Tag: facing the giants

2 SAMUEL 24: WHAT IF THE GIANTS KEEP ON COMING?

On By Pastor TomIn 2 Samuel, Bible, Bible Teaching, Old Testament, Podcast, Religion, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

As David grew older and became less of a force on the battlefield, the people of Israel must have wondered what was going to happen when he was gone. The writer of Samuel reminds us that it was never David who saved them, but rather, it was the Lord who saved them, whether through Samuel, Saul, David, or the next generation. This encourages us to not make idols out of the methods the Lord uses to bless us. We don’t need anything but the Lord himself.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen. 

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download 2 Samuel Part 24

If you generally prefer to listen, you can also find us on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/show/6KKzSHPFT466aXfNT2r9OD

SECOND SAMUEL #24. 2 SAMUEL 21:15-22

Last time we looked at the gruesome story of how Saul’s evil deeds against the Gibeonites created a need for atonement. We considered the overall message that we human beings are dead meat. We cannot be good enough to atone for sin. But the writer of the book of Samuel does not want to leave us with the wrong impression. So, in this next section of the epilogue, he tells about some people who were quite remarkable. The incidents described here probably took place near the end of David’s reign.

The first incident was when David was an older man. He was fighting the Philistines, and in the battle came face to face with a particularly fearsome Philistine warrior, a descendant of giants. As David faltered, his nephew Abishai came to assist him, and they struck down the Philistine. It was at this point in David’s life that his elite warriors convinced him not to risk his own life in battle anymore.

I want to talk about Abishai for just a second. He was the second of three brothers. From oldest to youngest they were: Joab, Abishai, Asahel. Their father probably died young, since his name is not mentioned, and when Asahel also died young, he was buried next to their father. Their mother was Zeruiah, David’s sister. This made Abishai David’s nephew. Abishai’s brother Joab had his conflicts with David, and we have seen that Joab was a complex man, but among other things, he murdered three people. We assume that he killed many in battle also, but Joab murdered Abner, Absalom and Amasa in cold blood. Two of those (Absalom and Amasa) were Joab’s own cousins. Abishai, the one who helped David against the Philistine, Ishbi-benob, was a fearsome warrior, but there is no indication that he was a murderer, like his brother Joab. He was eager to kill David’s enemies, but unlike Joab, when David said “no,” Abishai listened. I like to think that Abishai was a physically gifted warrior who rejoiced to use those gifts, but who listened to David, and to the Lord.

Abishai is listed as the chief of the “Thirty Mighty Men” of David (there were actually thirty-seven). On one occasion he killed three hundred Philistines with his spear in a single battle. After David, and “the three” (mightiest men), Abishai was considered the most fearsome warrior in Israel. He was younger than David, and so on the occasion listed here, he was able to help him against the Philistine Ishbi-benob, who was descended from giants. The text doesn’t say so, but we can safely assume that they were unusually large and strong men, even if they weren’t as big as the Goliath killed by David.

Next came Sibbecai. He is listed in 1 Chronicles 11:29 as being one of David’s thirty mighty men, but he is not found by that name in the list here in 2  Samuel chapter 23. Chapter 23:7 mentions Mebunnai the Hushathite, and that might be a different name for the same person. 1 Chronicles also mentions that he was a commander of an army division. In any case, Sibbecai/Mebunnai killed another descendent of the giants, named Saph.

Next with have Elhanan. He was also one of the thirty mighty men, and he killed another man named Goliath from the same city (Gath) as David’s Goliath. 1 Chronicles 20:5 puts it like this:

5 And there was again war with the Philistines, and Elhanan the son of Jair struck down Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. (1 Chronicles 20:5, ESV)

My assumption is that “Goliath” was a kind of a family name, and David killed an older member of the family, and then, years later, Elhanan killed a younger brother, or possibly even the son of the original Goliath. I think that’s the most likely, and it fits best with both texts.

Then we have a final descendant of the giants, a man of large stature, with some kind of genetic anomaly that gave him six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot. He was killed by yet another nephew of David: Jonathan, son of David’s brother, Shimei. David’s family produced some fearsome warriors.

