Will YOU Step Up?

I Sam. 17:12-37

Welcome! Today we continue our series in I Samuel, continuing last week’s message that opened the well-known account of David and Goliath. There is a danger in reading well-known Bible stories that we become deadened to its message. I encourage you today to look at this account freshly, with an inquisitive mind, one open to marveling at the events that we read.

Let me review the passage that we looked at last week before going on to today’s passage:

Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Sokoh and Azekah. Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them. – I Sam. 17:1-3

Here is a map of the Elah Valley, and a picture of the terrain:

The Philistines were the long time enemy of the Israelites. Originally a sea-faring people, they had come in from the coast and at this point in history wanted to take over the land of Israel by cutting it right in half. Saul, still king of the Israelites despite Samuel’s pronouncement that the Lord would replace him with another, led the Israelite fighters to meet them, each group camped on opposite sides of the Elah Valley.

Why occupy hills and avoid the valley? Because you are basically a sitting duck in the valley. It is also quite difficult for either side to attack the other, because to do so requires going down into the valley (so you lose the element of surprise) and then trying to ascend the other side. There are few positions more vulnerable in war than coming up an exposed hill. Either side, if it were to attempt the direct attack, was likely to suffer heavy losses, quite possibly losing the entire battle because of it. The situation was basically a stalemate.

A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span. 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. His shield bearer went ahead of him. – I Sam. 17:4-7

This is a huge guy, as much as 9 feet tall, and strong. He has about 100 pounds of armor and weapons (multiple weapons) on him. These weapons were customized for his size and strength. It is likely they could pierce any armor. Additionally, he has a large shield carried by a shield bearer. Normal soldiers did not have shield bearers. His job was to protect the warrior he served, with his life if necessary. If his warrior was attacked by a barrage of arrows or other missiles, he would protect him with the shield if that was practical or, if not, give the shield to the warrior, leaving himself quite vulnerable. Goliath is clearly an experienced and accomplished warrior and a terrifying sight.

Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, 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.” – I Sam. 17:8-9

This may sound like a strange proposal to us, but there are multiple examples of this kind of one-on-one battle to decide a war and thereby avoid massive losses on both sides. Ancient Greek and Roman literature describes such proposals, sometimes accepted and sometimes not. Was there any guarantee that the loser would keep their promise? No, but if the losing side’s leaders were captured after breaking a promise, they would likely be executed as a result. So there was at least some degree of pressure to abide by the agreement.

Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified. – I Sam. 17:10-11

It would be terrifying enough to be the unlucky Israelite to face Goliath on the field of battle, but this proposal was infinitely worse. Losing not only meant your death, but the fall of the entire nation of Israel. None of the Israelites wanted to face him in single combat, not surprisingly including Saul himself (remember that he was the one who hid among the supplies when selected to be king).

This brings us to today’s passage.

Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul’s time he was very old. Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war: The firstborn was Eliab; the second, Abinadab; and the third, Shammah. David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul, but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand. – I Sam. 17:12-15

These verses seemingly reintroduce David, but we have already met him a chapter earlier, where he is anointed as future king by Samuel. So why do this? One explanation I have read is that it is good storytelling style, but I personally think it is because the book of I Samuel includes multiple accounts that have been compiled together. Some skeptics say this detracts from the reliability of the book, but I think it is the opposite; it adds to it. A later editor would be tempted to “smooth things out,” avoiding such awkwardness as multiple introductions, but a compiler who wanted to keep everything exactly as originally written would avoid the temptation and faithfully preserve every word. I think the latter situation is what is going on here.

David has multiple jobs. He continues to work as a shepherd for his father. But he also, as explained in the previous chapter, serves Saul, both as a musician to soothe his tortured soul, and also as one of his armor bearers. He goes back and forth between these jobs. Presumably someone substitutes for him as shepherd when he is away from home.

The stalemate between the Israelites and Philistines has been going on for a long time, a minimum of six weeks. (We don’t know how long the stalemate took place before Goliath gave his first challenge.) Day after day, Goliath comes out. The Philistines are not in a hurry, because they are convinced they have the upper hand. Goliath says things to try to get the Israelites so mad that, despite their disadvantage, they accept the challenge. I think this is hard for us to understand, because we live in a sin-based rather than a shame-based culture. We see nothing wrong with enduring a few taunts, as long as we don’t do something that is actually bad. There is nothing wrong to us with ignoring a bully. But in their culture, and even today in most non-Western cultures, your “face” or reputation is extremely important, sometimes even more important than your life. To not respond to this request for a fair fight was seen as extremely shameful. To the contemporary readers of this account, and indeed, to the rest of Israel who was not there at Elah, this was shocking and absolutely unacceptable, sort of like when your college football team currently has the most consecutive losses of any team in college football, except a whole lot worse.

Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance from them. They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.” – I Sam. 17:17-19

Sons never get too old for a father to worry about them. That’s also true for daughters, by the way. So Jesse sends David with food gifts to the front, so there is an excuse to find out how his sons are doing.

Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry. Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear. – I Sam. 17:20-24

Why did they hide? I think because they were afraid that Goliath would pick one of them out and say, “You’ll do!” None of them wanted to accidentally become the representative that fights for the future of Israel. It’s sort of like the movie trope in which the commander has his men in a line, describes a highly dangerous mission, and asks for volunteers to step forward. Nobody does, but everyone except for one hapless soul steps back. The commander sees him now in front of the other men and commends him for his bravery and heroic spirit.

Now the Israelites had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes in Israel.” – I Sam. 17:25

Did Saul keep this promise? Certainly not the giving his daughter in marriage part. We don’t know about the taxes part, but I would be surprised if he kept this promise either. Saul’s life was characterized by broken promises. In our first series on Saul we saw him repeatedly breaking his commitments to Samuel and to God. Saul was simply not a man of his word. If you live long enough you will have experiences with people like this. Like the prophet Daniel, I have lived through multiple changes of administration at Clemson, and I have experienced my share of broken promises. One administrator actually refused to discuss anything by email; he required all meetings in person so that nobody could pin him down on past promises. He absolutely refused to put anything in writing. Frustrated, I once, perhaps unwisely, complained to him about this, and his response was “You don’t understand. Everything is fluid.” After that, whenever he asked me to do something in response to some benefit, I had to wonder, “Is that fluid, too?” It made it very difficult to work with him at all. The only thing I could count on were immediate benefits that could not be taken away. Everything else I just came to assume were yet more empty promises. Obviously, we, as believers, as ambassadors for Christ, should be people of our word.

David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.” – I Sam. 17:26-27

I have read some commentaries that suggest David is wrong to focus on the rewards that come with volunteering to fight Goliath. Some others have suggested that Saul was wrong to offer them. (Most ignore this aspect of the account entirely.) I think it is a question worth exploring. I don’t think Saul was wrong to make the offer, and I also don’t think it was wrong for a person (including David) to really think about it. It is certainly OK to aspire to having a successful career, a good reputation, and so on. Like many things in life, it only becomes a problem when it rises to the level of idolatry. We should want above all to do what God wants. For some of us that may include worldly definitions of success, even fame. But God may call others to lives of servitude, meager possessions, and even obscurity. God can and does call individuals to both, at different seasons of their lives. Paul says, I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through Him who gives me strength. – Phil. 4:12-13

I think we can confirm that David’s heart is in the right place by his second question: Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? David rightly sees that Goliath’s taunts are not just disrespectful to the army of Israel, but to Israel’s God, to Yahweh, Himself. And this makes David burn with a desire to see Goliath defeated, for the sake of God’s Name and the reputation of His people. In fact, as will become more apparent in the following verses, I would suggest that David has the heart of a shepherd in this; he desires to protect God’s flock, the people of God.

When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.” “Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?” He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. – I Sam 17:28-30

These few verses make me cringe. We have all probably found ourselves in what should be a private conversation, wishing we could be somewhere else. This is one of those situations. In their shame-based culture, this conversation would be even more uncomfortable and inappropriate than it is to us. In cultures where saving face is almost the most important thing, there are few things you can do that are worse than publicly berating someone for something, and that is true whether the person was guilty of the accusation or not. Yet, Eliab breaks such deeply held social mores and dresses down his little brother in a very public situation. And he is wrong; he has jumped to conclusions, and those conclusions are quite false. David did not come down to watch the battle to in obedience to his father. And there is no evidence either of his conceit or wickedness. David responds emotionally, but also with some restraint. I hear a world of ache in that word “now” – now what have I done? At the risk of jumping to conclusions myself, it would seem that Eliab was repeatedly super hard on David. And I wonder if maybe the reason was jealousy, much like how Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him. In Joseph’s case, much of the fault had to do with his father’s favoritism. In this case however, there is no evidence of this. Indeed, the likely cause was the action of Samuel, anointing David and not anointing his older brothers; in doing this, Samuel was not guilty of favoritism in the least, as he was simply following the directions and revelations of God.

Did this anointing go to David’s head? We don’t know. We don’t even know exactly what Samuel told him. Did David know he would someday be king, according to the prophet of God? In any case, you could say that Eliab was David’s first significant obstacle that day.

