The
Book of First Samuel
Chapter 17:1-32
[1] Now the Philistines gathered together their armies
to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh,
which belongeth to
[2] And Saul and the men of
[3] And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and
[4] And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named
Goliath, of
[5] And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and
he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand
shekels of brass.
[6] And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a
target of brass between his shoulders.
[7] And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head
weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.
[8] And he stood and cried unto the armies of
[9] If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your
servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our
servants, and serve us.
[10] And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of
1) Challenge (Vs 1-10)
The Philistines on the
mountain on one side and the Israelites on the mountain on the other side
The
Goliath, the Philistine
champion went out
He was a giant of a man
(9 ft 9 in tall) Goliaths armory & weaponry weighed 150 - 200 lbs
“Choose a man to fight”
If Goliath is killed the
Philistines will be your slaves, If Goliath wins the Israelites will be slaves
The
tallest me that we knew of was Robert Wadlow who
was 8 ft 11 in 1918 Robert was born
February 22, 1918 to Harold F. and Addie
(Johnson) Wadlow 1919 When Robert began to
walk he weighed 40 lbs. 1923 At 5 years of age,
attending kindergarten, Robert was 5' 6 1/2" tall. He wore clothes
that would fit a 17 year old boy. 1928 Ten years old. Robert
weighed 210 pounds and was 6' 5" tall. His shoes were size 17 1/2. 1929 Just before his 12th
birthday Robert had his first checkup at 1931 At the age of 13, and a
member of the Boy Scouts, he was the largest Boy Scout in the world. His
weight was 270 pounds, and his height was 7' 4". It took 14 yards of
36" wide material to make his Boy Scout uniform. 1940 Robert Wadlow died July 15, 1940. His
weight was 490 pounds, his height was 8'
11.1". He was buried July 19, 1940 in
[11] When Saul and all
2) Cowardice (Vs 11)
Goliath came out and
paraded around to strike fear
If battle comes, you’ll
fight with fear and apprehension
The devil wants to cause
dismay, panic and fear
Goliath is the
Philistine champion, King Saul is (I Sam 9:2 the tallest of the Israelites)
Saul had been fierce and
successful
But now God’s Spirit had
left him (along w/ courage)
God wants us to have
holy boldness and courage
[12] Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehemjudah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight
sons: and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul.
[13] And the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle:
and the names of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next unto him Abinadab,
and the third Shammah.
[14] And David was the youngest: and the three eldest followed Saul.
[15] But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at
[16] And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself
forty days.
[17] And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run
to the camp to thy brethren;
[18] And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look
how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge.
[19] Now Saul, and they, and all the men of
[20] And David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper,
and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the trench, as
the host was going forth to the fight, and shouted for the battle.
[21] For
[22] And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and
ran into the army, and came and saluted his brethren.
[23] And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the
Philistine of
[24] And all the men of
3) Camp (Vs
12-24)
David’s 3 eldest brothers, Eliab, Abinadab and Shammah are at the battle, (whilst David is the youngest)
Remember David is Saul’s chief
musician and an armor bearer or squire
David will be called for
as needed..... as Saul’s affliction calls for him to
play
David goes home to
(Sheep can graze on
their own..... what was he doing but caring for the sheep?)
David was between the
palace and the pasture
Goliath taunts &
mocks
(40 days of rain for
As David leaves, he
makes sure the sheep are well taken care of
The armies would gather
and fight or yell in the valley and David arrives and comes to the trench
Goliath again steps out
and mocks
[25] And the men of
[26] And David spake to the men that stood by him,
saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh
away the reproach from
[27] And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So
shall it be done to the man that killeth him.
4) Care (Vs
25-27)
David hears of Sau’ls reward (material items, his daughter and family
favor in the kingdom)
But
David is thinking about the honor of the name of God (he sees things from God’s
perspective)
How the camp sees it How David sees it
Camp- “This man” (vs 25) David
“this uncircumcised Philistine” (Vs 26)
Camp- “Defy Israel” David “Defy armies
of living God”
Camp- “man who kills him” David “man who kills &
takes away reproach”
Again the camp sees
things mans way while young David sees things God’s way
[28] And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab's
anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest
thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those
few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.
[29] And David said, What have I now done? Is there
not a cause?
[30] And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner: and the people answered him
again after the former manner.
[31] And when the words were heard which David spake,
they rehearsed them before Saul: and he sent for him.
[32] And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy
servant will go and fight with this Philistine.
5) Confidence (Vs 28-32)............. Eliab gets mad at David
1) He thought young David was
insignificant, worthless and weak (Why did you come ?)
2) He thought David was a
careless and unfaithful shepherd
3) He thought young
David was wrongly motivated.... out of jealousy and envy for his brothers
4) He thought David had
come to provoke someone to fight this giant & be killed (I Sam 16:7)
5) He knew David was
right and it cut him to pieces and mad him mad
The first person to
discourage you from doing what you feel led to do is a brother
David could’ve got mad
and left
But David stuck to his
guns (words hurt him but did not hinder him)
David is more concerned
for the cause of God than his feelings, personal safety, glory or honor
Where did David get this
courage, this great confidence ?
Well Goliath was real, brothers are real, camp is real,
the Philistines are real, the battle is real but God is REAL
You see before the battle w/ giant
David had to fight emotions. His family and friends troubled him
Saul is told about
David’s talk, David is sent for and David willingly confidently volunteers