Why did David choose five smooth stones before going to fight Goliath?

A more signal and glorious service is, however, now in store for him; but it is brought about in a very humble way; for he emerges from the wilderness and the care of the flock by order of his father on a very simple mission, viz., to take supplies to his brethren and see how they fare. But while diligently executing this order, an opening or demand on him arises for testifying for the glory of God. And for this demand the man of God is ever ready. David, having just discharged the object of his mission, is arrested by hearing the Philistine defy the armies of the living God, and his spirit stirred within him — like Paul. He immediately determines to encounter him. How prompt and self-possessing is the power of God! Though commissioned for so simple an errand, he is ready at a moment's notice to enter on the most notable, with the utmost zeal and prowess, though at the same time with the greatest simplicity. Refusing Saul's armour, which he had "not proved," he takes what is most natural to him — five smooth stones from the brook; thus indicating that he need not be invested with any greater circumstances than those in which God had placed him, or with any greater means than those which came within the range of his calling. So, with the simple equipment of a shepherd he is content and fearless, and can face the terrible foe with a staff, a shepherd's bag, a sling and five stones — smooth ones, too! What a grasp divine power must have had on him! And how full was his possession of it, to be able to apply it with such quietness and composure! David meets Goliath as calmly as he might have met a child, and returns his challenge with all the dignity which invests a soul which knows that the divine power, which it implicitly rests on, will thereby be a weapon in its grasp. And dependence on that God, whose deliverance it has proved in its own private wilderness-conflicts with the lion and the bear, renders it fearless and calm in facing a more terrible adversary, before whom the whole host of Israel quailed. One stone sufficed, and the giant fell! David, still equal to the moment, though he had rejected Saul's armour as means of vanquishing, is now rightful possessor of that which he had vanquished; so he took Goliath's sword, stood upon him, and "cut off his head therewith" — in all of which action we notice the adroitness and wisdom of divine power. He must have had a glowing sense of what God had wrought by him; and it must have been an immense gratification to have to be the means of so great a deliverance; yet, like the greater than David, no popular honours are decreed him. And it must have been discipline to him to find, after all that had passed, he was unknown to Saul; and though taken into his house, it is without any promise of favour. True, Saul had set David over his men of war, and the women celebrated his exploits in songs; but none of these in any way expressed a due sense of the services rendered or the deliverance wrought by him — none, save one, and that one God had prepared as a solace for David's heart, amid all the ingratitude and violence which was to be displayed in the very scene of his service and victory. The love and devotion of Jonathan is as yet his only compensation. Like the Lord Himself, he must find his greatest services unacknowledged, save by the little remnant attached to His person; and who, like the poor woman (Luke 7), felt that He was everything to her, while the Pharisee and the great ones were hollow and irresponsive to Him. The Lord surely valued the love of His disciples, and it cheered Him in His course here, while so slighted and unknown of men. David was allowed still more solace, in the wonderful and touching attachment and devotion of Jonathan, who ever remained faithful to him; but he had also to learn that this is all he must reckon on, let his services be ever so great. He must not depend on those whom he has served, but only on the one whose affections he has won. It must be heart-allegiance, not popular or royal favour — a blessed lesson for any servant, a fine and holy line for the soul to be led into!

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?

Armed with Saul's armour, David assayed to go, for he had not proved it; but the armour of man's devising, since the conflict really lay between God and the enemy, encumbered the man of faith. So, putting it off, and furnished only with offensive weapons provided by God, the five smooth stones out of the brook, he went forward to the encounter. The Philistine moved forward, preceded by his armour-bearer. David went to meet him, with God for his shield. Goliath disdained him, and cursed him by his gods, vaunting of his ability to give his flesh to the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field. Boasting in word, attempting, too, perhaps, to terrify David by cursing him, this was all that the enemy could do. David heard his boastful language, and replied with becoming spirit, "Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee, and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands." Confident was the Philistine, as confident was David. Yet how different was the spirit of the latter from that of the former! Goliath boasted of his strength, "I will give thy flesh," etc. David trusted in the Lord; "the Lord," he said, "will deliver thee into mine hand." To Goliath he speaks of Jehovah. To Israel and to Saul he made mention of the living God. Each term was in keeping with the circumstances in which David was placed. To rally Israel and Saul, he reminds them of the living God. Answering the boastful Philistine, he speaks of Jehovah of hosts as the God of the armies of Israel. The living God could not be overcome by the power of death. Jehovah of hosts, who has power in battle, could not be subdued by the champion of God's enemies. In His name, then, David, stripling though he was, would go forward, and felt sure of the victory.

