Duck That Stone!

Duck That Stone- Dr. Adlai Naidoo

Text:

1 Sam 17:1-11

1 Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim.

2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines.

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

4 And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

5 And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass.

6 And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders.

7 And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.

8 And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.

9 If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.

10 And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.

11 When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.

(KJV)

Introduction:

In ancient times...geography played an important role in warfare...because fighting was restricted to ground combat!

In the middle of this confrontation is a valley. In the Scripture mountains are usually referred to.

Here we have the valley referred to in stead.

It is about a mile wide and it runs from Jerusalem to the Mediterranean Sea.

(25) miles west of Jerusalem the Philistines have come to battle the Israelites.

The Philistines on one side of the valley on an upward slope.

The Israelites on the other side.

Between them stood the valley...for war!

The Battle Was To Focus Upon (2) Individuals...

1. The Philistine’s Champion

His gods were Dagon a fish like god! and Baalzebub the fly god!

His military advantage...

v. 4 And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath of Gath.

The war-minded Philistines were a continuous threat to the Israelite farmers.

Around 1200 B.C. iron came into use in the area and the Philistines with the knowledge of smelting...gained a quick advantage with this metal.

Goliath was their champion.

About 9 feet 9 inches tall or 3 to 4 feet taller than the average Jew, his helmet, shin guards, spear, and javelin were manufactured bronze.

His scaled coat weighed approximately 175-200 pounds.

The shaft of his spear was like the beam on a weavers shuttle.

The Historian Josephus stated:

It was so large that he carried it strapped over his shoulder and he carried it like a tree.

The head of the spear weighed 20-25 lbs.

Chuck Swindoll stated:

Goliath reminds me of the cross-eyed discus thrower...he didn’t set any records but he sure kept the crowd awake.

He himself weighed about 550 lbs.

Day-after-day...he paraded along the slopes of the valley elah throwing out threats and belching out...blasphemies across the creek.

The Israelites couldn’t find a champion.

Cowards were a dime a dozen!

The only noise coming from the camp of the Israelites were knocking knees and that in unison!

Goliath was eminently successful with his basic strategy....of fear!

He "sounded like 20 out of tune...tuba’s" for 40 days morning and night!

But the dawn of that 41st day brought the end of a giant.

Individuals # 2

Coming from 10 miles away was the second individual or should I say a boy. He was a handsome...ruddy teenager...the runt of the litter!

Sent by his father to bring some cheese and crackers to his older brothers at war.

He was fresh from the anointing of God.

Fresh from communion with his "shepherd" and feeding in fertile green valleys...

From head-to-toe ... here stood a man of God!

Can you imagine with me the scene he visualized as he came into the camp of Israel.

He could here the clanging of metal armor as Israel would go thru its marching drills.

Acting like a finely tuned army as it marched to its cadence.