, for God to remove this giant, and God is waiting for somebody to face the giant, believing that this giant will fall before them.

And while I was reading all this over, I felt like I’m talking to myself here.  Like there are things I must do.  Maybe you will see Goliaths in your life as well.