1 Samuel 17

If you brought a copy of Scripture with you this morning, you can find first Samuel and the 17th chapter. First Samuel 17.

We live in a day where courage is more necessary than ever before. In 1964, the Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously replied when he was asked to define obscenity or pornography, he said,

“I can’t describe it with words, but I know it when I see it.”

Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart

I think the same thing could be said about courage, literally, and I read dozens and dozens of definitions from believers and non-believers alike, because everybody likes courage… and they all… every single definition… comes up short. Read some good ones. None of them very complete. But I think courage is one of those things where you would say, ‘Yeah. I know it… when I see it.’

David was a portrait of courage. The story of David and Goliath always ranks toward the top of stories of favorites in the Bible. In fact, just before our very first service, during a special prayer time, there was a five year old in our room, And I said to him, I said, “Hey, what’s your favorite story in the Bible?” He goes, “David and Goliath!” Boom shaka laka! It’s hard to fathom a more courageous story. You might throw in the three Hebrews when they were chucked in the fire. That ranks up there pretty high.

But the date line as we said is around a thousand last week. It’s post a thousand BC, right in that neck of the woods. In chapter 17 we might be creeping into the 900 BC time frame.

Saul is the king. He’s the first king over united Israel and he’s on a downward trend. He’s probably been a king for about 30 years. Remember, his reign would go 40, and he’s already been told back in 1 Samuel 13 and many years earlier, maybe even as early as his second year on the job, that his reign was going to come to an end. It’s literally going to be taken from him and given to another man. Now, he is facing in the 17 chapter, he’s facing his ongoing nemesis, the Philistines. In fact, we’re told at the very end of [1 Samuel] chapter 14 that Saul was constantly at war with the Philistines, and because of that, and because he was such a woose, he kept aligning himself with “valiant and strong,” quote unquote, men who would sort of buttress his strength as a king. Apparently he didn’t get one strong enough, because they weren’t stepping up to the plate, not in this story anyway. And my prayer is that I can kind of get out of the way, because this is one of those narratives that pretty much preaches itself.

That said, we pick it up in verse 2 where it says:

1 Samuel 17:2-4a

2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered, and encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines.

3 And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them.

4 And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath…”

Now he’s a “champion.” I mean, he’s even named. They give him a name here. And the word “champion,” by the way, just means “a man between two”. The idea is a man standing between two armies here. This is Goliath. I think every Philistine boy had a Fat Head of Goliath on his wall. Actually in… true story… in 2005, archaeologists digging around the area of Gath, the very city where Goliath was from, found a Philistine inscription on a shard of pottery, dating 950 BC. And you know what it says? And it’s highlighted in what you’re looking at. You know what that word is? “Goliath.”

Now they’re in the valley of Elah. And some of you, if you’ve visit Israel you’ve been there. This is very picturesque the scene. On one side you have the Philistines. On the other side you have the Israelites, and there’s this flat plane in between where the supposed fight is going to take place.

Now if you’re a boxing fan or an MMA fighting fan, you’re familiar with what they call the “Tail of the Tape.” That’s when they put the two fighters up there and they list all of their physical prowess as an attribute like their height, their weight, their chest size, their bicep size and their reach, and all this kind of stuff, as if it’s going to determine the result of the fight. I’d show you a tale of the tape between Goliath of Gath and David of Bethlehem… except David hadn’t shown up yet.

Here’s Goliath’s, and it’s impressive! The Bible tells us in [1 Samuel 17] verses 4-7, this dude is 9 foot 9 inches tall. He is truly a giant! Now, admittedly, there are textural variants like the Dead Sea Scrolls that list him as 6’9″ and some of you are thinking, ‘Ah, 6’9″, that’s nothing.‘ Well think about this. The average height of a Jewish soldier in 1000 BC was 5’5.” Any way you look at it, it was like LeBron James next to Danny DeVito. So let’s pick it up in verse 8 and the narrative. Verse 8.