Now, what do we make of this? Why did the author of the book of Samuel put this in here? Let’s back out and remember the big picture. All the way back at the beginning of the history recorded in this book, Israel was a mess, with no one to guide them. God used a righteous woman, Hannah, to bring Samuel into the world. God then used Samuel to lead the people, give them direction, and provide deliverance from their enemies. But as Samuel grew old, the people grew afraid. Samuel’s sons were not like him. Who was going to lead Israel next? God provided Saul, the kind of King the people really wanted: big and impressive-looking. Saul began well, but after some time, he faltered because of fear and insecurity. When Israel was challenged by a giant, Saul had no answer. The Lord brought David forward, and the young man (probably a teenager) killed the giant, and then became the most fearsome battle leader that had yet lived. Eventually David became king, and he led the people well, but at times even he failed and faltered. And now—this is where we get to this text today—now, David is too old to fight giants any more.

What will happen? Who will save the people from their enemies now? David, the brilliant battle-leader, created an empire. For the first and only time, Israel became a regional power, uncowed by either Egypt to the south or Mesopotamia to the north and east. But now the battle leader is too old to lead. Who will protect and save Israel?

These four younger men step in to fill David’s shoes. Now, we have not one, but four giant-slayers. However, the point is not that these four younger men will replace David, or even that one of them will. The point is this: It is the Lord himself who always provides salvation. He was the one who raised up Samuel. The Lord was the one who raised up Saul, and then, when Saul fell, brought David. The people of Israel do not need to fear. Their hope should never have been in Samuel, Saul or even David, in the first place. Their salvation comes from the Lord himself. Even when David can no longer fully use his tremendous gifts, the Lord protects Israel. We are meant to understand this: Even when the time comes for David to die, the Lord will be with his people.

Again and again, the people of Israel were tempted to put their hope in a human being: first Samuel, then Saul, and then David. And the Lord did indeed use all three of those men to deliver and protect his people. But the writer of Samuel is showing us: “Look it continues! The people change, but the one constant is this: The Lord is our salvation.” And of course, David himself knew this to be true. The people don’t need David, or any other particular individual. They only need the Lord.

I think sometimes we need to hear this message as well. We put our hopes on the way God might save us, instead of God himself. When we do that, we create idols. One purpose of the book of Samuel is to show that God did indeed bless Israel through David, but not to make an idol of him, and not to depend on God always using someone like that.

For instance, a few years ago there was a popular Christian teacher named Ravi Zacharias. He encouraged and helped a great number of people, probably millions. He passed away in 2020. Around the time of his death it came out that he had engaged in sexual misconduct over the course of about five years. As far as I know, the accusations have been proved credible. I spoke with someone who had trouble processing this. She felt like she had been blessed by Ravi’s ministry, and even strengthened in her faith by his words. But how could she square that with the kind of man he had been in secret?

I helped her to see that it was the Lord who had blessed her and strengthened her faith. Yes, he used Ravi Zacharias to bring those blessings, but the source wasn’t Ravi, it was the Lord. The blessings were real, no matter what kind of man he was. Just as David was a very imperfect man whom God used to bless his people, so today, we ought to avoid making human beings into idols. Let’s receive God’s blessings, however he brings them, but let’s trust the source of those blessings, which is the Lord, not any human being, or human process. That way, we can receive God’s goodness, even when the people who bring it to us turn out to be less than perfect.

Or, maybe we trust in something else, like our job, or work ethic, or physical stamina, or our good marriage, or our savings account. God does indeed bless us through things like these. But if we find ourselves saying “As long as I have my health…” or, “as long as I have a good marriage…” or, “as long as I have a good investment portfolio…” we might be in danger of idolizing that thing. We don’t need any “as long as.” The Lord can bless us apart from such things as well. If we lose something like one of those things, all is not lost. David and the Israelites lost David’s giant-killing skills. It didn’t matter. The Lord protected them anyway. Whatever else we might lose, we cannot lose the Lord, and he is all we truly need:

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:28-39, ESV)

Really pay attention to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you today.

1 SAMUEL #18: FACING THE GIANT

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Samuel, Podcast, Religion, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The story of David and Goliath is one of the best known Bible stories in the English-speaking world. We love hearing about the underdog who, against all odds, conquered the intimidating, unconquerable giant. However, the main point that is made in the text is that the victory was possible because it was actually a spiritual battle. It wasn’t young David against a battle-hardened giant. It was an arrogant, profane giant against…the maker and ruler of the universe. David won, not because he was brave or skilled, not because of anything within himself, but because he aligned himself with the Lord, and allowed the Lord to use him as his instrument.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen.

