This sermon was delivered on June 20th, 2021 for the weekly worship service at the Kensington in Gelesburg, IL
Today’s story from Samuel is another one of those stories that we think we know. I mean, who hasn’t heard this story a hundred times at least? The story of the mighty giant Goliath and the small shepherd David. We learn of David’s great victory over his huge foe.
But this story has often been reduced to the stuff of fairy tales- in some versions David is a tiny child and Goliath is hundreds of feet tall. In other versions, David is a lanky teenager with keen aim. But all of these tellings focus on how David was neither prepared nor qualified to take on Goliath.
It’s really tempting to get caught up in the details of this story- like how tall was Goliath? Was he really a Giant or just a super tall man with big muscles? Honestly? He was probably just a super tall man with big muscles- depending on the translation from the Hebrew and conversion from cubits to feet, we’re probably looking at about 7 feet tall. He was probably about the size of the wrestler/actor Andre the Giant that you might remember from watching Wrestling on TV or the movie the Princess Bride. So he was definitely huge, but not a fairy tale giant. Which somewhat dulls the spectacular nature of this great battle.
Or perhaps we’d like to concentrate on the detail of the slingshot- how big was it, how powerful can a slingshot be? This type of sling would have been used to keep wolves and lions away from sheep or could shoot birds out of the air- it wasn’t a child’s toy. It was a weapon, and a common weapon for someone who tended sheep. David would have been well versed in using it and knowing where to aim for maximum impact. Malcolm Gladwell talks about this in detail and guestimates that the sling and rock would have the same impact as a bullet shot from a .45 caliber handgun. In fact, ancient armies often had many sling-trained fighters who were prized for their deadly accuracy in battle. A well flung stone could hit with enough power to shatter bones, incapacitate, and yes, even kill. This was not a toy- it was a weapon with power that David knew how to wield effectively. So I’m not entirely buying the whole little kid with a toy angle we’re sometimes sold when it comes to this story.
Don't get me wrong. I LOVE the idea- Little beats big, weak beats strong, hero beats villain. It’s the stuff all good fairy tales and Disney movies are made of. Why do we do that? Does diminishing David’s power somehow make the victory seem bigger? Does making Goliath a “GIANT” make this story more important? Why have we reduced this story to something akin to magic and luck, when it was clearly more than that??
First, I want to give David some credit here. He was much more prepared for this than we have been taught. Was he young? Yes Had he been in a war before? No. But that doesn’t mean he was ill prepared for the task at hand. David was prepared. He had a weapon that he had been using for a long time to defend his sheep. David himself says to King Saul:
David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and whenever a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth; and if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down, and kill it. Your servant has killed both lions and bears;”
David literally wrestled lions and bears to rescue his lambs. He caught them by the jaws or struck them with his sling and rocks. A small child wouldn’t be able to fight off a lion or a bear. David was young, but clearly he was strong and had experience dealing with large and dangerous creatures. Surely that was an experience that would translate to a large and dangerous man. Between his strength and his skill with a sling, David was not a small unprepared child with a toy.
Then there’s that bit where Saul tries to put David in some armor to better prepare him for the battle. David refused the armor. Now this wasn’t because he was too small for the armor, like a child playing dress up- which again is an image we’ve been given. No, David didn’t want the armor because he wasn’t used to moving in something so bulky and heavy. He was used to being able to move quickly- quickly enough to rescue a lamb from the mouth of a bear. He didn’t want the armor to slow him down. This wasn’t about the size of the armor- this was about agility.
David also had his shepherd’s staff. While the staff was mostly used to help sheep move in a certain direction or the hook used to help pull a lost sheep to safety, it was an additional weapon against the animals that threatened the safety of the flock. It wasn’t a flimsy stick picked off the ground- it was a solid piece of wood that could help fight off a lion or a bear.
So, David was definitely more prepared than we’ve been conditioned to believe. And Goliath, a large man covered in armor who was prepared for hand to hand combat. Clearly, David wasn’t planning on trying to have a fist or sword fight with Goliath. David was prepared for battle- but not the SAME battle Goliath was prepared for. Have you ever heard the phrase, “Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight” or something similar? Or perhaps something a little less violent- “use the right tool for the job”? David wasn’t stupid. He knew he couldn’t beat a 7foot (or taller) armored man in a sword fight or fist fight. But he knew how to use a sling.
