Sunday School | David - 1 Samuel 17

We are in the midst of a series that we're doing here looking at the life of David. We're just early on. This thing's gonna go on forever. And one thing I've been saying to you guys for the last few weeks that I'll probably keep saying is this: if my class is sufficiently amusing that you're willing to come and hear something interesting for forty-five minutes, but it doesn't actually incentivize you to be all by yourself alone reading your Bible, jumping into this thing, then it's probably a net negative in your life. Right? If all I'm doing is kind of satiating some curiosity here, but not precipitating and motivating and equipping you to say, "Oh, I know how to do this, and I want to do this," then I think it's a bad thing, and you should probably stop coming.

But rather than stopping coming, what I hope you might do is take all these things that we're learning and discussing and just go home and build it into your life, just like a pattern. I don't know, ten minutes a day, twenty minutes a day? What do you got? Some of you maybe got an hour? That'll be a stretch. Fifteen minutes—let's say fifteen minutes a day that you're going to read a chapter, two, three of your Bible, maybe right now in 1 Samuel because that's where we are.

But my goal is not just to look at the life of David, although he's fascinating, and there's so much here that we want to grab from him. He is the number one character in the Bible, except Jesus, who wins all games. Right? More information about him, from him. David's a massive player. If we understand David, that's going to be central to us.

But more than just this particular guy, really what I'm hoping to do here over these months is teach you how do you read narrative. There's a skill—it's like everything else, there's a skill set here. So I want to try to impart to you not just stuff about David, but how do we read narrative. And not only how do we read narrative, but how do we read narrative Christocentrically? I do believe that the Bible is written to reveal Jesus, to point us away from ourselves as the solution to all problems and toward him.

So we're using David kind of as a playground for that, to learn how do we read about David, how do we learn to read the Old Testament, in particular the stories, but how do we read those stories in a way that will reveal who Jesus is? That's the skill set. And as we're doing this, what I'd love you to just take it home and go, "Okay, great. I'm just going to go read my Bible all by myself and find there's all kinds of treasure in there."

And today, we're going to look at probably the most famous event in David's life, which is—what would you say? David and Goliath. Does that feel like a safe bet? I mean, there are other things that he did that honestly are probably more important, but in terms of the stories that have arisen out of the mist, David and Goliath is huge.

Where is David and Goliath in the Bible? Do you know? It's early on. It's early on in the David story. It is 1 Samuel. Do you know the chapter? Anybody know the chapter? 1 Samuel 17. Alright, so go grab your Bible, go to 1 Samuel 17. And my plan, if the clock will cooperate, is we're going to get through the whole chapter because it's such—what we would call, if you want to be fancy—this is a pericope. All right? Looks like "periscope," lose the "s" and change the emphasis. A pericope is a whole unit. So when you read narrative, you're looking for pericopes. You're looking for: this is the whole storyline of this thing. This is the chunk. And David and Goliath is a very tidy little unit here.

The setting we get in verses one to three. So what we're going to do is I'm going to read you a chunk. We'll talk about it, ask a few questions. You look so dignified in those glasses, Doug. Just come join me. You just look so professorial right now. It's amazing.

Okay, so here's the setting. 1 Samuel 17, the first three verses are going to set it up. Now, the Philistines—I'm going to butcher some place names. That's a rule: whenever you read the Bible, just don't sweat it. Okay? Place names, we don't live here. We don't know. So just go with it.

Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Succah in Judah. And they pitched a tent at Ephes-dammim between Succah and Azekah. And Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. And the Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another with the valley in between them. — 1 Samuel 17:1-3

Okay, so there's a battle. Who are the two camps in the battle, you guys? Israelites and the Philistines. Right? Okay. What do we know about the Philistines? They're bad. And that's about all we really need to know. Right? We hate these guys. They are constantly a thorn. They are like the primary neighboring enemy. They're Canada. Okay?

They're like right upon us all the time. Right? They're just right there. We don't like the Philistines. And there is this battle. As the setting is given to us, the camera stops. We're seeing all the troops of the Israelites. We're seeing all the troops of the Philistines. We're seeing them in this valley, and then the camera zooms in on one guy. Right? Listen to the description of our one guy. It says, a champion called Goliath was from Gath, and he came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall. Literally, was nine foot nine inches tall.

