1 Samuel 17 - David and Goliath

1. Goliath's makes a formal challenge of Israel, with national servitude as the stakes (vv. 8–9).
   • Goliath comes forward morning and evening for forty days (v. 16) with no answer from Israel.
   • Israel lacks someone willing to meet the challenge.
2. David arrives not as a soldier, but on an errand carrying food to his brothers (vv. 17–22).
   • The one who will answer the challenge was not assembled with the army; he was tending sheep and serving others.
3. David's first question shows his desire for purity for Israel, pointing out that Goliath is uncircumcised (v. 26).
   • While the soldiers see a military problem, David sees a theological one, that Goliath is defying God.
   • This is the same orientation Jonathan showed in chapter 14, where he framed the conflict around what God can do, not around the odds.
4. Saul's armor does not fit David (v. 39).
   • The refusal of Saul's armor could be seen as a refusal of Saul's kingship.
   • God will be more greatly glorified when an unarmored man kills the Philistine's champion.
5. The pre-battle exchange makes clear that David has faith that the battle is won not by him, but by the LORD (vv. 45–47).
6. David kills Goliath with a single stone from a shepherd's sling (vv. 49–50), then uses Goliath's own sword to take his head (v. 51). The weapons of the destroyer are used against the destroyer.
7. Israel yet again inherits a victory they did not begin, similar again to the victory gained by the actions of Jonathan and his armor-bearer.
   • David fights as the representative champion for a people who cannot defeat the enemy themselves.
   • He enters the conflict not with the weapons of the world but with something the enemy despises.
   • His people inherit what he won. He goes first; they follow.
   • The enemy's own weapon turned against him points to Christ, who destroyed death through death, rendering powerless the one who held the power of death (Hebrews 2:14).