David and Goliath

Transcript

So David and Goliath, we're going to take a look at both the practicalities of this really, really well-known and well-loved story. And then we're going to take a look at how it functions as a type of Christ. You see that David and that greater son of David to see how those things fit together. So let's take a look at the setting. The setting that appeared leading up to 1 Samuel 17 is really characterized by Israel's subjugation to the Philistines. It's all about that. And who were the Philistines? Well, we know that the Philistines from archaeological evidence arrived from Crete, and the scripture defines that in a couple places coming from Capernaum. And they arrived in what appears to be subsequent waves of immigration from Crete beginning in Abraham's time and becoming more pronounced up until around David's time. It's important to understand that the sea people, the Philistines, were a product of Mycenaean culture. And we know a lot about Mycenaean culture because it's the culture of two great epic poems in the Western literature canon, the Iliad and the Odyssey. So we know a lot about those kind of cultural values that the Philistines would have had. We know that at this time the Philistines had a real technological and military advantage, including a monopoly on metalworking. It was such monopoly and they were so oppressed that the Israelites couldn't even get their metal tools sharpened. And forget about having metal weapons, as we'll see, that's an important subtext to this whole story, is what are weapons, who needs weapons, and do we rely on weapons? So Saul is turning the tables on the Philistines a bit here. He's had a string of victories, and it seems like he was able as part of those victories to kind of

