What should we learn from the account of David and Goliath?

How fearful a foe had Israel before them in Goliath! Morning and evening he defied their armies, and his defiance was unanswered; for they were dismayed and sore afraid. Saul might set the army in array; the hosts might go forth to the place of fight, and shout for the battle (vv. 19-21); but, behold, there came up the champion (the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name) out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words; and all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid, (vv. 23, 24.) This occurred just as David reached the camp. David heard the proud defiance of Goliath (v. 23), and he saw the dismay and dishonor of Israel. Their loud shout for the battle was soon over, and all the people were in utter consternation. But David was calm and undismayed amidst all. The stripling David is the only one who feared not. He whom his brothers despised, and spoke lightly of, in the naughtiness of their hearts; he whom the Philistine disdained and cursed. Now there was nothing that any could see in David as a reason why he should put himself forward to meet the Philistine, when none else dared to do so; nothing that men, who judge by "the outward appearance," could discern as power; but quite the contrary. The flesh would see power in "the host," in numbers, and in armor, or in the mighty Goliath; but never in the stripling, just come from his "few sheep in the wilderness!"

Beloved, mark this: David had had to do with the Living God; and now he saw that the name of the Living God was implicated. Israel looked to Israel's resources; and what were the resources of Israel compared with those of the Philistines? But here was one who had the mind of God — one who looked to the resources of the Living God. It was not that there was natural courage in David more than in Saul; but there was faith in David. It is true that David had been in obscurity in the wilderness; but there he had learnt communion with God. And now he came forth as one fresh from the Living God, and viewed all around him according to God; and what he had learnt of God in secret he brought out into the circumstances before him. And this was the secret of his strength and of his victory. The circumstances were well considered, their difficulty and danger weighed; but his faith brought God into them, and acted amidst them in His wisdom, and in His power. Thus it is that David here looks on all around him. He views the army of Israel as the army of the Lord of hosts. He looks at it in the light of Him from whose presence he had just come. (v. 26.)

How fearful a foe had Israel before them in Goliath! Morning and evening he defied their armies, and his defiance was unanswered, for they were dismayed and sore afraid. Saul might set the army in array; the hosts might go forth to the place of fight and shout for the battle (1 Sam. 17:19-21), but "behold there came up the champion (the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name) out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words, and all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid" (1 Sam. 17:23-24). This occurred just as David reached the camp. David heard the proud defiance of Goliath (ver. 23), and he saw the dismay and dishonour of Israel. Their loud shout for the battle was soon over, and all the people were in utter consternation. But David was calm and undismayed amidst all. The stripling David is the only one who feared not — he, whom his brothers despised, and spoke lightly of, in the naughtiness of their hearts — he, whom the Philistines disdained and cursed. Now there was nothing that any could see in David as a reason why he should put himself forward to meet the Philistine, when none else dared to do so: nothing that men who judge by "the outward appearance" could discern as power, but quite the contrary. The flesh would see power in "the host," in numbers, and in armour, or in the mighty Goliath; but never in the stripling, just come from his "few sheep in the wilderness!"

Beloved, mark this: David had had to do with the living God; and now he saw that the name of the living God was implicated. Israel looked to Israel's resources; and what were the resources of Israel compared with those of the Philistines! But here was one who had the mind of God, one who looked to the resources of the living God. It was not that there was natural courage in David more than in Saul; but there was faith in David. It was true that David had been in obscurity in the wilderness; but there he had learnt communion with God. And now he came forth as one fresh from the living God, and viewed all around him according to God: and what he had learnt of God in secret he brought out into the circumstances before him. And this was the secret of his strength and of his victory. The circumstances were well considered, their difficulty and danger weighed; but his faith brought God into them, and acted amidst them in His wisdom, and in His power. Thus it is that David here looks on all around him. He views the army of Israel as the army of the Lord of Hosts. He looks at it in the light of Him from whose presence he had just come (1 Sam. 17:26).

