Talk

David and Goliath

Ben Stuart

October 10, 2021

The people of God are being taunted and mocked by one of their greatest enemies.

As their leader leads the people to cower in fear, God raises a hero to do the unimaginable. We water down the heart and theme of the story when we make it solely about the insignificant overtaking the insurmountable. This week Ben Stuart gives a unique Biblical perspective to the David and Goliath story and brings context on how to apply it to our daily lives.

Key Takeaway

When the world pulls you into succumbing to your biggest fears, fix your eyes on Jesus, the King. The battle that lies before you is the Lord's, He will fight for you, and He will get glory.

The Philistines are a sensual and warlike people who invaded Israel's land. When they send out Goliath, their champion, meaning "man between". We see scripture compare and contrast two of the main characters.

Goliath is massive and technically superior. Many details are given on his armor and appearance to draw you into the fear of the Israelite experience. Meanwhile, David is noted to be small, young, and not prepared for battle. He's doing menial work and is unassuming. This is included to remind us that this is a test for God's people.

Are they going to put all their faith in what they can see or will they trust that God is working on their behalf behind the scenes?

1) David's first words recorded are him proclaiming "This isn't right!".

He could not believe that the people of God were tolerating their enemy to speak of their God, the Almighty, in such a blasphemous way. When he spoke out, his brothers mocked him and began to question his motives.

Because of the solitude that David had spent with God, his heart was undivided and unable to be distracted from the task at hand. So when he was accused, he simply turned away and kept on mission. He didn't allow the words of others to take his focus off the words of his God.

2) David can stand up to Goliath on the day of battle because he stands up to lions and bears in the field.

He was victorious in the wilderness so he could be victorious in the city.

3) David's heart was one of a true shepherd.

He wasn't one to just take the loss if one of his sheep was taken. He would leave the 99 to chase down the 1 and would destroy the one that tried to take his sheep.

4) David has confidence in the present because of God's faithfulness in the past.

He believed that the God who delivered him then would deliver him now because there is no obstacle too big for Him.

In Genesis 12:3, God promises to curse whoever curses His people. So when Goliath blasphemes God, this is a big deal theologically. Essentially, Goliath is bringing God's wrath upon himself by defying God's people.

The hero will not look like you expect him to look.

David gives a speech. The speech is longer than the fight and that is the whole point. David's speech declares that the Lord will fight because it's the Lord's battle and He will get glory.

David rushes toward the battle line as Goliath approaches him for hand-to-hand combat. Because of David's small size and ability to maneuver free from heavy armor, Goliath doesn't even see the rock slung toward him.

David's supposed weakness: his size, youth, and lack of military experience ended up being his greatest strength. Again, would God's people trust only their eyes or that God is always working? David did exactly what he said he would do and used Goliath's sword to cut off his head. The very implement meant to destroy the representative of God's people is slipped and used against their adversary.

So how do we apply this to our daily lives?

Usually, this story explains that Goliath represents our problems and we are David...now, go attack our problems!

It's portrayed as a pump-up speech. But our most besetting sins mount up against us and cause us to shrink back in fear. We are Israel, powerless and helpless. God did not send them a pump-up speech and ask them to believe in themselves, and He doesn't do that to us either.

God sent a substitute, a champion "man between", that says, "I will step in for you. I will fight for you. I will do what you can't. My victory will count for you." For the Israelites on that day, it was David foreshadowing what Jesus would do for us.

Our big fear is not Goliath, it's little Philistines. They are still scary and superior, but they are smaller versions of our greatest fear: death. Whether it's death through rejection, reputation, or anything else that we hold dear, we know death takes all and gives nothing back. We need a hero.

God sent another boy from Bethlehem, an obscure town, but there was greatness in Him if we look closely enough. He didn't look like we expected Him to look, He was lowly, He was mocked, He looked weak because He didn't wear armor. But He won (Hebrews 2:14-15). He took death and turned it against itself and His victory counts for us (Hebrews 12:1-3).

We need to fix our eyes on our King. He has overcome and we have a future.

“

"The greatest fighters are those who know they've been fought for."

”

Ben Stuart

Discussion Questions

In what ways did Ben Stuart's explanation of David and Goliath differ from other ways you have heard it explained?
God was testing His people to push them to decide whether they were going to trust their eyes or Him. How is God doing the same thing in your life today?
When facing Goliath, Saul was cowering in fear. What did Goliath represent? Can you resonate with that fear? Is God empowering you to respond differently?
What is God doing in your life right now that seems menial and insignificant, but is actually preparing you to be used by Him in the future?
David did not look like what you expect a hero to look like. Jesus did not look like a hero either, yet both were conquering kings. Who in your life has been unexpected, but became a sort of hero to you?
What were the three main points of David's speech in 1 Samuel 17:45-47?
When in battle, do you try to fight by your own power and might, or do you trust that God will fight for you? What scriptures do you meditate on to keep yourself focused?
Since David was a foreshadowing of Jesus, can you compare and contrast their origin, upbringing, jobs, character, etc?
What needs to be put to death in your life? How has this message reminded you that a pump-up speech is not enough and it will only be through the power of Jesus that you'll have victory?
Jesus, through His death, took the enemy's weapon and turned it on itself. What examples do you have of a weapon being used against you being turned on itself?

Scripture References

David and Goliath

1Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Sokoh and Azekah. 2Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. 3The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.

4A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span.5He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; 6on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. 7His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.

8Goliath 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. 9If 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.” 10Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” 11On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.

12Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul’s time he was very old. 13Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war: The firstborn was Eliab; the second, Abinadab; and the third, Shammah. 14David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul, 15but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.

16For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.

17Now 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. 18Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance from them. 19They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”

20Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of 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. 21Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. 22David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. 23As 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. 24Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.

25Now 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 family from taxes in Israel.”

26David 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?”

27They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”

28When 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 wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”

29“Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?” 30He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. 31What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.

32David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”

33Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

34But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35I 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. 36Your 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. 37The

Lord

who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Saul said to David, “Go, and the

Lord

be with you.”

38Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39David 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. 40Then 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.

41Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. 42He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. 43He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44“Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”

45David 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. 46This day the

Lord

will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47All 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.”

48As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49Reaching 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.

50So 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.

51David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. 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. 52Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. 53When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp.

54David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem; he put the Philistine’s weapons in his own tent.

55As Saul watched David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is that young man?”

Abner replied, “As surely as you live, Your Majesty, I don’t know.”

56The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is.”

57As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine’s head.

58“Whose son are you, young man?” Saul asked him.

David said, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.”

1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,

2fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

13Then the

Lord

said to Moses:

14“Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him.

15Say to the Israelites: ‘Anyone who curses their God will be held responsible;

16anyone who blasphemes the name of the

Lord

is to be put to death. The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death.

6Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

7rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

8And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

14Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—

15and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

Ben Stuart

Ben Stuart is the pastor of Passion City Church D.C. Prior to joining Passion City Church, Ben served as the executive director of Breakaway Ministries on the campus of Texas A&M. He also earned a master’s degree in historical theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Donna, live to inspire and equip people to walk with God for a lifetime.