“David went back and forth from Sha’ul to pasture his father’s sheep at Beit-Lechem. Meanwhile, the P’lishti approached with his challenge every morning and evening for forty days.”-1 Samuel 17:15-16
Alrighty, let’s get our bearings on where we’re at in this epic tale of David and Goliath.
So we have Goliath challenging the scared Israelites to fight every day for 40 days.
But not one of the Israelite soldiers wanted to step up, face their fears, and fight for God’s Kingdom.
Now recall, the “40” in 40 days part is not just a number.
It’s a pattern in scripture that tells us a time of trial followed by divine deliverance is about to occur.
This is more than a clue and a half that what’s about to transpire is not your ordinary battle.
What’s about to go down is both God-ordained and God-orchestrated.
Onward.
So the Philistines wanted to gain control of an important highway called the Valley of Elah, which connected their land with the hills of Judah.
If they succeeded, they could easily send soldiers and supplies to take over the southern part of the Promised Land.
If Israel wanted to be safe, under no circumstances could they allow this to happen.
Now what’s interesting is we’ve got Saul perched on a safe place watching the action like it was some idyllic Sunday Super Bowl game or something while his top general, Avner, led the troops.
These troops were made up of men from different Israelite tribes who had gathered together.
Jesse, David’s dad from Bethlehem, sent his three oldest sons to help in the war.
But after a while, he got worried about them, so he decided to send David to check up on things.
Now I want you to notice something interesting in verse 16.
It says again that David was the shepherd for his family, a job he seemed to do very well.
So when David’s dad wanted him to go check on his brothers, notice how David went out of his way to ask one of his helpers to take care of the family’s sheep.
I don’t know if you realize it or not, but we’ve just encountered a prophetic picture of Israel’s Messiah and our savior.
Here we have a son obedient to his father faithfully watching over his flock.
And before leaving to do battle, he has to find a loyal helper to look after the sheep.
Hmm…where have we seen that picture before?
I just love it when we encounter messianic foreshadowings in the Hebrew Bible, don’t you?
See ya all next time.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd lays
down his life for the sheep.”
-John 10:11
“I am the good shepherd;
I know my sheep and my
sheep know me— just as
the Father knows me and
I know the Father—and I
lay down my life for the
sheep.”
-John 10:14-15
“My sheep listen to my voice;
I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life,
and they shall never perish;
no one will snatch them
out of my hand.”
-John 10:27-28
P.S. The above beautiful photograph was taken by Syed Mehdi Bukhari in the Swat Valley region of northern Pakistan in 2016.
I saw this photo and thought “I bet this is exactly what David looked like.” How awesome is that?!
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