Who's the tallest basketball player or something right now? Who's a huge guy that we could think of? How tall would he be? Seven foot. Seven foot. Okay, seven foot is massive. Nine foot nine. This is hard, right? This is a huge, huge guy. Okay? Listen to the description. He had a bronze helmet on his head. We're living in this like in the Bronze Age here. He had a bronze helmet on his head. He wore a coat of scale armor weighing 5,000 shekels. Nobody knows what that means. What's a shekel? Do you have any idea? Do you have a footnote of how much what that actually weighs? It's like 600 pounds. Yeah, about 125 pounds. His armor. Okay, so he's walking around in like Kevlar, whatever, that weighs one hundred and twenty five pounds. That guy's a monster. Spear shaft was like a weaver's rod, and his iron point weighed, again, 600 shekels, which means nothing. What does that mean, 600 shekels? You got a footnote? What is it? 15 pounds. So the tip of his spear weighs 15 pounds. Okay? So this is not like some javelin that you can chuck. It is like this giant wedge. I guess you're walking around like a mace. And his shield bearer went ahead of him. Okay?

The Significance of Goliath's Description

Now this description of his armor is the longest you're gonna find in the Bible. Why does the camera stop here and give us such detail about him? What are we trying to accomplish here? Yeah. It gives us a good description of why the Achilles was terrifying. Yeah. It's supposed to feel a sense of ominousness to it, right? That you see this guy, there's all these people, war's scary all the time, but there's this particular guy that's just very ominous and terrible.

I was thinking about this, bear with me here because this could fail, but do you guys remember who of you watched the Bionic Man, the $6,000,000 man? Okay. You guys saw this, alright? Alright, so just stay with me, give me a little bit of room here. Do you guys remember this most ridiculous, ominous nemesis that he had? Do you remember it wasn't a person? Do you remember that space, like it was like a Venus Land Rover thing, it was this tank with his arm that came out? Do you remember this? They always had this ominous music. This is feeling even worse than my worst fears. You got Jamie Summers in your mind? You got any of this? Do you remember any of this show? There was this ridiculous tank, and I think it was supposed to be like a lunar module or something, but somehow it got released on the Earth and he had to go fight it, and you can't fight it because the whole thing is just this steel tank that roams around. Okay? So if you can imagine there was ever such a thing, that's Goliath. Right? When you see the guy, you're like, We're dead. We're dead. What are you going to do? He's nine foot nine. His armor weighs 125 pounds. There's no hope. Okay?

The Contrast with Saul

But it's also contrasting with something. Do you know what are we contrasting? We're looking at the appearance of this man. He's humongous. He's terrifying. Do you remember narrative? We're learning how to read narrative. There's a clue in the text that should tell us what's part of what's going on here. What are we contrasting this to in the previous chapter, from chapter 16? There's a pregnant line there we want to get.

Do you remember what the contrast point is? Yeah. Yeah. There you go, Bob. Listen to this. This is sixteen:seven. This is all part of the narrative clue. Here it says:

But the Lord said to Samuel, do not consider his appearance or his height. For I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at things that man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. — 1 Samuel 16:7

Saul was this huge, super tall guy. Was a head taller than everybody else, and God's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, height, schmite. And then he goes and he gets David. And then in the next scene we've got somebody and we're all just overawed by his height. And we're meant to remember like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. Height grabs our attention. It seizes our mind. It might even terrify us. And he's like, yeah, so what about that? Okay. What the height, height, height. Okay. That's what's going on.

We're learning to read that God is saying the fact that he is so tall in this narrative is bad news for him. It looks like good news for him, but it's not because God isn't impressed by the tall guys. That's the setup that he's laying. He is a great soldier, and we're not supposed to be worried about that kind of thing.

And he makes a proposal. What is his proposal about how the war should play out in verses 8 to 11? One challenge. One on one challenge. So this is interesting, right? You're going to have a war, and he says, here's the deal: instead of everybody dying on this battlefield—and we're probably going to kill you anyway—you just send one guy forward. We send one guy forward, me, and then we battle it out. And if your guy beats me, then we'll surrender to you. But if I beat your guy, then you surrender to us. It's an all or nothing deal, and that's the terms of battle.

How do the Israelites feel about this opportunity here? Terrible. It's terrible. Why is it terrible? It's so big. He's tall. He's huge. His armor's massive, and there's no way they're going to win, so they don't want to play.

