In young Tom Sawyer’s Sunday School class, the reward for memorizing two Bible verses was a blue ticket. Once a student acquired ten blue tickets, he could trade them for a red ticket. Ten red tickets (or two-hundred memorized verses) could be exchanged for a yellow ticket. And ten yellow tickets (now up to two-thousand verses) won the child a brand new Bible. Tom didn’t much care for a new Bible, but he wanted the glory of being presented with one in front of everybody. So naturally, instead of doing the hard work of memorizing verses, Tom Sawyer bought tickets from his friends with whatever odd items they would take from him. And it happened on the day when a prominent guest, Judge Thatcher, visited the Sunday School, that Tom Sawyer cashed in his acquired tickets for the honor of being presented a Bible. Although Mr. Walters, the Sunday School superintendent, was taken off guard by the fact that Tom, of all people, was coming forward, he nevertheless took advantage of the opportunity to show off one of his pupils before the distinguished guest. And so Tom came forward, where he conversed awkwardly with Judge Thatcher, while the judge heaped praise on him for being such a diligent student of Scripture. Hoping to give Tom a small chance to show off what he had learned, the judge said to him, “No doubt you know the names of all twelve disciples. Won’t you tell us the names of the first two that were appointed?” After a few awkward moments and a few more promptings, Tom announced, “DAVID AND GOLIATH!” after which Mark Twain writes, “Let us draw the curtain of charity over the rest of the scene.”
Even if you don’t know much about the Bible, you probably have heard of David and Goliath, the most famous story in the books of 1-2 Samuel. But the fame of this story tends to obscure the fact that Goliath is actually a minor character. This story is really much more about David and Saul than it is David and Goliath, for it is this story that shows how David’s star began to rise in Israel, even as Saul declined to lower and lower depths, and that is the main storyline that will occupy the rest of 1 Samuel. In the aftermath of slaying the giant, Saul promotes David from the role of occasional musical guest who went back-and-forth between Saul’s court and shepherding his father’s flocks in Bethlehem to a permanent military commander in Saul’s service. According to 18:5, David had success in this role, and all the people of Israel took notice. David’s star is definitely on the rise after Goliath.
But there is one response to David’s success that I find particularly intriguing, and that is the response of Jonathan, the son of Saul. According to 18:1-4, Jonathan loved David as he loved himself. He entered into a covenant with David, a covenant of both friendship and political loyalty. And he gave to David his own robe, armor, and weapons. Now, that may have been simply Jonathan’s way of providing David with fitting attire to wear in King Saul’s court. But it also could have been a deliberate political act, whereby Jonathan formally recognized that it was David, and not he, who would have the rightful claim to the throne of Israel after his father’s time was done. As we see more interactions between David and Jonathan after this event, we will see that Jonathan consistently sides with David, even against his own father Saul, which means also against own interests for the throne. Jonathan’s stance toward David is, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30), as John the Baptist would later say about Jesus.
Why would Jonathan do that? When David went out to face the giant, what did Jonathan see in him that produced a loyalty to David that would go so far as to work against the prospects of his own political future? And what might God want us to see in David from this story as a model for ourselves? In order to answer that question, I want to walk us through the story of chapter 17.
It is a story that begins with the crisis of a stalemate on the battlefield. The last we heard from the Philistines, Saul (mainly because of Jonathan’s courage) had routed them in battle in chapters 13-14. Nevertheless, the Philistines came back, and according to verses 1-3, they gathered at a strategic location between Socoh and Azekah, a location that would be a major entry point into Saul’s kingdom if they could take it. So they drew up for battle against Israel, with both armies lined up facing each other from elevated locations, with No Man’s Land located between them in the valley. And from their ranks came a terrifying sight. It was the sight of a massive Philistine champion named Goliath, who was over 9 and ½ feet tall. His massive size explains the incredible weight of his armor, which was around 126 pounds. The head of his spear weighed between 15-16 pounds. His shield-bearer went before him, and he was covered from head to toe in protective equipment, leaving only his face exposed. And he taunted the army of Israel, challenging any man who dared to fight him one-on-one as a representative battle between the two armies.
