Transcript

An archaeologist was digging in the Negev Desert in Israel and came upon a sarcophagus containing a mummy. After examining it, he called the curator of a prestigious natural-history museum.

The excited archaeologist exclaimed, “I’ve just discovered the 3,000-year-old mummy of a man who died of heart failure!” The curator replied, “Bring him in. We’ll check it out.” 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?” he asked. The archaeologist replied, “Easy. There was a piece of paper in his hand that read, ‘10,000 shekels on Goliath.’”

The outcome of the fight between David and Goliath was certainly unexpected to all who were present that day. We’ll continue our walk through this well-known account and then see how it all points forward to the Seed of David, the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Samuel 17:28-29: “And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle. And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?”

After David arriving at the battlefield at the valley of Elah and hearing Goliath taunt the Israelite army, David began asking around among the soldiers about the prize for the man that accepted Goliath’s challenge and killed this Philistine. And he continued to express his amazement about this man defying the armies of the living God.

David’s eldest brother, Eliab, then overheard his kid brother’s inquiries and becomes angry. Before battling the Philistine, he first had to fight a battle against his brother and the opposition he received from him.

In the spiritual battle, when believers stand for their faith, or step out in faith for God, they often receive discouragement and are met with anger and deterrence. And often, as was the case here, it comes from members of your own family.

In Matthew 10:36, our Lord said, “a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” This was true in our Lord’s life, in David’s life, and Joseph’s, Moses’, and others.

And believers who are trying to serve the Lord are attacked in similar ways as Eliab with David, having our motives, ability, and character questioned.

Masking his own cowardice, Eliab rebuked David, and he attacked his motive, “Why camest thou down hither?” or “Why have you REALLY come and showed up here?”

Eliab next tried to humiliate his brother and he twisted the knife a bit. He asked “So who did you leave your FEW sheep with before coming?”

And then he attacked his character, “I know you’re full of pride, and because of the insolence of your heart you came just for the excitement, just to see the battle.”

Eliab, in essence, told David, “Get lost, we’re soldiers, and all you are is a shepherd boy. You just came to see the battle. Go to your little flock and leave the fighting to us men.”

But David would not back down. He refused to allow Eliab’s harsh words to discourage or hinder him. He knew who to fight and he knew who to leave alone. And this is what he pointed out to Eliab.

David replied, “What have I now done? Is there not a cause?” David was more concerned with God’s cause than with his own feelings. David kept God’s cause before everything, including his own personal feelings, safety or glory.

He was telling his brother that if there was any reason to be agitated, it shouldn’t be at him for asking questions, but it should be directed at the Philistine who was defying and bringing dishonor upon the name of the living God.

That was the cause that they all should have been unified against.

1 Samuel 17:31-39: “And when the words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed them before Saul: and he sent for him. And David said to Saul, Let no man’s heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.

“And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.

“And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:

“And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.

“Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.

“David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee.

“And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail.

“And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him.”

The questions David was asking about killing the Philistine came to Saul’s attention, so Saul sent for him.

Standing before King Saul, David told him, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him.” In other words, David was telling King Saul, “What giant? The only giant in my life is God.”

This is a man who saw Goliath from above. It would be like looking down at Shaquille O’Neal from the top of the Empire State Building.

At ground level, you look up at him and he looks pretty big. From the top floor of a skyscraper, you need binoculars to find him. It’s all about perspective.

And David’s perspective and view of this situation was filled with God and therefore everything else was brought down to proper size. He saw Goliath, but he also saw God. And that made all the difference.

It’s been said well that “King Saul thought Goliath was too big to fight, David thought he was too big to miss.”

The opposite of the fear of the Lord is the fear of man. King Saul and all the army of Israel feared Goliath the man, but David by virtue of his fear of the Lord did not.

So David told Saul he was volunteering to go and fight the Philistine, but David’s bold faith was met with unbelief. Saul had waited 40 days to hear someone say those words. But to hear them now, from the mouth of someone so young, almost seemed like a cruel joke.

And so, like Eliab, Saul discouraged David. Saul thought David was disqualified because of his age, size, and inexperience. Saul scoffed and told him, “You are not able. You are a youth. You don’t have the experience. Goliath is a man of war from his youth,” or “He’s been a soldier longer than you have been alive! How can you ever hope to defeat him?”

But Saul and David were not operating on the same wave length. By all outward appearances from a human perspective, Saul was right. But David wasn’t thinking of going in his own strength, but God’s. He wasn’t trusting himself, he was trusting God.

And it’s also been said that “Every giant in your path is also in God’s path if you are going in God’s direction.” And David was going in God’s direction.