equip some of the soldiers with swords and spears, with iron weapons. And the Philistines, of course, we're not going to take that lying down, they decide to invade. And so the setting of this in the Valley of Elah is crucial. It's really at the invasion point. It's at a critical time, right before the enemy reaches the homeland of Israel. Let's look at this in more detail. Okay, so I'm not going to attempt to use my pen, or maybe I will. What's the worst that can happen? There we go. Okay, so we see here that it's this area right in here. We see where Bethlehem is, see where Jerusalem is, we see where Gap is. And if you look at the inset, we see that the Valley of Elah is at a strategic point. And the story picks up right as this battle is at a stalemate. There's the valley, and on one side is the Philistine camp, on the other side is the Israelite camp. And this is kind of a last stand, because this valley really was a choke point that enabled the armies of Israel to stop the Philistines before they got into the homeland. Now, when we think of Goliath, we think of many things. If you're like me, if you're like me, the first thing you think of when you think of Goliath is, okay, I'm going to get stuck with that meditation. You see an eraser there, Sean? Yes, it's hard to see. Oh, there it is. Okay, nice. I love learning about technology, especially when there's 35 people waiting for me to get my eye together. So this is awesome. Thank you. So when we think of Goliath, we think of many things, but we think of him as a giant, first of all, and we think of his weapons as well. And with his weapons, and with the fact that he was a giant, he rolled together in one scary package, incredible symbols of Israel's faithlessness. Because as we recall, the people of Israel had a real problem with giants, and they had a real problem with being at a disadvantage when it comes to weapons. It was such a problem for them that they didn't think that they could take the land of Canaan. So we read in Deuteronomy chapter 1, where can we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our hearts, saying, the people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. Moreover, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there. We read in Joshua, at that time, Joshua came and destroyed the Anakim from the whole country, and there was none of the Anakim left in the land of the children of Israel, only in Gaza and, of course, in Gal. Kind of a powerful foreshadowing of the events that we see before us this evening. And we know that it wasn't just the fact that enemies were intimidated because they were tall. We know that that was something that the people of Israel valued. They wanted a king, someone who was tall, who was the tallest person in the land, perhaps. From the shoulders upward, we know of Saul, that he was taller than any of the people. So giants were, you know, were scary. They were discouraging. And when it came time to pick a king, they wanted some kind of equalization there. Now, weapons, it was the same thing. We read in Numbers 13, we're not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than weight. And we know that that was something that happened all the way through the judges, right? The Song of Deborah talking about how God worked at that time. But she says it's not a shield or spear was seen among 40,000 in Israel. So right from the beginning, we see that Goliath is symbolic of a giant and also of a tremendous advantage in weapons. We read in 1 Samuel 13, now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, lest the Hebrews make swords or spears. So it came about on the day of battle that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan, but they were found with Saul and Jonathan, his son. So at that time, before the record of victories outlined in 1 Samuel 15, it seems like swords and spears were so precious that it was to the king's household. And so this is kind of the subtext to the battle that we see between David and Goliath. Because the overwhelming message of this, we see David's proclamation that the assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's and he will give it into our hands. So if weapons are a big part of the subtext of this particular event, why do we have such detail about Goliath's weapons? We have incredible detail about his weapons. Well, we know that he had a bronze helmet. We know that he had an armor bearer with a shield. He had bronze scale chest and back armor. And we know that he had bronze leg armor. We're going to take a look at what the King James calls his coat of mail in just a second. Now in offense, he had a javelin. So the javelin would have been the throwing weapon, would have been typically lighter. And then he would have had a spear with an iron head. And that iron head weighed 15 pounds. So we know a lot about from archaeology about how people of Mycenaean culture used a spear. And so what they typically did was, Steve, you didn't know I was going to have props. No, I know. I got to see this, Sean. So anyway, so we know that the shield would be here and the spear would be up here. So it wasn't used two handed. It was used in kind of a stabbing motion like this. And you can imagine the tremendous strength that Goliath had to have a spear point weigh 15 pounds and use it as a weapon of utility. So it gives us a strong and powerful example of just what a fearsome warrior Goliath was. And we have this record of the panoply of his weapons. So let's take a look at his coat of mail. So it wasn't really a coat of mail. It's a Hebrew word that means scales. It's not the word that's used to describe the similar aspect of Saul's armor in verse 38 of the chapter. Every other time this word is used, it describes the scales of a fish. Now, we know that the Philistines primary god was Dagon, the fish god. And so here we see the symbology at work that Goliath is representing the secular powers that are arrayed against Israel and representing the false gods that are arrayed against Israel. But that word scale also describes something else. It describes the scales on a serpent. And did you notice, as we were giving a count, the detailed account of all his weapons, how often bronze was mentioned? He had a bronze helmet on his head. So at the very top, nine and a half feet up there, was this symbol of bronze. And the weight of his scale coat was 5,000 shekels of bronze. And he had bronze greaves and a bronze javelin. And so I think most Bible students would think connecting a serpent and bronze to we see a strong connection with the greaves and serpent. And so right away we get an inkling that Goliath doesn't just symbolize the armies, the natural armies that are arrayed against the god of Israel. He doesn't just represent the false gods that are arrayed against Israel. He represents something deeper that the son of David would address. You recall, of course, that Jesus says that. That he likened himself and John to the to the brazen serpent and that he, like the brazen serpent, would be lifted up. John, can I ask a question? Sure. Can you differentiate between, help me understand the difference between a coat of mail and a coat of scales? Glad you asked that. So coat of mail, and if the translator's anachronism, so a coat of mail is a bunch of tiny, tiny, tiny little circuits, circles that are joined together. So you could see through them, made with wire? Yeah, they're very, yeah, usually finely done. And they're a bunch of circles where the coat of scales, it's overlapping platelets of armor. Got it. Overlapping platelets that would move as the person moved. Got it. And I think that picture sort of, that picture really illustrated that pretty well. Yeah. Yeah, right here. You have the scales. The mail would be circles, and that is like a flat plate of armor. Got it. Thanks, Sean. Yeah. And we know that the kind of mail that we think of with medieval mail wasn't developed until quite a bit later. Gabe is saying that mail wasn't invented for another thousand years. Yeah. Absolutely. Thanks, Gabe. So let's take a step back here. Okay. Yep. Here we go. So we know that Mycenaean culture plays the high value on close. That is nonprojectile. That is we're going to do it hand to hand. I'm going to reach out and touch you in personal one-on-one combat. I'm not going to hit you with an arrow. I'm not going to hit you with a javelin. I'm not going to hit you with a sling. I'm going to engage you in one-on-one combat. This is really clear from the archaeological finds, some archaeological finds actually in Israel about the Philistine community. We know from artistic depictions, and of course we know from the Greek poetry like the Iliad. So it's really, really, really important to recognize that when Goliath was standing up saying, send someone down to fight me, that is exactly what was in keeping with his culture. Now it's interesting. We don't have that same ethos

in Israelite culture. The closest we get is in second Samuel chapter two, where 12 people on each side are kind of sent out to kind of