[1 Samuel 17:8-10]

8 He stood (Goliath stood) and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle?

(By the way, that’s what they would do in Bible times. Whenever they did this, repeatedly for over a month the armies would march so far and they would go, “Arhhhh!” They’d start yelling. It’s kind of like when you go to a sporting event today and they’re all kind of doing the same. They’re all getting all hyped up, you know? I think they probably, the sporting events have gotten it from this! That’s what they did. And that’s why he’s asking, ‘Why are you doing that?’)

Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me.

9 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.”

10 And the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.”

So here is Goliath standing in the valley and telling them, “Choose a man!” Now other than Greek mythology with, you know, Achilles and Hector, we don’t have a lot of examples, but apparently this existed from time to time, and instead of slaughtering thousands of people, you’ve got two besties going at it to determine winner takes all. The bottom line is who should have gone out and faced Goliath? Saul! [1 Samuel 17] Chapter 9 verse 2 says:

1 Samuel 9:2, ‘He was so tall, he was head and shoulders taller than anybody else.’

And, plus, he was a king. He was the likely one who should have gone out there but, like the rest of his army, he was a chicken! So that’s the drama of the scene.

Now at this point, in [1Samuel 17] verses 12 through 13, the drama sort of shifts from the battle lines, and Goliath defying them, to 15 miles away.

Meanwhile back in Bethlehem… there’s a conversation going on between an aging father, Jesse, and his baby boy, who’s not a baby anymore, but he’s watching the sheep. Remember that from the last time? And he says, ‘Hey, David, I want you to go over to the fight. I want you to bring these supplies. Give them to your brothers. Make sure they’re taken care of, and dialogue with them. See how it goes with them. Bring back some report for me,’ —is basically what he says. So David does that.

Now mind you, [1 Samuel 17] verse 16 tells us that in the meantime, they have been lined up on these two mountain sides with Goliath coming out in the middle for 40 days, and Goliath comes out twice every day. Do the math… that’s 80 times defying them! ‘Choose a man. Bring a man to me… Mono a mono.’ And David comes in, sees his brothers. He’s interacting with them. ‘How’s it going?’ — going back and forth, giving them the stuff… and Goliath comes out for the 81st time and does the same thing. Why do I tell you that? Well, ’cause it’s in the text for one. And the other is, at the very end of the 23rd verse, (I love this!) you can almost miss it.

1 Samuel 17:23, “And David heard him.”

So while the army had heard him for 81 times, he’s hearing it for the first time, and his reaction would be visceral and spiritual. Moving on to [1 Samuel 17] verse 24. skip down to verse 24:

1 Samuel 17:24-25a

24 All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid.

25 And the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel…”

(I want you to notice how the army describes Goliath ’cause if you skip down to verse 26. It says this.)

26 And David said to the men who stood by him, “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?”

Do you see the difference? To the Israeli army, Goliath was defying them. To David, he was defying God… and that made all the difference!

Now, we have these, the dramas within the drama here. So enter Eliab, the oldest of Jesse’s boys. Remember him? He was the first strapping dude paraded before Samuel in the last chapter when David was chosen? [1 Samuel 17] verse 28:

1 Samuel 17:28

28 Now Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep… (He couldn’t help himself!) (congregation laughing) in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.”

He can’t help himself. He so despises his little brother. On the other hand, it’s been 40 days. You can imagine the pent up frustration and bitterness as they go every day, ‘Arghhhh!’ — and then nothing happens, and nobody challenges Goliath. And he’s bitter! He’s bitter about the circumstances, but he’s even more bitter at his little brother who not long before had the anointing oil poured over him as the next coming king of Israel. David is his source of bitterness, and he accused… ‘You’re just showing up for the show!’ David, on the other hand, is incredulous! He’s beside himself! ‘What?’ I mean, David’s like, ‘Well, what have I done?’ In fact, I love the old King James. It says that at this point it says:

1 Samuel 17:29 (KJV) “Is there not a cause?“

That’s David. And now… talk about preaching for itself! Skip down to [1 Samuel 17] verse 32. So what’s happening here is David’s… David is, he is so incensed and he’s talking about who’s going to kill this, this, this Philistine. The word trickles back to Saul and David is brought to Saul. And now David is interacting with the king who should have been out there in battle in verse 32.