Now, pause here. Again, we're learning how to read this stuff. Can you think of a story that Jesus tells that invokes this moment? We're in a battle. There's a proposal, and the proposal is that if you can beat this guy, then you win it all, but if you don't beat him, you're going to lose it all, and we're all terrified and don't know what to do. What story does Jesus tell that invokes this moment?

So that's not what I'm thinking of. There's a story, however, that Jesus tells that invokes this moment. And by the way, that story Jesus tells is almost always misunderstood. Nobody knows what it's about. But it's about this. It's a battle motif. Do you know it? Jesus told a story about a war. It's in Luke 14.

Jesus' War Parable

Luke 14:31 is where the story starts. It's actually a paired story. He tells a story about somebody that's trying to build a tower, and he tells a story about somebody in a war. Listen to this:

Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with 10,000 men to oppose the one coming against him with 20,000? — Luke 14:31

That's the setup. Right? So the Israelites, they're doing the math and they're thinking, I'm in a battle. This is my opponent. Can I possibly win this war? And what are they concluding back in Israel? It's a bridge too far. This guy's going to crush our heads. We don't want to do it. There's wisdom in that. Right? It's not foolish to decide, I can't bridge that gulf.

Jesus taps into that and he says, listen, if you were a king and you had 10,000 troops and there was an opposing king and he's marching towards you with 20,000 troops, wouldn't you—while he's still a long way off, like before it's too late—wouldn't you do the math?

And if he's not able to defeat that, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. — Luke 14:32

Why does he say this? What is Jesus' point? What does that story mean? If you have an army twice as powerful as you marching against you and you cannot win, would you not send a delegation and ask for terms of peace?

What is Jesus saying there? If we are in the weaker position and we recognize, I cannot win this battle, I am not greater than God. That's exactly right. We're realizing that we can't pay the price and be able to make peace with Christ through our own strength.

I am not more righteous than he. I cannot do the things that he does. Well, then I'm gonna be like, before you show up and win and conquer, is there another option? Could I just surrender before the battle begins? Is there some delegation, is there someone that could come and that would satiate your wrath so that I don't have to face it? Is there a way that we could accomplish this?

And there is a way, in fact, that the wrath of God can be satisfied, that this army that comes against us can be appeased. If I am my own delegation, it's not gonna go very well. But if one would step in on my behalf and go to him and plead my case before him, and even if it comes to it, drink his wrath on my behalf, then perhaps there would be terms of peace. That's what that story is about.

So with that echoing in the back of your mind, or maybe in the front of your mind, that there's this idea within the scriptures that when one greater than you comes opposed to you, the urgent thing is to find a way for peace. And if someone has offered to purchase that peace on your behalf, man, it would be a foolish thing to look askance at that and to think that you'll do it on your own.

David and Goliath

With all of that in your mind, David and Goliath. Here's our scene. Let's look at Goliath's words, verse 8.

Goliath stood and he shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why don't you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine and are not you the servants of Saul? Choose a man, have him come down to me. And if he's able to fight and kill me, we'll become your subjects. But if I overcome him and kill him, then you will become our subjects and serve us." And then the Philistines said, "This day I defy the ranks of Israel. Give me a man and let us fight each other." — 1 Samuel 17:8-10

And their response is an appropriate response. Verse 11:

On hearing the Philistines' words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified. — 1 Samuel 17:11

That's proper. There were 20,000 troops coming after you. Just sit still. You're not going to win this one. The problem is, it goes on for days. How long does this last? How long does he keep coming out and talking smack against them? Forty days. That's six weeks. Every day. He taunts and he threatens and he ridicules. And every day they're like, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I don't even know what we're gonna do.

Then the narrator stops the story. We're in the battle, the dramatic tension is building, it's been going on and on and on, and then the camera stops and we pick up another place. What happens here in verse 12? David enters the story.

Now we're gonna get—David, we met David. Remember David? Where did we meet? When did we see David last? Samuel had anointed him. Samuel had anointed him and he kind of comes onto the scene and then we forget about him. And now we're back here in this battlefield. And the narrator is like, Remember David? Let me tell you about him. And we get a little more information.