one-on-one combat in quite the same way. Okay. I was going to make a joke about how the 12 on 12, that's how Canadian football ended up with 12 players, but I won't make that joke. So Goliath has a challenge, and this word for champion is really an interesting word. It literally means the man of the space between. Sometimes it's translated the man of the space between the camps. And basically it is about a man who represents. So the man of the space between the man who represents. So we can see some of these typologies coming together that would be fulfilled so powerfully in the son of David. So David arrives at camp, and it's a pretty auspicious arrival too, right? Someone ordered Uber Eats. So David arrives, he's sent by Jesse. He's sent to bring provisions for his brothers and for their captain. And he's quite excited to be there. And he greets his brothers. So David immediately is engaged by what's going on. And he has a key question. He hears that the man who kills him, the king will enrich with great riches, give him his daughter and give his father's house exemption from taxes in Israel. And so he kind of echoes by questioning what shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel. Now this is a kind of an enigma because David asked this question, but he's not motivated for any of these things, right?

And so how do we contextualize that? Well, I think that he's expressing wonder that first of all, that no one has taken up this challenge of this champion of false gods, this profaning the God of Israel. So he's astonished by that. And he's astonished by fact that even if you weren't going to do that, even if you weren't going to stand up to the God of Israel, there's all these other things that would be motivating you. So I think that's a statement of wonderment rather than a statement of what is going to be in it for the person who takes care of the lion. So he's persistent in this, in this questioning and in this desire to be the one, the man who would be between the camps, the one who would represent Israel. But before he can do that, he runs in conflict with his brother, his oldest brother, and this is from the contemporary Jewish Bible. Eliyev, his older brother, heard when David spoke to the man and it made Eliyev angry at him. He asked, why did you come down here? With whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is. You just came down to watch the fighting. David said, what have I done now? I only asked a question. He turned away from him to someone else and asked the same question and people gave him the same answer. So there's so much at play there, right? We can appreciate that David's older brother might be smarting from a few things, might be smarting from the jealousy of being the eldest but being passed over when Samuel came to anoint. We see the powerful typography of, rather typology, here where the brothers are angry. We see that that was fulfilled in a partial way, looking backwards at Joseph and, of course, looking forward to Jesus. We know from passages like John 7 where even his brothers did not believe in him and they encouraged him to go up to Jerusalem even though people saw his life. David seems nonplussed, though, by his brother being so cutting towards him. Basically, he ignores Elijah and continues to get more information about why people have not addressed this person who is profaning the God of Israel. So David makes such a stir that Saul calls for David. David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight the Philistine. So the first thing that Saul objects to is training. So Saul really sees two issues with David. One, you're not trained, and two, you don't have the right weapons. So let's see how that evolves. We read in 1 Samuel 17 .33, and Saul said to David, you are not able to go up against the Philistine to fight with him, for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. And we see how David said no. This is a moment that I have been training for my whole life. I don't expect to be victorious being unprepared. I've trained, I've prepared. The Lord has been with me, but I've put in the hours. He says to Saul, your servant used to keep his father's sheep, and when a lion or bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it and delivered the lamb from its mouth. And when it arose against me, I cut it by its beard and struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God. And David said, the Lord, you delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear. He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. So David, despite these miraculous feats, gives all glory to God. None does he take for himself, but he says, I've trained, I've prepared, I'm ready, and God will keep me safe just as he has done in the past. And we know that this is something that David meditated upon his whole life in a professional warrior that he was. He says in Psalm 144, 1, blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle. So David answers Saul's first objection, I'm prepared, I'm ready, I've trained. So then Saul says, well, we have a weapons problem. Remember the whole context of the Philistines had a huge weapons advantage. He spent so much time focusing on Goliath's weapon, that incredible detail that we get of what his weapons were. So Saul thinks that giving David the king's armor is the solution. Now we know that we're talking about in a second that David tries it on and says, I haven't tried it, so I'm not going to use it. But David wasn't adverse to taking the armor if it had a more appropriate context. So we know that just a little bit later in the narrative, Jonathan gives David his armor and a sword. So it's not that David was objecting to getting armor, it was he recognized it wasn't the time or the place for them. So Saul clothed David with his armor and he put a bronze helmet on his head and he clothed them with a coat of mail. Again, that's a different word than used to describe Goliath's coat. So here is one of my pet peeves. How many of you picture this? No, none of you because you're awesome Bible students. It makes zero sense that