1 Samuel 17:32-36

32 And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. (Goliath) Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”

33 And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, ‘you’re just a kid. He’s been fighting since he was a kid.’

34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock,

35 I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him.”

36 “Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”

36 And David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” (And I love the next line!) And Saul ‘goes… ‘Okay!’

That’s like the most shocking thing in this whole story! ‘Okay…You’re it!’  But you talk about courage… That’s courage! That’s David. I mean I… notice how… Saul says, ‘You’re just a kid! He’s been fighting since he was a kid!’ Yeah, I love what David does! He doesn’t respond by saying, ‘Well, have you ever seen me sling a stone? I mean, you think he’s a champion. I’ve taken first place in Bethlehem Stone slinging contest three years running!’ (Laughter) But he does lay down some pretty serious credentials here. Did you see that? ‘I’ve killed lions and bears…’ not foxes and coyotes. He’s been killing the top of the food chain! These are apex predators! Remember that. And Saul says, ‘Go!’ He’s delusional, because in Saul’s mind, it’s just mono-a-mono. It’s just hand to hand. I mean, that’s the way you fight in one of these situations. ‘So here’s my armor. Put my stuff on.’ You know, David’s, you know, like a… whatever. He’s like a size 14 in youth and Saul’s like triple X, and he’s putting all this mail on him, putting all this stuff on. And David’s not going to have anything with it. So in [1 Samuel 17] verses 38 and 39, he quickly discards Saul’s plan to outfit him. And then [1 Samuel 17] verse 40.

1 Samuel 17:40, “Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.”

It’s kind of funny. When you… not funny. (rather humorous, though!) When I studied this text which is so popular and has been so popularized and so written about and preached on, you know, ad nauseam, probably, and some expositors say, ‘Well, he took five stones,’ and they start to read into those five stones. ‘Why don’t you just take one? Why five? — Because there is a text later on in 2 Samuel that tells us that Goliath had four strapping giant boys.’ Did you know that? And so these expositors say, ‘Well, David took five because after he killed off Goliath, he’s had four more to knock off them if they came after him.’ That’s about as dumb as you could possibly think! David didn’t even know about those sons of Goliath. So why five stones? It’s not rocket science here. While he was trusting, he wasn’t presumptuous.

And so, now we can give the tale of the tape between Goliath of Gath and David of Bethlehem, and it’s a stark difference! I mean anybody who looked at this would call Goliath a sporting event. He’s a 40 point favorite, Goliath is. Right? So back to the drama, [1 Samuel 17] verse 41.

1 Samuel 17:41-44

41 And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David, (now he sees him) with his shield-bearer in front of him.

42 And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. (Which I think is really interesting. Can you imagine, you’re going out in a fight and you’re like, ‘Man, he’s a really good looking kid!’)

43 And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

44 The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.” (So Goliath’s intent is to fill David with fear before he killed him with his sword. Now mind you, the sword would get used, but not by Goliath.)

The other day our nation was shocked and so were many of you, understandably so, when Charlie Kirk, fervent Christian, political activist, was murdered in public. Regardless of your political affections, he was a fervent follower of Jesus. Just two months before Charlie was killed, he was interviewed, and this is what he said. ‘If everything completely goes away. How do you want to be remembered?’ ‘You mean, if I die?’ ‘Everything just goes away. How would you, if you could be associated with one thing, how would you want to be remembered?’

“I want to be remembered for courage for my faith. That would be the most important thing. Most important thing is my faith.”  Charlie Kirk

“I want to be remembered for courage for my faith.” Mission accomplished, Charlie! Mission accomplished. (congregation applauding)

Now back to this drama, because David is just… and his God has just been defied, and in verse 45.

1 Samuel 17:45-47

45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and 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, (heaven, that’s literally what that means) whom you have defied.