David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse from Bethlehem in Judah. He had eight sons, and in Saul's time he was very old. Jesse's three eldest sons had followed Saul to the war. The firstborn was this one. David was the youngest. David was running back and forth. He's taking care of the sheep. — 1 Samuel 17:12-15

It's a little bit of an odd thing. The dramatic point of the story, and then now we find ourselves in a sheep pasture. This is how he was bringing him back into the narrative. And something you guys know the end of the story, but something is changing. And we learn that his dad sends him on an errand.

Narrative Details

Now, details in a story are often really important. And there's a funny little detail here. Look at verse 15. The narrator is making specific decisions to include or not include details. What does he do in verse 15?

David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father's sheep at Bethlehem. — 1 Samuel 17:15

That's good. That's all going on. And then down in verse 20:

Early in the morning, David left the flock with a shepherd, loaded up, and set out as Jesse had directed. — 1 Samuel 17:20

Why does the narrator make it a point to include the fact that David, who was tending the sheep, doesn't merely leave the sheep, but he finds a substitute? That he has somebody that's going to care for the sheep while he goes off to deliver the cheese? Why does he include that? There's a narrative purpose for that.

It reminds me of when Jesus is talking to Peter. He's like, do you love me? Good.

Feed my sheep, you know, take care of my sheep. That's an excellent observation. And there's going to be a little bit more to it, but that is the foundation of it. So what is the implication then about David? That David is doing what Jesus did when Jesus left and went to the Father. He's doing what Jesus did, and somebody said it over here. Say it loud. He's a good shepherd. He's a good shepherd, Catherine. That's the purpose of this little detail: David, we're about to see that David is a great warrior in a really surprising, unusual way, but before he's a great warrior, he's a great shepherd.

David and Saul: A Contrast

Now, this also has a contrast. Do you remember Saul? What is he contrasting here? This could seem like I'm splitting hairs, but I'm not. This is true. I'm not making this up. What's the contrast point? Where is Saul the foil to this? Do you remember his story with animals?

Go back with me to 1 Samuel chapter 9. Saul was sent on an errand. This is before Saul became king. In 1 Samuel 9, a bunch of donkeys got lost. This may not have made the flannel stories of your childhood, but listen to this:

Now the donkeys belonging to Saul's father, Kish, were lost. And Kish said to his son Saul, "Take one of the servants with you and go look for the donkeys." So he passed through the hill country of Ephraim, through the area around all these places, and he couldn't find them. — 1 Samuel 9:3-4

And in verse 5:

When they reached the district of Zeph, Saul said to the servant who was with him, "Come on, let's go back. My father will stop thinking about the donkeys and start worrying about us." — 1 Samuel 9:5

And he gives up. He leaves the donkeys to fend for themselves. Not the end of the world. There's a reason somebody might do that. But Saul is entrusted with some animals, and he leaves them, neglects them. David is entrusted with some animals, and when he's called on a mission, he makes sure there's somebody else to take care of them. This is all on purpose.

David is a good shepherd. We're building the case. We're building the story for who this person is. One of his attributes is he's not that tall. Well, that's good news in the kingdom of God. Another of his attributes is he's a good shepherd. He takes care of the things that are entrusted to him, even when he's called away on an important mission. Which will be very much like Jesus, but not yet. We're going to get there.

David Arrives at the Battle

So far so good? We continue to read. Saul wants somebody to take the challenge. Goliath is talking smack. Saul likes the idea of a one-on-one. He just doesn't want to be the one. Which I get. And nobody wants to be the one. So on and on we go. It takes six weeks, and after forty days, if nobody's stepped up, nobody's stepping up. It's not like on day forty-two that you're going to be like, "Alright, I'll do it." This is never going to go.

You need to understand something. We have a tendency to read the story of David and Goliath from the perspective of David. We like heroes. We watch everything through the eyes of the protagonist. But you've got to watch this story through the eyes of the Israelites. They are the ones that correspond to us. They are the ones that are facing an enemy that is marching against them. Not because the enemy is bad—in the story that Jesus tells, it's because we are bad. But nevertheless, there is this opposition. They're afraid. There's nothing they can do. And then finally, in a very shocking and surprising way, somebody shows up.

Look at verse 22:

David left his things with a keeper of the supplies, he ran to the battle lines, and he greeted his brothers, and he was talking with them. — 1 Samuel 17:22

David's there. Why is David there again? He's here with a basket of food, delivering cheese to his brothers. And he hears what's going on.