David would be trying on Saul's armor like it was a four-year-old kid trying on dad's shoes. If you can remember, Kathy and I have been blessed with two boys and two girls. When I get home from work, my oldest son, I remember him being about four and I'd take off my big 12 shoes and put his feet in them and kind of scuffle around. That isn't what was happening. So what can we infer from the narrative? Well, we can infer that David was obviously a pretty physically imposing guy. If Saul was physically imposing, David would have been pretty physically imposing. So the solution we see in David's next statement, he says after he fastens the sword to the armor and tries to walk, he said, I cannot walk with these for I have not tested them. So David took them off. Tested is an interesting word. It's usually translated as tried or tempted throughout the Testament. A good example is in Psalm 26 to examine me, O Lord, and prove me trying my reins and my heart. So it's the idea that he has not proved them. So he understands preparation and training. He's not going to use something that he hasn't proved. He recognizes that he does not need them because he has the God of Israel. Now, what are David's weapons? He took his staff in his hand and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook and put them in a shepherd's bag and a pouch which he had and his sling was in his hand. Now, it's interesting. The staff there, I'm not going to use my cursor. This crip staff here is a staff like we think about in Psalm 23, thy rod and thy staff thy comfort. But the word used here is really this, like a fighting stick or quarter staff. And that's what Goliath responds to. He says, am I a dog that you come to me with sticks? Now, it's very interesting because the stick, a long stick is a very, very powerful weapon. We know that at medieval times, a peasant with a quarter staff was an equal match for an knight with a sword, as long as the knight was not armored. If the knight was armored, the stick was rendered useless. But we know in unarmored situations, the stick was a powerful weapon. There's a famous samurai in medieval Japan named Miyamoto Musashi who used a wooden stick, a boken, and went up against swordsmen and beat them all. So, David's using a fighting stick. It's a formidable one, but Goliath doesn't recognize it as such. Now, part two. David chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's bag. Now, Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book about the story of David and Goliath, and he found that the valley of Elah, in that area, the stones there are composed of barium sulfate, a mineral that makes them unusually dense. And there's some really cool videos and kind of forensic explanations that demonstrate that the rock, that the stone that David chose from the brook in the hands of a skilled slinger had the impact, the stopping power, roughly equivalent to a 45 caliber handgun, which is amazing. So, let's talk about slings. I didn't really appreciate this. I thought, how hard is it to use a sling? Well, turns out, pretty hard. I always just kind of imagined, yeah, you know, I could pick up a sling in six months or so. I'd be pretty good. Probably not David quality, but you know, I would be, I would be average in terms of slinging ability. Wow, that's wrong. Slingers were the most trained people in the ancient world when it came to warfare. And you know what? You couldn't pick it up as an adult. You had to have trained at it from a child. We read the military scholar Eric Anderson writes, the main reason that slingers were only found among certain groups and fought a specialized war in the ancient world was because the sling required a much higher level of intensive training than any other weapon. Even the bow with its point and shoot firing can be mastered over a matter of years at almost any age, while the sling had to be practiced from childhood to achieve an adequate level of proficiency. David had been training for this since he was a child. And David basically brings a gun to a knife fight, because Goliath wanted a knife fight, and David used his sling because he knows one specific thing, and that is you never fight the enemy on the enemy's terms. And we can appreciate the symbolic things with that as we fight, the sinful flesh that's our enemy. You can see the great example that our Lord gave of making sure that no kind of opening was there. And I think of an example of the feeding of the 5,000, where people wanted to make him a king, and Jesus sent the disciples ahead, because he recognized that he needed to ensure that they were not part of the problem of encouraging him to set himself up as a king like them. So he didn't engage the enemy on the enemy's terms. Goliath responds. He's totally missing the point. He says, come to me, and I will give you the flesh of the birds, your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. Now he has a shield bearer, and the shield bearer

