David & Goliath — TDW Kids

Forty days of fear. Goliath came out “forty days, morning and evening” (17:16). “When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid” (17:11). Dismayed means so upset you do not know what to do. Even King Saul, who was taller than everyone, did not go out to fight. Measuring the giant. The soldiers looked at Goliath and then at themselves, and he was much bigger. They measured him against the wrong thing. David's question. When David heard Goliath, he asked, “For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (17:26). To defy means to dare someone and make fun of them. Uncircumcised meant Goliath was not one of God's people. The living God. David did not say that Goliath was small. He said that God is alive. Goliath was not just insulting soldiers. He was insulting the Lord. The giant did not change. Goliath was just as big on the day David came. What was different was what David thought about first. He measured Goliath against God, and next to God the giant was small. What we learn. When something big scares you, do not measure it only against yourself. Measure it against God. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

The champion (17:4). Goliath is called ish habbenayim (say: eesh hab-bay-NAH-yim), the man between. He was the fighter who stepped into the space between the two armies to fight for his whole side. He stood “six cubits and a span,” over nine feet tall. His terms (17:8-9). One man would fight for each army, and the losing nation would serve the winner. Everything would rest on one fighter. Frozen (17:11, 24). Israel was “dismayed and greatly afraid,” and later the men “fled from him and were dreadfully afraid.” For forty days, morning and evening, nobody moved. Defy (17:10, 26). The Hebrew charaph (say: khah-RAHF) means to taunt or mock. Goliath said, “I defy the armies of Israel this day.” David asked who this Philistine was, “that he should defy the armies of the living God?” The word for reproach in 17:26 comes from the same root: David wanted to take away the shame Goliath was heaping on God's people. Elohim chayyim (17:26, 36). The living God, Elohim chayyim (say: el-oh-HEEM khai-YEEM), is the God who is alive and acts. Goliath cursed David by his gods (17:43), but those idols could not hear or help. A different question. Israel saw a military problem. David saw a question about who God is. The giant had not changed, but David measured him against the living God. For you. Fear grows when we measure our problems against ourselves. “The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe” (Proverbs 29:25).

Goliath shouted at God's army for forty days. Every day the soldiers looked at the giant. Then they looked at themselves. Goliath was much bigger than they were. So they were afraid and ran away. Then David came to the camp. He heard the same mean words. But David thought about God first. He called God the living God. God is alive, and God is strong. Goliath was big, but God is much bigger. When you feel scared, think about how big God is. He is with you.

Goliath was a big giant. God's army was scared. But David knew God is bigger! God is bigger than anything you fear.

A hard word at home. Before David ever reached Saul, his oldest brother Eliab got angry. He said, “I know your pride and the insolence of your heart” (17:28). Insolence means rudeness. Eliab was the brother God passed over in the last lesson. Sometimes the people closest to us are the hardest on us for doing what is right. One answer, then on. David said, “What have I done now? Is there not a cause?” (17:29). Then he turned away and kept asking. He did not let a hurtful word stop him. Not a soldier. Saul said, “You are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth” (17:33). From Saul's side, it looked hopeless. The lion and the bear. David answered with what God had done. When a lion or a bear took a lamb, “I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth” (17:35). Then and now. “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine” (17:37). David's courage came from remembering. Quiet years. Nobody had watched David fight the lion. The years with the sheep, where no one saw, were where God trained him. What we learn. Brave people are not people who never feel afraid. They remember what God has already done. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits” (Psalm 103:2).

Eliab (17:28). Eliab is the son Samuel was sure about and God refused (16:6-7). Now “Eliab’s anger was aroused against David.” He accuses David of pride and of coming down “to see the battle,” though Eliab himself stood in an army that had not moved for forty days. His words show what God had seen in his heart. David's reply (17:29). “Is there not a cause?” David means there is a reason worth speaking up for: the honor of God's name. He does not stay to argue. Saul's verdict (17:33). Saul compares David with Goliath and sees a youth against a man of war. By every outward measure Saul is right, but 16:7 has already told us that God does not judge that way. History, not hype (17:34-37). David gives no battle plan and names no weak spot in Goliath's armor. He gives history: a lion, a bear, and a God who delivered him both times. In Scripture, faith is rarely a leap in the dark. It is expecting God to act the way He has already acted. Natsal (17:35, 37). The Hebrew natsal (say: nah-TSAHL) means to snatch away or rescue. It is used for David rescuing the lamb from the lion's mouth and for the Lord rescuing David. David did for his sheep what God did for him. Saul's blessing (17:37). “Go, and the Lord be with you!” A servant had already told Saul about David, “and the Lord is with him” (16:18). It was already true. For you. Keep a record of what God has done for you. “I sought the Lord, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears” (Psalm 34:4).

David's big brother Eliab got angry with him. Eliab said David was proud. But David did not argue for long. He went on asking his question. Then King Saul sent for David. David said he would fight the giant. Saul said David was only a boy. So David told Saul about his sheep. A lion and a bear had come to take a lamb. David went after them both. God saved David from the lion and the bear. So David knew God would save him again. Remembering what God has done helps us be brave.

