25 David Kills Goliath [1 Samuel 17]
The Bible passage: [1 Samuel 17]
The Story:
The Philistines gathered their forces for war in Israel. King Saul and the men of Israel gathered together. They lined up in battle formation to face the Philistines.
The Philistines were standing on one hill, and the Israelites were standing on another hill with a ravine between them.
A champion named Goliath came out from the Philistine camp. He was nine feet, nine inches tall and wore a bronze helmet and bronze scale armor that weighed one hundred twenty-five pounds. He had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin was hung between his shoulders. The iron point of his spear weighed fifteen pounds. A shield-bearer was walking in front of him.
He stood and shouted to the Israelite battle formations, “Why are you lined up in battle formation? I am a Philistine, and you are servants of Saul. Choose one of your men and have him come fight me. If he defeats me and kills me, we will be your servants. But if I defeat him and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us. I defy the ranks of Israel today. Send a man to fight me!”
When Saul and all Israel heard this, they lost their courage and were terrified.
The three oldest sons of Jesse of Bethlehem were in Saul’s army. David, his youngest son, went back and forth between the army and tending his father’s flock.
Every morning and evening for forty days, the giant Goliath came out and shouted his challenge.
One day Jesse sent David to take food to his brothers with the army. David got up early in the morning, left the flock with someone else, and took the supplies.
He arrived at the edge of the camp as the army was going out into their battle formation. He left his supplies with the quartermaster and ran to the battle line. When he arrived at the front, he asked his brothers how they were doing. While he was talking to them, Goliath came out and shouted his usual words. When the Israelite men saw Goliath, they retreated in terror.
David asked about the giant and why no one would go out and fight him.
What David said was overheard and reported to King Saul. He had David brought to him.
David said to Saul, “No one should be discouraged by him; I will go and fight this Philistine!”
But Saul replied, “You can’t go fight this Philistine. You’re just a young man with no battle experience, and he’s been a warrior for many years.”
David answered, “I have been tending my father’s sheep since I was a boy. Whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb, I would go and kill it and rescue the lamb from its mouth. I have killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like them, for he has defied the armies of the living God. 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, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.”
Saul had his own military clothes put on David. He put a bronze helmet and armor put on David. David strapped Saul’s sword on over the military clothes and tried to walk, but he was not used to them. “I can’t walk in these,” David said to Saul.
So David took them off. Instead, he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from a stream and put them in his shepherd’s bag. Then, with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.
The Philistine came closer and closer to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. When the Philistine looked and saw how young David was, and that he was healthy and handsome, he said to David, “Am I a dog that you come against me with sticks?” Then he cursed David by his gods. “Come here,” the Philistine said to David, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild beasts!”
David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with a sword and spear, but I come against you in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel—you have defied Him. Today, the Lord will hand you over to me. Today, I’ll strike you down, remove your head, and give the corpses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild beasts. Then all the world will know that Israel has a God, and that it is not by sword or by spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord’s. He will hand you over to us.”
When the Philistine started forward to attack him, David ran quickly forward to meet the Philistine. David put his hand in the bag, took out a stone, slung it, and hit the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown to the ground. David defeated the Philistine with a sling and a stone. David overpowered the Philistine and killed him without having a sword. David ran and stood over him. He grabbed the Philistine’s sword, pulled it from its sheath, and used it to cut off his head. When the Philistine army saw that their hero was dead, they fled. The army of Israel rallied, shouting their battle cry, and chased the Philistines to the entrance of the valley and beyond. Philistine bodies were strewn all along the road.
When the Israelites returned from pursuing the Philistines, they plundered their camps. David took Goliath’s head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put Goliath’s weapons in his own tent.
The Lessons:
- King Saul and the army of Israel were intimidated by the size of the giant. When David first volunteered to go fight Goliath, they tried to make him use armor and normal battle weapons. David went into battle without armor. David trusted in God to protect him and work through him.
- When this story is told to children, David is often portrayed as a child. The context of the chapters before this one tells us that David was young and inexperienced in battle, but he was a young adult.
- There’s an old song that says, “Little is much when God is in it.” That’s what David believed. His weapons for the battle were small stones that he found in a creek. He knew God could use those stones greatly.
- David knew where his success came from. He later wrote, “The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation.” [Psalm 118:14] (CSB) This was also part of a song sung by Moses after God had led the people of Israel through the Red Sea.
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