And as he talked with them, behold there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke according to the same words; and David heard [them].
David arrives at the battle line with bread and cheese for his brothers. As he is speaking with them, the giant steps out and repeats the challenge he has made every day for six weeks. The verse ends on four words — "And David heard him." Everyone else had heard the same speech and done nothing.
Two things meet here. One is a defiance no one would answer. The other is a young man who has just walked into camp. One writer notes the timing.
What a fearful enemy Israel had in Goliath! Morning and evening he defied their armies. No one answered him, for they were dismayed and terrified... This happened just as David reached the camp. David heard the proud defiance of Goliath, and he saw the dismay and dishonour of Israel. Their loud shout for battle was soon over, and all the people were in complete panic. But David was calm and undismayed through it all.
Goliath says nothing new. He has repeated the same challenge for forty days, and God has let him.
What astonishing patience on God's part! Every day, of course, increased the self-confidence of the uncircumcised champion. Every day added to the dismay of Israel. There was one heart at least that knew no such unworthy fear; but what shame and grief!
Israel's terror had a real cause. One writer reads the giant as a picture of a greater enemy, and the sword in his hand as the reason men run.
I take Goliath here to be a kind of picture of Satan holding "the power of death." A massive sword is in his hands. With it he terrifies the Israelites. They were terrified, yet as a nation they were the Lord's people. Outwardly they were near to Him and in relationship with Him. Now, Hebrews 2:14-15 tells us that before the cross Satan had "the power of death." It says God's saints, "through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery." That passage throws a flood of light on this chapter. Unconverted men, and even unsettled Christians, are afraid to die... "The sting of death is sin" (1 Corinthians 15:56). Conscience accuses. Men fear to die because they know that they are sinners, and that God must punish sin.
Another writer, speaking of the same valley, is blunt about the mismatch: the enemy pictured there "is too much for man, he is too much for you and me."
The same sound reached every ear in the camp. David heard a different thing in it — not an insult to a nation, but an insult to God, and that is where the giant's confidence broke.
Sure of his strength, he presents himself before the assembled people and challenges them. Once he has struck terror into those he wants to conquer, he cries out, "I defy the ranks of Israel this day!" He does not know that he is not dealing with Israel, but with God. In defying His people he is defying God Himself. This is his downfall.
David's calm did not come from nerve. It came from time already spent with God, out of sight.
He trains in secret those whom He is about to use in public. He lets His servants come to know Him in the solemn quiet of His sanctuary. He makes His greatness pass before them, so that they can face the difficulties of their path with a steady gaze... Goliath's forty days of proud boasting had fully proved the emptiness of man. Saul could do nothing. Jesse's three eldest sons could do nothing. Even Jonathan could do nothing. All was lost, or seemed to be, when the young David entered the scene. He came clothed in the strength of Him who was about to lay the pomp and glory of the proud Philistine in the dust.
David is on the field because his father sent him with food for his brothers. One writer sees in that errand the shape of a far greater sending.
This father sends his son down to see how his brothers are doing. That reminds us of a lovely verse: "And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world" (1 John 4:14). God has looked down on this scene, where the devil has overcome every man. Into it He has sent His own blessed Son as a Savior... God instructed Samuel, and Samuel anointed David as king over Israel. But his people did not know their anointed king. Israel's deliverer did not come on the scene until this moment. All Israel was then in desperate straits because of the power set against them.
- Hearing — Every man in the camp heard the same challenge. One heart alone knew no such fear, and the verse ends by naming him.
- Waiting — God's patience let the boasting run forty days. Each day grew the giant's confidence and drained Israel of hope in itself.
- Training — David built his calm in secret with God. God prepares in private the people He uses in public.
- Sending — The deliverer came on a father's errand. He arrived when no one else could help.
- Breaking — The giant's own challenge ruined him. He thought he faced a nation. He was facing God Himself.
And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were greatly afraid.
Goliath steps out and repeats the challenge he has made morning and evening. The whole army of Israel turns and runs. The verse shows what an army does when it can see nothing but the problem. It also raises the question the rest of the chapter answers: if no one in Israel can face this man, who can?
Israel went out to the battle line shouting for war. The shout did not last. One man in the camp stayed calm.
Morning and evening he defied their armies, and no one answered his defiance, for they were dismayed and much afraid. Saul might set the army in order. The army might go out to the place of the fight and shout for the battle. But the champion came up out of the armies of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before. This happened just as David reached the camp. David heard the proud defiance of Goliath, and he saw the dismay and dishonour of Israel. Their loud shout for the battle was soon over, and all the people were in complete panic. But David was calm and undismayed through it all.
Seeing the man is what started the flight. Israel did a sum, and it came out against them.
The king of Israel, and all the mighty men of Saul's forces, were unable to meet the giant in his impressive armour. They measured the power of the champion of the Philistines against their own strength. They felt themselves to be powerless, and so were much afraid.
The mistake was not that they measured. It was what they set side by side. David, arriving that same hour, compared something else.
What unbelief does is to compare ourselves and our own strength with circumstances. What faith does is to compare God with circumstances... How did David reason? He did not go and reason about the height of Goliath and about his own smallness of stature; he brought God in.
One writer reads Goliath as more than a large soldier. He sees him as a picture of Satan holding the power of death. That is why fighting men who belonged to God still ran.
I take Goliath here to stand for Satan, holding "the power of death." He has a massive sword in his hands, and with it he terrifies the Israelites. They were terrified, yet they were the Lord's people as a nation. They stood in outward nearness and relationship to Him. Now, Hebrews 2:14-15 tells us that Satan, before the cross, had "the power of death." It says God's saints "through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery." That passage throws a flood of light upon this chapter. Unconverted men and even unsettled Christians fear to die. Now, why is this? One verse from the New Testament supplies the answer. "The sting of death is sin." Conscience accuses.
Their flight was not only a failure. Had Israel felt equal to Goliath and gone down to fight him, the story would have ended worse.
No victory, no spoil for Israel so long as Goliath could defy them; they were no match for him. Presumption would have led them to utter defeat. Their sense of powerlessness opened the way for God to step in, for He was the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel. The cause was God's and therefore the power must be of God.
Every man on that field ran. One writer points to the only Man this enemy has never beaten.
And now, my dear friend, do you have the sense that you cannot meet Satan? He has overcome every man but One, the Man who, in lowly grace, had come uncalled and unwanted into this scene. Jesus met him in the wilderness first of all. He refused his temptations and overcame him. Then He met him in the garden of Gethsemane, and again was the victor. Then on the cross He bore Satan's attack and conquered. He went by the pathway of death right down into his stronghold, so that "through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery."
- Seeing — the men saw the man and ran. One sight emptied a battle line that had just been shouting for war.
- Measuring — they weighed the giant against their own strength. Unbelief compares self with circumstances. Faith compares God with circumstances.
- Bondage — one writer reads Goliath as the enemy who holds the power of death. Conscience is what makes death terrible, since "the sting of death is sin."
- Powerlessness — their helplessness was not their ruin but their opening. Confidence would have destroyed them. Having no answer left room for God to act.
- Deliverance — every man fled except One. He went down into death itself to free those held all their lives by the fear of it.