1 Samuel 17: David and Goliath

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Almost as many songs and stories have been written about this event as years that have passed since this event.  We've all heard the story of a brave boy who defeated a giant.  However, today I would like to explore another dimension of this account.

In the preceding chapter, it states that "from that day on, the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power" (1 Samuel 16:13) when referring to Samuel's anointing of David, the shepherd boy,  as King of Israel.   David continued in his duties as a shepherd to his father's sheep, but with the Spirit of the Lord dwelling in him, numerous changes were effected in David's spirit.  Over time, he grew not only in his knowledge of God but also in his certainty of God's very existence and in the ramifications of that knowledge, i.e. God's covenanted eternal promises to Israel; God's eternal love of Israel; God's specific sovereign plan for his life.

Through the Spirit of the Lord, David came to know and love the Lord who appointed him king.

So, when David arrived at the battleground where the Philistine, Goliath, was taunting Israel's army, I am sure that Spirit of the Lord brought to mind Mosaic writings with which  David was familiar.  (In Genesis 10:14, where the Philistines were first mentioned, it was to state that they descended from Noah's son Ham, who fathered the Canaanites whom God cursed through all generations, for their brazen dishonor of God.  God ordered Israel to dispossess the Canaanites when they entered the Promised Land. )

In the manner in which  David questioned Israel's soldiers about the identity of Goliath, he  prodded them to recognize  Goliath as an "uncircumcised Philistine" thus stating that this formidable giant was already cursed by God and could not successfully stand against the army of the Living God.  David's older brothers, and probably other soldiers, were angered when David reminded them of God's view on this battle.  Though David was ridiculed for expressing his belief that this physically daunting giant who terrified Israel's army, was really an already defeated foe, cursed by God and only awaiting destruction, he clung to it.  David persisted in talking to numerous troops about this so that eventually even King Saul heard of David's pronouncements.

I think that God wanted Israel's army to hear of David's faith in the God of Israel because soon afterwards,  King Saul permitted David to battle the Philistine giant,  Goliath.

Fortified by his relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,  David took only five smooth stones and a slingshot to face the giant who was garbed in over a hundred pounds of bronze protective gear (1 Samuel 17: 4-7).  When facing the giant who was over nine feet tall and who carried a formidable iron spear, David focused only on the God of Israel, who chose Israel out of all of the nations to be His own; who had a plan for Israel; who Himself effected an eternal covenanted relationship with Israel; who spoke through prophets to Israel; who worked in Israel's midst through signs and wonders.  Because the Spirit of the Lord was on David, he stepped out in confidence that no matter how he used the slingshot, God would make certain that it hit its mark.

This battle, in which David first publicly stood on God's Word, was really David's first battle as King of Israel, in which he defended his nation.  David began the battle by admonishing his troops to remember who the God of Israel was.  And then, after he defeated the Philistine champion, the army of Israel was sufficiently empowered spiritually to pursue and defeat the fleeing Philistine army.  David became a leader of his people by encouraging them to turn their hearts back to the living God of Israel.

Unfortunately, King Saul, a seasoned warrior, could only fight the enemy in his own strength.  Because he himself rejected the God of Israel, he couldn't encourage his troops to seek Him for the strength they needed.  King Saul could not see that the battles Israel fought were lost or won in the heart and spirit of Israel, on the strength of their faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

1 Samuel 16: King David Anointed

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Intrigue and subterfuge, choreographed by God,  surrounded  Samuel's anointing of David as the new King of Israel.

In this episode God demonstrated a complete understanding of the emotional trauma and political difficulties that Samuel was experiencing.  While Samuel was still mourning the loss of Saul as a colleague in the Lord,  God presented him with directions to anoint a new king, a son of Jesse of Bethlehem.  When Samuel expressed his fear of being assassinated for such a treasonous act, God gave him a plan to work outside of Saul's suspicions.

Since Samuel commonly traveled to various towns to offer a sacrifice to the Lord, God directed him to travel to Bethlehem where he was to invite  Jesse and his sons to the sacrifice.  It seems that Samuel took Jesse into his confidence, because Jesse called his sons to come before Samuel individually.   However, the inexplicable happened.  Samuel understood that God had not chosen any of the seven young men who were presented to him.  So, he asked if there were any other sons.

Almost apologetically, Jesse said that he had another son, David, the youngest, the smallest, and the least significant of the brothers, who was assigned to tending the sheep.  Apparently, Jesse didn't think him important enough to invite to the sacrifice.  However, Samuel did not allow anyone to sit down to the sacrifice until David arrived.

