“David and Goliath”

(1 Samuel 17)

Introduction: Having pointed us last week to Jephthah as a man who conquered God’s
enemies through faith, the author now gives us what might be considered one of greatest
examples in all of Scripture, one who certainly needs little or no introduction, namely
David. David was certainly a giant of faith, by the grace of God, even from his youth, as
we shall see. He was the one who was called a man after God’s own heart. And
certainly we see in David a clearer picture of the person and work of the coming Messiah
more than in anyone else. Now since there is so much said about David in the Scripture,
we are going to look at just some of the events in his life, to see both what God was able
to do through one who believed in him so strongly, and how his life pointed beyond
himself to his son who was to come yet many years in the future.
I would like for us to begin at the anointing of David this evening and work our
way to his battle with Goliath.

I. First, let us look at his anointing by Samuel the prophet.

A. The Lord had anointed Saul as king, some years earlier, but now it was time for the
Lord to seek out a new king.
1. At first, Saul was a good king.
a. After Samuel anointed Saul king over Israel, he led the people to victory over
their enemies.
b. He destroyed the Ammonites when they came up against the men of Jabesh-
gilead. The Ammonites told the men of that city that they would only let
them live and become their servants if they agreed to gouge out their right
eyes. But before they would agree to this, they requested seven days to
search out someone to come to their defense, and if they could find no one,
they would come out.
c. But when Saul heard this, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily. He
took the yoke of oxen that he was plowing with, cut them in pieces, and then
sent them throughout all of Israel, threatening to do this to their oxen if they
did not come out after him.
d. And so many came out. And Saul sent word to the men of Jabesh-Gilead that
they would have their deliverance. When they heard this, they told the
Ammonites that they would come out in the morning, and then they could do
what they wanted with them. But instead of coming out, Saul and the armies
of Israel struck down the men of Ammon until there were no two of them
together.
e. After this, Saul was officially made king, and those men who didn’t want
Saul to reign over them were put to death.

2. But very early on in his reign, he began to disobey the Lord.

a. The first thing he did was to offer the burnt offerings and peace offerings,
which only the priest was to offer, before their upcoming war with the
 2

Philistines.
b. This was the beginning of the end for Saul, for Samuel told him, “You have
acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God,
which He commanded you, for now the Lord would have established your
kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not endure. The
Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has
appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the
Lord commanded you” (1 Sam. 13:13-14).
c. Are there consequences to sin? You bet there are. Each time anyone
disobeys the Lord, they bring consequences upon their lives which may never
be removed.
d. Well, the army of Israel went up against the Philistines anyway, and the Lord
gave the victory into their hands, mainly through Jonathan, Saul’s son. But
Saul made a foolish vow that required that no one could eat until his enemies
were destroyed. As a result, the men were tired and they couldn’t fight
anymore. And so the slaughter was small compared to what it might have
been.
e. But the Lord still delivered Israel from a number of their enemies through
Saul. He fought against Moab, Ammon, Edom, the kings of Zobah, and the
Philistines, “and wherever he turned, he inflicted punishment” (14:47).
f. But his final failure came when the Lord sent him out to destroy Amalek for
what they had done to Israel when they came out of Egypt. God said then
that He would destroy them completely from off the earth, and He was
sending Saul in to do the job. God told Saul that he must destroy them
completely and leave nothing at all of anything that they had. But Saul
spared Agag the king and the best of the sheep, oxen, the fatlings, the lambs,
and all that was good. Saul thought that he was doing something that was
good. After all, he could sacrifice the animals to the Lord. But the problem
was that the Lord told him specifically to destroy all of these things. Samuel
reproved him, by saying, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings
and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better
than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of
divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have
rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king”
(15:22-23).
g. This should speak volumes to us about how important it is that we obey
God’s word precisely. God does not allow us to disregard His
commandments in areas where we don’t want to obey, and then accept
something else in its place. For instance, we can’t disregard His command to
tithe of our income and put extra prayer in its place, or His command to
worship Him on the Sabbath and put the weekly prayer meeting in its place.
Children, you will not please God by disobeying your parents, and then
working extra hard to keep up with your memory verses in Sunday School.
To obey is better than sacrifice. God is looking for obedience to His word.
There are no excuses and no substitutions. There is only pardon for our sin in
Christ, when we admit that we have not listened and obeyed, and turn from
 3

our disobedience back to obedience.

