1 Samuel 17 - David Slays the Giant

Previously in 1 Samuel, the Lord told Samuel to go to Bethlehem to anoint one of the sons of Jesse as king. Jesse had seven of his oldest sons pass before Samuel, but the Lord refused each of them. The Lord was not looking on the outward appearance, for He looks what is in the heart. David was not invited to the sacrifice, but was still out keeping his father’s sheep. Samuel asked Jesse to call him in, and when he came, the Lord said to Samuel, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.” So, the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward, but He departed from Saul. An evil spirit came in the Lord’s place to torment Saul, and they sought out a man to play on the harp to cause the evil spirit to leave. This musician was David. Saul loved him so much that he made David his armorbearer. David was probably around 10 years old when he was anointed, and when the account picks up in chapter 17, he was probably 17 or 18.

The Philistines had gathered their armies together to go to battle against Israel in an area that belonged to the tribe of Judah. The Israelites encamped in the valley of Elah. They stood on a mountain (hill) on one side of the valley, while the Philistines stood on a hill on the other side.  The green rolling hills on either side of the valley are still there today.

There was a giant named Goliath who would come out of the camp of the Philistines to challenge Israel. The Bible refers to these giants as the descendants of the Anakim and some other people groups.  They were a sort of half-breed of fallen angels and women, which would have resulted from these people groups being steeped in idolatrous and occultic practices. Remember, the Philistines were of Phoenician descent, and this would make sense when studying Greek mythology, as well as the horrific practices of the Canaanite cultures. It states that Goliath was six cubits and a span tall (9 ½ to 11 ft depending on the type of cubit used). He wore a bronze helmet, a coat of mail, bronze armor on his legs, and a bronze javelin between his shoulders.  It is estimated that his armor weighed over 250 pounds, so it would have taken a big man to carry this in battle.

Then Goliath stood and cried out to the Israelites, “Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 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.” And “I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.” For forty days the giant taunted the Israelites, saying the same things. When Saul and his men heard these words, they were troubled and greatly afraid. Saul, being their king, should have been leading the fight against this Philistine, but he was cowering in fear. In Proverbs it states, “The wicked flee when no one pursues, But the righteous are bold as a lion.” (Pro 28:1) Saul was afraid because he was not right with the Lord. Fear is not of God, folks! We are not to put the Lord to the test by being foolish, but refusing to do what is right (even if it is risky) because we are afraid of the outcome demonstrates a lack of faith. This fear from their leader rubbed off on the rest of the army.

In those days, David’s father, Jesse, was an old man.  Jesse’s oldest sons, Eliab, Abinadab, and Shammah had gone with Saul to the battle, while David was back at home taking care of his father’s sheep.  He still worked for Saul, but would return home occasionally. Jesse told David to take some food to his brothers and their captain, to see how they were doing, and to bring back the news to him. So, David rose early in the morning and did as his dad had told him. Although anointed king, David still submitted to the authority that God had placed over him.

David was just arriving at the camp as they were going out to the battle.  He left the supplies in the hand of a keeper, ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers. The tribe of Judah would have been stationed in the front of the battle, so David would have been at the front lines. As he was speaking with them, Goliath came out to taunt the Israeli army as he had been doing for the last 40 days. The men of Israel fled from him out of fear as they had been doing.  They told David that whoever killed the giant, the king would give him great riches, his daughter to wife, and would make his father’s house exempt from taxes. Saul was willing to pay a large sum for someone to do the job he was unwilling to do. David replied, saying, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” This would have been a tempting offer, but David was more concerned with the Lord’s reputation and that of the armies of Israel. The people repeated that it should be done for the man who kills him.

When Eliab his oldest brother heard David, he became angry with him, and said, “Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.” It is likely that Eliab was feeling convicted over his own lack of faith, and rather than responding with repentance, he lashed out at David for his faith and boldness. He insulted him and falsely accused him of being prideful, leaving those few sheep behind in order to come see the battle. This was typical family behavior going on here. When we are insulted and falsely accused of doing wrong, we must confidently stand on what the word of God says. David was only doing the will of his father, as a figure of Him who would later come.  Jesus would say, “The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.”

David gave no heed to his brother’s insults and false accusations as can be tempting to do, but responded truthfully: “What have I done now? Is there not a cause?”  Then he turned to another and said the same things (“What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”) I believe that David was probably trying to motivate the men to step out in faith and go to battle against the Philistine. David was not a regular part of the army, and was deferring to them if they had the courage to take up the challenge.