Verse 11 tells us, “When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.” Goliath left Saul, and consequently Saul’s army, paralyzed in fear. From his introduction into the narrative of 1 Samuel, Saul has been described as a tall, impressive man. The problem he faces here is that, no matter how impressive he is in human terms, there will always be someone else taller. Goliath fits the bill, and Saul simply doesn’t know what to do, so he is reduced to doing nothing. It’s no coincidence that this story is narrated to us right after the account of the Spirit of the Lord departing from Saul in chapter 16.
Jonathan would have no doubt taken notice of this failure of leadership on his father’s part. As a close advisor to his father, Jonathan would have noticed that Samuel, the man of God, simply wasn’t around anymore, and that Saul was no longer hearing from God. He would have noticed the effects of the tormenting spirit that would visit his father from time to time. And he would have been able to see the writing on the wall for his father’s rule over Israel. And so the stage is set for our story with a stalemate on a battlefield, a stalemate caused by an overwhelming enemy matched by the cowardice of King Saul, who is now devoid of the Spirit of God and unable to lead Israel effectively. The situation is dire for Israel.
At this point the camera fades. Cut to a new scene starting in verse 12. We are now in the little town of Bethlehem, far removed from the battlefield, where David the son of Jesse, who recently came on as a part-time musician in Saul’s court, continues to work as a humble shepherd for his father’s flocks. David gets a lengthy introduction, and through a providential series of events finds his story intersecting with that of Israel’s army. As it turns out, David’s three oldest brothers—Eliab, Abinadab, and Shammah—were soldiers in Saul’s army. As any father would be concerned for the safety of his sons, Jesse decided to send David on a mission to deliver a gift of parched grain and loaves of bread to his brothers, and some cheeses for their commander, while checking on their well-being so he could bring back word to their father. So David went as his father commanded, and he happened to arrive at the camp of the Israelite army just as they were going out to form battle lines for another day of listening to taunts from the Philistine warrior. This had been going on forty days, which in Scripture is often the length of a time of testing for God’s people. So David left his gifts with the keeper of the baggage and ran out to the battlefield in search of his brothers. When he found them, he greeted them just before his eyes noticed the Philistine warrior descending into No Man’s Land. Verse 23 is a verse that sounds repetitive, but it introduces a new element into the story: “As [David] talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him.” Forty days he has been doing this, but this is the first time David has heard it, and that is what will make all the difference. David is about to break the stalemate in this story.
David started asking questions: “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away this reproach from Israel?” Much to the chagrin of his older brother Eliab, David started causing a stir among the troops. But David’s repeated inquiries stirred up enough chatter that eventually made its way to King Saul, who got word that there may indeed be a man ready to take on the giant. So Saul summoned David, and now standing before the king, David volunteered to fight. It is at this point that we can see that this is really not a story about David and Goliath. It is a story about David and Saul. The contrast between the two men could not be stronger. Saul has been paralyzed with fear for forty days, but David is ready to go into battle from the moment he arrives on the scene. Jonathan noticed the difference.
The great moment of battle is narrated beginning in verse 38. It begins with a humorous scene of Saul clothing David with his own armor, but David being unable to maneuver well in them. Saul was a tall man, and David had not tested the armor, so he quickly realized that this option wouldn’t work, and he removed the armor. But don’t miss the irony of what has just happened: without realizing it, Saul has just symbolically portrayed that in the future, authority over Israel will pass from him to David.
Without any armor, carrying only his shepherd’s staff and his sling, David picked up five smooth stones from the brook that flowed through the valley of No Man’s Land, and he made his way out to the field of battle. There the Philistine spotted him, and he couldn’t believe his eyes. “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And then he invoked curses over David by the names of the Philistine gods and threatened to feed his flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. David didn’t bat an eye. Verse 45 reads, “Then David said to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand.” Remarkably, the account of the battle is short and sweet. David hurled a single stone from his sling, and it struck the giant at the one place where he was left exposed: his face. The stone sunk into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground, while his shield-bearer scattered. David did not have a sword in his hand, so he went to his slain foe and borrowed his. And in a scene reminiscent of chapter 5, where the Philistine god Dagon’s head was severed from his body as his statue fell before the ark of the Lord, David raised Goliath’s own sword and cut off his head. It was truly a serpent-crushing, Genesis 3:15 moment.
And how the tables turned. Now it was the Philistine army who were shaking in their boots, and in the aftermath of the giant’s defeat, the army of Israel completely routed their enemies and plundered their camp. What King Saul could not accomplish in forty days, a young shepherd from Bethlehem accomplished in one. Israel’s deliverer had come.
