David And Goliath--Part 2 Series

Scripture

We continue our sermon series on “The Life of David.” Today I want to examine the story of “David and Goliath—Part 2.”

Israel’s first king was a man named Saul. He was head and shoulders taller than anyone else in Israel. However, because of his blatant disobedience of the Lord’s command, the Bible says that “the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him” (1 Samuel 16:14).

The Lord then sent the prophet Samuel to anoint David to be the next king over Israel. At the time of his anointing, David was perhaps as young as twelve years old.

Later, Saul summoned David to play the lyre to calm his spirit. Presumably, for a number of years, David alternated between the king’s residence, where he served as a musician, and his own father’s home, where he served as a shepherd.

Then the Philistines gathered their armies for battle against Israel. But, instead of the two armies slugging it out, the Philistines put forward a champion named Goliath of Gath, who was nine feet nine inches tall. The Israelites thought that Saul was tall, but Goliath was probably still more than three feet taller than their tall Saul! Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not 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” (1 Samuel 17:8-9). Goliath shouted his challenge to the Israelites twice a day for forty days. But no-one, not even King Saul, was willing to accept Goliath’s challenge. Indeed, all the men of Israel, when they saw Goliath, fled from him and were much afraid (17:24).

Meanwhile, David’s father Jesse sent him to find out how his three brothers were doing. When David arrived at the camp, he heard Goliath’s challenge. He was shocked to hear Goliath’s defiance. 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?” (17:26). This sets the scene for what happens next.

Let’s read about David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:31-40:

31 When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him. 32 And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. 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, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” 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.” 37 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 Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”

38 Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, 39 and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” So David put them off. 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. (1 Samuel 17:31-40)

Introduction

Jim Nicodem writes that Dr. Gerald Hawthorne was his favorite professor in college. He was a good professor because he loved teaching and he loved his students. He so communicated that you were his favorite student, no matter who you were, that you wanted to do your best for him. In fact, when he would call on a student and a student would shrug his shoulders and say he didn’t do the homework, everybody would look at that person like, You slug. How could you not do your homework for Dr. Hawthorne?