Saul failed to consider faith in the Lord, and the Lord’s presence in David’s life. And David knew that omnipotence can’t lose. He saw Goliath as merely a mortal man defying an all-powerful God. And as Paul told the Body of Christ in Romans 8:31: “If God be for us, who can be against us?”

In response to Saul’s discouragement, David rehearsed to Saul, how God had proved Himself faithful when he had slain two formidable beasts, a bear and a lion, and David knew God would prove Himself faithful again.

These ferocious animals were feared by grown and experienced men, but David had fearlessly faced them down and killed them both.

These past deliverances gave David the faith to trust God for deliverance “out of the hand of this Philistine,” who would be slain just like these wild animals were.

Like the bear and the lion attacked his father’s flock, David saw Goliath only as a wild animal attacking God’s flock. And just as David had rescued his father’s sheep with the Lord’s help, so he saw no difficulty in rescuing Israel, God the Father’s sheep, with the Lord’s help and as he trusted Him.

Since Goliath had “defied the armies of the living God,” in David’s mind, he did not stand a chance and he knew that God “WILL deliver me” (v. 37). Thus, for David, as he spoke to Saul, it was just: “Let me at him!”

William Carey once said, “Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God. By faith, David did and accomplished something incredible for God. And God can do incredible things through us too as we step out in faith for Him.

Seeing his faith, courage, and determination Saul gave David permission and told him, “the Lord be with thee.”

Saul then tried to fit David with his armor for the fight. He figured that if this young man was going to beat Goliath, he needed the best armor in all Israel, the armor of the king.

Saul tried to fit David with the same pieces of armor that Goliath was wearing: a helmet of brass, a coat of mail and a sword upon the armor.

But Saul was a grown man and a large one at that. And David was only a teenager. You could say that Saul was a 52 long, and David a 30 regular! It was all too big, cumbersome, heavy, and unfamiliar.

It conjures up a humorous picture when we try to imagine what that armor looked like on David. David told Saul that he couldn’t fight with this stuff on, “I cannot go with these.”

Saul’s armor did not physically fit David. Everything was too big, and David could not move well with Saul’s armor. It also didn’t work because Saul’s armor did not spiritually fit David. Armor, military technology, or human wisdom would not win this battle. The LORD God of Israel would win this battle.

And so David took all this armor off. He was stripped down to nothing but faith and that’s right where God wants each of us.

David was most comfortable with his simple slingshot, a weapon he was skilled at using. And in the spiritual battle, God uses the unique skills and talents he’s already placed in our hands.

We don’t need to be someone we’re not. We can be ourselves and God will use us. We can use the familiar gifts God has given us and He can be glorified through our service for Him as we work and live for Him by faith.

1 Samuel 17:40-47: And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.

“And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and the man that bare the shield went before him. And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.

“And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.

“Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.

“This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

“And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD’S, and he will give you into our hands.”

After putting Saul’s armor off of him, David “took his staff in his hand” and went to face him as a shepherd. He then went down the slope into the valley of Elah. At the “brook,” or the creek bed in the valley, David “chose him five smooth stones.”

David picked up five smooth aerodynamic stones. David’s experience had taught him how important shape, size, weight, and uniformity were to achieving accuracy with a sling.

David used a sling as a shepherd and slings were also used in battle in biblical times, and those skilled in using them sometimes formed their own unit in an army.

Judges 20:16 reads, “Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.”

David put the 5 stones in his shepherd’s pouch. There is a possibility that he picked up 5 stones because 2 Samuel 21:22 says, “These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.”

Goliath had four sons. In case they came into the valley after he killed their father to exact revenge, it could be that this is why David picked up five stones.

After picking up the stones and putting them in his shepherd’s pouch, David didn’t wait for Goliath to come to him, he approached the Philistine.

Seeing David, the intimidating, gigantic Goliath drew near and approached him with his shield bearer. As he did, David’s eyes weren’t on the giant, they were fixed on the Lord.

Then more mockery comes David’s way. The idea behind the words “the Philistine looked about” is that Goliath mocked him by looking around as if to try and find David because he was so small compared to him.

And when Goliath did look at him he disdained him. Seeing a young man with a sling in one hand and a staff in the other, Goliath belittled him, mocking his youth and his appearance. There was nothing in David that struck fear or respect in Goliath’s heart.

Seeing David’s weapons of a staff and sling, which were used for driving away dogs at that time, caused Goliath to ask if he was a wild dog that David would come at him with “staves,” or literally sticks. And the truth was that Goliath really was a Gentile dog threatening God’s flock so he needed to be chased away or killed.

Goliath was incensed that Israel would insult him by sending out just a boy, and that he came at him with sticks and stones to fight him. It was an insult to his manhood and it offended his unbridled pride.

Goliath then cursed David by his gods and dared him to come at him and he would give David’s flesh as a meal for the birds of the air and animals of the field.

