REFLECTIONS ON DAVID

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible…. 

I Samuel 17:32, 34-37

¹⁷ Jesse said to his son David, “Get at least half a bushel of grain that has been cooked. Also get ten loaves of bread. Take all of it to your brothers. Hurry to their camp. 

³² David said to Saul, “Don’t let anyone lose hope because of that Philistine. I’ll go out and fight him.”

³³ Saul replied, “You aren’t able to go out there and fight that Philistine. You are too young. He’s been a fighting man ever since he was a boy.”

³⁴ But David said to Saul, “I’ve been taking care of my father’s sheep. Sometimes a lion or a bear would come and carry off a sheep from the flock.

³⁵ Then I would go after it and hit it. I would save the sheep it was carrying in its mouth. If it turned around to attack me, I would grab hold of its hair. I would strike it down and kill it.

³⁶ In fact, I’ve killed both a lion and a bear. I’ll do the same thing to this Philistine. He isn’t even circumcised. He has dared the armies of the living God to fight him.

³⁷ “The Lord saved me from the paw of the lion.  He saved me from the paw of the bear. And he’ll save me from the powerful hand of this Philistine too.”  Saul said to David, “Go. And may the Lord be with you.” 

There is no bible narrative so well known as the story of David and Goliath.  It has taken its place in common parlance indicating a conflict against enormous odds.  The hero is David.  He is seen as a young fellow who has this irrational boldness which results from a strong faith that God can give him the victory in any circumstance.  I can see nothing further from the truth. 

David cannot be understood separate from his faith.  It is evident from his Psalms that David became a believer at a young age.  His faith in Jehovah God was the single most important factor in the life of David. 

As a true Israelite he knew God’s law and he was fully committed to it.  Therefore David was where he was, doing what he was doing in full obedience to his father.  He was standing before Saul, the king, as an obedient son of Jesse Ben-Obed. 

The statement of his qualifications David made to Saul acquaints us with the reasons for David’s boldness.  They were three.  First the experiences he had were evidence of his qualification.  He had defended himself and his flock against the mightiest of their dangers, a lion and a bear.  Consider this.  With his armament, whatever it was we are not told, he delivered his flock.  The bear would have been in excess of 400 lbs. surely.  The lion could have weighed as much as 500-600 lbs.  They were not only huge but they were equally as fierce and dangerous. 

He had killed both.  This was his history.  He knew what he could do.  His was not a false bravado but a conflict-tested experience in the most deadly of circumstances.  Presumption does not enter into this.  His was battle-tested assurance. 

Secondly, this enemy was God’s enemy; the champion of the Philistines.  David recognizes this, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God.”  The believer is never on more certain ground than when the enemy he faces is God’s enemy.  All too often this is not so for us.  The enemies we fight are our enemies – not God’s enemies. 

Thirdly David was confident in his armament.  He had a sling with five stones.  This is most often disparaged.  A man I know told me of an experiment he did.  He made himself a sling, practiced with it until he became proficient and then tried its power.  He threw a rock of approximately eight ounces through a sheet metal wall.  He was convinced and convinced me that a slingshot was an extremely powerful weapon. 

When David placed the stone in his sling and began the windup he had one object in mind.  He intended to hit Goliath in the single vulnerable spot presented to him.  This was his forehead which was the single spot left uncovered by his armor. 

This leaves us with a single question.  Was David’s marksmanship good enough to hit his spot?  Let us use our imagination a bit here.  David had for years tended his sheep alone.  How did he spend his lonely days?  I can easily imagine he spent quite enough of his time practicing with his sling until he became as accurate as it was possible.  This is described in the Scriptures, Judges 20:16   Among all of those men there were 700 who were left-handed. Each of them could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.  It should not stretch our imagination to believe that David was at least that good.  Now take this to its conclusion.  David could sling a stone weighing one-half pound at a speed of maybe as much as 200 MPH and hit a selected spot, at a distance of surely as much as 25 yards.  This was David’s confidence.  His experience, his ability with his chosen weapon, and the absolute certainty he was in the right place doing the right thing gave him a most rational boldness.  The result was a dead Philistine.  When the truth is known, David was never at a disadvantage. 

Did David act with heroic faith?  Absolutely!  We, as David, have a most reasonable faith.  Unbelief in the light of the Scriptures, the Gospel, and the history of Christianity is not smart.  It is lunacy.