The Eighteen Similarities Between David & Goliath And Jesus & Satan

Introduction

The story of David and Goliath is the story of the battle between good and evil. Goliath is the abomination, who profanes the name of God, while David, the saint of God, defends God's honour. Both David and Goliath are zealous to the extreme, that is, unto death. Goliath's zeal to profane the name of God is just as great as David’s zeal to defend the God of Israel.

As with all battles between good and evil, this battle is unto death. Either you destroy the evil or it will destroy you. This theme appears repeatedly in scripture.

David is one of the greatest typologies of Christ. The story of David is about a shepherd boy, despised by his brethren who is trying to save Israel at a time of dire physical suffering and spiritual apostasy. These circumstances alone should make us search for deeper meanings in the stories of David and Goliath and Jesus and Satan. For example, Goliath's death by a fatal wound in the head

(1 Sam.17:49) can be compared to Revelation 13:3:

And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

Let us look back to Gen.3:15, again connecting David and the stone with the seed of the woman (Christ), and equating Goliath with the seed of the serpent. Some etymologists believe "Philistine" means 'one who rolls in the dust, i.e., a serpent. Significantly, Goliath is described several times as "the Philistine".

Furthermore, the number six (6), being the number of the flesh, is significant in Goliath’s life because:

1. his height was six cubits and a span...

2. his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels

3. and he had six pieces of armour

Thus 666;

Is it not possible that "the man of sin" in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 refers back to Goliath as his prototype?

“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition”.

Goliath represented the seed of the serpent (i.e. the biblical devil). He needed a man to fight him. The men of Israel cowered in fear, wishing they could have the necessary strength and courage, but they helplessly looked to one another as the invincible giant made his boasts. How to overcome Goliath, and the evil intent of the man against God's people, was all the soldiers spoke about. “Have you seen this man that is come up? Surely to defy Israel is he come up”. They also discussed the reward being offered. "It shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will give him great riches, and make his father's house tax-free in Israel" - and give his daughter. But "all the men of Israel, when they saw Goliath, fled from him, and were sore afraid".

Saul listened to Goliath defy his God 80 times!! On the other hand, David could only stand to hear Goliath’s defiance once, because he was so zealous of God’s name. Are we zealous for the Lord, or are we cowards like Saul? There seems to be a similarity here with men and angels weeping because no man was found worthy to look upon the book of life (Rev.5:3-5) until our Lord prevailed on the cross.

I am whetting your appetite for the eighteen similarities.

David was raised up by God to defy and kill Goliath. 'Golgotha’ means 'the place of the skull; and may well be the place near Jerusalem where David buried Goliath's skull. The word, "ephes-dammim", means 'border of blood'. It suggests 'Aceldama', the "field of blood". Jesus, likewise, was raised up to destroy the works of the devil.

1 John 3:8b

For this purpose, the son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

In 1 Samuel 17:8-9 Goliath proposed that an Israelite champion come out and fight as a representative of the entire army. This is an important point because we know that Jesus Christ’s victory was done representatively (not substitutionally) on behalf of all God’s sons and daughters.

The nation that lost the battle would voluntarily become servants of the other. In other words, submission to the Philistines would have been a voluntary submission to the power of sin. To set the scene for our discussion about the eighteen similarities between David and Goliath and Jesus and Satan we will review seven things about David.

The Eighteen Similarities between David & Goliath and Jesus & Satan

Acts 13:36-37

36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:

37 But he, whom God raised again, (Jesus) saw no corruption.