But moreover he declares, "Jehovah that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine." There is not a thought of himself in the matter. He is God's object of care, for so faith always reasons; he is His object of interest, and so much the more as his only desire was the glory of Jehovah. "And Saul said to David, Go, and Jehovah be with thee." He was struck by the young man's answer. "And Saul armed David with his armour ;" but this was of no use. David essayed to go, but soon found out that the pieces of armour were but hindrances, and in no way a help to him. "And David put them off him." He had not proved them, as he told him. "And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand." They were the well-proved weapons of his warfare; they were the weapons in which he had often looked up to Jehovah in the course of his ordinary work day by day.

"And he drew near to the Philistine. And the Philistine came on and drew near to David; and the man that bare the shield went before him. And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance. And the Philistine said to David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh to the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field." David's answer was most worthy of one who knew what and who Jehovah is to His people. "Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of Jehovah of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will Jehovah deliver thee into mine hand;" for faith has no difficulties, and sees clearly in the hour of danger according to God — I may say, the end from the beginning. "And I will smite thee," says he, "and take thine head from thee;" a word most punctually and quickly fulfilled. "And I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines" — for his faith rises higher still — "I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day to the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God," not with David only, but "in Israel."

Here we have the true object of the man of faith, viz., that Israel and all the earth might have a glorious testimony to the power and presence of God in the midst of His people. If David had used Saul's armour it would not have been known that the Lord saved not by sword and spear — his warfare would just seem like any other; but the sling and the stone while giving little prominence to him that used it, gave the glory to Him from whom the victory came.

But David goes not forth unarmed to the fight, though he casts from him the armour of Saul. He took his staff, the five smooth stones in his shepherd's scrip, and his sling; thus armed he drew nigh to the Philistine (1 Sam. 17:40). Thus he strips himself of one sort of armour, only to array himself in another. But what simple armour is this! If David overcomes Goliath with this, surely the victory must be the Lord's. This armour was never wrought by art and man's device: the running brook had given these stones their smoothness. But faith is always thus armed. The armour of faith therefore is always weak and foolish in the eyes of men. God's mightiest victories have been won by instrumentality which man has most despised. The foolishness of preaching (a foolish thing in itself, and a foolish subject, Christ crucified) man treats with disdain; yet it is "the power of God and the wisdom of God." Preaching has ever been as foolish as David's sling. But what we want is mach more of such simplicity, remembering that we have the truth of God to address to men's consciences. We have weapons "mighty through God," if we had only simple faith to trust to them alone, rejecting the armour of human energy, wisdom, and authority.

"And the Philistine came on, and drew near unto David" (1 Sam. 17:41). And, disdaining David and his army, Goliath says, "Am I a dog that thou comest to me with staves? "Remember this, beloved, that the flesh always thinks itself insulted, because our weapons are not such as itself uses. The flesh likes to see sword opposed to sword, helmet against helmet; the flesh loves its own. But David said, "Thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear, and with a shield; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied." Thus David puts the question on its true basis. It is now a question simply between the Lord of Hosts and the Philistine. David puts David quite out of question, and brings God Himself in, as the antagonist of Goliath. Thus should it always be with us. What are we? What is the foe? It matters not what. we are, or what is the power of the foe; it signifies not however mighty the one, or weak the other: will not God vindicate His own name? David came in the name of the Lord of Hosts; and will not God be jealous of His own name? Will He allow the Philistine to triumph over that? Never! Here then is the might of faith. Faith always brings in Omnipotence. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" is ever the word of faith.

Now David could never have stood thus at this hour, if he had not learnt God as his God in secret: therefore could he say, "Let no man's heart fail him: and therefore could he thus meet Goliath. The name of the Lord must be our strength against every evil, whether without or within. Suppose the worst kind of evil, sin by a saint (and I trust that we all know that sin in a saint is far worse than sin in another), and what is our refuge? "For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great." You have only to put God in remembrance of His own name, and He will be jealous for that name. Thus faith can always use the name of the Lord as its strength against every foe. So that, instead of there being pride in David's heart here, he was shrinking himself into nothing, and making God everything. His most confident words are his most humble ones. And is it not the name of Jesus that we have to set against everything? Against every trial, every anxiety, every enemy? Is it not this which God is teaching many souls in secret now? Leading them into a sense of pollution and weakness they never knew before; into trial they never knew before; in order that they may know the value of what they have in the cross? Not as though they had not got every thing, but to prove this in them and unite them. Thus many are proving experimentally what redemption is, by being made to feel the necessity of such an Almighty friend as God. God is thus in secret now instructing many souls in the value of the cross. And why? In order that they may be strong in the conflict.

