1 Samuel 17 - The Battle Belongs to the LORD

True faith conquers fear.

Faithlife.com

SINCE WE LAST LEFT OFF... Samuel has anointed David king, but Saul is still on the throne.

1 Samuel 17 (NIV)

17 Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah... ³ The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.

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

⁸ Goliath 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. ⁹ If 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.” ^--

¹¹ On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.

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

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

³³ Saul 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.”

³⁴ But David said to Saul, “... ³⁶ Your 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. ³⁷ The 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.”

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⁴⁰ Then 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.

⁴¹ Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. ⁴² He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. ⁴³ He 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!”

⁴⁵ David 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. ⁴⁶ This 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. ⁴⁷ All 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.”

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

⁵⁰ So 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.

⁵¹ David 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.

Heidelberg Catechism

Q&A 15

Q. What kind of mediator and deliverer should we look for then?

A. One who is truly human

and truly righteous,

yet more powerful than all creatures,

that is, one who is also true God.

Summary

Today's episode is framed by both fear and faith, both of which are quite easy to see. The fear makes itself evident right off the bat, as the Philistines - the arch enemy of the Israelites - sends out their giant champion. Sending Goliath out was not just an attempt to strike terror into the heart of the Israelites - which it clearly did - but it was an act of faith-fueled diplomacy as well.

The Philistines were willing to stake everything on a one on one battle of champs - winner takes all. The war would be decided by a man in the middle. Such a contest would alleviate the need for an all out war between armies that would inevitably result in tremendous bloodshed for the same outcome. And it certainly wasn't hard to put all of their faith in their nearly ten foot tall hero clad in hundreds of pounds in armor and weaponry.

It was exactly for moments like this that the Israelites had put their faith in a king like all the other nations to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles (1 Sa. 8:20). They had a king that looked like the perfect man for the job. Saul was no slouch - he stood a head taller than all the people (1 Sa. 9:2 & 10:23). But as Goliath's mighty mouth shouted insults, the man Israel put its faith held back, dismayed and terrified.

But after forty days of Goliath taking his stand, a young shepherd boy showed up delivering supper for his older brothers. He heard Goliath taunting God's people, which David properly interpreted as taunts against the LORD God Himself. And David's simple faith in his Almighty God lifted the fear off of the faithless Israelites and placed it upon the Philistines, who, upon seeing that their hero was dead, turned and ran.

  Dig Deeper  

The typical application of this famous story is to have faith like David. And that's a great application! Be confidently faithful in the LORD!

But it's not at all the primary point of this chapter. The point is that God's people have a champion to fight for them. Our Champion is more powerful than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and the stakes of the battle He's waged and won are far greater than control of a couple of hills separated by a valley.

David's hopeful speech has come true in a much more significant way than he could have ever imagined: 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.

This is the victory we have in our champion, Jesus Christ.

AAA Prayer (About)

• ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, the LORD God Almighty, to whom the battle belongs;

• ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that your faith in your Champion will increase so that you can have confidence in the LORD in place of fear;

• ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

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