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download 1 Samuel Part 18

1 SAMUEL #18. 1 SAMUEL 17:1-57

1 Samuel chapter 17 contains one of the most familiar incidents in the whole bible: the fight between David and Goliath. Now, most of us know the story outline pretty well: a young man (almost certainly a teenager) defeats a hardened warrior twice his size. Before we get to the good stuff, let’s deal with a few historical facts and questions. Goliath was about nine feet, six inches tall – almost three meters. He was huge. If you browse the internet, however, you might find out that other sources suggest he was considerably smaller. The Greek version of the Old Testament (called the Septuagint) gives Goliath’s height as something like 6 feet, maybe six feet five inches. One of the Dead Sea scrolls, and the historian Josephus also record Goliath as around six feet, but it is likely that both of those documents got their information originally from the Greek Old Testament, so it really boils down to just that source. Six foot five would be about a foot taller than most men in that era of history, a very large person by comparison for sure. However, I think the smaller size is unlikely, and I think it is the result of a translation or copying error when the Jews were creating the Greek Translation of the Old Testament (remember, the original language of the Old Testament was Hebrew).

You see, in addition to Goliath’s height, we are given the weight of some of his armaments, and the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) agrees with those measurements. But the weight of those things matches a nine foot man much better than one who is only six feet tall. His mail coat (a kind of body armor) weighed 125 pounds. This means that it was extremely large. That amount of weight would not be necessary on a man who was 6’5” – the mail should be smaller, and therefore weigh less. Even a man who was six foot five would find it difficult to run and use a sword and spear while carrying an extra 125 pounds. But that isn’t all of the extra weight he carried. The text says his spear was as thick as a weaver’s beam, and just the iron tip weighed about sixteen pounds. If you put 16 pounds at the end of a long pole, say four inches in diameter, even someone who is 6’5” would have a hard time using it effectively as a spear. Maybe a big strong guy that height could use it with two hands, but it would be unnecessarily difficult to use, much harder than one better matched to his size. Also, Goliath wore bronze leg protectors and carried a bronze javelin, and a sword, adding significantly to the weight he carried. By the way, I suspect that the sword was probably a normal-sized blade. It’s size is not described anywhere, and David, still a teenager, was able to use it to cut off Goliath’s head after the battle, and he used it again a few years later.

Anyway the point is, we’re probably talking close to two hundred pounds of gear. Not even a six foot five man would have had armor and weapons that weighed that much, especially not in those days, when those things were rare and expensive. So we’re going to stick with the nine foot height.

This is my friend, Barry. He says he is 6’3″, but I think he’s closer to 6’4″. The replica of Goliath behind him is 9 feet, to scale.

There is another puzzling thing about the text. After the whole thing is over, Saul asks his military commander a strange question about David: “Whose son is this youth?”

The question is strange because at the end of chapter sixteen, prior to the fight with Goliath, David was brought to court to play the lyre/harp and sing for Saul. The text even says that Saul loved him. And David’s father, Jesse, is mentioned by Saul’s courtiers in those same verses. This is one of those places where some people claim that the Bible contradicts itself. I want to point out to begin with that there is no theological or spiritual significance to this “contradiction” even if it exists. There is no doctrine or principle at stake here.

Some scholars speculate that chapter 16 and chapter 17 came from two different sources, and the source for chapter 17 was unaware of the account of how David came to court as a singer. In fact we do know that the author potentially had three different sources:

29 Now the acts of King David, from first to last, are written in the Chronicles of Samuel the seer, and in the Chronicles of Nathan the prophet, and in the Chronicles of Gad the seer, 30 with accounts of all his rule and his might and of the circumstances that came upon him and upon Israel and upon all the kingdoms of the countries. 1 Chronicles 29:29-30, CSB)

So it is possible that the end of chapter 16 came from one of these sources, and chapter 17 from another. However, whoever actually wrote down the book of Samuel put these two stories right next to each other, and he must surely have seen the apparent contradictions – but he made no attempt to explain it. Therefore it is safe to assume that whoever wrote the history that we call “1 Samuel” saw no necessary contradiction between these two chapters, and in fact, assumed that readers would be able to understand the apparent contradictions. And, as it turns out, there are several possible non-contradictory explanations.