When the men heard David’s words, they told Saul, and Saul sent for him. When David came to Saul, he said, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” If no one was willing to take up the challenge, he would. Saul said to David that he could not go out and fight, for he was only a youth, and Goliath was a man of war from his youth. In other words, Goliath had been a man of war longer than David had been alive. Again, Saul is looking in the natural.  In the natural, Saul was right. There was no way David could defeat the giant on his own. As one commentator put it, “These battles were unwinnable without the Lord. The Living God will be the only thing separating David and death at the hands of Goliath.” David responded that when he used to keep his father’s sheep, and a lion or bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, he went out and struck it, delivering the lamb out of its mouth.  Then when the lion or bear rose against him, he grabbed it and struck it to death.  We are not told how David killed the lion and the bear, but if God gave Samson the strength to kill a lion with his bare hands, then we have no reason to doubt that God could have empowered David to use his bare hands or some sort of club. David told Saul, “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, “The Lord, who 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.” God delivering David from the lion and the bear gave him the confidence that He would deliver him from the giant. God’s deliverances for us today give us confidence that He will deliver us tomorrow.

Saul told David to go, and the Lord be with him.  He gave David his armor, a bronze helmet, a coat of mail, and his sword.  However, when he tried to walk with them, he realized he could not fight with them because he had not tested them. David would go and fight with what he had practiced with, something he knew well, a stone and a sling.  I think it is interesting that, although David was in way in over his head here as the giant would stand looming over him, the Lord still used him with the gifts and abilities he already had been using.  Sometimes our gifts and abilities are given to us super-naturally in the moment, sometimes we are born with them, or we develop them over time.  Regardless, they are from the Lord. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Co 4:7) For David, this battle had already been won back with the sheep when he spent time with the Lord and practiced with his stone and sling. So, David took his staff and his sling, chose five smooth stones out of the brook, put them into a shepherd’s bag, and headed out across the valley toward the Philistine.

Goliath also began heading toward David with his armorbearer carrying a shield in front of him. When he saw that David was only a youth, he disdained him. He said, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” He cursed David by his gods, and continued, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!” Goliath was trash-talking as we would put it today. Notice that David didn’t pack up and go home: in our woke society today, nobody can say anything without someone else getting bent out of shape over it. I was at one of my kid’s soccer games the other day, and someone from our team made a joke referencing someone else’s shoes from the other team. When the opposing coach found out about it, he quit the tournament, packed up his kids, and went home. I’m obviously not saying it is ok to make fun of others, but if our kids today cannot stand being made fun of for their shoes, they are going to have an extremely difficult time in life.  Fighting the giants in our lives is not a job for the faint of heart, and David was not going to allow this giant to get inside his head. He responded, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with 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 this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.” David boldly answered the giant, but his confidence was in the Lord.  He wanted God to get the glory, so his people would learn to trust the Lord and the rest of the world would know of Him as well.  He was going in the name or authority of the Lord of hosts.

As Goliath drew closer, David ran toward him.  He took a stone out of his bag, slung it at the giant, struck him in the forehead, and killed him.  The stone sunk into his forehead, and the giant fell on his face to the ground. Then David stood on his back, took Goliath’s sword, and cut off his head. David wanted to be sure he was actually dead.

When the Philistines saw that their giant was dead, they fled back toward their cities. The men of Israel and Judah, who once were afraid under the leadership and influence of Saul, were now emboldened by the faith and courage of David.  They pursued after the Philistines as far as Ekron, killing them as they went.  They then returned from chasing the Philistines and plundered their tents. David put his armor in his tent, but he kept the head of Goliath, probably pickling it and later bringing it to Jerusalem when it would become his capital as king. This may seem somewhat grotesque in our modern times, but it would have been a constant reminder of the faithfulness, power, and deliverance of God.

Saul was impressed as he watched David go out toward the Philistine, and he asked Abner, his commander, whose son this youth was.  Abner responded that he did not know. Saul said, “Inquire whose son this young man is.” This was a type of courage and faith that Saul hadn’t seen in some time, probably since he saw Samuel hack Agag in pieces. At least currently, Saul liked to be around men of God, but he lacked the faith and contrition to be one himself. The word for “young man” here means someone who is full-grown, so again, David was probably 17-18 years old. Fighting age in Israel was 20 years old and up. When David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine with the head of Goliath in his hand, Abner brought him before Saul. Saul asked him whose son he was, and David told him he was the son of his servant Jesse, the Bethlehemite. Saul had promised to make his father’s house free from taxes, and he needed to know who David’s father was in order to honor his word.

Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Eph 6:12) We may think our giant is a person, but it is the spiritual entity behind them.  I am not talking about someone who is having a bad day, but that person who genuinely dislikes us or is trying to oppose us when we have not done anything to provoke it. In fact, when we know we are in the will of God and others are trying to oppose us, we can rest assured there are spiritual forces behind them. We have the authority to come against those forces in the name of the Lord of hosts, Jesus Christ. Peter writes, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.” (1 Pe 5:8)

Maybe our giant is some sort of sin we just cannot seem to overcome. Jesus has slain the giants of sin and death for us, and has thereby defeated the devil for us as well. Our job is to, by faith, reckon ourselves dead to sin, but alive unto Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 6:11). Maybe it is some other seemingly insurmountable obstacle in our lives. However, we know that if we are in the will of God, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Phil 4:13). In the next chapter we will see Saul’s love and admiration for David quickly turned to envy as he perceives David receiving more honor than him.