B. Well, the Lord had rejected Saul from being king, and so He sent out Samuel to
anoint the one He had chosen to take his place.
1. He sent him to Bethlehem, to the house of Jesse, for He had chosen one of his
sons.
2. And so Samuel went to Bethlehem, and not without concern, for he was afraid
that Saul would find out, but the Lord protected him.
a. The Lord told him to make a sacrifice there and invite Jesse and his sons to
the sacrifice.
b. When they entered, Samuel first “looked at Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the
Lord’s anointed is before him.’ But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at
his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for
God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the
Lord looks at the heart’” (16:6-7).
c. Human nature is still unchanged, isn’t it? What is it that concerns us more
than anything else today? It’s our appearance, isn’t it? Do you spend as
much time in the Word of God and in prayer, as you do in front of a mirror?
But the Lord tells us that He isn’t concerned about the outward appearance.
He is concerned about the heart, about whether or not your heart is His or not.
d. Listen to what the Lord says at the end of Proverbs, especially you young
men and ladies here. He says, “Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a
woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised” (31:30). It’s time to stop
worrying about what you look like on the outside, and start being concerned
for what you look like on the inside. You young men should be looking for a
wife not on the basis of how pretty she is, for that kind of beauty quickly
fades. You will be far happier with a young lady who is godly, for she will
be a blessing to your soul. And you young ladies need to stop worrying so
much about how your hair and clothes look, and work on the hidden person
of your heart. Peter writes, “And let not your adornment be merely external--
braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be
the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and
quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God” (1 Pet. 3:3-4).
e. Even Samuel had fallen into this snare. But the Lord set him straight. After
Jesse had brought all of his sons in, Samuel said to him that the Lord had not
chosen any of them. When he asked if there were any more, Jesse said there
was, the youngest, but he was tending the sheep. Samuel said that they
would not set down until he came. “So he sent and brought him in. . . . And
the Lord said, ‘Arise, anoint him; for this is he’” (16:12). And so Samuel did.
And after this, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily.

II. Now let us move forward in time a bit to the first time David delivers Israel as
the Lord’s anointed. What I am referring to, of course, is his fight with Goliath.
A. You know the story fairly well, so I won’t spend a great deal of time on it.
1. Israel was at war with the Philistines.
a. The Philistines had come up against them at Socoh and Azekah.
 4

b. And so Israel gathered together and camped in the valley of Elah.

c. Then both armies positioned themselves on two mountains with the valley in
between.

2. Then a champion came out from the armies of the Philistines named Goliath.
a. He was about nine and a half feet tall. (We have seen perhaps a couple of
men in our time who were this tall, but never with proportions to match).
b. He was also heavily armored. He had on a bronze helmet, scale-armor that
weighed about 125 pounds, bronze greaves on his legs, a bronze javelin slung
between his shoulders, a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s beam, with a
spear-head that weighed about 15 pounds. The shot (the iron ball) that shot-
putters throw weighs about 16 pounds. And with all of their gyrations,
they’re only able to throw it about 60 feet. The head on Goliath’s spear
weighed almost that much, and that didn’t include the weight of the wood.
All this is to say that Goliath was a giant with superhuman strength.
c. This man came out everyday in the morning and in the evening for forty days
and taunted the Israelites to send out their champion to fight him. But no one
would dare.

I. Consider the weak and seemingly despicable means and weapons that God
employs to overthrow Satan. Christ poured the greater contempt upon Satan in the victory
that he obtained over him, by reason of the means of his preparing himself for it, and the
weapons he has used. Christ chooses to encounter Satan in the human nature, in a poor,
frail, afflicted state. He did as David did. David when going against the Philistine refused
Saul’s armor, a helmet of brass, a coat of mail, and his sword. No, he puts them all off.
Goliath comes mightily armed against David, with a helmet of brass upon his head, a coat
of mail weighing five thousand shekels of brass, greaves of brass upon his legs, and a
target of brass between his shoulders, a spear, whose staff was like a weaver’s beam, and
the spear’s head weighing six hundred shekels of iron. And besides all this, he had one
bearing a shield before him. But David takes nothing but a staff in his hand, and a
shepherd’s bag and a sling, and he goes against the Philistine. So the weapons that Christ
made use of were his poverty, afflictions and reproaches, sufferings and death. His
principal weapon was his cross, the instrument of his own reproachful death. These were
seemingly weak and despicable instruments to wield against such a giant as Satan. And
doubtless the devil disdained them as much as Goliath did David’s staves and sling. But
with such weapons as these has Christ in a human, weak, mortal nature overthrown and
baffled all the craft of hell.
Such disgrace and contempt has Christ poured upon Satan. David had a more
glorious victory over Goliath for his conquering him with such mean instruments; and
Samson over the Philistines, for killing so many of them with such a despicable weapon
as the jaw-bone of an ass. It is spoken of in Scripture as a glorious triumph of Christ over
 5

the devil, that he should overcome him by such a despicable weapon as his cross. Col.
2:14, 15, “Blotting out the hand-writing of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross: and having spoiled
principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”
— God shows his great and infinite wisdom in taking this method, to confound the
wisdom and subtlety of his enemies. He hereby shows how easily he can do it, and that
he infinitely wiser than they. 1 Cor. 1:27-29, “God hath chosen the foolish things of the
world, to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world, to
confound the things that are mighty: and the base things of the world, and things that are
despised, hath God chosen; yea, and things that are not, to bring to nought the things that
are.” (Edwards, ‘The Wisdom of God Displayed in Salvation’)

God miraculously enabled David to kill the lion and the bear, and to deliver the lamb
out of their mouth, plainly and evidently to be a type, sign, and encouragement unto him,
that he would enable him to destroy the enemies of his people, that were much stronger
than they, and deliver his people from them. (Types of the Messiah)

David was a great savior. He saved Israel from Goliath, and the Philistines, and from
all their enemies round about. 2 Sam. 3:18, “The Lord hath spoken of David, saying, By
the hand of my servant David will I save my people Israel out of the hand of the
Philistines, and out of the hand of all their enemies; agreeably to the prophecies of the
Messiah. (Types of the Messiah, sect. 10)