Introduction:
A. An archaeologist was digging in the Negev Desert in Israel and came upon a casket containing a mummy.
1. After examining it, he called the curator of a prestigious natural-history museum and said, “I’ve just discovered a 3,000 year-old mummy of a man who died of heart failure!”
2. The curator replied, “Bring him in. We’ll check it out.”
3. A week later, the amazed curator called the archaeologist. “You were right about the mummy’s age and cause of death. How in the world did you know that he died of a heart attack?”
4. The archaeologist said, “Easy. There was a piece of paper in his hand that said, ’10,000 Shekels on Goliath.’”
B. The story of David and Goliath is perhaps the favorite of all the Bible stories for many people.
1. Certainly it is one of the best known, and most inspirational.
2. Everyone loves a story where the underdog wins against all odds.
3. The 1986 film Hoosiers includes a final scene where a small-town high school basketball team takes on a big-city team for the Indiana state championship.
a. In the final moments before the small-town team from "Hickory" takes the court, the passage describing how, “David took a stone from the bag and slung it....knocking the Philistine to the ground” is read to inspire the team.
4. Anytime someone is trying to relate a mismatch, whether it be between boys on the school yard, countries in conflict, or teams playing in the Super Bowl, they often reach for this story and compare the situation to David and Goliath.
I. The Story
A. As we review the story of David and Goliath, let’s begin by looking at the setting and introducing the characters.
1. The Bible says, “Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Socoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah. Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.” (1 Sam. 17:1-3)
2. The Valley of Elah was not a narrow ravine, but more like a vast canyon.
3. It was about a mile wide with a small streambed ambling in the middle of the canyon, where David found his five smooth stones.
4. On one slope half-a-mile from the center of the valley was the army of Israel, and on the other slope a mile away was the army of the Philistines.
5. Now let me introduce the major characters in our drama.
B. In the first corner we have Goliath.
1. The Bible says, “A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.” (1 Sam. 17:4-7)
2. Goliath’s size and appearance were so impressive that the writer described him in great detail.
3. Goliath was huge! Over 9 and a half feet tall! The NBA would love him.
4. His sheer size wasn’t the only thing that was impressive about him, he also had an incredible suit of armor.
a. He was wearing what we would call a coat of mail. The Philistines garbed themselves for battle with a heavy canvas-like undergarment interlaced with overlapping ringlets of bronze.
b. This coat of mail went from shoulder to knee, and weighed about 200 pounds.
c. Goliath also wore a bronze helmet, and bronze leggings to protect his shins.
d. He carried a spear with an iron head weighing 20-25 pounds.
e. Goliath’s armor-bearer also carried the largest shield used in battle that was the size of a full-grown man.
5. Pause for just a moment and allow your mind to picture such an imposing sight.
a. Just imagine how frightening it would be to take on a giant of this size protected by this amount of armor.
b. This giant in all his magnificence seemed absolutely beyond defeat.
6. Now notice what this gigantic warrior did.
a. The Bible says, “Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, ‘Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.’ Then the Philistine said, ‘This day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.’ On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.” (1 Sam. 17:8-11)
b. What Goliath was proposing was a tactic commonly used in the Eastern world that is referred to as “representative battle” – it is a one-on-one fight.
c. He would represent the Philistine army, and whoever Israel chose would represent the Israelite army.
d. Whoever won, his army won. And whoever lost, his whole army lost.
7. Realize that Goliath didn’t issue this challenge only one time and then leave. No, his challenge went on 40 days. (1 Sam. 17:16)
a. Every morning and every evening for well over a month, he marched out there, flaunting his size and his strength, daring someone to take him on.
8. Sadly, for 40 days, no one from Israel was willing to do so.
a. Ironically, Saul, Israel’s king probably should have been the challenger. He was by far the biggest man in the kingdom, and the most skilled and experienced in battle – but the Lord had left him, and so had his courage.
b. One wonders why Jonathan, Saul’s son, whose bravery had been conspicuous at Michmash in chapter 14, did not volunteer.
c. Or one wonders why Abner, the commander-in-chief of Saul’s army, didn’t volunteer, or find someone in his army who was equal to the task.
C. Meanwhile, in the other corner, about 10 or 15 miles away, up in the Judean mountains in the little hamlet of Bethlehem, a teenager named David was keeping his father’s sheep.
1. He was too young to be fighting in the army.
2. In fact, at this point, David probably had no idea of what was going on between the Israelites and the Philistines.
3. All he knew was that his three oldest brothers were off fighting in Saul’s army.
D. David’s father, however, was very concerned about his sons, so he decided to have David run a little errand for him.
1. The Bible says, “Now Jesse said to his son David, ‘Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance from them. They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.’” (1 Sam. 17:17-19)
2. So we see that David was not going there to fight – that was not his intention at all.
3. He was just sent by his father to bring his brothers some refreshments, to bring a gift for the commander, and to bring his father news about their wellbeing.
