1 Samuel part 8 16 – 17

 

Tonight as we continue on in 1 Samuel we are introduced to David who is to become God’s new chosen king.

 

1 Samuel 16:1 Now the LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons."  2 And Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me." And the LORD said, "Take a heifer with you, and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.'  3 "Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; you shall anoint for Me the one I name to you."

 

Now Samuel was toward the end of his life at this time and we can see that he still hurting because God had rejected Saul as being King. Now God is ready to reveal to Samuel who will become the new king. Apparently Samuel was afraid Saul would kill him if just came around him so God gives him the way on how to enter into Saul’s domain without losing his life.

 

1 Samuel 16:4 So Samuel did what the LORD said, and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, "Do you come peaceably?"  5 And he said, "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice." Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice.

 

Now why were the elders so scared of Samuel? Well, are not told specifically but you get the idea that they were afraid that Samuel was coming to cause problems. Now God is going to choose one of Jesse’s sons to become the new future king but they do this process discretely.

 

1 Samuel 16:6 So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab (e lie ab) and said, "Surely the LORD's anointed is before Him."  7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

 

Now in past lesson when I have used these verses I have pointed out how it is important that we not look a persons outward appearance and make a rash judgment about them but that we should get to know them well enough to what is in their heart. We should do our best to do this because this is what God does. However this another lesson that we can learn from this concept and that is as God’s Children we need to make sure that our hearts look good to God. We can put on a good show on the outside and fool a lot of people but we cannot fool God.

 

Psalm 44:21 Would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.

 

Basically we are an open book that God can read without any problems so as Christians we must learn to have hearts that are pure which requires us to work on how we think.

 

2 Corinthians 10:5  …bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,

 

The only way that we can ever hope to have the kind of heart that God wants us to have is by making God’s Word and prayer apart of our daily life. The less you pray and the less you meditate on God’s Word the more corrupt your heart will become. We have seen what happened to King Saul in our past lessons who started out with the right kind of heart that was attuned to God but later on his heart turned cold toward God.  We must be careful today that we don’t follow in his path.

 

1 Samuel 16:8 So Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one."  9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one."  10 Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen these."  11 And Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all the young men here?" Then he said, "There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes here."  12 So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the LORD said, "Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!"  13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.

 

Not only was Samuel looking at the outer appearance so was Jesse. When he was told to bring all his sons he didn’t even include his youngest son David. Now David is described and being a handsome young man and it says he is ruddy. This means that he was either red headed or fair skinned or both. Well David was God’s choice so Samuel anointed him and he received the spirit of God.

 

1 Samuel 16:14 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the LORD troubled him.  15 And Saul's servants said to him, "Surely, a distressing spirit from God is troubling you.  16 "Let our master now command your servants, who are before you, to seek out a man who is a skillful player on the harp; and it shall be that he will play it with his hand when the distressing spirit from God is upon you, and you shall be well."  17 So Saul said to his servants, "Provide me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me."  

 

You see David had received the spirit of the Lord and Saul lost the Spirit of the Lord because the Lord was no longer with him. Now when some read this passage they see God sending Saul a literal evil spirit but it that what is really meant here? I don’t think so. I believe just in the same manner that Bible talks about God hardening the Pharaoh’s heart. The distressing spirit that Saul had was just his own sinister attitude. When a person chooses to go against God and do things there own way they are going to be open to the influence of the devil and to having a depressed troubling attitude.

 

Some have also thought that this evil spirit that Saul had was maybe a demon but again I cannot agree with such a view because where do you ever find in the Bible where a demon can be driven away by soothing music? You cannot. Again, this points me to believe this evil spirit was simply Saul sinister attitude he developed since God had left him.

