Sermon Tone Analysis

May Only God’s word be spoken and only God’s word be heard – in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – Amen

 

 

David and Goliath

            One of the most well known stories of the bible - Basic reading for every Sunday school class

                        The story is so well known that David and Goliath have been made into stereo-types

                                    The proto-typical giant and the proto-typical underdog

One doesn’t need to look much farther than sporting events to see the stereo-type in play

            Whenever there is a over-whelmingly dominate team or athlete

Up against an unequally matched rival but that has made it to the match because they are playing with a lot of heart

            We have a David and Goliath story

 

Like so many of the Bible’s “greatest hits” like: Adam and Eve, Jonah and the Whale, Daniel and the Lion’s den, the prodigal son, Good Friday or Easter – David and Goliath appears on the surface to be a story very well known

            However, up until this point, I haven’t spent time really looking deeply into the story

                        I thought I knew all I needed to know about the story

                                    Well, I got surprised this week and I think you might too

 

The first thing I want to say about the story is that God certainly does have a sense of humour

            When I looked at the details of the story deeper, I saw the complete absurdity of the situation

                        It is truly a tale of biblical proportions

                                    It is also a story that greatly matches our story of David last week

                                                Even the key message of last week is reiterated between the lines this week

Last week we were told of the selection of David by God through the prophet Samuel to be the future king of Israel

Last week we had the clandestine visit of Samuel and the public anointing of David

This week we have the God’s selection of David all over again

And a public display of that anointing

 

The key message last week was clearly outlined in scripture, repeats again today

/ /

/But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

/

 

            Let’s consider some of the absurd details that only God could put together

First God didn’t want the Israelites to have a king – God told Samuel that this need to have a king like all the neighbouring countries was an act of a ‘lack of faith’

That the people of Israel had the one true God that has chosen them to be a people set apart, to do His purposes, to be a model for the nations, to attract others to understand that the Israelite God is God – to fear and respect

And wanting a substitution to that authority was an act of a lack of faith

Even still God acted through Samuel and choose Saul

    A handsome, tall, natural leader by all accounts

Only Saul was human and made some foolish decisions that revealed his lack of faith and so God’s spirit departs from him and David is selected (as we heard last week)

After this Saul is but a shell of his former self, and even though he remains King he is slowly deteriorating both in body and mind

So the first absurd detail is that God’s chosen people are being lead by a man that is losing his mind

 

Next detail is that even though the Israelites and the Philistines have been battling off and on for some time we are faced with a battle that neither really wanted

Both are camped out on neighbouring hills – both suit up for battle each day, and then each day they head out to the neutral field staring across from each other and then nothing happens

            Except the taunting of Goliath – for 40 days

Now it is true, that it was common in ancient cultures to sometimes have individual representatives fight on behalf of a whole people

But the fact that it happened at the battle between the two nations when they have been fighting for so long – and the fact that this battle was within a morning walking distance to David’s home

            Makes this in horse racing terms “a real long shot”

Now let’s get into the really absurd details

Goliath is said to be 9 foot, 9 – literally a giant – by today’s standards he would make a formidable foe on the basketball court – not needing to leave the ground and only needing to reach 3 inches over his head to dunk the ball

            His armour alone was 125 pounds – David as a youth probably weighted about 125 lbs

                        Then there is the head of his spear, just the head –weighed 25lbs

                                    Today’s big men of track and field, the shot putters, throw a 16 lb ball

                                                … so that’s the absurd giant – Goliath

Now David had countless obstacles to being at the right place at the right time – something only God could orchestrate – many of which you will see the parallels to last week’s story

David was the youngest of Jesse’s eight sons – only the three oldest were old enough to be part of Saul’s army  - like last week’s where due to David’s age, he wasn’t even invited to the banquet – here 4 older brothers before him aren’t even part of the army

                        And he doesn’t have any army training therefore no typical army skills

He is a shepherd boy, tending his father’s flock, a number of miles away from the place where the two armies are facing off with each other

Jesse sends young David on an errand – also like last week, David is drawn away from his duties with one intention and yet another presents itself

/“Take for your brothers this parched grain and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers; also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand.

See how your brothers fare, and bring some token from them”/

When David arrives at the camp he has just missed his brothers – they have headed out to the battle front lines – so instead of a incident free errand of dropping some food and then reporting home on the status of his brothers, David must go out to the battle front – David must be at the place of God’s selecting

Besides Goliath, David must also get past his older brother, Eliab

Eliab chastises David for being there, makes fun of his little job of shepherding and his little flock (two ironic statements as a shepherd was symbolic of royal leadership and David’s flock as king will grow to be the whole nation)

Now if that were not enough details against David – he has to first obtain official permission by Saul to engage Goliath on the battlefield

You see, if David is to battle Goliath, it is a representative of the whole army – one to serve the whole (certainly messianic foreshadowing of the one who was in the family line of David)

How could this one, too young to serve in the army, going to convince King Saul to risk everything on his efforts in battle against the giant Goliath

 

So you can see from all that is laid before us that this is truly an absurd story and that God has quite a sense of humour in setting up this whole scenario

 

But that is of course from the perspective of our human eyes

We see the dramatic contrast between the super-human giant, battle trained and experienced

                        And the young, inexperienced, 8th son, shepherd, out on an errand

Yet, like our story last week, where one after another God rejects the obvious choices

/The Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”/

We have before us the classic underdog story – right…?

Well, just when you think you know the all too familiar story, there is a twist…

True – this is a story of an ‘imbalance of power’

– But not in the way that it may have always appeared

            This is *not* a story of the triumphant underdog…

                        David is not the underdog – Goliath is…

You see the ‘imbalance of power’ is between the biggest giant warrior the world has ever seen, 9 foot 9 - and God…

            David is one after God’s own heart

                        David and God are on the same team

When Goliath cursed the God of the Israelites, this was not like other times, against other nations

            This time Goliath found an opponent beyond his imagination

In Genesis 12:3 we have what some call the “Abrahamic Covenant.”

There, God says to Abram,

/“And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse.

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed”/ (Genesis 12:3, NASB)

If it is true that Goliath is both cursing Israel and her God, then if God is a covenant-keeping God, we would expect Goliath to be divinely cursed.

Biblically speaking, a dark cloud already hangs over the head of Goliath, the blasphemous Philistine.

A central point of the story is certainly that God's strength is sufficient – but it is so much more than that

            And despite what we might have been taught in Sunday school

Where we focus on the battle between David and Goliath – it is really not about that…The sling shot event is only two verses

Nor is solely a story about this being a battle of good over evil

Although Goliath has unwittingly committed the greatest sin – to take the Lord’s name in vain

Nor is this limited to a story that teaches us ‘that it’s not the size of the person but the size of the faith in the person”

Faith is course important – it certainly was vital for David

But ‘blind faith only’ could lead us into dangerous situations

God is not ‘prosperity only’ God

            The sun shines on the just and the unjust alike

 

We can learn so many layers by this story – so many lessons:

            Like a better understanding of the doctrine of election

                        David is selected for God’s purposes

                                    Forget about trying to figure out ‘predestination’ or ‘double predestination’

                                                Or my new favourite understanding of election ‘infinite predestination’                                                      God shows us in the election of David – election for a purpose

That is why Rick Warren’s book /“A purpose driven life” /is so successful – he has understood and articulated a Godly understanding of the doctrine of election

            Election means – purpose

 

Our text also has much to teach us about leadership, how it is develops, and how it is recognized.

By birth order and family circumstances, David does not appear destined for leadership.