Before we move on, let me add that this passage for me just adds huge credibility to the reliability of the entire account. If the goal of the overall passage was to make up a story that would show the making of a great hero in David, these few verses accomplish the opposite. Especially in a shame-based culture, a face-saving culture, this is shocking and degrades the reputation of both Eliab and David. Nobody, nobody, would make this up! It would serve no purpose.

What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him. 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 young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” – I Sam. 17:31-33

The phrase “What David said” I don’t think refers to his spat with his brother, but instead to David’s zeal for seeing someone put Goliath down for the sake of the glory and reputation of God. When David comes to Saul, he says far more than this; he says, “Put me in, coach! I’ll take care of it!” David then encounters his second obstacle: Saul, his king. Saul appears to be relatively diplomatic in how he explains to David that he is unsuitable for this task. He could have told David he was a scrawny shrimpy sheepherder who could probably not withstand the Philistines’ weakest warrior, let alone their strongest. Of course, we don’t know how he said it; body language and tone of voice may have communicated something quite different than his gentle words.

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. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” – I Sam. 17:34-37a

This is not a bluff. If David wanted to bluff his way into being accepted for the position, he could have talked about his position as armor bearer, that he has for some time watched the other Israelites fight, that he knew which weapon to use in which situation, that he maybe had even sparred a little with some of the other men. He also could have given an emotional response, saying “Stop treating me like a kid! Everyone treats me like a kid!” Instead, he gives an honest fact-filled response about his skill in battle with animals that threaten his flock. When he says he “struck” twice here he is using a pretty generic word in Hebrew that does not reveal the weapon. As a shepherd, it is unlikely that David had a longsword with him. He certainly had his staff, and it is possible he had a dagger. From what we know later in the story it seems certain he had a sling as well. It’s possible he used the sling for the first blow, to stun or stop the lion or bear, but then used a dagger to finish him off, or possibly (but it would be much more difficult) the staff.

Let’s talk about slings.

In ancient warfare there were three kinds of fighters: cavalry, which were men on horseback or using chariots, infantry, which were foot soldiers armed with swords and shields and armor, and artillery, which were archers and slingers. A slinger had a leather pouch with two long, strong strings attached, and the slinger put a rock or, later, a lead ball in the pouch and whirled it around sometimes with multiple revolutions, sometimes only one, getting up to a speed of 7 revolutions per second, releasing the stone usually underhanded at a speed of 60 to 1000 miles per hour. To become proficient with the sling was more difficult than to become proficient with the bow, but with years of practice the slinger could become as accurate as someone with a bow, and generally speaking the result was a weapon even more effective than the bow. The range of a slinger was easily 200 yards with good accuracy, but a stone could be hurled into a crowd at a range of 450 yards or more. At different times, with different armies, different sizes of stones were used, from as large as a baseball to much smaller. Just as a basketball player often misses the first free slow shot but then nails the second, a slinger would adjust with subsequent stones. For this to work it was important that the stones be the same weight as close to it as possible. Not to get ahead of our story, but when David looked and selected his five smooth stones, he was likely being extremely careful in this process. In a wartime situation, stones were chiseled to make them as round as possible and as uniform in weight as possible. Such stones have been found repeatedly among ancient settlements, including those in Israel. The projectiles were chosen to be as dense as possible. In later times lead balls were used. In Greek and Roman times inscriptions were included on the balls. Some inscriptions found include the Latin or Greek equivalent of “take this!”, “ouch!”, and even “for Pompey’s backside”. Some things never change. American soldiers still do something similar with some of their munitions.

By the way, there is pretty good evidence that the five stones David picked up in the stream before the battle were probably really good stones.

If you compare the stones in the foreground – which were picked up by an actual archeologist in that valley – to those in the background you can see that they are much smoother and likely denser than typical rocks. In fact, barium sulfate stones can be found here. Barium sulfate has a density of 4.5 grams per cubic centimeter. This is actually a pretty huge number, significantly more than the density of most rocks. The density of granite is 2.7 grams per cubic centimeter, and the density of quartz is 2.6 grams per cubic centimeter. This is a great rock for a sling.

   

Did the Israelites know about sling technology? Did they use it? At least at some times in Israel’s history the answer is absolutely yes. In Judges 20:15-16, 700 slingers are mentioned, and they are said to be extremely accurate left-handed slingers from the tribe of Benjamin. Note that Saul was also from this tribe. I don’t want to go down this rabbit hole, but the left-handedness of some Benjaminites is mentioned repeatedly in the Bible, always implied to be a good thing. In hand-to-hand combat, left-handedness may have been an advantage simply because it was unusual, just as how left-handed pitchers can be hard to hit because of their relative rarity. City gates often included a tunnel with a sharp right turn. I have read that it would be easier for a left-handed warrior to navigate while fighting in such a turn. But that doesn’t explain an archer or slinger. One theory is simply that it pointed out the irony or humor of the situation. Benjamin literally means son of my right hand.   