46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. (You’ve got to love that!) And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,

47 and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’S, and he will give you into our hand.” Ohh…!

David calls Him the Lord of Host. Literally, the Hebrew says the “host” means “the massing together.” David is literally calling on the God of the armies of heaven. This is a fixed fight!

Several years ago, I was teaching along the banks of the Crow Wing River up in Minnesota, a high school camp. About 60 or 70 high schoolers did a canoe trip. And just a blast preaching the Gospel to them! — Lots of them coming to Jesus. But on this one particular year, there was this guy, he was a young guy, but he was massive! — really big, super strong, and he was a wrestler, (Greatest sport of all time!) and he found out that I was a wrestler. So day one, he taunted me! “You and me… mono a mono. We’re gonna wrestle!” Day two — taunted me. Day three… it was upsettin’ me! — ’cause he was b…! Sizing him up, a little bit like, ‘Ee-ee!’ But I came up with an idea. So, on day three, we had a tug of war. We were … the camp had a big beach, lots of sand, and so we had a 50-foot rope and we did a tug of war. And so we had the rope, we had, you know… half the kids on one side, half the kids on the other… And… I said to him, “Hey!… you and me… mono a mono on that rope. Just you and me.” He goes, “Deai!” So we both grabbed each side and went back and forth. I had all the kids encircle us as we went. And we started going… I started pulling that rope! He’s digging and kicking up sand, and I just pulled him right across. (Pumps his chest) “Win!” (Laughter) I said, “Want to do it again?” “Yeah! We did it again. He got that rope, I just pulled … He’s kicking up sand everywhere all the way across! Now … I won!” — And what he didn’t know was I had had the rope… went way back behind the circle. (Laughter) I had five guys on the other side! (audience laughing) Boom shaka laka! That was a fixed tug of war!

So, David had the armies of heaven pulling for him. He called on them. It was fixed! And so, verse 48:

1 Samuel 17:48-49 

48 “When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.

49 And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. (The only area of his body that would have been exposed) The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.” (So David’s stone had more than accuracy. It had velocity! Sunk…. He fell forward)

Verse 50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, (I love that!) and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David…” yet!

51 Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.”

So, for the balance of our time, we’re talking about courage. I’m gonna take advantage of those five stones, if you don’t mind, and from this story talk about five stones of courage that you should have as a follower of Jehovah-Sabaoth, the God of all the armies of heaven.

And here’s the first stone, refused to be discouraged by the pessimist. David had two; Eliab and Saul. The one questioned David’s motives. The other his abilities. And while we all need criticism, the pessimist, and if you’re one of them, pessimists always operate outside of the realm of faith. They just can’t see God in an individual who might be fixing to do something of great exploit. So refuse to be discouraged by them in your life. Move forward.

Secondly, react. React to God’s name being despised. You know, counselors will tell you when it comes to having a good dialogue or an argument, you should act not react. I think that’s good, but it’s overstated. Sometimes, especially in the name of God as being defied,  a reaction is called for, and David did that. And by the way, I’m not advocating stupid reactions.

When Charlie Kirk was assassinated, social media blew up! it’s still blowing up! — understandably so. I’ll be candid. I was disappointed with some of the posts by a number of Christians, some from this church. I literally rolled my eyes at one man, living a reprobate life and acting all noble. What hypocrisy!

That’s Eliab. That was Eliab going all noble… but he wasn’t noble. We need to listen to what the Apostle Paul said when it comes to our conflicts. Paul said:

“Fight the good fight of the faith.” 1 Timothy 6:12a.

When he said that, he was implying there is such thing as a bad fight. Stay away from the bad fights. An even better counsel in Romans 12, Paul says:

Romans 12:21, “Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil (you CAN overcome it!) with good.”

That’s how you do it. You preach the Gospel! You live out the Christian life! That’s the best way you can combat evil is act like a Christian! — if you are one… and I never assume everybody is one that’s here. So, refuse to be discouraged by the pessimists and react when God’s name is despised doing good.