As soon as Samuel saw David, the Lord directed him to anoint David in the presence of his brothers. From that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David with power and he could no longer be considered insignificant.

David became the King of Israel when only God knew his heart, when only God thought him significant, when only his immediate family was present at the anointing.  David had neither army nor following.  Though God anointed him King, David remained in his father's house serving him as a shepherd and entertaining him as a harpist.  It seems that David simply trusted in God to bring about what He declared to be true.  I think that as David waited for God's direction, he also grew deeper in his knowledge of God.  Through the Spirit of God he came to appreciate God's Sovereignty and God's timing, being fully assured that God's plans never fail.

Eventually, God brought David into Saul's presence by introducing him as a harpist whose playing relieved Saul of the evil spirits which tormented him.  God arranged that David was invited into Saul's throne room to effectively cast out demons which plagued Saul.  Even though he knew that he was the new King, David arrived humbly and willing to serve King Saul.  David did not insist on his own superiority before God but rather extended mercy and grace to a man who rejected God even though he was anointed by God.   By serving where God placed him, David demonstrated his love for God and his desire to obey Him, no matter how little sense he could find in God's directions.

1 Samuel 15: A Second Chance

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Years earlier, when Saul was disobedient to God’s express command about offering sacrifices in Gilgal, the prophet Samuel left him after he gave God’s judgment upon Saul stating that his kingdom would not be established. Since that time, Saul was busy fighting Philistines and trying to consolidate his kingship over Israel.  So, I imagine that he must have been surprised when Samuel returned to him with a message from God.  

God wanted Saul to attack the Amalekites and to totally destroy all that belonged to them.  I find this to be an interesting command in that the Amalekites were portrayed as the consummate enemy of God and of Israel since Genesis17:14 where God is on record for stating that He intended to eliminate them from the face of the earth. God was calling Saul to align himself with the God of Israel and so to testify publicly his priority of obeying God, no matter what the cost.

Up until this point, Saul’s battles were obvious engagements which any leader of Israel would have fought.  God’s order to attack the Amalekites, on the other hand, was God’s call for Israel to do His will.  It would seem that Saul was being given a second chance to obey God.

Saul set out to do God’s will, but in the process took his eyes off of God.  Instead of destroying everything, Saul focused on how good the best of the sheep, cattle, lambs, etc. were.  In his eyes, as they became more attractive than obedience to God’s command, he spared the best of the livestock   inexplicably, he also spared the the king of the Amalekites, Agag.

All of Saul’s disobedience ultimately testified of how little he thought of God.  Even though Samuel, God’s spokesperson to Israel, spoke God’s commands clearly to Saul, he didn’t take them completely to heart.

Thought he mustered together his warriors and attacked the Amalekites, he spared their best livestock because he disagreed with God’s order to destroy them.  Saul trusted in his own perceptions rather then in God’s revealed will.  Saul spared the life of the Amalekite king.  When Samuel questioned Saul about the plunder he took, Saul lied, blamed his soldiers, and then attempted to put a righteous spin on his actions by saying that the livestock were spared in order to be sacrificed to God.

Underlying this was Saul’s heart which completely failed to recognize that God knows everything and sees everything and is absolutely just.  Saul thought he could trick God with a lie!  How little he really thought of God – how much he failed to understand that God is the Sovereign King of the universe, Creator of all that is. 

With this very foundational understanding of God missing, Saul could never be the King of Israel that God sought to establish.  After this blatant act of disobedience, Samuel proclaimed that God rejected Saul as king of Israel and that the kingdom would be torn from him.  Though Samuel mourned over Saul, he never went back to him either on his own or as God’s representative.

In so many ways, this is like God speaking to us today.  Through His Word, God’s commands are clear.  If we accept God for who He Is, who He says He is, then we have no alternative but to honor His will.  But if we regard His Word as myth and malarkey, then each individual can do as he sees fit, live in his own wisdom, but outside of God’s blessing.

1 Samuel: 14 Jonathan, a God Made Hero

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I think that the most powerful statement of belief in this section was made by Saul’s son, Jonathan, when he and his armor bearer went, on their own initiative, behind enemy lines. 

1 Samuel 14: 6  “Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf.  Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.”