See, David doesn’t win this battle because he’s the better fighter. He won, because he was smart. He changed the battle from being on Goliath’s terms to being on David’s terms. He took hand-to-hand combat off the table, and instead loaded up his sling and let the stones fly. He changed the rules of the game and was able to win. But why did David have to step into the fray in the first place?
That’s a little more complicated. There was a tradition in the Ancient Near East of resolving conflicts with representative combat- that is sending one warrior from each side to fight it out.1 Now this rarely completely ended the fight, but would give psychological advantage to one side or the other, should they stick around after the battle.2 So of course, the Philistines are going to send their biggest, strongest, most experienced guy to do the fighting. And This guy? Not only was he huge, he was covered in armor:
He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. He had greaves of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and his shield-bearer went before him.
This guy was READY for action. Well, he was ready for what he THOUGHT was going to happen. A sword fight- hand to hand combat. Two guys fighting it out face to face and sword to sword. And so- All of Saul’s army chickens out. They are SO not prepared to hop in the ring and fight this guy one on one. Saul is in a panic at the thought that Israel is going to have no chance at winning against the Philistines. Until David shows up.
Now, for just a moment imagine what Goliath must have been thinking- standing there in all his armor towering over his shield-bearer. He sees this shepherd with a staff and some sandals heading his direction. And he can’t help himself- he gets cocky and starts bragging about all the ways he's going to win. This is one of those moments that takes me right back to Saturday morning TV and watching good old WWF Wrestling with my younger brother- the drama! The trash talk! The fight before the fight. This is Goliath calling David a chump and DARING him to even attempt the fight.
And David responds with trash talk of his own! He goes so far as to say that he will win the fight, cut off Goliath’s head, and party in the streets in victory. Can you imagine what Goliath must have been thinking at that moment? He probably found David rather funny- no armor, a staff and some rocks, and all that trash talk?
But it wasn’t just talk. And what happens next is a flurry of action. David RAN towards the giant, GRASPED a stone, SLUNG it at Goliath, and the stone sank into his forehead and he fell to the ground. After 47 verses of preview, the fight is done in just two sentences. And as the old radio host Paul Harvey used to say...now for the rest of the story…
Goliath was not dead at this moment- he had been knocked out by the stone but not killed. David uses Goliath's own sword to finish the job and cut off his head- an act so shocking that the Philistines turned and ran- chased by the troops of Israel.
So what is the point of this story? I don’t think it’s really about the underdog. It’s not about a small child defeating a huge giant. It’s really about much more than that. David was more prepared for this moment than Saul or anyone else was able to see- they saw a young shepherd boy. But DAVID knew he was prepared. He knew of his skill with a sling and his strength. He knew he had the faith and courage in his own convictions to step forward and do battle on his own terms. But more than that- this story is about using what we have to topple traditional structures of power and strength.
Goliath was the norm- a battle status quo- the strong man they would send out to do representative battle and ensure victory. He had the armor. He had the sword. He had the training in hand to hand combat. But David doesn’t fight on those terms. He challenges the entire tradition of hand to hand combat and representative battles. He changes the rules. He took away the value of armor and brute strength and replaced it with faith and ingenuity. David was prepared to do something different, and that’s why he won.
There’s an old adage- If you always do what you’ve always done, you’re going to get what you’ve always gotten. Or perhaps the version often attributed to Einstein? “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” If the Israelites had done things “the same old way” in this battle, the story likely would have ended very differently. But instead, David was prepared to do something new. Instead of imitating the style of the Philistines and putting on armor that didn’t feel right, David did something different.
And that something different also included a deep faith in God. Now, I don’t believe that God necessarily chooses sides- especially in war. I don’t think God wants wars to happen or battles or killing. But I do think that God doesn’t put a lot of stock in arrogance and brute force and dangerous power. God is there in ingenuity and in new ways forward. God is there when we use our gifts and talents towards efforts of peace and liberation. This story is bloody and violent- it ends in a beheading. But that result is DIFFERENT than what would have happened had the Israelites tried to play by the Philistines rules. And that’s what makes all the difference in this story.
So where’s the good news? Well, the good news is that we too are more prepared than we think. We each have unique talents and skills that we can use to find new ways of doing things and to help others find new ways forward. Facing Goliath doesn’t mean that we have to play the role of the small, meek underdog. It means that we get to use the skills we have in a new way and move forward in victory.
But also- this bears a word of caution. We have to be careful to NOT BE GOLIATH- to not be so stuck in our ways and so trapped in tradition that we fail to see the rock coming right at us.
Amen
1 Birch, “The First and Second Books of Samuel,” 1109.
2 Birch, 1109.