 

1 Samuel 16:18 Then one of the servants answered and said, "Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and the LORD is with him."  19 Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, "Send me your son David, who is with the sheep."  20 And Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and a young goat, and sent them by his son David to Saul.  21 So David came to Saul and stood before him. And he loved him greatly, and he became his armorbearer.  22 Then Saul sent to Jesse, saying, "Please let David stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight."  23 And so it was, whenever the spirit from God was upon Saul, that David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well, and the distressing spirit would depart from him.  

 

Now one thing we need to keep in mind is in the OT we find the that the writers will give summary of events and then in preceding chapters they will fill in the details of their summary. Well, what we have here in these verse. The events that take place here most likely cover a time period of several months. But within this summary we see that King Saul and David meet and not only does David play his instrument for Saul to sooth his distressing spirit he also becomes his armorbearer. We also learn in the relationship that Saul loved David and appreciated him. However, I think we all know that this love that Saul had for David would later turn into to extreme jealousy.

 

Now our next chapter deal one of the most well know stories in the Bible, David and Goliath. There are many great lessons that can be taught from this story. However because this story is told so many times I think there are some details that are lost from the actual story that we forget about sometimes. Let us begin.

 

1 Samuel 17:1 Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle, and were gathered together at Sochoh, (sow kow) which belongs to Judah; they encamped between Sochoh  (sow kow) and Azekah, (a zee kah) in Ephes Dammim.  2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and they encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array against the Philistines.  3 The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, with a valley between them.  4 And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

 

It has been estimated by biblical scholars that over 20 years had passed since the Philistines had been defeated at Michmash and now they are ready fight again but this time they have their giant Goliath. Now you will notice that we are given his height which is roughly somewhere between 9 and 10 feet tall. Now a cubit is approximately 18 inches long and was measurement made between a man elbow to the tip of his middle finger. And a span was measured 2 different ways. Sometimes it was the width of the palm other times it was distance between the tip pf the thumb and the pinky while the fingers were spread out. Anyway you look at this was one big man.

 

  5 He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze.  6 And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders.  7 Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him.

 

Now all the armor that he was caring has been estimated to weigh somewhere around 200 pounds. It would take a very strong man to haul around such heavy armor.

 

  8 Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, "Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me.  9 "If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us."  10 And the Philistine said, "I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together."  11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

 

So here we see Goliath is just have a good ole tie rubbing fear into the children of Israel and it was working because no one was willing to face this giant in battle at this time.

 

1 Samuel 17:12 Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse, and who had eight sons. And the man was old, advanced in years, in the days of Saul.  13 The three oldest sons of Jesse had gone to follow Saul to the battle. The names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab (e lie ab)  the firstborn, next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah.  14 David was the youngest. And the three oldest followed Saul.  15 But David occasionally went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem.  16 And the Philistine drew near and presented himself forty days, morning and evening.  17 Then Jesse said to his son David, "Take now for your brothers an ephah of this dried grain and these ten loaves, and run to your brothers at the camp.  18 "And carry these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and see how your brothers fare, and bring back news of them."  19 Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.  20 So David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, and took the things and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the camp as the army was going out to the fight and shouting for the battle.  21 For Israel and the Philistines had drawn up in battle array, army against army.  22 And David left his supplies in the hand of the supply keeper, ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers.  

 

At this time we see that David was playing the role of a reporter for his father. We also learn that Goaliah had been taunting the children of Israel for 40 days and 40 nights. Now lets continue on with David conversation with his brothers.

 

1 Samuel 17:23 Then as he talked with them, there was the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, coming up from the armies of the Philistines; and he spoke according to the same words. So David heard them.  24 And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were dreadfully afraid.  25 So the men of Israel said, "Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel; and it shall be that the man who kills him the king will enrich with great riches, will give him his daughter, and give his father's house exemption from taxes in Israel."  26 Then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, "What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?"  27 And the people answered him in this manner, saying, "So shall it be done for the man who kills him."  28 Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab's anger was aroused against David, and he said, "Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle."  29 And David said, "What have I done now? Is there not a cause?"  30 Then he turned from him toward another and said the same thing; and these people answered him as the first ones did.