This is such a striking confession of faith because Saul had already publicly disobeyed and dishonored God just before this military campaign commenced.  Then, since he didn’t have God’s blessing upon him as leader, Saul carried the Ark of the Covenant into battle.  This Ark was simply a repository for the stone tablets on which God etched the Ten Commandments, Aaron’s staff with the almond blossom, and a hin of manna.  In and of themselves, these were manifestations of God’s hand in the life of Israel.  They were not magical or powerful.  Yet, taking them into battle, suggests that Saul regarded them as talismans.  Saul didn’t seem to really understand who the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was.

Jonathan, on the other hand, demonstrated a deeper understanding of God.  He trusted God with his life; he trusted God with Israel’s future.

By stepping out in his faith in God’s will for Israel, Jonathan precipitated the turning point of this major battle.  Until he decided to enter the Philistine outpost, Israel, though ready to battle, was really prepared for battle.  None of the soldiers, except Saul and Jonathan, had swords.  It seems that Israel’s army was focusing more on the supplies they lacked than on the God of Israel, who would deliver them, who did not require man’s weapons.

After Jonathan and his sword bearer killed twenty Philistines in the outpost, God released a severe panic on the Philistine army.  Saul’s army could pursue the Philistines and destroy them because they were confused and striking each other.

On that day, God acted in tandem with Jonathan’s faith, and rescued Israel from a heavily armed, powerful enemy.

And, it worked out exactly as Jonathan believed – God delivered Israel using only those people whose hearts were available to him.

1 Samuel 11, 12, 13 Honoring God

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During his years as the leader of Israel, as God’s spokesman to Israel, Samuel always strove to bring his people into a closer relationship with God.  In many ways, his message was the same as that of Moses.  He continuously admonished the nation to forsake the worship of foreign gods and to return wholeheartedly to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Twenty years had passed since God judged the house of Eli, the priest; twenty years passed since the Ark of the Covenant was housed in an Israelite village of Kireath Jearim; twenty years passed since the Philistines slaughtered thirty thousand Israelite soldiers in a devastating battle.  As Israel continued to be oppressed by the victorious Philistines, the nation mourned and began to seek God.  In response to this, God led Samuel to call the nation together in Mitzpah, first mentioned in Genesis 31:49, in order to repent, fast, pray, and worship the God of Israel.  The word mitzpah, or watchtower, came out of Jacob’s and Laban’s deep distrust of one another.  They parted company by establishing a boundary that neither would cross.  Although the name originated from hostilities, it can be understood as invoking the idea of  the Watchtower which represents One who watches all, the God of Israel.  Israel congregated where there was a sense of being seen and heard by the King of the Universe.

As the prophet Samuel led the nation in penitence and worship, God routed the Philistines who again assembled to slaughter Israel.  Samuel military victories came out of worship and out of his absolute allegiance to the God of Israel.  This military victory gave Israel a few more decades of peace from the Philistines.

As the aging prophet, Samuel, tried to confer his responsibilities onto his sons, Israel clamored for a king.  Following God’s direction, Samuel anointed Saul, son of Kish, from the tribe of Benjamin, as the first king of Israel.  After the anointing, Samuel communicated God’s Will to Saul through a series of validating signs and directions concerning an event to occur at some point in the future.    (1 Samuel 10: 1-8)

Years passed since Saul was anointed, since the signs were realized.  However, as Saul prepared for a major battle against the Philistines, his troops were called to assemble at Gilgal, the city about which Samuel prophesied to Saul.  Saul fully understood the significance of  the city and the battle, however as he waited impatiently for Samuel to arrive in order to worship the Lord, Saul became more fixated on the number of soldiers deserting him than he was on patiently waiting for the prophet to come as he promised he would.  Finally, exasperated that Samuel hadn’t yet arrived, Saul took matters into his own hands and offered burnt offerings to the Lord.  When he did this, he showed all of Israel that he didn’t really honor God as his king; he didn’t really regard God with reverence and awe; he trusted in his own assessment of military dissolution rather than trusting in God’s ability to bring about a victory even if only one soldier were left in his command.  

Saul publicly disobeyed God, and so lost the kingdom that as offered to him. 

Obedience is not so much about following rules as it is about trusting in God’s character and in His word.  When we trust who God is, then how we live and what we do is a natural reflection of God’s love, which is also expressed in His law.