isn't just someone who is carrying your stuff. That was your companion in battle. And it's kind of interesting that the shield bearer, there's nothing left of remaining of him in the narrative. So he apparently just took out, he headed for the hills when the first shot went home. So we see that Goliath doesn't take him seriously. He doesn't understand what he's up against. And David focuses on the future. He says, I'm going to decapitate you, Goliath. And then of course we see he brings the head to Jerusalem. David verbalizes the future. He says, you come to me with a sword and a spear and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And David says, I'm going to and this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines. So he knows what's going to happen. He knows that his victory is going to ignite a more substantial victory. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, because it's not about weapons. It's not about the advantage of the weapons that the Philistines have. It was about faith in the God of Israel. David verbalizes the future. He didn't have a sword, but he knew that he was going to be able to use Goliath's sword rather. So we see that David runs towards the battle. And of course he hurries and runs because he wants to get that strategic distance where the sling is most effective. He wants to get to that spot. He wants to get to that spot so that he can employ the sling. And that is exactly what he does. He slings it and the stone sank into his forehead. The critical damage to the head fell to his face on the earth. And David takes his sword. And this is another example that we can picture that David was a pretty physically imposing guy. We know that later on he takes the sword with him when he's on the run from Saul. So he uses the sword. He's able to use the sword, even though it's a very, very big weapon. So he cuts off the last head. So the aftermath, the Philistines flee and the Israel army pursues them back and plunders all their stuff. And then all of a sudden David has his own tent. So he goes from being an errand boy in the span of a few hours to having his own tent in the camp. And significantly he brings the head to Jerusalem. And people have suggested that this is perhaps the origin of the al-Qa'l Goethe or the place of the skull. Whether or not you can substantiate that, I guess, is an open question. But we do know this, that there is a reason why he did that. And he did that many years ahead of the fact that they had control over the city of Jerusalem. That doesn't happen until we read in 2 Samuel 5. So David looked to the future. He hoped in the future. And he trust in the God of Israel that he would have a future. Psalm 9 suggests this. It has a superscription which kind of alludes to, depending on the translation, the death of the son or the death of the champion. One of the Targums reads, comes down on the side of the death of the champion interpreting it as the death of the man who went between the camps. Thurdle, he suggests that it's not really about Psalm 9, but it connects to Psalm 9. And I would leave that to you for your study. So let's wrap up by seeing how these practicalities play out in the life of the son of David. Well, there were two warring nations in the key elements of this narrative. We see with David, that was Philistines and Israel. And we see with the son of David, sin versus righteousness. We know that this battle happened at a vitally important time

before they could get into the heartland of Israel. And we know that Paul talks about it in Romans 5, that the son of David came at the right time. We know that it was a vitally important place. We know that this battle occurred outside the camp. And we see, of course, the reference from the writer of the Hebrews of that son of David being outside the camp. The key element of there being two champions, Goliath versus David, and then with the son of David, of course, flesh versus Jesus, we read about in Hebrews. In the narrative with David, we see that the father sends the champion, Jesse sends David, and God sends Jesus. You see that initially, God's champion is misunderstood. You see that happens so much with those figures of Christ, whether it's Moses or Joseph, or David in this case. And then, of course, that greater fulfillment of that son of David. We see that there's victory through one man, through God's strength, and it's given by David. And then, of course, the ultimate victory we read in Romans 5 is through that son of David. You see that preparation played a key role. The lion and the bear we see a vital role that preparation played for our Lord Jesus, a body thou hast prepared. We see the importance of practice, because the sling demands practice from childhood, and David gave all praise to God for his skill in warfare. Blessed is the Lord my God, who makes my fingers to war, my hands to fight. And we know that there was practice. Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience to the things that he suffered. We know the tactics were a key role. David didn't fight according to the enemy's rules. And we see in Colossians 2, see the spectacle that Jesus makes, that son of David, of the rules of man. We see the weapons, the key part of the narrative. You see the sling and the stick, and then the sword. And, of course, Christ being referenced as a two-edged sword, because, you know, earlier in that passage in Hebrews 4, of course, he's talking all about Jesus as our priest. We see another key element that the giant is destroyed at his highest point,

probably nine and a half feet tall or so. And we know that Jesus was displayed at the highest point on a Roman cross. And the average height of a Roman cross, according to historians, was about between eight and nine and a half feet. It varied, of course, based on materials and the environment, but that was the general gist of it. And we know that the Romans had that tragic practice of lifting up the crucified as a warning to others. We see another key element of the story of David and Goliath, as the head is completely destroyed, and David kills him with a headshot and then decapitates him. And then, of course, we see head, Sin's head, is destroyed, fulfillment of Genesis 3.15. We see the last key element that, through the champion's victory, the entire nation is victorious. We see that David's victory was catalyst for Israel's victory, that they pursued him as far as the Philistine homeland. We see that Jesus' righteousness enables us as spiritual Israel to be righteous, for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the