Finding Suitable Armor: David Versus Goliath

Finding Suitable Armor: David Versus Goliath

1 Samuel 17:32–39 NKJV

Then David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”

And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”

But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.” Moreover David said, “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”

And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”

So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail. David fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them.” So David took them off.

This week’s lectionary text from the Old Testament is the story of David versus Goliath, which has been a favorite for Vacation Bible Schools everywhere. It is packed with action and drama which captures the interest of children. From this, the children learn about the triumph of underdogs. Everyone roots for the underdog to succeed unless one is Goliath, of course. There is also the theme of the triumph of good over evil. In a spiritual sense, they learn that God helps the underdog. All well and good, but there is more to the story. what is the deeper lesson taught by this passage.

The text begins in verse 32 of chapter 17 in 1 Samuel. We read just the beginning part of the long narrative, verses 32-39. What had just happened in the previous verses is that we are told that Israel was at war with the Philistines. As war was costly in human lives, the two sides would agree to send one representative to fight a representative from the other side in hand-to-hand combat, The winner’s side took all. But lives were spared. Of course, each side would want to be represented by the very best champion they had. This challenge to have Israel’s champion fight the Philistine champion.

The Philistines indeed had an incredibly powerful champion to offer, Goliath of Gath, who belonged to a race of giants. It is hard to tell just how large Goliath was because we don’t know the length of a Hebrew cubit at the time. But it was safe to say he was well over 7 feet tall with a very muscular build. He was so big that he had an armor-bearer bear his shield before him. The Philistines had every reason to believe that Goliath would slay anyone that Israel could put up against him. So they taunted Israel constantly. The result was that Israel was terrified.

Who would serve as champion in this struggle? We only need turn to King Saul, a man who had shown himself to be valiant in battle. The Bible says that he was a tall man who stood head and shoulders over his fellow Israelites. I would estimate that he would then have been around six-and-a-half feet tall. He also had a suit of armor, one of the very few Israelites that did as the Philistines exerted control over iron and the means of sharpening instruments. But Saul was no Goliath.

There were several able warriors among the sons of Jesse, David’s brothers. Samuel was much impressed with them, although God was not. They would not accept the challenge to take on Goliath either. David did not go to war with his seven brothers. He was young and considered too insignificant to go to war. And someone had to stay behind to take care of Jesse’s sheep.

But the opportunity came one day when David was asked to take food that had been fixed for his brothers to the front. It was at this time that he heard the taunts of Goliath. He also had heard that the man who killed Goliath would be given the king’s daughter in marriage and have great riches. So he enquired and found it to be so. When David’s older brother heard it, he strongly rebuked what he saw as the ambitiousness of his youngest brother. He may have been trying to protect him. Basically, he told David to go back and keep the sheep.