Remember your past victories. There’s another saying… That’s what David did. (I love this!) There are three times he mentions lions and bears, not foxes and coyotes. David was allowing the memories of his former successes to inspire him in the now, and you should do that.

Countless times in my life as a minister of the Gospel, I have had times where I was down, where I was opposed, where I was confronted, where I was falsely accused. And Psalm 143, verse five has served me on many occasions. Where David said when he was in one of those funks, he said… and watch this. He said:

Psalm 143:5, “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.”

Have you ever read that? That’ll take you out of your funk, because it’s one of those stones of courage to remember your past victories.

Fourth, resort to the abilities God has given you. Resort to the abilities God has given you. You remember in [1Samuel 17] verse 40, he grabs a couple of stones. I mean, Saul tried to outfit him. He wasn’t gifted that way. Now I’m gonna say something that might trouble some of you. Do you think all this was a miracle? It was not a miracle! David… don’t give me wrong. God was behind him. He called on the armies of heaven, for crying out loud, and got it! — But David wasn’t just using a slingshot. A sling… They were called “slingers.” He was a slinger. Slingers were deadly marksmen. The best of them could sling a stone with the trajectory of a 45 caliber bullet. Over a hundred yards, they could even hit birds in flight. If you don’t believe me, look in the Bible. Judges to chapter 20, verse 16, tells us there were 700 of them who could hit the hair on your head. Why am I doing this? Am I trying to destroy your… throw a wet blanket over your childhood dreams? No. I’m telling you that David’s courage wasn’t a pipe dream. It came from years of practice protecting his sheep. And I believe with every fiber of my being and my prayer is that there will be young men and women, especially young men, right here in this room, watching online, that will do great exploits for God. Great exploits for God! Maybe the next Charlie Kirk, maybe the next David Brainerd, maybe the next Jim Elliot… meteors and meteorites landing in this world and making a difference for Jesus Christ. And if you are destined for great exploits in this life, it will not come without a lot of practice behind the scenes.

And finally, the final stone is the most obvious. Rely on the Lord. Verse 45. You’ve gotta read it again, don’t cha?

1 Samuel 17:45b, ‘You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of Jehovah Sabaoth, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied.‘ (Arghhh!)

It’s not… ‘You might have a sword, but I’ve got a sling.’ He said ‘You might have an army on earth, but I’ve got the armies in heaven on my side and a general over them all named the living God.’ You go about life like that, that will produce… even if you can’t define it… Courage.

And God, give us courage. And so let’s not forget that behind all of this there is a greater David; Jesus, the Son of David. Right? — Is the greater David. And if you think about it, He was sent by His Father.

[John 3:16-17]

16 ‘For God so loved the world that He gave (sent) His One and only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17 For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.“

Amen? — and some of you need to be saved. You need to put your heart on the greater David who was sent by His Father. Jesus, the greater David, was misunderstood and falsely accused… just like David — misunderstood by many, falsely accused by His own brothers! — just like David. And then, this is the greatest… connection and contrast of them all. While David did… while David did what no one else would, the greater David did what no one else could. No one else could die for your sins. No one else could absorb the wrath of God. No one else could take every transgression you’ve ever committed or ever will commit and absorb them into his own flesh! — but Jesus did! And:

[2 Corinthians 5:21] ‘God made Him who knew no sin, to become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God… in Him.’

Courage! You can’t define it… but I know it when I see it. Let’s pray.

Our Father in heaven, we thank You. We thank You for Your word. We thank You for this great story. We thank You for the life of David and for what a portrait of courage he is: reacted when you were defied, and used the abilities that You had given him through his own practice, and by Your armies from heaven, You directed the entire thing, fixed, so to speak, and brought about a great victory. Whatever Goliaths we might be facing, Lord, You’re so much greater. And speaking of which, we thank You for the greater David, our Lord Jesus, sent by you, Father, misunderstood, falsely accused, and we love You, Lord Jesus, because while the former David did what no one else would, Lord Jesus, You did what no one else could! And we pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen. Let’s stand. [Music]