Now, let me ask you. If you're the Israelite, based on what we've seen here, and Goliath is talking smack, what is your emotional response to that? Fear. And why? We're going to be ruined. We're going to be killed. We're going to lose the battle. That's very normal, right? You're allowed to be afraid of scary things, and that's what they are. But I want you to watch David's emotional response. David shows up with a bucket of food, and there's a bunch of scared men, and David has an emotional response as well. But it is not fear.

What is it? Watch this:

Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out of his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. When the Israelites saw the man, they all ran from him in great fear. — 1 Samuel 17:23-24

But what is David's emotional response going to be? Anger. Offended. What else? Indignation. Absolutely. And why? On whose behalf is he offended? What is he indignant about? God's honor. And he's holding God's control. You are—who is this to defy the armies of the living God? He's ticked because the honor and glory of God is being trod upon. He is not afraid. He is not selfish. He's not like, "Oh, what about my needs?" He's like, "Who is this guy? And why are you letting him talk about our glorious God in such a disrespectful way? This is absurd. What are you people doing?"

Do you see there's an absolute absence of self-interest in this? He's not concerned about what's going to happen to him. He's like, "Well, why are you putting up with this?" He's absolutely—every other man, everybody there is thinking, "Oh, this is going to hurt." And David's thinking, "It already hurts. You're allowing the honor of God to be smeared. And I don't like it when that happens."

Watch him. He says, "Who is this guy who is defying the army of God? It's like, do you all know who you are?" That's exactly right. He's incredulous. He's indignant.

When David asked the men standing near him, "What will be done for the man who kills a Philistine and removes this reproach, this disgrace from Israel. Who is this uncircumcised Philistine? It gets pretty personal. Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?" — 1 Samuel 17:26

David's response is like shocked. "What are you pansies doing? Are you kidding me? What is happening? God is worthy of honor. His name is to be lifted up and exalted. He is to be the one that we treasure. And you're all here being what?"

It doesn't even register for him. The physical threat doesn't even register. And David is totally different.

A Man After God's Own Heart

This, by the way—what is the chief commendation given to David? Not in this story, but throughout—what is his kind of epitaph? He is a man after God's own heart. Have you ever wondered what that phrase means?

David is going to do a lot of really stupid things. Lots of really, really stupid stuff. But he has one overarching virtue, and it is that he is a man after God's own heart. That is this special sparkle about this guy.

What does it mean? He always respects God. Always says God is supreme. He's going to trust the Lord. He's not going to kill Saul. The supremacy of God in all things is ever before him—genuinely is. He's got lust, he's got anger, got all kinds of stuff that's going to wreck his life. But that is present for him.

And that's what you're seeing right here. Everybody else walks into the situation and thinks about themselves and they're afraid. David walks into the situation and he thinks, "This is bad for God."

The Insult from Eliab

And then in the midst of that, while he's indignant about that, this completely unnecessary additional grief is about to fall upon him. His brother is like, "Shut up." His older brother is now going to start insulting him.

When Eliab, David's oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and said, "Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is, and you came down only to watch the battle." — 1 Samuel 17:28

So what's going on in his brother's mind right now? He just doesn't like his little brother and he's afraid. He just thinks his brother is being an annoying little brother, and so he insults him.

I think he's probably feeling a lot of that conceit and stuff throughout his lifetime because he's the oldest. So he's projecting all of that onto David. And then we see this phenomenon of accusing someone of the very thing that you're doing—that's probably what's exactly happening.

It almost reminds me of how Joseph was treated by his brothers. Yes, and we see oftentimes—in fact, maybe every time there's a family in the Bible—things go badly. Have you noticed this?

The very first family, like, literally can you Adam and Eve, their very first sons, one of them murders the other one. Right? So be of good cheer. You're probably not doing as bad of a job as you think you are. Right? I mean, it never goes well for anybody, so just be at peace. It's just part of the deal. God makes a perfect world, puts Adam and Eve in it, and they sin. That sincerely comforts me in my parenting, you know? Like, sovereign God in a perfect world and things go all to crap. Like, okay, standards are low, right?

