INTRODUCTION
Today we’re returning to our series on ‘Learning from David’ and looking at the subject of ‘David the warrior.’
I thought we’d look at this subject this way. We’ll start by thinking about David and consider three questions. Did David fight? Why did he fight? And how did he fight? Then we’ll look at how this relates to Jesus. Finally, we’ll look at how it relates to us.
I’m going to be thinking mainly about fighting in a military context, not fighting temptation or fighting crime or fighting cancer or fighting corruption. I’m thinking about military battles, not spiritual battles or political battles.
DID DAVID FIGHT?
David’s achievements as a warrior and a military commander seem to me unparalleled. Let me run through some of them.
FIGHTER
As a young shepherd David struck down both lions and bears. Saul appointed David as his armour bearer. He would only have done that if David was a capable fighter. Then David fought Goliath. David ran towards the giant, slung a stone – and the fight was over. David was definitely a FIGHTER.
MILITARY OFFICER
After David had defeated Goliath, Saul set him over the men of war [1 Samuel 18:5]. A little further on, the Bible tells us that Saul made David a commander of a thousand [1 Samuel 18:13]. Today, you would probably have to be a lieutenant-colonel to be in charge of a unit of 1,000 soldiers. David was a MILITARY OFFICER, and a senior one at that.
FUGITIVE
Later, however, Saul was envious of David and saw him as a threat. He turned against David and David fled. There’s a lesson here. We may think that a good warrior stands his ground. A good warrior is not a quitter. But the fact that David fled reminds us that a good warrior doesn’t always fight. Flight may be a better option. At this point, David was a FUGITIVE.
GUERILLA COMMANDER
After fleeing from Saul, David moved around a lot. Sometimes he was in wildernesses in Judea. The last place he stayed in during this time was a town in Philistine territory called Ziklag. When David was in Judea, Saul hunted for him. About 400 men gathered around David. But even though David was being hunted, he fought. On one occasion, David heard that the Philistines were attacking a town called Keilah and went and rescued it. In the wilderness David and his men learned how to move at a moment’s notice, how to hide and how to attack with stealth. David learned to be a GUERILLA COMMANDER.
HEAD OF HOSTAGE RESCUE
Once, David and the soldiers with him were away from Ziklag for about three days. When they returned, they found that a group of Amalekites – a nomadic people – had carried out a raid against Ziklag. They had taken the women and children and gone on their way.
In the United States, the FBI has a specialist team called the Hostage Rescue Team. Its motto is ‘Servare Vitas’, which means ‘To save lives.’ It is one of the most highly-trained military units in the United States. The operatives in the team know how to fast-rope out of helicopters. They are excellent marksmen and experts in close-quarters tactics.
David and his men needed to free their wives and children. David had to become the HEAD OF A HOSTAGE RESCUE TEAM.
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF
Later, David became king of Israel. As such, he was Commander-in-Chief of the army – as King Charles is today.
After becoming king, David conquered Jerusalem and made it his capital. He, or the forces he commanded, defeated the Philistines, the Moabites, the Arameans, the Ammonites, the Amalekites and the Edomites [2 Samuel 8:12].
We can’t imagine a British king today going to the front line and David didn’t lead all these campaigns himself. But he was clearly active as a soldier until late in his life. David’s military career started with him fighting a giant and it ended with him fighting another giant. David almost got killed and after that, David’s men told David not to go with them into battle any more.
I asked, ‘Did David fight?’ He clearly did! He fought in a whole range of capacities.
We shouldn’t just skip over the fact that David fought.
Does the fact that David fought mean that fighting is OK? Some Christians think that fighting is never OK. But the Bible says that David was a man after God’s heart [1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22]. David got some things wrong. But he got a lot of things right. It looks as though when David was fighting, he was displaying God’s heart. Is God a warrior? Yes, he is! Exodus 15:3 tells us straightforwardly, ‘The Lord is a warrior’ [NASB]. So, when David fought, he was displaying God’s heart. It means that it’s right to fight, in some situations at least.
WHY DID DAVID FIGHT?
Let’s return to Ziklag. David and his men had carried out raids from Ziklag. But, as I mentioned, there was an occasion when they returned to Ziklag and found that the town had been raided by a group of Amalekites. The Amalekites had taken their wives and children. David and his men pursued the Amalekites, fought them, and freed their wives and children. Why did they do that? For the same reason as the Hostage Rescue Team rescues hostages: to save lives.
So, why did David fight? The Bible doesn’t give us the reasons for every battle David fought. But sometimes the reasons are obvious. David fought with lions and bears to save his sheep from being eaten. He fought with Goliath to defeat the Philistine army which was attacking Israel. He went to the defence of Keilah when the Philistine army was attacking it. David fought to save lives and sometimes, to save Israel.
HOW DID DAVID FIGHT?
I’d like to return to the hostage rescue. It’s a great illustration of how David fought.
From the time David fled to the Cave of Adullam, men started to gather around him. At the time he was in Ziklag, about 600 men had joined him, along with their families. The Bible tells us that these men ‘were bowmen and could shoot arrows and sling stones with either the right or the left hand’. There was also a group of Gadites who were ‘mighty and experienced warriors, expert with shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions and who were swift as gazelles upon the mountains’ [1 Chronicles 11 and 12 and 2 Samuel 23]. These 600 warriors were the elite force of their day.
David and his men had returned to Ziklag to find that the town had been burned and their wives and children had been taken captive. What would they do?
David asks the priest to bring him the ephod. We know that an ephod was part of a priest’s garment but we don’t know how it was used to obtain guidance. But the Bible tells us, ‘David enquired of the Lord, “Shall I pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them?” God answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue”’ [1 Samuel 30].