E. And so the stage is set – Goliath has been doing his twice daily thing, and now David is innocently on his way to the scene.
1. The sun rose that morning just like any other morning for both David and Goliath.
2. Neither had any idea that that day was going to change their lives forever.
3. That forty-first morning of Goliath’s challenge would be the last day of his life, and it would be the first day of David’s life as a national hero.
4. That’s the way life often is – it just happens – without warning.
F. The Bible says, “Early in the morning David left the flock with a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry. Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and greeted his brothers. As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. When the Israelites saw the man, they all ran from him in great fear.” (1 Sam. 17:20-24)
1. Try to imagine with me what might have been going through David’s mind as he came over the top of the last rise and saw the Valley of Elah spread out before him.
2. I wonder if he stood and stared with his mouth open as he sized up the scene.
3. What he saw must have been exciting and frightening all at the same time for this young man who had done little but keep the sheep on the lonely Judean hillsides.
4. As he got to the edge of the camp, he saw the troops heading out for battle, shouting their war cries, taking their positions.
5. Try to picture the moment – David is standing there talking to his three brothers, when all of a sudden he hears this loud cry from across the ravine.
6. And suddenly everyone around him rushed to the rear and climbed into their tents to hide.
7. Remember, David has never seen this giant from Gath nor has he heard his challenge.
8. Suddenly, he’s standing there all alone as everyone around him has run for cover.
9. He looks across the battlefield and sees this giant of a guy, encased in armor, shouting out threats and defiance and cursing the God of Israel.
G. How did David respond? David was livid!
1. He must have said to himself, “No one talks that way about the God of Israel and lives to tell about it.”
2. David was not impressed by this giant, nor was he intimidated.
3. Look at what he does. The Bible says, “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?’ They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, ‘This is what will be done for the man who kills him.’” (1 Sam. 17:26-27)
4. Saul had devised an incentive plan for killing the giant – to the man who killed Goliath, he promised a reward of great riches, his daughter’s hand in marriage, and a family tax exemption.
5. As we will see later, I’m not sure the daughter was much of a reward, but great riches and no taxes don’t sound too bad – two out of three aren’t bad.
6. Nevertheless, not even those rewards were enough to prompt someone to volunteer.
H. The next things that happens to David and is what we might call the “older brother syndrome.”
1. The Bible says, “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.’” (1 Sam. 17:28)
2. Now don’t forget who Eliab is – He’s the oldest son of Jesse who first walked into the house that day when Samuel the prophet thought, “Surely this is the next king!”
3. But that’s when God put His hand on Samuel’s shoulder and said, “No, no, that’s not the one.”
4. A few minutes later, Eliab stood there and watched as Samuel poured the horn of oil on the head of his youngest brother, David.
5. The older brother saw the younger brother be chosen to be king – that can be hard to take when you don’t have the right kind of heart.
6. So Eliab tore into David and sought to insult and embarrass him – he questioned his motives, he ridiculed his responsibilities with the sheep, and then accused him of wickedness and conceit.
7. Isn’t interesting how we can so easily and readily see our own guilt and faults in someone else’s life?
8. Who really had the conceited and wicked heart? Not David. Sounds a lot like Eliab to me.
I. I think at this point the average person would have rolled up his sleeves and punched his brother’s lights out.
1. Often Satan wants to distract us and get us fighting the wrong battles – know what I mean?.
2. Had David focused on the battle with his brother, he would have been distracted from Goliath.
3. So David all but ignored his brother. The Bible says, “’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. What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.” (1 Sam. 17:29-31)
4. Keep in mind that Saul is the guy who should be fighting Goliath, but doesn’t want to.
5. When David was brought to Saul, he boldly said, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” (1 Sam. 17:32)
6. Great, Saul has finally found someone who is willing to fight the giant, right? Wrong.
7. There’s one small problem, Saul looked David over and said, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth.” (1 Sam. 17:33)
8. We humans can only see the externals, and sometimes we are impressed by them, and sometimes we aren’t. We can’t see the heart, like God can.
9. King Saul took a look at David and didn’t think he had a chance against Goliath.
10. But David thought differently.
J. The Bible says that David said, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 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 Sam. 17:34-37)
1. So David described how God has proven himself faithful in the past, and had given him victory over the lion and the bear.
2. The only giant in David’s life was God. No matter how big the enemy might be, God is bigger. And no matter how powerful the enemy might be, God is all-powerful!
