David and Goliath: The Fall of the Giant

To the young shepherd David, the taunting of Goliath was an affront, an offense against God, but no one else in the camp seemed to care. For all intents and purposes to every one of those soldiers in the camp of Israel, this was a no-win situation. And who wants to get involved in a cause you can't possibly win? That day in Israel, there was only one person who was willing to do it and to stand in the gap for the cause of God. Standing up for an unpopular cause can be uncomfortable, even dangerous.

Is it really worth risking reputation, safety, livelihood to speak up and stand in the gap? For young David, there was no choice. This is perhaps one of the most famous stories in the Bible. We read it as children and it inspired us, but we also need to see how it challenges us.

Here's Dr. R.C. Sproul from his series on the life of David. As we continue now with our study of the life of David the Great, we come now to the battle scene, to the arena of David's greatest moment in military conflict, the contest between David and Goliath. We looked in our last session at the 80 times that Goliath came and taunted the soldiers of the army of Israel, challenging them to send a champion out to fight against him. And we recall that David, still a young boy, is sent by his father Jesse to the front lines to find out how his brothers are doing and to deliver them their lunch. And when he talks to his brothers, suddenly Goliath appeared and makes his defiant challenge afresh. And when David hears this, he's astonished, he's outraged, he's confused, he's disillusioned. He can't understand why his brothers and the soldiers of Israel are allowing this to take place.

And when he asks the question, his older brothers don't want to listen to this kind of criticism from this little squirt. And so they become furious with him, and they say to him, Why did you come down here? Why have you left the sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you've just come down to see the battle. And David said, What have I done now?

How many times have you said that? When somebody gets mad at you and says, Now what did I do? What have I done now? It's obvious that they've had these kinds of confrontations earlier in the history of their relationship.

What have I done now? Is there not a cause? Is there not a cause? Sometimes there are real causes. Sometimes we manufacture causes.

Sometimes we dream up causes that are not the cause of God. I remember Luther's struggle at the Diet of Worms when he poured his soul out in prayer the night before that final tribunal. And with his face on the floor, Luther cried out these words, O God, the cause is Thine, and I am Thine. And the next day, the Reformation began.

For Luther, it was a magnificent obsession. It was a cause for which he could not retreat or back down. Not every issue should become a cause. But what David is saying to his brothers on this occasion is, Hey, this is not one of those petty problems, one of those small stirrings of disagreement. The honor of God is at stake here.

Is this not a cause? What a challenge to his brothers. Then he turned from him toward another and said the same thing.

And these people answered him just as the first ones did. Nobody wanted to get involved in this cause. For all intents and purposes to every one of those soldiers in the camp of Israel, this was a no-win situation. And who wants to go on a fool's errand?

Who wants to get involved in a cause you can't possibly win? That day in Israel, as far as I can read in the text, there was only one person who was willing to do it and to stand in the gap for the cause of God. And when the words which David spoke were heard, they reported them to Saul, and he sent for him. And David said to Saul about Goliath, Let no man's heart fail because of him. Do you hear what this young man is saying? He's saying, Oh, King, the hearts of your troops have melted because of this Philistine champion. King, don't let this happen.

Don't let the hearts of your men fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine. You have to wonder what's going on in Saul's mind when he hears this young man say, I'll go.

Saul's thinking, poor, misguided young man, full of visions of grandeur, filled with idealism. I can remember when I was a new Christian and I was still a young man, and I would get into discussions with older people, and they would say to me, Well, you're just too young. You don't understand these things. After you get older, you'll find out.

And I just was so frustrated by that. And one time I said to one of these men, I said, I am young, but I'm not stupid. Don't make me wait 30 years to find out why I should be thinking differently. Tell me now. Share your wisdom with me. I promise I can understand it if you'll give me a cogent argument.

Well, no, you just have to wait. This kind of knowledge only comes from experience. And I did not understand that.

Now I do. When I was 21 years old, I had nothing to lose. I didn't have a job. I didn't have a family to support. I didn't have any money. I didn't have any money.

I didn't care about rocking the boat. It seems like our courage diminishes proportionately to our assets at the moment, whatever we regard those assets to be. And I said when I was 21 years old, I will never be like that when I'm 50. And I can remember talking to my own son, just wait till you get to be my age. And then I'll catch myself and I say, whoa, I've heard that story before.