David asked God what to do and God told him! This is IMPORTANT! To fight a battle, you should get guidance! And there’s no better guidance than God’s guidance.
David then set out with his six hundred men. To catch the Amalekites, I assume that David and his men ran. I would have loved to see that! 600 warriors, carrying bows and arrows or spears and shields, and probably some food and water, running together at a steady pace, eating up the miles. But at some point, two hundred of David’s men were exhausted and dropped out. Four hundred continued. David and his men then found the Amalekites. Then the account tells us: ‘And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled.’
The Bible says that not a man escaped except for four hundred young men. There must have been a lot of Amalekites there if the four hundred young men hardly counted. But David and his men only numbered 400 men themselves! They had had a long pursuit. Then they fought the Amalekites for 24 hours. At the end, David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. This was an exceptional military achievement.
When I was preparing for this talk, I read some thoughts on David as a warrior by an American called Luisa Rodriguez. Rodriguez had worked as a military analyst and strategist. She comments: ‘In the Bible, men are expected to fight.’ I liked that! Either the Bible is sexist or Rodriguez is, or both! But let’s be happy, men! There’s a job for us! Rodriguez continues, ‘There are no better examples of fierce warriors than King David’s mighty men.’ Today, we’ve taken a look at them!
After returning, David acknowledged that God had given them success. He said, ‘He has preserved us and given into our hand the band that came against us.’
David sought God’s guidance before the pursuit and afterwards he acknowledged that God had given them success.
I asked, ‘How did David fight?’ The thing that came across loud and clear for me is that when David fought, he did so in absolute dependence on God. He knew and acknowledged that his success came from the fact that God was with him. The writer of 1 Samuel totally agrees. He comments, ‘And David had success in all his undertakings, FOR THE LORD WAS WITH HIM’ [1 Samuel 18:14].
When I say that David fought in absolute dependence on God, he CONSULTED WITH GOD before the battle. He went into the battle TRUSTING THAT GOD WOULD BE WITH HIM. After the battle, he ACKNOWLEDGED GOD. But there is something even deeper than that. David had a living relationship with God. He was walking with God. We know that David prayed a lot, and some of his psalms show that he loved God’s word. He is a great example to us.
If you can only remember one thing from today’s talk, I hope you’ll remember this. The decisive factor in a battle is having God with us. If we want to win battles, we need to follow David’s example in maintaining our relationship with God. If we fall away from God, if we allow sin to separate us from God, if we give into doubts and fears, then we’ll be found out when we find ourselves in a battle.
We’ve asked, DID DAVID FIGHT? WHY DID HE FIGHT? And HOW DID HE FIGHT? Let’s move on to the final part of this talk. How does this apply to Jesus and how we can apply it to ourselves?
HOW THIS APPLIES TO JESUS
In my first talk in this series, I said that one big reason why David is important is that he’s a ‘type’ for Jesus. But we might think, ‘But David was a warrior! Jesus isn’t a warrior!’ If we think that, we’re mistaken.
When Jesus entered our world 2,000 years ago, he came as the Lamb. The world needed Jesus the Lamb to save it. We know Jesus as the sacrificial lamb who died in our place.
But Jesus is also the Lion of the tribe of Judah. But we don’t know Jesus in that role.
Nonetheless this is a picture of Jesus we see in Revelation. Jesus will come again. When he does, he will no longer be riding a donkey. This time, he’ll be on a white horse. He will judge and make war. He will carry a sharp sword. The armies of heaven will be following him. They will all, like Jesus, be on white horses [Revelation 19].
We need Jesus the Lamb AND we need Jesus the Lion. Jesus the Lamb has dealt with the penalty of sin. But we need Jesus the Lion to destroy Satan and his agents and everyone who lines up with them. Then we will be delivered from the evil in the world. In David, we see this side of Jesus.
HOW THIS RELATES TO US
Earlier, I quoted a verse which said that God is a warrior. David was certainly a warrior. Jesus will come again as a warrior. There are times when WE need to be warriors too.
A little over ten years ago, Islamic State burst onto the scene in the Middle East, cutting people’s heads off, raping women and committing genocide. They had to be stopped. Britain sent soldiers. I imagine that none of us will ever be directly involved in a conflict like this. But I hope we’ll say to ourselves about some battles, ‘This is a battle which SHOULD be fought.’
There are times when Christians have to fight. We need to be ready and willing to fight if we can or support the people who do fight. And we need to remember the lessons we’ve looked at, about HOW to fight.
CONCLUSION
To conclude this talk I’d like to remind you of the things we’ve looked at.
DID DAVID FIGHT? Yes, he did! His example reminds us that there are times to fight.
WHY DID DAVID FIGHT? Often, David and his men fought to save people. There are people today who need to be saved too. Are WE willing to fight for them?
HOW DID DAVID FIGHT? The key to David’s success was that God was with him. David certainly made mistakes. But the big picture is that he was a man after God’s heart. He knew what God loved and didn’t love. He acknowledged God at every point and trusted God to give him success. For us to win our battles, this will be critical for us too.
HOW DOES IT RELATE TO JESUS? David shows us an aspect of what Jesus is like which we may miss.
HOW DOES IT RELATE TO US? We need to understand that there are some battles which should be fought. And we’ve seen that if we’re getting into battle, the critical factor is whether God is with us. And that has something to do with us.
Talk given at Rosebery Park Baptist Church, Bournemouth, UK, 22nd September 2024, 10.30 a.m. service.