And living before God in secret will ever make us act, if I may so speak, on the aggressive. This is remarkable in David. He says (1 Sam. 17:46-49), "This day will the Lord deliver thee into my hand; and I will smite thee and take thy head from thee, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel! And David hasted and ran toward the army, to meet the Philistine." David tarried not, faltered not: but instantly used his simple arms and smote his foe to the earth. "So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone and smote the Philistine and slew him; and there was no sword in the hand of David" (1 Sam. 17:50-51).

David therefore went forth, unarmed, so far as man could see, relying on God with his staff, his sling, and five smooth stones. There was no appearance of power in what David possessed, but his staff indicated that he leaned on a power that was not his own, His stones had not been fashioned on human anvils, but had been prepared by the work of God. The sling, which could hardly be called a weapon, was in its simplicity but the means used of God to bring down the embodiment of human strength and power.

Verse 40 shows us David's armour. "And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine." So, we see, David did use means; but what means! What contempt does David cast upon the ponderous armour of his enemy! How his sling must have contrasted with Goliath's spear like a weaver's beam! In fact, David could not have inflicted a deeper wound upon the Philistine's pride than by coming against him with such weapons. Goliath felt this. "Am I a dog?" said he. It mattered not, in the judgement of faith, what he was, dog or giant; he was an enemy of the people of God, and David was meeting him with the weapons of faith.

He discards the armor of Saul, inferior, indeed as it was to that of Goliath, and going down into the brook, gathers five stones, the number of human weakness linked with divine power, the number too of our Lord's incarnation, God with man; and with these alone, he goes out to meet the giant foe. All victory over evil is at least a shadow of that one supreme victory which our Lord gained over the prince of this world, once and forever, at the cross. While there are details which have special reference to the character of the enemy and the nature of the victory, applicable to special periods in the history of God's people, these carry us back always to the Cross. We, therefore, would take this as the great lesson here before us.

David had tested his means before the battle. This let us remember, but apply it rightly too. For the word of God is that which must test everything for us, if our experience even is to be of any value. Little should we count it, comparatively, when we have unfailing wisdom of Him who sees the end from the beginning, to whom all things are naked and opened. How we should rejoice, indeed, in the unspeakable blessing of His word — His mind made known to us! As to the weapons of David, we shall see what they mean directly; but we may notice that the five stones already speak in the number of man in relationship with God, which accomplished, as even the person of Christ bears witness for eternity, the issue of the conflict before us is not doubtful.

Now turn to the Old Testament Scriptures for a few illustrations; for the Old Testament is like the log-book aboard ship; in it we find all the way in which the Old Testament saints have failed - run against this rock, grounded on that shoal. Abraham went down into Egypt, Isaac wanted to go. David and Solomon failed, and so on, one after another; that is the log-book. But in the New Testament we have the chart that goes straight away and leads into the glory. Turn to David. He comes forth as the deliverer of the children of Israel out of the hand of Goliath. He refused to go in man's strength and power, but he went to the brook, and from the brook he took five stones, and they were smooth ones. He knew where to go to get a usable weapon. Why smooth? They had been under the action of the water, the water had played upon them and rubbed off every rough edge until they were usable. Do you like the rubbing? You will never be smooth without it. I do not know how long they had lain in the brook, some stones take longer to smooth than others; for if you will not submit, but will be obstinate and crooked, He will keep you under the action of the water until you are ready to be used. Oh that we might sit down, as it were, and allow the water to play over us, rubbing off the edges! You never see a square stone on the sea-shore. How often have we admired the round pebbles there! A stone fresh cut from the quarry is rough, and has jagged edges; but put it on the sea-shore, and, perhaps not in a day, or a week, or a month, but after a time it will lose all the roughness. I only use this as an illustration to show that if you and I submitted more to the water (the present ministry of Christ), we should be more usable in His hand; but if you refuse to go under the water, you will never be a smooth stone. David knew where to get the stones, and one stone did the whole thing. That is power. And if we are ever to be burden-bearers, or weapons in the hand of Christ, we must have the water of the Word playing on our hearts; and the man who will not submit to John 13 never has the condition of John 14, John 14 is the state produced by the power of the present ministry of Christ. If we are not in a good state God cannot use us, but the devil can; and do you know the devil's device? He never thrusts a man down all at once, he works insidiously until he has changed the state of soul, and corrupted him, and then he trips him. A fall arises from a bad state of soul, caused by not subjecting ourselves to the present ministry of Christ.