I was gonna say also, you know, I'm sure when someone points something out, they knew they were afraid. They knew that they weren't depending on God. Right. Kind of like just they know that, so you react in anger when somebody points out something to you that you really know. Absolutely. They know that David should've been sitting at school. Yes. David's very presence, David's comments condemn his brother, who is one of the scaredy cats. It's not even that he's not afraid. How do I say this? David's brother's not merely afraid like everybody else, but he also didn't even remember the honor of God at all. And now David, this puny kid, he's constantly showing, and so he's mad. Okay, now, that's all what happens, but what does David do when his brother starts talking smack?

He ignores it. He just takes it. Holy moly. Are you kidding me? I'll tell you who I left the sheep with. Right? Are you kidding me? Dad told me to come out here. Are you kidding me? He doesn't defend himself, he just takes it.

What now have I done? Ho, ho, ho, easy. He turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the man answered him as before. — 1 Samuel 17

Before we start throwing slings and stuff, David's already killing it. Right? He's already killing it. In fact, let's just pause. What are the remarkable things that we're beginning to see in this particular revelation to his nature and character? Let's make a list. David's attributes as revealed so far in the story.

His maturity. This is maturity. How does that maturity manifest? He is slow to being reckless. Yes. Slow to anger, right? Be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry. He has this humility about him that we see in the interaction with his brother. Very good. What else is true of him? Responsibility. He's responsible for his animals and sheep. Yeah. He's a good shepherd. Right? He takes care of the things that he's been entrusted with. He cares for them. He finds substitutes. There's a responsibility there. He's a good shepherd. He protects them. He's showing his leadership. And God already taught him, no matter how big that bear is, no matter how big a lion. Who would ever think a little kid could wrestle a lion. Yes. But God, he's been trained. And we're gonna see that the next paragraph we're gonna look at is the whole bear lion thing.

What's his first concern? God's honor. The honor of the Lord. Alright? David is a stud. There's a lot happening here. He's obedient. He's been directed by his father to the food for his brothers. That's right. So we've got this nobody from nowhere. Not impressive in his appearance. He is a good shepherd. He's obedient. He does the things that he's told to do. His first concern is to honor God. And when his brothers hate him without reason, he takes it. He doesn't rebuff it. He doesn't counter attack, he just takes it and does not defend himself. He's selfless. Right, he is selfless. He's concerned for the needs of others, to love God, to love his neighbor. Okay, let's keep going. We're just building a list.

Now, verse 34, David says to Saul, well, listen, your servant, that's me, has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or bear came and carried off the sheep, I went after it, I struck and rescued the sheep out of its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by the 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. — 1 Samuel 17:34-36

You could look at this, all that we've read so far, and say, well, David's got the skill set. David can kill lions, David can kill bears. And therefore, David can kill big, huge guys. Right? And if that's all that we had, what would David's reliance upon be? A dog. Right? I kill lions, so take it, you know, let's go. Right? But there's one more thing he says.

He doesn't simply say, I know how to kill lions, I know how to kill bears, I know how to kill this guy. His next sentence there in verse 37 is:

The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of the Philistine. — 1 Samuel 17:37

David is a man after God's own heart. He sees, he believes, he recognizes that his success comes from Yahweh. Do you? How quick are you to think I am such a good stock picker? Do you know why my 401k is better than your 401k? It's because I'm smarter than you are. Right? Do you know why my children are more obedient than your children? Do you know why my business is more successful? This is a universal inclination. Whenever something goes well, we're like, you know what I've noticed is the common thread in all the things in my life that go well? Me. It's me.

David is like, man, I killed a lion. I killed a bear. The Lord enabled me to kill a lion and a bear. He delivered me from these things. He has just a different orientation.

Listen to Deuteronomy 8. This is one of my favorite passages about money. Probably my favorite passage about money—the most important text, I think, in the scriptures about this topic.

When you've eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God. When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you. Be careful, careful, careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws, his decrees that I'm giving you. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, when your herds and flocks are grown large, and your silver and gold increase, and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud. Your heart will become proud and you'll forget the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of the hard rock, he gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble you and test you so that in the end it might go well with you.

You may say to yourself, my power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me. But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth. — Deuteronomy 8:10-18

It is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth. He's the lion killer. He's the one that rescued you from the paw of the bear, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers as it is today.