Chapter sixteen records how Saul was afflicted with an evil spirit. The manifestation of this was apparently some kind of mental illness. In fact, continuing on through 1 Samuel, Saul exhibits some of the classic symptoms of paranoid-schizophrenia. So Saul’s question may have been partly a result of the confusion he experienced because of that affliction.

Notice also that verse 15 tells us that David was now going back and forth between his own home, where he tended the sheep, and the place where Saul’s army was encamped. So apparently, when the Philistines came out to fight, David’s status changed. Saul released David to go back and help out at home. Verse 16 tells us that Goliath issued his challenge every day for forty days. But when David arrived, it appeared that he had not yet heard Goliath’s challenge. This means he was gone from Saul for at least forty days. The last time Saul saw him might have been even longer than that, because apparently, when David came to visit the army, it was not to play music for Saul, but rather to bring supplies to his brothers. So it’s likely that Saul hadn’t seen David in several months, possibly longer. Since David was still a teenager, he had probably grown and changed a great deal in a short amount of time, as teenagers tend to do. That alone could account for Saul’s confusion.

On the other hand, it might not have been confusion at all. Saul promised a reward to the person who killed Goliath. He said the person who did it would be married to his daughter. He also said that the whole family of the victor would be exempt from taxes. In order to keep these promises, he needed to officially verify the identity of David’s father, since the father was the key figure in both the marriage arrangements and tax exemption. Remember, Saul does not ask, “who is that young man?” – he asks, “who is his father?”

It is true that in chapter sixteen, someone mentioned that David was the son of Jesse, but that may have been the only time it was mentioned to Saul, and he might not have paid a lot of attention at the time. I know I easily forget the names of people I have never met, and who are mentioned to me only once. So it is possible that Saul knows the victor is David, but he can’t remember David’s father’s name.

It’s also possible that Saul was confused, because he did not think of David as a warrior, but rather as a minstrel. So when he saw him accomplish a great feat of war, he thinks, “Is that really David? Can’t be. It must be one of the soldiers.” So he asked Abner, who as the commander of the army, would know who the soldier is.

All this is to point out once more that there is no necessary contradiction between this and chapter sixteen. There are several reasonable explanations, and obviously, the person who put together the book of Samuel expected that his readers would not read it as a contradiction. Once again, I say that even if there was a contradiction it wouldn’t mean anything, anyway. It would have no significance to any part of the Christian faith.

All right, now let’s turn to the story. The tribes of Israel are faced with a giant. Remember, though, that Israel had a very large man on their side also – King Saul was likely around six foot five, since he was described as roughly a head and shoulders taller than any other person in Israel. Certainly, that was smaller than Goliath, but he was bigger than anyone else in the Israeli army. He should have been the natural choice to face Goliath. But Saul was afraid just like everyone else. By this point, he had already rejected his role as God’s chosen instrument.

Everyone else looked at the external situation. Here was a man almost twice as big as anyone else. He was well armored, with potent modern weapons that others would have a hard time even lifting. It was like fighting an intelligent, well armored grizzly bear. To send a boy with a sling against a giant with armor was crazy. The odds were completely in favor of the giant.

But David saw it primarily as a spiritual battle. What it looked like on the outside made no difference to him. In David’s eyes, Goliath wasn’t challenging him, or Israel – he was challenging God. When he first saw the situation, he said:

For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Samuel 17:26, ESV)

You can almost picture the men around David staring at him, and then at each other, and then thinking: “Is David blind? Does he not see the nine foot guy with the giant spear?”

I already mentioned Goliath’s armor. Leaving aside the difference in the size of the armor, only two people in the Israeli army had equipment like it: Saul and Jonathan. The armor and weaponry was iron age technology. The rest of the Israelis were using bronze age weapons. The difference, and the advantage it gave the Philistines was a little bit like the difference between muskets and modern semi-automatic rifles. Both can kill you, in roughly the same way, but the more modern weapon is far more deadly.