Showing no trace of fear, David responded to the giant’s mocking and curses. All the scorn and fierceness of Goliath could not shake his confidence in God.

David makes a contrast between himself and Goliath, noting his sword, spear, and shield, basically telling him, “Those are some pretty fancy weapons you’ve got there. But I’ve got something far better than your weapons.”

Telling him, “I come to you in the almighty strength and name of the Lord of hosts, the God who has heavenly armies at His command, and is the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied and blasphemed.”

It was one thing to tell Saul he would kill Goliath. It is an entirely different thing to tell Goliath he will kill Goliath.

In boldness and faith, David tells Goliath says that the Lord “will” deliver him into his hand, that he “will” smite him and take his head clean off.

And he further tells him that it is not his flesh that will be a meal for the birds and animals of the field, but instead it “will” be the flesh of thousands from the Philistine host.

And this victory was to demonstrate: first, to all the earth that the God of Israel exists and there is a God in Israel; and second, it would demonstrate to all assembled that day that the battle is the Lord’s and He delivers His own against overwhelming odds.

This was not a fair fight. Not because it was the giant Goliath and his armor bearer against David, but because it was the giant Goliath and his armor bearer against David and the LORD God of Israel. The battle was over before it began.

1 Samuel 17:48-52: “And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.

“And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.

“So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.

“Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.

“And the men of Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted, and pursued the Philistines, until thou come to the valley, and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim, even unto Gath, and unto Ekron.”

Enraged at David’s boldness, Goliath then began advancing towards David, and when he did David ran towards Goliath, a giant wearing 200 pounds of armor coming forward against a teenager with a sling and a stone.

A man of war, a battle hardened soldier who defied God moving towards a shepherd boy with nothing but faith in the living God.

And David reached into his pouch as he was running, pulled out a stone, put it into the sling, swung it around and around and around.

And then he let that rock fly through the air and God guided that rock and it sank deep into the giant’s forehead and he fell on his face like a sack full of rocks. It was over like that. And David stopped running, looked at the Philistines: Got any more giants?

Then David went and stood on top of Goliath, and since David didn’t have a sword, he took Goliath’s heavy sword and completed his promise and cut off his head, an action that guaranteed his death, humiliated the Philistines, and announced total victory.

From where the Philistine army was on the other side of the valley they may have been wondering if they were seeing things, and with Goliath lying there they may not have been convinced that he was dead but just knocked out.

But when David took that sword and cut off his head, then they knew he was dead and they fled, with Israel then rising up coming across the valley of Elah in hot pursuit.

And so the real truth emerged: Goliath was no giant, the giant was David. And he was a giant because of his faith and reliance in his infinitely gigantic God.

We see a picture and a type of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Cross in this account. David was from Bethlehem, and Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem.

David was the son of Jesse. Of Jesus Christ it was prophesied, “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots” (Isa. 11:1).

David came from his father and was sent by him to his brethren. Likewise, the Lord Jesus Christ, came from the Father in heaven and was sent to His brethren, Israel.

When David came, he brought his brethren bread. Likewise, Christ brought the bread of life to Israel. David came to a battlefield and Christ came and entered a battlefield in this world where this is continuous spiritual warfare.

David was mocked and sneered at by his brethren, and Christ, the Seed of David was mocked and sneered at by His brethren in Israel.

Goliath is a type of the devil. The Philistines picture the demonic horde. David is a type of Christ. The army of the Israelites picture mankind.

The devil was the champion, the go-between, of the demonic horde. Christ is the Champion, the go-between, of His people. They faced off in a one-on-one battle, and the battle was fought at the Cross.

David faced Goliath as a shepherd, and Jesus Christ faced the devil as a Shepherd. John 10:11 reads, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”

David was a Shepherd King, an anointed King, in waiting. The same was true of Christ.

Goliath’s pride was his downfall, just like the devil. And we see that through the Cross how God delivers through the humblest of means: through the humility of His Son, with a cross of wood and 3 nails.

In Genesis 3:15, the devil was promised that the Seed of the Woman would crush his head. And that stone that was hurled that sunk into Goliath’s head, crushed his skull and killed him and he fell on his face. And the Cross was the instrument of death, the precisely launched object against the devil that hit him square in the head and defeated him.

With Goliath’s own sword, David cut off his head. And the devil was defeated with his own sword by Christ at the Cross. Hebrews 2:14 says, “that through death [Satan’s own sword] he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.”

David wanted all to know that “the battle is the Lord’s.” That is true for our salvation.

The battle is the Lord’s and He won the victory for us over sin, death, and Satan.

The Cross of Christ is the all-sufficient payment for our sins, and His resurrection and triumph over death announces to all: total victory.