This is why David's a man after God's own heart. He walks into the situation, and he sees like God's honor is being besmirched. Not okay. He thinks about confronting the situation. He's like, well, God saved me here. God saved me there. Let's go. He might save me here too. He certainly can. And if he cares about his honor, maybe he will. So let's go. He's different from everybody on the field. He's got all these attributes. And then this—the most famous line. He approaches this guy in weakness. I think this might be the most distinctive thing.

He took a staff in his hand and he chose five smooth stones from the stream. And he put them in the pouch of a shepherd's bag, and with a sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine. — 1 Samuel 17:40

We know this about David. He approaches in weakness. It's the little guy versus the big guy. Now, according to David, we should all know what's about to happen. This is a weird thing. David thinks he knows the end of the story. Anybody watching is going to be biting their fingernails, like, I don't know how this thing is going to go. But David knows exactly how it's going to go.

Listen to what he says here. I think this shames the Israelites, and I think it shames us.

All those gathered here know that it's not by sword or spear that the Lord saves. For the battle is the Lord's and he will give all of you into our hands. — 1 Samuel 17:47

Did the Israelites that had been sitting there for six weeks know that the battle belongs to the Lord? Did those that for forty days have been drinking taunts know that God does not save through strength and power? Did they know it? I don't think they knew it.

When he says they will. And if they did, they didn't believe it. They certainly didn't. David's armor is his faith. Saul's got all this armor—there's even some connection with bronze and the serpent in the Hebrew—but that's Goliath. And he says, "I don't need his armor."

How did David know that God wins battles through weakness and not through power? History. The whole history of the Israelites was God doing these incredible things. Blowing trumpets and the walls fall down. Those are not displays of might.

Listen, we're followers of Yahweh. We know how this works. He's a freak show. He always does weird stuff. We were going against Jericho, and God said, "Alright, march on the wall seven times, blow a trumpet." I cannot imagine that could possibly work. Or Gideon facing the Midianites—"Alright, get a bunch of jars, break the jars, everybody scream and it'll work itself out from there." Over and over and over. Every time God loves to win from the bottom. He loves to conquer all by losing. He likes weird, offbeat weakness. He triumphs over the pharaoh of Egypt with a bunch of slaves.

David's like, have you guys been watching? Have you read about this? No sweat. We're weaker than he is. How could this possibly not go well for us? That's what he's saying. We know who he is, we know how it works. Gideon won. They all won.

So we've got somebody who is a nobody from nowhere. He's not outwardly impressive. He is a good shepherd. His first concern is the honor of God. His brothers hate him without reason and he just takes it. He doesn't defend himself. He always credits God with his success, and he believes the way to win is through weakness and not through power.

The Messiah Connection

Do you understand what people thought this might have meant? They're looking for a Messiah. In Genesis 49 there was a promise.

The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until he comes to whom it belongs, and the obedience of the nations is his. — Genesis 49:10

They are waiting for the Judean king to come, for the one who can do it. And when David shows up, they're like, this could be it. This could be the guy. It's going to seem like that for several more chapters. It's going to fall apart.

There was a promise that a king was coming. First Samuel is about the search for the king. We're waiting for the Messiah to come, the one that will do all these things, the one that will rule from weakness, the one that will be righteous and kind, the one that will be a good shepherd, that won't leave us, neglect us, and move on to better things. And right now, at First Samuel 17, it looks really good. The guy may have come. You guys know he's going to break our heart, but not to worry because the Messiah would still come.

The reason we're studying the life of David is because he is both the template of the Messiah that would come, and he is the foil against which the Messiah comes. David sets the stage, but he can't fulfill his own promise. That will be left to somebody else.

As we continue to watch David's life, what we're going to be seeing over these next number of weeks are pictures, hints—what Lewis calls hints—echoes of a song we've yet to hear, scents of a flower we've yet to find. The real, the true and greater David will come. But first, we're going to see what he's going to look like. We're watching for his attributes.

David the Rememberer

What stands out to me so much in this is that David knows that God is a God of remembrance. "Remember what I've done for you." We just forget that because the trial is so blinding. But God wants us to remember what he's done. He's not an eagle maniac. He wants us to remember.

David is a great rememberer. He's just like, everybody here knows this because it's clear to him. They don't know, but it's clear to him that God has done this—he killed lions, bears, pharaohs. No problem.

So keep reading, watch through it, learn to read narrative, learn to see, look for the clues of the Messiah, and we'll just unpack it together as we go.