Meet the players: David and Goliath
One of the Bible’s most famous stories is the epic tale of David and Goliath. Many of us probably first heard it from a children’s storybook or in Sunday School. In fact, when you think of famous Old Testament stories, you likely think of Adam and Eve, Noah and the Ark, Moses and Egypt, and of course, David and Goliath. In the Bible, however, the account of what happened with David and Goliath takes us to a particularly tough time in Israel’s history. Prior to the famous showdown between the shepherd boy and a giant, as we’ve been reading about over the last few weeks, the leadership of the nation was in serious trouble. Saul had been appointed as the nation’s first king at the people’s demand. They believed that a king would bring stability and security in these dangerous times and make them “like all the other nations.” However, Saul had been disobedient to God’s commands and so he had been rejected by God, although he was still functioning as the people’s king. I said before that he was the king Israel wanted, but not the king they needed. So a new king had been chosen by God, a king chosen by God for God. Secretly, he had been anointed at Bethlehem by the prophet Samuel, and “the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.”
This leads us to 1 Samuel 17, which we’ll cover at length this Sunday as we close out our Summer Scripture Series. Keep in mind that we’ll offer a Legacy Group this coming semester that will continue the study of 1 Samuel and possibly even get into 2 Samuel. If that’s something that interests you, we’d love to invite you to sign up at legacycity.church/groups. What I want to do over the next few paragraphs, however, is to simply build the foundation of the chapter so that we can dive right into the heart of the passage Sunday morning.
The chapter kicks off with a sense of danger as it says: 1 Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle. (v. 1a) We know that this threat has been hanging over the entire narrative of 1 Samuel so far and will continue to be present for the rest of the book. In fact, (spoiler alert) Saul dies in conflict with the Philistines later in 1 Samuel 31. So the chapter starting this way almost feels like nothing new, just another Tuesday in Israel, right? The Philistines are gathered and ready for war. Sidebar: It’s worth noting that one reason (perhaps it was the reason really) that the people asked for a king in the first place was that their king might “go out before us and fight our battles” (1 Samuel 8:20). The people felt the need for a king because of the threat from their enemies. Saul is king and should be fighting this battle, but since we all know that story already, it will of course be David (the anointed future king) that fights and not Saul (the current lame duck rejected king).
The location of the Philistine armies is then given with some precision: 1 …And they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. (v. 1b) The Philistines were now further west than they had been in Chapter 14 and were clearly encroaching even further into Israel’s territory. Yet another nod to Saul’s failure as king.
And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered, and encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines” (v. 2). It’s interesting to me that although the Israelite forces gathered to meet the Philistines on the battleground, we’re not told of any active leadership given by Saul. Not to make this a Saul-bashing post, but the evidence of his shortcomings is everywhere in the text. The grammar of these first two verses conveys a curious difference between the two sides. The Philistines “gathered” (v. 1, active voice); while Saul and the men of Israel “were gathered” (v. 2, passive voice). There’s no sign of active leadership among the Israelites; it would appear that Saul is just among those who “were gathered.”
To finish setting up the location and scenery of the story to come, the narrator tells us “And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them” (v. 3). The Valley of Elah was a proper valley, with great views and vantage points on both sides. It would seem both armies have equal footing, with no advantages as far as geography is concerned.
That being said, here comes the advantage for the Philistines… (read in your best Bruce Buffer voice) “In the red corner, weighing in at 580lbs, standing 9 feet and 9 inches tall, fighting out of Gath, presenting the Ogre from the East, the Towering Menace, the Philistine Giant, the reigning, the defending Super Duper Heavyweight Champion of the Middle East: Goliath!” (*Cue the Philistine armies shouting and screaming and clapping for their champion…) This is what we see over the next few verses.
4 And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5 He had a helmet of bronze 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 javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. 7 The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And his shield-bearer went before him. 1 Samuel 17:4-7
This is a big man by all accounts. He would make NBA players look scrawny. How did he get so big? Some suggest that he’s connected to the account back in Numbers 13, when Moses sent 12 spies into Canaan and 10 of them came back and said that there were giants living there, so big in fact, that they felt like grasshoppers compared to them. It’s thought that these “giants” were possibly Nephilim, which is a whole other can of worms, but the short version is that some believe the Nephilim were the offspring of angels and humans, resulting in giants. It’s possible Goliath was a descendant of the Nephilim. Modern science also suggests that he had a pituitary disorder, causing some form of gigantism, making him unusually large. Either way, the bible says he’s one big fella. Then he speaks to the Israelites and issues a proposal.
