Its a beautiful, chilly day here! I love being able to have the windows open with the fresh spring air filling the house! ahhhh.. :)
I remember being taught in Sunday School about David and Goliath.....its been forever since I've read the story! This morning I went back to the book of 1 Samuel chapter 17, to refresh my memory.
A little background first.....Saul was the King of the Israelites during this time. The Israelites were at war against the Philistines.
David was the youngest son of 8 children. He was his father's shepherd. In Chapter16, David had already been anointed as the next King after Saul dies.
1 Samuel 17:4-7
A champion named Goliath (the Giant), came out of the Phillistine camp. He was over nine feet tall. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels, on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels.
One "shekel" is equal to .0497 ounces. Imagine wearing all that bronze weight on your body! He must have been one strong Giant! Plus he was 9 ft. tall....very intimadating.
1 Samuel 17:8-9, 11
Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Phillistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us." On hearing the Phillistines words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.
Imagine how terrified the Israelites were of Goliath! They Israelites are all average height....and here is this man, 3-4 feet taller than them, wanting to fight one on one. yikes!!
1 Samuel 17:32
David said to Saul, "Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.
Saul replied, " You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth." But David said to Saul, "Your Servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.
The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.
Saul said to David, "Go and the Lord be with you."
In these verses it says that David was just a boy...we don't know for sure his age, but he was probably younger. But age doesn't matter, David knew the Lord would protect him, as he had been protected so many times before from lions and bears.
Out of all the soldiers, it was a Shepherd Boy who stood up and was willing to fight, because he had the confidence that his Lord was with him.
1 Samuel 17:38-40, 42, 44, 45-46, 48-49
Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the runic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them.
"I cannot go in these" he said to Saul, "because I am not used to them." So he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in hand, approuched the Philistine.
Goliath looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him. "come here" he said "I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field."
David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head."
As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead and he fell facedown on the ground.
Not only was David just a boy, and not a soldier, but he fought without the proper armour and without a sword. David fought Goliath with just a sling and a stone! God was with David the whole time and helped him kill the giant that day.
There's a good lesson for us this Chapter....no matter what our age, no matter what we do for a living, or where we are at in our lives....If we trust and believe in God and His Power, He will be with us and help us fight the Giants in our lives. Remember God is always with you, and He will help you when you ask Him :).
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