 

I really think that David was ashamed of his people when he seen how scared they were of this one man. David was man who believed in God and understood that no one could defeat his people with him on their side. That is why he made the statement. For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?" 

Now Eliab who was the one brother that Samuel originally thought God would choose as the future King get mad at David and is courageous words. He tries to make David out to be insignificant by basically saying who are you to say such things don’t you have some sheep to take care of instead. He was doing his best to belittle his brother and make it out like he had evil heart but that was not the case.

 

1 Samuel 17:31 Now when the words which David spoke were heard, they reported them to Saul; and he sent for him.  32 Then David said to Saul, "Let no man's heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine." 

 

I really like what David says here to King Saul because he doesn’t what him our the children of Israel to lose heart because of this Giant because he would go out and fight him. You see David wasn’t just talk the talk he was ready to walk the walk and go battle this Giant because he enough faith and trust God that he could defeat this giant.

 

1 Samuel 17:33 And Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth."  34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep his father's sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock,  35 I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it.  36 "Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God."  37 Moreover David 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." And Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you!"

 

At first Saul didn’t think that David could go against the Giant and win. However he convincing him by sharing with how he killed all of the different kinds of animals and most importantly that God was him helping him win these Battles and he was confident that God would help him defeat Goliath.

 

1 Samuel 17:38 So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail.  39 David fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, "I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them." So David took them off.  40 Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine.

 

Now I want to point out a few things at this point. First of all David is not some young boy as some stories depict him instead he is a young man. Now if you will remember Saul was the tallest man among the children of Israel and we see that he is now giving his armor to David to wear. Now to me this means that David must have been around the same height and size of King Saul for him to give him his armor to wear. Of course David wasn’t used to wearing armor and it would be a great disadvantage to him to try and fight in it. So, he goes out to meet Goliath armed with a sling and 5 stones.

 

1 Samuel 17:41 So the Philistine came, and began drawing near to David, and the man who bore the shield went before him.  42 And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him; for he was only a youth, ruddy and good-looking.  43 So the Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.  44 And the Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!"  45 Then David said to the Philistine, "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, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  46 "This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.  47 "Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD's, and He will give you into our hands."

 

It almost like Goliath was insulted that they sent out this young good looking man with no armor. But David assures him that this is no joke and tells with all confidence that not only will he take his life he will take his head as well. Again we can see just how much faith David has in God as he say this battle belongs to Lord and he will deliver you into my hands.

 

1 Samuel 17:48 So it was, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hastened and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.  49 Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth.  50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David.  51 Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. 

 

Within these verses are some more details that are general lost in the telling of this story. First of all we see that Goliath was coming toward David when he hit him with the stone. Now We need to remember that Goliath had all this armor on but one place that was exposed was his forehead that was just below his helmet. When David make this perfect shot it cause the Giant to fall on his face. Now from the text I do not believe that that this stone killed the giant but that it knocked him out because if you will notice it says that David took Goliath’s sword and kills him and cuts off his head. To me when I read this, this tells me that David ran him through with sword first then he next action was to cut off his head just as David said he would when went to face this giant and when they saw how David had destroyed their mighty warrior  they ran away.

 

1 Samuel 17:52 Now the men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted, and pursued the Philistines as far as the entrance of the valley and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell along the road to Shaaraim, (shay uh ray uhm) even as far as Gath and Ekron.  53 Then the children of Israel returned from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their tents.  54 And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.  55 When Saul saw David going out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, "Abner, whose son is this youth?" And Abner said, "As your soul lives, O king, I do not know."  56 So the king said, "Inquire whose son this young man is."  57 Then, as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.  58 And Saul said to him, "Whose son are you, young man?" So David answered, "I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite."

 

Everyone was excited about David victory including Saul but next week we will see his excitement turn in turn into pure jealousy. We learn from the lesson: make sure you have right kind of heart, and that the battle belongs to lord.