GOLIATH’S SWORD by Larry W. Peebles Sept. 18, 2020 20.35
When I was a small boy, probably age 6 or so, I spent one week of the summer with a cousin who lived about 30 miles away. His father, my uncle, got off work every day at 5 pm. When my uncle got home, he took us to the municipal pool for a swim. I could not swim, so he taught me. First, he showed me to not be afraid of the water, but to put my face in it and blow bubbles. Another day he showed me how to stretch out straight and float face-down in the water. The next session we added kicking the legs, which began to propel me through the water while floating face-down. Finally we added arm strokes, which allowed me to reach out and grab water to pull behind me for increased propulsion. In one week I learned how to swim, a large accomplishment for a small boy.
That was not all. Each day after swimming and supper, my cousin and I played outside on the sidewalk until dark. He brought his bicycle from the garage, and I would run along beside while he rode. When my uncle realized I did not know how to ride a bicycle, he invited me to try. After showing me how the brakes worked, he gave me two instructions. Pedal continuously, and turn into the direction I felt I would fall. In other words, if I thought I was falling to the right, turn to the right, square into the fall. The bicycle would come back up under me to avoid the fall. Second, he taught me to trust him to run beside me, adding support occasionally with his steady hand, but lifting his hand enough so that I could get the feel for my own balance. In a short time I was riding without his support. I ran into a few trash cans along the curb until my balance and control improved, but this was another large accomplishment for a growing boy.
I left my cousin’s house at the end of the week a different young man than when I came. I felt older, more confident, and able to do things I was not able to do earlier. I had faced the giant. To this day I remember the feeling of accomplishment and victory, not the stress of trying. I will never forget that week, and told that story many years later at my uncle’s funeral. My cousin did not remember, and appreciated the tribute to his dad.
These are two examples from my life of the point I want to make. There are things in our life that we may not be able to do, or do not like to do. We should not give up on them. As we grow older, stronger, and more confident, we may be able to master them. This is true in the natural as well as the spiritual realm.
David was young, probably 12-16 years old when He heard of Goliath. He was old enough to tend his father’s sheep, but too young to fight in Israel’s army. In 1 Samuel Chapter 17, we read that David’s father Jesse sent him to deliver dried grain and bread to his older brothers who were serving in the army and camped against the Philistines. He heard Goliath challenging the soldiers of Israel to a fight, and David asked aloud “who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (v.26) Word of what David had said got back to King Saul, who sent for David. Saul said to David “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he is a man of war from his youth.” (v.33) David pointed out to Saul that he had killed both the lion and the bear while protecting the sheep. He said “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.” (v.37)
David wanted to fight. Saul relented, and offered his armor- a bronze helmet, a coat of mail, and his sword. David could not wear them. Saul was a tall man, a head taller than the people (1 Samuel 9:2). Saul’s armor did not fit him. David was young, and would have to grow some to wear Saul’s armor. He was willing to take on the giant, but would have to do it another way.
David relied on the Lord, his slingshot, and stones (the Rock) to kill the giant. Though a young teenager, he overcame his youthfulness and lack of size and experience to defeat Goliath and defend the honor of Israel and their God. He grew some that day, if not in stature, then in spirit and reputation.
David’s subsequent growth is recorded in 1 Samuel, Chapters 18-20. Jonathan, Saul’s son, became a close friend (”knit to the soul”) of David. Saul had already promised his daughter to the man who killed Goliath, along with great wealth and no taxes. David was young at the time, and Saul had an older daughter that needed to marry first. When David was older, Saul said he could have his next-oldest daughter Michal for his wife. He did not ask a dowry, but asked David to kill one hundred Philistine. He hoped David might be killed in the process. David killed two hundred Philistine to gain Michal for his wife. The women came out of the cities to sing to David of the enemy he had slain. They danced and sang “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.” (1 Samuel 18:7)
Saul began to keep an eye on David, and a “distressing spirit” came upon him. David played music to soothe Saul, but Saul only became more afraid of David, twice trying to hit him with a spear. David was able to escape. The Lord was clearly with David, but was not with Saul. David became all the more highly esteemed for his wisdom in battle against the Philistines, striking many mighty blows, and causing them to flee. Saul became David’s enemy, and plotted to kill him. Though anointed himself to be king, David would not strike back or defend himself. He chose to run from Saul rather than take matters into his own hands. David had killed Goliath, brought havoc against the Philistines, married the king’s daughter, and become close friends with his son. His reward was that he had to dodge the spears of his king and run from him. There was a process of growing involved in order to become the next king of Israel. David was forced to mature in a hurry.
In 1 Samuel Chapter 21, we see the result of this accelerated growth. While on the run, David came to Ahimelech, the priest at Nob. He had to leave in haste, and now was looking for food and a weapon for protection. For food, the priest could only offer the altar bread, which David took. For a weapon, Ahimelech said (v.9) – “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, there it is, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it, for there is no other except that one here. And David said, ‘There is none like it; give it to me.’” The sword of Goliath had been stored at the temple at Nob, perhaps as a trophy of war, a remembrance of God’s hand in the victory that day David killed the giant.
Bible scholars say the typical Philistine sword of that time weighed 2.5 to 4 pounds. Goliath’s sword is estimated to have weighed 40 pounds. The boy David could not wear or hold up under Saul’s armor the day he fought the giant, but after years of growing and maturing, the sword of the giant seemed to be perfect for him to carry. As we grow and mature, those things we could not do when we were younger will become possible.
The young elephant in captivity, held by a chain on a stake in the ground, is not able to pull himself free. When he grows older, he grows into the largest and most powerful creature to walk on land. However, he can still be held by that chain and stake, because he quit trying to pull free. We must not be like the elephant. When I ran track as a sophomore in high school, I was only so fast. Five years later, as a sophomore in community college, I was much faster. Training, growth and maturity allowed me to do what I could not do when I was younger.
So it is with our spiritual growth. As we walk with the Lord, study His word and pray, we begin to mature in our relationship with Him. We begin to hear His voice, and feel His hand guiding and directing us. We come to realize He has great plans for us, and is willing to help us see those plans materialize. He has great plans for us in His kingdom, and is the power behind those achievements as well. Consider these scriptures on growth and maturity:
Psalm 92:12-14– “The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing to declare that the Lord is upright.”
Luke 8:15– “But the ones [seeds of the word of God] that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.”
1 Corinthians 13:11– “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”
1 Corinthians 14:20– “Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature.”
Ephesians 4:13– “We all come to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
Colossians 1:9-10– “For this reason, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”
Hebrews 5: 12-14– “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are full of age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
1 Peter 2:2– “As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.”
My wife and I never thought that in our retirement years we would be traveling to Africa and India to preach the word of God and see the miracles we have seen. It has not been anything we have done. It has been all Him, and His allowing us to participate in His plan. We never stop growing in Him, and deepening in the relationship with Him. In our later years, we are seeing things we never even dreamed of when we were younger. My prayer is that we would never give up on the dream we had when we were young, and never give up on the One who will make it happen. The day will come we will be able to do that which we could not do when we were younger, if we do not give up. Goliath’s sword serves as our reminder.