1 Samuel 6 -10: God Calling

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Scripture is not only a historically accurate account of Israel’s development as a society and as a people; it is also a dialog with God.  While it is possible to read the Bible in its entirety within a few sittings, in much the same way as one would read any other book, it can become fairly dry reading.  I feel that God, the King of the Universe, inspired this book so as to enter into a dialog with men.

As God wishes to communicate with us, He calls us by name.  In 1 Samuel 3, God called the young prophet/leader Samuel by name and entered into a dialog with him.  While Samuel was still a boy, God revealed to him His judgment against the priest Eli, against his sons, and against future generations because Eli did not stop his sons from publicly dishonoring God.

While God’s judgment against the House of Eli may appear severe and intractable, I feel that because Eli and his family were such a high profile family that their relationship with God, or lack thereof, reverberated loudly throughout Israelite society.  Since Eli’s sons failed to treat God as Holy, they, in essence, told Israel that their God was simply no god of consequence.  They taught Israel that God’s requirements for worship, as stipulated in the Pentateuch, were irrelevant, possibly outdated.

Once God entered into a dialog with Samuel, He continued to reveal Himself to him through his word.

While Samuel was still a boy, a devastating battle with the Philistines cost Israel 30,000 foot soldiers.  Eli and his sons died on the same day that the battle was lost.  And, the Ark of the Covenant, which was removed from the tabernacle in Shiloh, was captured by the Philistines.

After suffering plagues of tumors and mice for seven months, the Philistines understood that these afflictions were from the God of Israel so they sent the Ark of the Covenant away from their cities and territories.  Eventually, the Ark ended up in Israelite territory, in Kireath Jearim, nine miles west of Jerusalem.

For the twenty years that the Ark rested there, Israel mourned and sought the Lord.  It was at this juncture that Samuel was led to speak to Israel.  His first proclamation was a call for the nation to repent of not regarding the God of Israel as Holy; as King of the Universe; as Sovereign.  Israel had surrounded herself with idols and pagan deities, attesting to a belief that all gods were equal; that there was no One True God.  Israel fell into pagan practices while abandoning her special relationship with the God of Creation.

It’s interesting to note that no matter what other sins Israel may have been guilty of, all of them stemmed from the rejection of the knowledge they had of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

All sin originates in man’s rejection of God’s Sovereignty and of His love for His own.  Though Eli served God, he didn’t really hear God.  Samuel, though still a boy, heard God calling him by name.  And Samuel then continued to live in constant dialog with God. 

Reading the Scriptures is dialoging with God.  When we spend time reading slowly and prayerfully, God focuses our attention on specific passages and challenges us to think about them. 

1Samuel: 4,5,6: Losing Battles

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In this section, Israel was embroiled in two, significant losing battles with the Philistines.  Because they were still reclaiming the land God had given them, Israel was ostensibly doing God’s will.  Yet, their losses could only testify that God was not fighting with them.  In fact, it would seem that God strengthened the hand of the Philistines against them.  So, why were their military losses so heavy?

In my life, sometimes when I do what seems to be God’s obvious will, I still fail miserably.  Nothing about the outcome of my efforts would bespeak of God’s blessing.

And, I also ask, why? Why aren’t You helping me? Why aren’t You with me on this? And, then I have to examine my heart to see if my actions sprang out of my relationship with the Lord rather than out of my personal pride issues.  Was I really doing God’s will or was I doing what I wanted under the guise of godliness.

Israel asked the same questions and decided that military defeat occurred because the Ark of the Covenant was not present with them in battle. Obviously, Israel perceived the Ark to be a talisman ensuring God’s continued Presence with them.  Under the leadership of the priest, Eli, Israel drifted farther from the nation’s original understanding of God, as One with whom they had a covenant relationship.  Though Eli knew God, he ceased to love Him.  When Eli’s sons, the next generation of Aaronic priests, publicly showed contempt for God, Eli did not aggressively censure them.  Rather,  Eli and his family were guilty of dishonoring God and teaching others to do the same.  Israel began to think of the Ark of the Covenant as a kind of idol.  They forgot that they had a relationship with the Living God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

When Israel fought the Philistines, the battle was not engaged by a people who loved the Lord and ardently sought His will.  Rather, they fought the Philistines simply because they were oppressed by them.  In this section, I think that it is interesting to note that God used the Philistines, national humiliation, and personal tragedy to bring a people back to seeking a relationship with Him.  Perhaps, this was also part of Samuel’s training in priesthood and leadership.  He witnessed first hand that Israel knew a Living God who demanded honor and who dispensed justice.