I used to be on the other end of it, but that's the way we tend to be. And Saul said to David, and you know, this is really to Saul's credit, Saul could have made mincemeat out of David and said, okay, at least we'll have some on or we'll send somebody out there to fight. I'll send this kid to be eaten alive by Goliath. At least they can't go back to the Philistines and say, we wouldn't fight. Saul said to David, you're not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are a youth.

And he is 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 the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be just like one of them seeing his defied the armies of the living God. Again, Saul has to be amused. David's talking about, Saul, you should hear, I can do it. I can remember a time that my sheep were attacked by a bear and a lion, and I went out and I killed the bear and I killed the lion. And Saul's thinking, yeah, sure you did.

You maybe screamed and they ran, and now this story has grown in epic proportions in the real time. You don't think that Saul believed that. But David is so enthusiastic, you know, and maybe Saul did believe it and say, wait a minute, David, it's one thing to kill a bear, another thing to kill a lion, but we're not talking about bears and lions. We're talking about an accomplished military gladiator who is a giant, whose spear is bigger than you are.

You have two chances, slim and none. You can't do it. 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. Do you hear David's argument? First, he argues from his own track record of his own accomplishments, of his own achievements, of his own strength, from his own qualifications, and Saul says, no.

You can't do it. Now, do you see how the argument shifts? Where David says, Saul, okay, maybe I can't, but what about God? Can the Lord take care of Goliath?

I don't want to go fight Goliath in my own strength. I want to go and fight him in the strength of the Lord, because, Saul, I believe that God can and will destroy this enemy. Now, what does Saul say? Now, what is his response?

I think it's significant how Saul's response suddenly changes. Saul said to David, this is verse 37 of chapter 17 of 1 Samuel, Saul said to David, Go, and the Lord be with you. Saul said, all right, David, if you want to try it, try it.

If you want to try it, try it. This is the supreme test of my faith, but if you really mean this, if you're really serious about it, I'll let you go, and may God go with you, and by the way, before you go, let me take care that you're properly armed and protected. And so, Saul clothed David with his armor and put a bronze helmet on his head. He also clothed him with a coat of mail. David fastened his sword to his armor, 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. And so, David took them off. Have you ever seen the little girl in the house play dress-up in mama's gown and mama's high heel shoes?

Or you see the little boy, my grandson, he'll try to walk around in my shoes, and he'll try to put on my pants or my coat, and it's one of the cutest but funniest sights that you can ever imagine. And that's how I envisioned David on this occasion. There's this young David, and Saul is six-foot-six, and Saul is looking to protect David, so he says, come here, I'll put my armor on.

And the chest plate goes all the way down to his ankles. I mean, there's no way to put Saul's armor on David. David can't even move. He's stumbling around. He's made completely immobile by all of this armor. Saul's just trying to protect him, but he's made David a sitting duck.

And so, David takes off this armor. And verse 40 says, he took his staff in his hand, and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook. These are not little tiny pebbles. These are polished, solid stones. I don't know, granite or what they are.

But if you've seen them, they still can be found in the wadis of Israel. They're almost the size of a baseball, smooth and round, unbelievable projectiles when placed in a leather sling that is slung around and by rotational force. And when it's released, that stone will fly out of the sling at an incredible speed like a huge pumpkin ball shot out of the bore of a rifle. And so, David goes for his own ammunition, for his own weapon. He goes to the brook and chooses for himself five smooth stones and puts them in a shepherd's bag in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand.

I love that sentence. His sling was in his hand. He was ready. And he drew near to the Philistine. And so, the Philistine came and began drawing near to David. And the man who bore the shield went before him.

Do you see the picture? Across this valley comes Goliath with his weapons held high and his shield bearer marching before him with his huge shield to protect Goliath from the champion that Israel is sending forth. And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and good-looking. And so, the Philistine said to David, Am I a dog that you would come after me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. Today in professional sports, we see athletes engaged in an activity that you never would have seen 20 years ago in the sports field. It's called talking trash, taunting each other, insulting each other, tormenting each other. And this is what's going on now in this titanic struggle. Goliath comes out, marches into the arena. He has his shield bearer before him, and he looks up, and here's this kid coming without any armor, without a bow, without a spear, without a sword. And Goliath is incensed by this. This is absolutely insulting to him.