So then, what was it specifically that Jonathan saw in David on this occasion that prompted him to throw in his lot with the son of Jesse instead of with his father Saul, even against his own interests? What he saw was faith in the living God. It was a faith that Saul lacked, but that Jonathan shared with David. It was the ability to see the reality of God more clearly than the threats of this world. It was a vision of reality that holds God as supreme, and as supremely good. The author highlights David’s faith in the way that he tells the story. Notice the words of Goliath in verse 10: “And the Philistine said, ‘I defy the ranks of Israel this day.’” The same word translated “defy” appears five more times in this story. In verse 25: “And the men of Israel said, ‘Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come to defy Israel.’” The first recorded words of David in the Bible appear in verse 26: “And David said to the men who stood by him, ‘What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach [same Hebrew word] from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?’” In verse 36 David says again, “Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.’” Then in verse 45 he says again to Goliath, “You come against me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” The conflict in this story turns on the Philistine warrior’s taunting defiance of Israel, which represents a raised fist against the God of Israel. Twice in this passage (vv. 26 and 36), David refers to “the armies of the living God,” as a reference to the truth that it is the God of Israel who lives and reigns over the false gods of the nations. David’s worldview is saturated with the reality of God.
In 2 Kings 6 the king of Syria sent an army with chariots and horses to the city of Dothan to take out Elisha the prophet, the man whose supernatural insight was constantly warning the king of Israel about Syria’s every move. When Elisha’s servant woke up one morning, he saw that the entire city was surrounded by the Syrian army, so he called out to Elisha, “Alas, my master, what shall we do?” Elisha calmly replied, “Don’t be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And then he prayed that God would open his servant’s eyes to see, and all of sudden the servant of Elisha could see a heavenly army of horses and chariots of fire stationed all around, ready to protect the man of God. And suddenly it became clear: there was no way harm would come to them. Living faith in the living God is the ability to see the hidden reality of God and interpret the world in light of him. Those who walk by faith see God as more real than the circumstances of this world.
It is that faith that I want to explore. In order to do that, I want to observe three characteristics of David’s faith as a word of application to us. The first characteristic is this:
I am making an assumption here that David had some familiarity with the books of Moses and other Scriptures that had been written up to this time in Israel’s history. The faith he shows in the God of Israel, not only here but throughout his life, and especially as it is reflected in the Psalms that he wrote, leads me to think that David’s father Jesse was a godly man who taught his sons about the Lord. So I am going to assume that David knew the story from Numbers 13-14 about the wilderness generation of Israel getting a report from their spies that the land God had promised them would be defended by giants, and in their fear they rebelled against the Lord and decided to choose a new leader to take them back to Egypt. As a result, God decreed that they would all die in the desert, leaving the next generation to inherit the promised land.
I assume David also knew that Moses had commanded that next generation in Deuteronomy 9:1-4, “Here, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the LORD your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the LORD has promised you.” I assume David was also familiar with the stories of the book of Joshua, including the account in Joshua 11:21-22 that Joshua took on the Anakim [the giants] and defeated them, leaving only a few survivors in the cities of Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod. Lo and behold, 1 Samuel 17:4 introduces the Philistine warrior as “Goliath of Gath,” presenting him as a remnant of the warriors whom God had already promised would be subdued before Israel. When David saw this massive, frightening warrior, he didn’t see his size, his strength, his weapons, or his armor. He saw the promise of God in Scripture that told him, “I have given him into your hand.” And that’s why David’s act was an act of faith, not of foolhardiness or presumption. He acted in response to God’s word of promise.
Faith acts on God’s promises, which means that a person who believes what God has promised should live in a different way from someone who doesn’t. Do you believe the promise of Romans 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved from the coming judgment of God? If you believe that promise, you will stop trying to save yourself by your own efforts and will rest in the provision that God has made for you in Christ alone. Do you believe the promise of Romans 8:33 that it is God who justifies? If you do, you will rest in his justifying verdict as the basis of your approval and stop seeking your worth and validation from others—your spouse, your parents, your in-laws, your social media followers, or this world. Do you believe the promise of Matthew 6:33: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things [food and clothing] will be added to you”? If you really believe that promise, then you will stop organizing your life around financial security and will instead seek first the kingdom of God, trusting him to provide for you. Faith takes hold of God’s promises and acts upon them because, to the eyes of faith, the reality of God eclipses the things of this world.