8 He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not 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.” 1 Samuel 17:8-9
Essentially, “let’s not have a huge drawn-out battle that decimates both of our armies. Instead, 1 v 1 me. Send out your best, strongest, most courageous fighter to face all 9 and a half feet of me. Winner takes all.” And by takes all, he means a lifetime of servitude and subjugation. He says this and then there’s what we can only imagine is a pause that lasted moments but felt like an eternity. You could hear a pin drop in the valley. No one moved an inch so as to not accidentally volunteer themselves.
10 And the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Defy is too weak of a word for the English translation of this Hebrew word here. It’s closer to “I scorn the ranks” or better yet, “I mock the ranks of Israel.” He mocks Israel and he mocks Israel’s God. 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. Give me a man. Choose your champion. Let’s go back a little, shall we? At the very beginning of the story of kingship, Samuel spoke to the people of “your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves ” (1 Samuel 8:18, 1 Samuel 12:13). The Israelites, in fact, had already “chosen a man for themselves.” His name was Saul!
It’s obvious that Goliath, like so many characters in this narrative, was not fully aware of the significance of his words, but as we hear them the irony sets in and we remember that Saul was the closest thing that Israel had to a Goliath. Remember what he looked like when the people chose him: “. . . when he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward” (1 Samuel 9:2; 1 Samuel 10:23). And the prophet Samuel had said of him, “There is none like him among all the people” (1 Samuel 10:24).
As we have walked through 16+ chapters of this narrative, it makes sense to us (as the readers) that there’s really only one candidate in Israel who had anything close to resembling the necessary credentials to face the Philistine. And he was the one the people had (some time earlier) “chosen for themselves:” King Saul. But when he’s called out by Goliath, it says he and the people were dismayed and greatly afraid.
Verse 12 is a hard pivot. It takes us away from the battle in the Valley of Elah to another scene some 15 miles away in Bethlehem. Here, we’re going to meet the rest of the cast, the other main characters. But these are people we’ve already met in the last chapter, why do they get introduced again as if it’s the first time? There are several oddities like that in these two chapters, so much so that detractors of the Word of God try to use these as fodder for their “Bible is full of contradictions” debate. Goliath seems to be killed by two different people, the Bible introduces the family of Jesse twice in full, Saul knows Jesse and David in chapter 16, but then seems to not know them at all in chapter 17, David is described differently in both accounts. We won’t dig into these “discrepancies” here or on Sunday, but if you join the 1 Samuel Legacy Group, that will be on the agenda Day 1 🙂.
12 Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. In the days of Saul the man was already old and advanced in years. 13 The three oldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle. And the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 14 David was the youngest. The three eldest followed Saul, 15 but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. 1 Samuel 17:12-14
This is the same intro we got last chapter; David is still tending the farm but is splitting time between home and the front. 16 For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening. Forty is always a significant number in scripture, so no surprise it shows up here in this pivotal moment in Hebrew history.
17 And Jesse said to David his son, “Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers. 18 Also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See if your brothers are well, and bring some token from them.” 19 Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. 20 And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took the provisions and went, as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the encampment as the host was going out to the battle line, shouting the war cry. 1 Samuel 17:17-20
This takes up to where we’ll begin on Sunday. Jesse sends his son to run a simple errand which leads to one of the most memorable moments in the Old Testament and honestly history itself. The story of David and Goliath transcends scripture and Christianity and is known the world over as if it were a piece of pop culture trivia. It’s used as an inspirational tale to encourage people to stand up to bullies or the proverbial “giants” in their lives; it’s seen as an underdog story, one where the smaller, weaker, less talented, person or team is pitted against a much bigger, better rival…but you’re saying there’s a chance! Both of those are sweet sentiments, but not what God intended when these events unfolded and the story was subsequently added to Scripture. We’ll get into the exposition Sunday morning 10am at the movie theater. Hope to see you there!
SELAH.
*Cover Art: David and Goliath by John August Swanson, hand-printed serigraph, 2005