For this reason, once David volunteered to fight the Giant, Saul tried to get him to wear his own armor, to even out the advantage. David ultimately rejected it for three reasons. First, it didn’t fit him. Saul was a much bigger man. Second, it was not David’s style. David had fought for his life before against lions and bears, and he didn’t use that sort of thing. God used him differently. Third, David did not believe he was at a disadvantage. He rejected the armor for much the same reason as he was willing to fight in the first place: the weaponry didn’t matter. What mattered is that God was on his side. He said to Saul:

36 Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 And David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” (1 Samuel 17:36-37, ESV, italic formatting added for emphasis)

 So, in David’s eyes, it wasn’t a boy against a giant. It was an arrogant giant…against the Creator of the Universe. All David had to do was give God a chance to strike Goliath down. It didn’t matter what weapons or armor he had. Using the sling wasn’t a clever surprise tactic. It was just the tool that was most handy and familiar to David. The real weapon, in David’s eyes, was the power of God.

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. (1Sam 17:45, ESV)

The outcome, of course, made history. David killed Goliath with a stone slung into the skull. He completed the job for certain by cutting off the giant’s head with his own sword. David predicts what will happen, but most importantly, why:

And this whole assembly will know that it is not by sword or by spear that the LORD saves, for the battle is the LORD’s. He will hand you over to us.” (1Sam 17:47, HCSB)

David actually ran toward the giant. I don’t think he was stupid, and though he was brave, it wasn’t primarily bravery. He had the confident faith that the battle was the Lord’s. The Lord used what David had, which was a sling. In his encounters with the bear and lion, most likely he stunned the animal with a stone from his sling, and then finished them off with a club. He felt that the Lord protected him then, and sees no reason not to expect the same protection now. So he whipped a stone at Goliath, and scored a shot right on his forehead, where the helmet did not protect him. He took Goliath’s own sword and made sure he was dead by decapitating him. This created a tremendous uproar among the armies that were witnessing it. The Philistines were filled with dismay, and then terror. The Israelites finally realized that David was right, and the Lord was fighting for them, so they rushed on the disheartened Philistines, slaughtering them, and chasing them all the way to the gates of the nearest Philistine walled city.

I invite you to pause for a moment to consider what the Lord might say to you through this. What are you facing in your life that seems like a giant threat? Is there any place where you feel that the odds are stacked against you doing what God wants you to do? I encourage you to see God’s battles from God’s perspective. Now, sometimes we are fighting battles that are not God’s – that is a whole separate issue. But if we are walking in faith, letting Jesus live his life through us, the battles we encounter in the course of doing what He wants to do in us and through us – those are battles that He will fight. We don’t need any special equipment. All we need to do is grab whatever is most handy and comfortable, and let the Lord do the fighting.

There is a related truth here. God will use you – the unique person that he has made you to be. Others pressed David to take Saul’s armor, to fight the way everyone thought he should fight. David politely but firmly declined. He was just fine  being who God made him to be. So when it comes time to rise to the challenge, I am not saying you should despise advice. But it is OK to approach your challenges as the person that God made you to be. You don’t have to pray in the fashion of “all good prayer warriors.” You don’t have to look or sound exactly like other good Christians as you face your giants. But do listen to the Lord, and do what he tells you.

Do you realize also, like David did, that our battle is not in the arena of flesh and blood, but is actually a spiritual conflict? David actually had to fight a flesh and blood conflict. Even so, he recognized that it was primarily about what was happening spiritually. So, we have to face trials and difficulties of various kinds – and yet it is good to remember the spiritual reality behind it all. Maybe we have to pay bills and it is hard to make ends meet. That is flesh and blood. But there is a battle that goes along with that – the battle of discouragement and hopelessness and the challenge to trust God as provider. Yes, we must deal with the flesh and blood, but the battle is spiritual.

Maybe you have to deal with someone in your life who is difficult, or troublesome or who causes you anguish. Obviously, you encounter that in flesh and blood situations. But the real battle is to trust God, to continually allow God’s power to forgive that person, to recognize that the devil wants you to hold on to rage and bitterness.

This isn’t a blank check to say: “God will do whatever I want him to, as long as I do it in his name.” But it is an invitation to see the spiritual reality behind our physical life, and to trust God to do good things in us and through us.

So where are you intimidated right now? What “giant” are you facing? A relationship? Finances? Health? Career? Does it look like all the advantages are against you? Hear the Lord’s invitation to trust him right now. Although it wasn’t written until a thousand years after David, he knew the truth that is in Romans chapter 8:

28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. 29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.
31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. (Romans 8:28-34, NLT)

Trust in the Lord right now. Let him speak to you.