“The P’lishti looked David up and down and had nothing but scorn for what he saw — a boy with ruddy cheeks, red hair and good looks. The P’lishti said to David, ‘Am I a dog? Is that why you’re coming at me with sticks?’ — and the P’lishti cursed David by his god.”-1 Samuel 17:42-43
Alrighty, now the pace of the story begins to accelerate.
David throws off the armor Saul gave him, picks up his shepherd’s staff, and heads down to the river bed in the Elah Valley to pick up five smooth stones.
These little rocks were going to serve as deadly bullets for his sling.
Now one thing needs to be said about David’s slingshot.
It was no kid’s toy.
It was a very deadly and respected tool of war.
Check out this verse from Judges 20:16:
“All of these 700 specially picked men
were left-handed, and everyone
could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.”
-Judges 20:16
So we see the tribe of Benjamin had 700 left-handed stone-slingers who were as accurate as a highly trained sniper who never missed his target.
Onward.
Goliath was standing out in the open field when he spotted David skipping towards him.
One can only imagine what was going through his head when he saw the shepherd approaching.
Was this some kind of joke?
Goliath was expecting a tough and battle-hardened Hebrew warrior to show up.
Instead, he was greeted by a young boy with rosy cheeks, red hair, and boyish good looks.
The Hebrew word used to describe David was NA’AR or נַעַר.
It indeed means a “boy” or “youth”.
The point is, at first glance, Goliath didn’t know what to make of this young lad briskly strolling towards him.
Interestingly, based on the description, it would seem that David resembled Esau.
Recall that Esau also had red hair and reddish skin color.
That’s why Esau’s nickname was EDOM which means red in Hebrew.
Your average Hebrew boy usually had black or dark brown hair and olive-colored skin (which is why I guess everyone thought I was a native-born Israeli when I went to Israel).
Anyway, Goliath was fuming when he saw David.
How could this young punk be a fair opponent?
It was an insult to the challenge he gave to Israel.
In his anger, Goliath cursed David using his god’s name and told him after he killed him, he was going to feed him to the birds.
In other words, he was telling David he wasn’t going to have a proper burial.
That would have been a nightmare for any person in that era.
Alrighty, let’s switch over to the takeaway.
Up until now, we’ve been given a clear comparison between Saul, the Anti-King, and David, the God-ordained righteous king.
But now we are given a comparison between the weapons of war between Goliath and David.
David says it all in verse 45:
“You’re coming at me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin. But I’m coming at you in the name of Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of the armies of Isra’el, whom you have challenged.”
In other words, Goliath would be using traditional or earthly weapons…
But David would be fighting in the name of Adonai.
The problem was Goliath came dressed for a battle of the flesh…
He came prepared for an earthly confrontation when what he was really fighting was a spiritual battle against the Lord
He didn’t realize he wasn’t dressed properly for a spiritual war with God.
Feeling strong in the Spirit, David lets Goliath know that in just a few seconds he’s going to attack him, behead him, and hand over the dead bodies of the Philistines to the same birds Goliath told David he was going to feed him to.
So the takeaway is the same as yesterday.
Just as you wouldn’t bring a knife to a gunfight…
Don’t bring earthly weapons to a spiritual battle.
I have a feeling the gentile world’s combined military might isn’t gonna stand a chance against the Messiah when he returns to protect and save His people Israel.
Ya feel me?
See ya all next time.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Finally, be strong in the Lord
and in his mighty power.
Put on the full armor of God,
so that you can take your stand
against the devil’s schemes.
For our struggle is not
against flesh and blood,
but against the rulers,
against the authorities,
against the powers of this
dark world and against
the spiritual forces of evil
in the heavenly realms.
Therefore put on the full
armor of God, so that when
the day of evil comes,
you may be able to stand
your ground, and after you
have done everything, to stand.
Stand firm then, with the belt
of truth buckled around your
waist, with the breastplate of
righteousness in place, and
with your feet fitted with the
readiness that comes from
the gospel of peace. In addition
to all this, take up the shield of faith,
with which you can extinguish
all the flaming arrows of
the evil one. Take the helmet
of salvation and the
sword of the Spirit, which
is the word of God.”
-Ephesians 6:10-17
Leave a Reply