So David was likely an excellent slinger. There is a lot of “down time” as a shepherd, a perfect time to perfect the skill of slinging. David had apparently done so. And if he had used the sling against the lion and bear, and if he had further finished them off with a dagger or short sword or with his staff, he had developed all-around skill in battle.

Now I realize that I may be stepping on the version of the David and Goliath story that is floating around in your head. You may see the whole point as being the extreme underdog nature of the story that it was only by God’s help that David was able to do this. In fact, in modern usage, when someone describes a “David and Goliath situation,” the whole point is how much of an underdog one person is.

I would argue that although the text absolutely supports the idea that God is the one who enabled David to be victor that day, at the same time it is not saying that David was completely incapable as a soldier. Yes, even against the lion and the bear, David says, and says rightly, that God was the one who brought victory, but at the same time David is also a young man who is trained (self-trained, but trained nevertheless) and skillful in battle. Look again at how he words things in his defense to Saul:

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. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” – I Sam. 17:34-37a

There are two themes interwoven here. First, David is saying that he is capable. Second, he is saying that God will give him success because God wants them all to succeed. David obviously knew God’s history with the Israelites. He knew that God had given the land to them, that if they followed God’s commandments, God would bless them in the land He had given them. As we will see later, David also knew the flip side, that this was a conditional blessing. But I want to point out that it is a “both-and” here; David is qualified, and God will give him victory.

I believe this is true today as well. God says in His Word that He gives all born-again believers spiritual gifts, gifts that translate into capabilities and skills when we rely not on ourselves but on the Lord and when we do not what we selfishly want to do but what He wants us to do. These are things we can do and do again, and again. That is, believers can know that in the Lord they are capable, they are qualified, to do certain things that He has enabled them to do. This is just like David. Going forward, like David, we too can step up to do far greater things, if we know that these are things that the Lord wants to have happen and if we continue to operate in our giftedness in the Lord.

We see this pattern also in the New Testament as Paul tells Timothy to appoint elders. Elders are not appointed out of the blue, kind of like how Saul was proclaimed king. Instead, elders are recognized; that is, men are found who are already doing the work of eldering, who are already living godly, fruitful lives (not perfect, but yielded to God who continues to grow and mature them). Interestingly, this second process as we will see is essentially how David finally becomes king. He may have been anointed as king already, but in the years that follow, it will become apparent to all that David will have the qualities and skills appropriate to being a king. Indeed, he will already be “kinging” long before he assumes the official role.

And we see this even here, so early in the story. David is volunteering to risk his life to protect the people Israel. On superficial human terms he is hopelessly out of his league, but in reality, he does have skills and he also has learned to trust in the power of the Lord. Most of all, this is something that must be done, for the sake of God’s Name, and so, as there has been no one else who has stepped forward for 40 days, he will do it! This is the sign of a truly godly leader. 

Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.” – I Sam. 17:37b

We don’t know why Saul said yes to David. On the one hand, 40 days of this completely shameful existence was probably all he could take. He may have also seen this as an opportunity that if things went wrong, at least he could say it wasn’t his fault. But he also may have seen in David a boldness and confidence in the Lord that he had always desired but never seemed to hold on to. For whatever reason he said yes, it was a good decision.

And so, what about us? Do you see a need for someone to step up, here in the church, or in a friend or acquaintance or family member who needs guidance or, most of all, needs the Lord? Maybe it is God that is showing you this need. Maybe He is showing it to you, putting it on your heart, because either He wants you to step up and operate in His giftedness in you to meet the need, or because He wants you to step up and learn to operate in His giftedness. Will you step up?

I probably shouldn’t need to talk about rewards, but there are rewards for stepping up. Almost twenty-seven years ago, I felt God’s tug on my heart to volunteer at a homeless shelter, and although I didn’t know what the reward would be, God planned to reward that service with His daughter, now my wife for 25 years, Mimi. We generally don’t know in advance what the rewards will be for stepping up, and sometimes they don’t occur in this life but in the one to come, but I assure you, there are rewards. No one is more generous than God.

So step up! Face the Goliaths that God is showing you. Have confidence in the Lord, and you will overcome your fear. Note that I am not saying you won’t have fear, but that you will overcome it. I am sure we will talk more about fear and about courage as we continue this series, but for now, let me leave you with this wonderful quote on courage by G. K. Chesterton:

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die. – G. K. Chesterton