David remembered what God did before. God saved him from a lion and a bear. God would help him again, and God helps you too!

A king's idea. Saul's answer to a giant was armor. “So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head” (17:38). That is what a king would think of. Not tested. David tried to walk and could not. He said, “I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them” (17:39). So he took them off. What David chose. “He chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook... and his sling was in his hand” (17:40). A brook is a small stream. A real weapon. A sling was not a toy. It was a shepherd's weapon, and armies in Bible times used slingers in battle. David had practiced with it for years while nobody was watching. Ready, and trusting. David did not go out with nothing, and he did not trust his sling. He went out with what God had given him, and he trusted God to win. Laughed at. Goliath “disdained him; for he was only a youth” (17:42). Disdained means looked down on. He said, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” (17:43). What we learn. Maybe you feel like the wrong person for a job. God usually does not ask you to become someone else first. He uses what He has already put in your hands, even the plain parts of your life.

Saul's armor (17:38-39). Saul does what people usually do: he meets strength with strength and dresses David in a king's armor. Saul himself was the tall man Israel had wanted as king (9:2), and he was the one who did not go out to fight. Untested. The verb for tested, nasah (say: nah-SAH), means to try something out. David would not go into battle depending on gear he had never used. Prepared (17:40). David still went out armed. Judges 20:16 tells of slingers who could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. David had five stones, a shepherd's bag and years of practice. Being prepared matters, and trusting God is never an excuse for laziness. His own tools. David used what God had given him instead of borrowing someone else's way. The quiet years with the sheep turned out to be his training. Goliath's contempt (17:42-44). Goliath saw “only a youth, ruddy and good-looking,” and cursed David by his gods. Like Samuel in 16:6, Goliath judged by appearance, and he was wrong. Power in weakness. God told Paul, “My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). God often wins through what looks weak, so that the glory goes to Him: “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” says the Lord of hosts (Zechariah 4:6). For you. Be faithful with the gifts and skills God has given you. Practice them well, and trust God rather than the tools.

Saul put his own armor on David. He gave David a bronze helmet too. David tried to walk, but he could not. He was not used to it. So David took it all off. He took his shepherd's stick instead. He picked five smooth stones from a stream. He held his sling in his hand. A sling was a real weapon. David had used it to guard his sheep for years. God did not ask David to be someone else. He used what He had already given David. God can use what He gave you too.

Saul's armor was too big. David took it off. He used his own sling and five smooth stones.

Before the stone. Before David threw anything, he said, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts” (17:45). Hosts means armies. David came in the name of the God who commands the armies of heaven. Why it mattered. David gave the reason: “that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel” (17:46). The day was about God's name, not David's. David ran. “David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine” (17:48). Trusting God did not mean standing still. One stone. The stone “sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth” (17:49). “But there was no sword in the hand of David” (17:50). Then David took Goliath's own sword, finished the fight and cut off his head (17:51). Everyone won. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled, and Israel chased them (17:51-52). One person went out for everybody, and the whole army shared a win they did not earn. That is what Jesus did for us. Whose son? Afterward Saul asked who David's father was. David answered simply, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite” (17:58). He did not boast. What we learn. God fights for His people. Do your part with all your heart, and give God the glory.

Lord of hosts (17:45). David names the contrast: sword, spear and javelin against “the name of the Lord of hosts.” Tseva'ot (say: tseh-vah-OHT) means armies. David came in the name of the Lord who commands the armies of heaven, “the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” The purpose, twice (17:46-47). First, “that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.” Then, “all this assembly shall know.” The nations and God's own people would both learn who God is. Faith that runs (17:48). David's trust did not make him passive. He hurried and ran toward the battle line. Trusting God's outcome and acting boldly go together. The reversal (17:50-51). “There was no sword in the hand of David,” yet he finished the fight with Goliath's own sword. The enemy's weapon became the means of his defeat. Christ shared our flesh and blood “that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). The head. The stone struck Goliath's head. Many Christians see here an echo of Genesis 3:15, where God promised that the woman's Seed would bruise the serpent's head. Victory shared (17:52-53). The men of Israel who had not fought now chased the Philistines and plundered their tents. They received a victory their champion had won. Whose son (17:55-58)? Saul had promised riches, his daughter and freedom from taxes to the man who killed Goliath (17:25), so he wanted to know the family. David's answer was humble: “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.” For you. Do not fight your battles alone. “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” (Ephesians 6:10).

David called out to Goliath. He said, “I come to you in the name of the Lord.” David wanted the whole world to know God. Then David ran to meet the giant. He put one stone in his sling and threw it. The stone hit Goliath in the forehead. The giant fell down on his face. David did not even have a sword. Then the Philistines saw that Goliath was dead. They turned and ran away, and Israel chased them. One boy went out, and everyone won. God gave His people the victory. Jesus fought for us in an even bigger way.

David said the fight belonged to God. One stone hit the giant. God won the fight for His people!