“There was more war with the P’lishtim at Gov; and Elchanan the son of Ya‘arei-Orgim, the Beit-Lachmi, killed Golyat the Gitti, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s beam.”-2 Samuel 21:19
Interestingly, in verse 19, we are reminded of the giants of Gath.
Gath was one of the great Philistine city-states.
And, wouldn’t you know it?
We also see Goliath’s name pop up here.
Of course, this instantly brings back memories of when the youthful David slew that uncircumcised Philistine giant.
It appears that Goliath, or GOLYAT, actually, was a common name among these ancient Palestinians.
So need for confusion here.
This is obviously a different Goliath being spoken of than the one David slew many years previously.
The fact that David almost lost his life in this battle prompted his men to tell him to stay home from now on.
Home, in this case, was his palace fortress in the City of David.
They gave an interesting reason for this.
His troops said:
“You must no longer go out with us to battle,
in order not to quench the lamp of Israel.”
A lot of folks may try to extract some deep spiritual meaning from that statement.
However, that’s not necessary.
It was just a saying of praise to memorialize David’s reputation and his symbolic importance to the community.
Alrighty, let’s move to the takeaway.
We’ve just read about how the Israelites were battling the ancient Philistines, and even how the name Goliath emerged again.
The point is, what happened decades ago in David’s life is repeating itself here.
And what occurred back then is happening again today.
That’s your takeaway.
That Bible you have on your bookshelf ain’t ancient history, homie.
It’s today’s news.
The war that Hamas started on October 7th is a perfect example of this.
So if you really wanna understand current events in the Middle East.
Don’t go to CNN or any other modern media channel.
Go to the Scriptures.
That’ll get you hip to what’s really going on today.
Ya feel me?
Done.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“For whatsoever things were written aforetime
were written for our learning,
that we through patience and comfort
of the scriptures might have hope.”
— Romans 15:4
“Now these things happened to them as examples,
but they were written down for our instruction,
on whom the end of the ages has come.”
— 1 Corinthians 10:11
“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars…
For nation will rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom.”
— Matthew 24:6–7
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