A second characteristic of faith is this:
David had a response ready for Saul when Saul told him there was no way he could go into battle against the Philistine. His response drew from his past experiences of knowing God’s power and provision for him. Verses 34-36 read, “But David said to Saul, ‘Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” There is another account in Scripture of a man killing a lion with his bare hands, and that is Samson. Judges 14:6 reads, “Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon [Samson], and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat.” I remember when my high school football coach printed off that verse and posted it on everyone’s locker on the day of our game against the New Boston Lions. Well, the point of that verse is not about football. It is about the power of the Spirit of God who came upon Samson, giving him the supernatural ability to tear a lion apart.
That same Spirit came upon David in chapter 16, and I’m inclined to say that it was sometime after the Spirit came upon him that David had these experiences with lions and bears. He speaks here to Saul as one who understands that it is not his own strength that has enabled him to kill wild animals with his bare hands; it is the Spirit of the Lord who has made him into a warrior who can take on the most dangerous foes imaginable. And the same Spirit would be with him in his bout against Goliath. David remembers past mercies of God as fuel for his faith in the present.
One of the best investments I ever made for my walk with the Lord was a simple notebook, where for over two years now I have kept a journal of prayer requests and answers to prayer. Periodically, I will read back through that notebook to remember the past mercies of God, and having seen God answer prayers, provide, change hearts, and open doors repeatedly, I can say honestly that my faith in the Lord is stronger now than it was before I started that practice. Don’t fail to remember the Lord’s past mercies. One way the Bible speaks of a generation losing faith in the Lord is to say they forgot his past works of deliverance. Do not forget what the Lord has done. Labor to remember, and let your faith be nurtured.
And then a third characteristic of faith is this:
As you read this story, you come to the realization that David was the only man among the Israelites who believed he was capable of going up against the giant. His older brother Eliab was clearly annoyed by David’s presence at the battle line, and he insulted him and accused him of only being there out of curiosity, not out of a sense of courage or duty. And then when he came before King Saul, the king had no confidence in him initially. Nevertheless, David persevered in the assurance that, even though others couldn’t see it, he was the man equipped by God for the task at hand.
Because faith leads to action, it will lead you into opposition with others who do not share your faith. People who do not see the reality of God over this world will often not understand your actions, and at times they will seek to dissuade you from obeying the Lord. Children and teenagers, from all we can tell, you are going to inherit a society in which being a faithful follower of Christ will cost you, perhaps dearly. All the most powerful corporations, influencers, politicians, media outlets, university faculty, and celebrities are aligned with a worldview that sees the Bible’s teachings as oppressive and morally backwards. The days will come, in fact, they are already here, when holding to the Bible’s teaching on manhood, womanhood, and sexuality will put you in the same category as the racist segregationists from the Jim Crow era. Are you ready to endure that kind of slander? Are you ready to be the kind of person who stands out in the crowd, not to be admired by everyone else, but to be regarded as a fool or a moral monster? Are you ready to be denied job opportunities? Are you ready to be shouted down in a college classroom by students who say your words are violence? Are you ready to get fired by an employer who is upset with you for not using someone’s preferred pronouns? If you have living faith in the living God, you will be undeterred by opposition. God will be more real to you than the people who tell you not to obey him. I remember Lee saying in his sermon series through Revelation some years ago, you can either resist the beast and face his wrath now, or you can follow the beast and face the wrath of the Lamb later. If you look at it that way, it’s really not a choice at all.
On that day of battle, Jonathan perceived this kind of living faith in the heart of David that he did not see in his father Saul, and it led him to throw in his lot with the son of Jesse, even at the expense of his own prospects for a future reign over Israel. Jonathan, who himself had this same kind of faith, was drawn to the kindred spirit of this man who knew and trusted the same God. And so David is for us a model of living faith that sees the reality of who God is and acts accordingly.
But David is not only a model of faith for us. He is also a shadow of the one who is the object of our faith, the true Deliverer from Bethlehem who came to crush the head of the serpent by paying the price for our sins through his death and by his resurrection to restore humanity’s rule over the cosmos. May we find our faith strengthened as we partake of the bread and the cup again today. Amen.