So David arrives just as the Israelite soldiers are getting ready for another day of facing off with their enemies.
After checking with the soldiers in charge, David rushes to see how his brothers are doing.
While he’s talking with them, out comes Goliath, shouting and daring the Israeli army to come out and fight.
David notices the Israelite soldiers are scared senseless and not doing anything.
And that’s when he overheard the soldiers talking about King Saul’s big reward for the person who defeated Goliath.
Curious, David listens closer…
And he can’t believe what he’s hearing.
All someone has to do is kill this one man, and he can marry into the royal family.
And never have to pay taxes again!
“Why isn’t every able-bodied man in Israel chomping at the bit to take Saul up on his offer?!” David wonders.
“And who the heck is this uncircumcised Philistine anyway?“
In this context, the word “uncircumcised” was a huge insult.
He was essentially calling Goliath a gentile.
To a proud Hebrew like David, he couldn’t believe a Philistine, an uncircumcised gentile would even dare to challenge God’s chosen people.
But what made matters worse was that none of his fellow Israelites were doing anything about it.
Why were they just sitting around paralyzed with fear?
It was unimaginable to David that such a man could insult his people in such a blasphemous way, and none of the Israelites did anything to stop him.
So here’s the takeaway.
David’s identity as a circumcised member of the chosen nation was as strong as a rock.
He knew who he was in God
Sadly, his countrymen seemed to have forgotten their divine origins and their history.
They seemed to have forgotten the Creator of the universe had rescued them from Pharoah in Egypt…
That their God had protected them from their enemies…
And supernaturally made sure they never went hungry during their wilderness journey…
Has this ever happened to you too?
Have you ever forgotten your born-again status?
That you are a son or a daughter of the King of Kings?
That you have been grafted into the commonwealth of Israel?
That you are now part of a royal and divine family?
See, here’s the thing.
When you become disconnected from your divine identity…
You become easy prey to an ungodly gentile world focused on the worship of status, money, and looks…
In this sense, Goliath was a symbol of all the things the Gentiles worship.
He represented pure brute, brawn, and arrogant confidence in the flesh.
But that just brings us back to what God said to Samuel when He selected David to be king.
“Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
We’re about to see what happens when Hebrew faith meets Gentile might out on the battlefield.
It ain’t gonna be pretty…
For the gentile that is…
Over and out.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Therefore take no thought, saying,
What shall we eat? or,
What shall we drink? or,
Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:
for your heavenly Father knoweth
that ye have need of all these things.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God,
and his righteousness;
and all these things shall
be added unto you.”
-Matthew 6:31-33
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