What are you doing? You're coming after me with a stick? This is a dog you've sent. And he starts to curse David and the Jewish people by the Philistine gods. He says, You come on, and I'm going to give your flesh to the birds. And then David said to Goliath, You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And then all of this assembly will know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands every night before He led His troops into battle.

Stonewall Jackson used to lead his men in prayer. They had prepared for the battle. They had set their strategies. They had trained. They had been conditioned.

They had gone through their drills and all the rest. But in the final moments, when the final moment came, Jackson said to his men, The battle is ours, but the outcome is God's. And David comes out here, and he listens to these insults from Goliath, and he said, Hey, go ahead with your spear and your sword and your javelin.

I don't have any of those things. All I have is God, and you tell me you're going to feed my flesh to the birds and to the animals of the field? No, Goliath. This day you die. I am going to have your head, and I am going to do this in the name of the Lord God of Israel. So let's stop talking and get down to it. And so it was when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.

I love it. He wasn't backing up tentative, frightened, cowering at the presence of the giants. He runs into the battle. He can't wait to get into the battle to meet Goliath face to face. And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone, and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. And so David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone and struck the Philistine and killed him, but there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore he ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it.

I wonder if David could barely lift the sword, but he takes Goliath's sword and cuts Goliath's head from Goliath's body in front of everybody. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. And the men of Israel and Judah rose and shouted and pursued the Philistines as far as the entrance of the valley into the gates of Ekron, and the wounded of the Philistines fell along the road even as far as Gath and so on. Then the children of Israel returned from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their tents. But David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, and he put his armor in his tent. The Lord God fought for Israel on that day.

You come with a spear. I come in the name of the Lord. This isn't a legend. This isn't a fairy tale. This is sober history of perhaps the most valiant man in all of the Old Testament, who alone had not just courage, but faith, to go up against unbelievable odds for the sake of the honor and glory of God. Standing up for the honor of God, despite overwhelming odds, the story of David and Goliath calls us to consider how we can do the same in our day.

Stay with us here on Renewing Your Mind as Dr. Sproul will return with a final thought in just a moment. This saga is one of the best-known stories in the Bible, but we don't want our knowledge to stop there. We want to know why the story is there, how it connects with the rest of Scripture. That's why we're making available our resource offer today. It's Dr. Sproul's series Dust to Glory, a 57-part study exploring the themes and events of the Bible.

It's a special edition set that provides an additional disc containing the study guides for the series. So request Dust to Glory when you go to renewingyourmind.org or when you call us at 800-435-4343. Here at Ligonier Ministries, we are committed to the historic Christian faith, and we will not change in changing times. Instead, we draw strength from the authority of the Bible. Our aim is for you as Christians to live with conviction so that we can stand firm against the challenges of the day. And through your support, we're able to reach millions of people with the unvarnished truth of God's Word. We're grateful.

And now, as promised, here's R.C. with a final thought. In our quorum Deo thought for today, let me ask you about the causes with which you are involved and to which you are committed. It's a very dangerous thing to be involved in a cause. And the danger is not just with what might happen to us by being involved in the cause in terms of defeat or shame or embarrassment or whatever. It's also very dangerous if we are involved in the wrong cause. That's why David shows remarkable and uncanny wisdom when he speaks to his brother, and he distinguishes between lesser causes and greater causes. We're not to be given to megalomania where we have such huge egos that we feel that everything that we stand for or believe in is an occasion for a death struggle. It takes wisdom to discern between a problem that requires forbearance and a problem that requires a stand.

But there wasn't any doubt about this one. And so David says, when it is clear that there is a cause at stake, then there is no option available to the Christian. You must enlist in the cause. You can do no other if you will be faithful to the living God. Goliath's defeat was a morale booster for the nation of Israel, no doubt.

But the fame it brought David also kindled jealousy and a whole new set of problems for him. R.C. will talk about that next Saturday on Renewing Your Mind, and I hope you'll join us. Thank you.