3. So often, when facing our own giants, we forget what we ought to remember, and we remember what we ought to forget – we remember our defeats and forget our victories.
4. Most of us can recite the failures of our lives in vivid detail, but we’re hard-pressed to name the victories and successes that God has accomplished in us and through us.
5. But not so with David. He says, “You know why I can fight Goliath? Because the same God who gave me power over a lion and a bear will give me power over Goliath.”
K. Saul was with it enough at that point to say, “Go, and the LORD be with you.” (1 Sam. 17:37b)
1. But then Saul made a foolish suggestion, “Hey, before you go into battle, why don’t you borrow my armor?”
2. Picture this, here’s Saul – a 52 long, and David – a 42 regular.
3. David tried everything on, but it didn’t fit right and he wasn’t use to it.
4. David said something like, “Saul, I can’t fight with this stuff. I can’t eve walk in it, and I sure haven’t tested it in battle.”
5. So David dropped Saul’s sword and slid out of his armor.
6. The Bible says, “Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.” (1 Sam. 17:40)
7. So here’s David, stripped down to his own simple garments, and armed only with his simple shepherd weapons – his sling, five smooth stones and his staff – he was going against a virtual armored tank.
L. The beautiful thing about this story is that it’s a perfect example of how God operates.
1. God’s strength is always magnified in the midst of our weakness.
2. God likes to work when the deck is stacked against Him, and when it is obvious that He is the one who did it.
3. We don’t have to be eloquent or strong or handsome.
4. We don’t have to be smart or even know what we are doing.
5. God honors our faith.
6. All He asks is that we trust Him, and that we stand before Him with faith and obedience, and He will win the battle.
M. Now keep in mind that Goliath is still a giant – he is still a powerful, imposing presence.
1. David had all the odds against him.
2. There wasn’t a guy in the Philistine camp – or perhaps the Israelite camp either - who would have bet on him.
3. But David didn’t need their backing – He had all he needed, because he had God.
N. Let’s let the Bible tell the rest of the story, “Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. He looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him. He said to David, ‘Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?’ And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ‘Come here,’ he said, ‘and I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!’
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.’
As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.
So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.
David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the scabbard. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.
When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran.” (1 Sam. 17:41-51)
II. The Application
A. Aren’t you amazed how David was able to stand against this massive creature unintimidated?
1. Intimidation is our major struggle when we face our giants.
2. When our giants intimidate us we get tongue-tied and our thoughts get confused.
3. We forget to pray or we forget how to pray.
4. And we forget whom we represent, and we stand there with our knees knocking.
B. How did David keep from being intimidated?
1. One thing that David did was that he didn’t keep his eyes on the giant.
2. His eyes were fixed on God.
3. The secret for David was this, he understood and believed this one thing – the battle is the Lord’s.
C. I don’t know what your intimidating giant is today.
1. It may relate to your job, your roommate, or your school.
2. Maybe it is a person, a lawsuit, unemployment, a disaster, or even your mate.
3. Perhaps it is some fear that is lurking around the corner, sucking your energy and draining your faith.
4. What God is saying to you and to me right now is, “All I ask of you is five smooth stones and a sling of faith. I’ll take it from there. You don’t have to wear somebody else’s armor. You just trust me. I’ll accomplish the victory and I’ll get the glory. But as for you…you trust Me.”
D. We don’t know what lies across the valley.
1. Maybe we can’t get a handle on what that giant is; but it is there, haunting us.
2. That uncertainty alone is a giant.
3. But take a moment and look at that worry in comparison to the Lord God Himself, and say, by faith, “The battle is Yours, Lord. It is Your battle. I will lean on You. I give You all my weapons, all my skills, and I stand trusting in You.”
E. It is God’s own love for us that causes Him to bring us to an end of our own strength.
1. He sees our need to trust Him, and His love is so great that He will not let us live another day without turning over everything to Him - our fears, our worries, even our confusion - so that nothing is more significant to us than our Father in Heaven.
2. David put his whole trust in God, but it is important to note that this did not mean that he would fail to use his own weapons and skill.
3. As one person said, “Put your trust in the Lord…and keep your powder dry.”
4. God is fully capable of doing His part, but He waits for us to step out in faith and do our part.
5. God can help us be giant slayers like David…will we step out in faith like he did?
Resources:
David – A Man of Passion and Destiny, by Charles R. Swindoll, Word Publishing, 1997.
David I, by W. Phillip Keller, Word Books, 1985.
The Making of a Man of God, by Alan Redpath, Fleming H. Revell Company, 1962.
I and II Samuel, David F. Payne, The Daily Study Bible Series, Westminster Press, 1982