Far otherwise was it with Saul (as ever with the flesh), on David's first introduction to Israel in the valley of Elah. What a bright display of the courage of faith in contrast to the cowardice of unbelief - Saul and all Israel being dismayed and sore afraid in the presence of Goliath! The shepherd youth, ruddy and of a beautiful countenance, sent by his father on an errand of love to his brethren, thus unexpectedly heard the challenge of the proud Philistine foe, and witnessed its effect on the Israelites. His soul was filled with a sense of the reproach to Israel, no one being found to accept the challenge of him who, to David's faith, was but an uncircumcised Philistine, defying the armies of the living God. Strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, David stepped into the arena of conflict with the calm confidence of unquestioning faith in Jehovah, God of Israel, having one only object and desire, that God's name should be vindicated, as being still in the midst of Israel (1 Sam. 17:46), and ready to intervene on behalf of His poor and trembling, because unbelieving people.

How bold in his words, yet how really apprehensive of danger, did he show himself to be! Why all that armour, the helmet, the coat of mail, the greaves of brass on his legs, with a javelin (Joshua 8:18), not a target, of brass between his shoulders, and an armour-bearer with a shield going before him? What thought had Goliath taken for the safety of his person! Encased in scaly armour, and with a shield to cover his whole person borne before him — in such attire, but not till he had taken such precautions, did this giant challenge the Israelites to single and mortal combat. Appearances were all in his favour; his height was imposing, and his armour would seem to defy penetration. But these precautions surely indicated a want of confidence in himself, and a fear of those he contemptuously called the servants of Saul. How bold the enemy can be before those who are afraid of him! And "when Saul and all Israel heard the words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid." And no wonder, for unless God is brought into such circumstances, what can feeble man effect? For forty days this went on. A full period of probation Israel passed through; but as yet no one was found to take up the challenge. The people were made to feel their own powerlessness. When this had been realised, David, sent by his father, entered the camp. He saw the giant. He heard his words. He witnessed the abject terror of the men of Israel. All were afraid but David, the youth, who viewed the matter in the right light.

Offers had been freely made by Saul to any man who would meet the giant, and kill him, of freedom for his father's house in Israel, and the king's daughter for his wife, and enrichment with great riches. The people, to whom David addressed himself in the camp, were well acquainted with them, yet they failed to nerve one single man to volunteer for such a perilous service. And no wonder. For what are promises of temporal favours and earthly enjoyments for one who has to face, as he thinks, certain death to earn a title to possess them? Such sink into insignificance in the presence of the power of the enemy, and with death confronting the man. But David looked at the matter in another light. The servants of Saul Goliath termed his opponents. To defy Israel had Goliath come, said the people, addressing David. He, however, remembered who Israel really were, namely, the armies of the living God. In this strain he answered them, and in the same strain he spoke to Saul. He sought to rally all Israel, that they should no longer be afraid. Could the armies of the living God be overthrown? Could death triumph in such circumstances? The very language he used — and it was the simple truth — should have settled the question for Saul and for Israel, as it was already settled for him. The armies of the living God were Israel, whom Goliath defied, and he, the champion, the terrible one, was but an uncircumcised Philistine.

With David, then, it was not a question how things looked to man, but what the things were in God's sight. He viewed things in the light in which God viewed them, and all was clear and certain for him, the man of faith. "Let no man's heart fail because of him," David said to Saul; "thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine." This was the language of faith, not the bravado of a boaster. Goliath was only an uncircumcised Philistine, he had not the token of God's covenant on his person. (Gen. 17:11.) But all this was lost upon Saul, He looked at David, took note of his youthfulness, and attempted to discourage him. All right, if David had been going in his own strength; but if the contest really lay between God and the enemy, what mattered youth and inexperience in war? The living God must conquer him who terrified His people with the dread of death. So David knew, and in God's strength would he meet the giant. For God was his God. He had proved His delivering power at the sheepfold. There he had received that training which fitted him for the combat. The lion and the bear, which had robbed his father's fold, he had slain single-handed. What better than the fate of those unclean beasts could the uncircumcised Philistine have meted out to him, seeing he had defied the armies of the living God?

