29 David and Goliath

First Samuel chapter seventeen is one of the most well-known areas of Scripture. Even though it’s well-known, there are many aspects of the account which are frequently overlooked, since they were taking placed “under the surface”.

1 Goliath Issues a Challenge

The armies of the Israelites and the Philistines, stationed themselves on opposites sides of the Elah Valley as they prepared to face one another in battle:

1 Samuel 17:1-10

The location was greatly suited for such a battle, even having an ample supply of water for both sides.

One of the unusual aspects of warfare at that time, was that frequently the two sides would each choose an individual from their side to represent them in a one-on-one fight. The individual who won, would not only win for himself, but his side would be declared the victor, and would often avoid a battle and great casualties on both sides.

The Philistines chose a nine-foot-tall individual named Goliath as their representative.

To put things in perspective, according to US Healthline, the average height of an American male today is five-foot-nine-inches. However, a century ago, it was five-foot-seven. Therefore, it’s easy to imagine that it would have been even shorter three-thousand years ago at the time of David and Goliath.

Goliath was from the important Philistine town of Gath, an which hundreds of years before, was notable for giant-sized people called the Anakin. Scripture states that they were still alive during Joshua’s time, approximately four-hundred years before David’s day:

Joshua 11:22

Not only was Goliath a true giant, but the armor he wore weighed between one hundred fifty and two hundred pounds!

In verse 8, Goliath then issued a clear challenge to Saul and the Israelite army:

1 Samuel 17:8-9

Due to his enormous size, Goliath knew that all of Israel would be afraid of him, and therefore he would be the victor for side.

Goliath was so confident that he would be victorious, he stated that if the Israelite representative could defeat him, then then Philistines would serve Israel. On the other hand, if he defeated his opponent, then Israel would serve the Philistines.

Goliath was making it very personal, that he was “defying” not only the armies of Israel, but Saul himself, who as king, and the tallest Israelite (head and shoulders taller than all others) should have been their representative.

2 Saul and the Army React

1 Samuel 17:11

Not only was the Israelite army fearful, but so was Saul, despite his size and great opinion of himself.

However, it shouldn’t be surprising that Saul acted in such a manner, since the Holy Spirit had departed from him. Therefore, everything he did, he was attempted to do in his own strength. And sadly, the people had frequently followed Saul’s poor examples.

Therefore, with neither the people, nor Saul closely following the Lord, and since they didn’t believe they could physically challenge Saul, they were all “dismayed and greatly afraid”.

Many years later, David would write as to how believers should act:

Psalm 56:11

3 David Renders Relief

Here in chapter seventeen, we once again see David’s faithfulness and obedience to his father Jesse:

1 Samuel 17:12-15

While David was the youngest of Jesse’s eight sons, David’s three oldest brothers were part of the army encamped in the Elah Valley.

In the previous chapter, we saw how David had been used to play the harp, whenever Saul was being tormented by evil spirits.

However, as we see here in chapter seventeen, David didn’t remain at the palace, but on occasion would go back to care for his father’s sheep.