If we turn to consider him now as the consciously anointed king of Israel, Saul being alive, we shall see how all must be of grace to bring him to the throne. The wisdom and prudence he needed, and that continually, were beyond nature. Then his unwearied devotion to their interests as the people of God is in marked contrast with the unbelief and self-seeking of Saul who counted them as Hebrews merely (ch. 13:3). The outlook, when for the first time he was brought face to face with their actual condition, was dark enough. One man had for forty days struck terror in all their hearts. Saul drew out their armies in battle array, but they were dismayed whenever this man defied them. How could he count on one of them? Yet jealous for the name of the Lord of hosts, and feeling intensely for the humiliation of the people, David at once undertook, stripling as he was, to go forth in that Name and overthrow this foe, with the supreme desire that all the earth might know THERE WAS A GOD IN ISRAEL, and that they should be victorious, not he alone. As he said to Goliath "The Lord will give you into our hands." It was the first dawn of hope since the glory had departed, and it was the birth-time in David's soul of a zeal that never died. Though he was "often baffled, sore baffled, down as into entire wreck, yet he began anew."

In 1 Samuel 17 the scene is changed. Israel, with its fallen king, stand face to face with the Philistines and their champion, Goliath of Gath; and all the host, from Saul the king to the meanest soldier, are full of fear and trembling, and none dare meet the foe; for God is not with them, and they have no confidence toward Him, as the apostle John speaks, "If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God." No; their heart did condemn them, and moreover God was against them in judgment. The Philistines were His scourge for Israel's unfaithfulness; otherwise none of the inhabitants of the land could have stood before Israel. Who now can be for them, when God, their only Refuge, is against them? Now comes the occasion for unfolding and accomplishing the purposes of His grace. From the solitude of the sheepfold David is called by God to fulfil the great object for which he was anointed; and, as the obedient one, at his father's bidding, he carries the message to the camp. There he discovers the terrible strait of the people, and, impelled by holy zeal and fearless faith, he voluntarily offers to meet single-handed the dreaded foe. With a fixed heart and a firm step he descends the valley alone to grapple with the power of the enemy, and returns victorious, carrying back the giant's head - witness of his triumph. It is worthy of notice here, that whilst it is God's judgment that lay on the people for their sin and disobedience, it is God alone who can raise up and send the one who could meet that judgment, and deliver the people from under it. Nothing is now left but for Israel to pursue and gather up the spoil.

Opposition to David. While carrying out his father's commandment, and speaking to his brethren, Goliath, the champion of the Philistines came forth and issued his challenge to Saul and his armies, a challenge that dismayed Saul and all Israel. But David was not dismayed, for he viewed the challenge of the giant, not to Saul and his armies but to the armies of the living God. Bringing God in between the enemy and His people made all the difference; for it is not now seen as a challenge to the weakness of Saul and his men, but a challenge to God and His power. David viewed this situation as the Lord Jesus viewed every situation in relation to God.

Having learned in secret to confide in the living God, David was not dismayed when he heard the challenge of the champion of the Philistines. He viewed the challenge, as Saul and the men of Israel ought to have viewed it, not to the armies of the king, but as defiance of “the armies of the living God” (1 Sam. 17:26, 36). In the eyes of those who left God out of their reckoning Goliath appeared in all his natural strength and prowess, but these things were of little account when he was measured alongside the forces of the living God that faith saw in His armies.

Then too David, when he saw Goliath, and witnessed the terror of the people at his appearance, encouraged himself, and would, if he could, have rallied that craven-spirited host, by the remembrance of this special characteristic of their God. Let the giant be as strong as he looked, and his armour be impervious to human weapons, what was he in reality but one who defied the armies of the living God? Fall then he must. The power of death could not overcome the living God (1 Sam. 17:26). Thus David in faith reasoned, and surely well. The uncircumcised Philistine should become like the slain lion and the dead bear, because he had defied the armies of the living God. The living God was for David not a formula, an abstraction, a theological expression. He was a reality. And then was the time to count on deliverance, going forward to battle in this confidence.

David was made the happy instrument of delivering his brethren from the galling and terrifying threats of the uncircumcised Philistine; he had come into their midst, from the retirement of a shepherd's life, unknown and despised, though the anointed king of Israel; he had gone forth single-handed to meet the enemy of the congregation; he had laid him prostrate, and made a show of him openly; and all this, be it remembered, as the servant of God, and the servant of Israel, and in the energy of a faith which circumstances could not shake. It was a wondrous deliverance, gained by a single blow — no manoeuvring of armies — no skill of generals — no prowess of soldiers. No; a stone from the brook, slung by a shepherd's hand, settled the whole matter. It was the victory of faith.