1 Sam 17 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
Last time, Samuel anointed David in Bethlehem, and “the LORD’s Spirit came mightily on David from that day forward” (1 Sam 16:13). This time, while the whole army of Israel is afraid, David steps out in front of everyone for the first time.
The Philistines and Israel stood on opposite hills, with a valley between them. A champion came out of the Philistine camp. His name was Goliath. (vv. 1–7)
8He stood and cried to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to set your battle in array? Am I not a Philistine, and you servants to Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me.
9If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then will we be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us.”
10The Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel today! Give me a man, that we may fight together!”
11When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
For forty days Goliath came out morning and evening. Jesse sent his youngest son, David, to take food to his three older brothers in the camp. David arrived just as Goliath came out again, and the men of Israel ran from him. (vv. 12–25)
26David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done to 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?”
David’s oldest brother, Eliab, was angry with him. Word of what David said reached Saul, and Saul sent for him. (vv. 27–31)
32David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”
33Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”
34David said to Saul, “Your servant was keeping his father’s sheep; and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock,
35I went out after him, struck him, and rescued it out of his mouth. When he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, struck him, and killed him.
36Your servant struck both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God.”
37David said, “The LORD, who delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go! The LORD will be with you.”
Saul dressed David in his own armor and helmet, but David said he was not used to them and took them off. He took his staff, chose five smooth stones from the brook, and went out with his sling to meet Goliath. When Goliath saw how young he was, he despised him and cursed him. (vv. 38–44)
45Then 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 Armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
46Today, the LORD will deliver you into my hand. I will strike you and take your head from off you. I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines today to the birds of the sky and to the wild animals of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,
47and that all this assembly may know that the LORD doesn’t save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand.”
48When the Philistine arose, and walked and came near to meet David, David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.
49David put his hand in his bag, took a stone and slung it, and struck the Philistine in his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth.
50So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him; but there was no sword in David’s hand.
David drew Goliath’s own sword and cut off his head, and when the Philistines saw it, they all fled. (vv. 51–58)
To read the whole chapter: 1 Samuel 17, 58 verses.
Forty days of shouting. Goliath “came near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days” (v. 16). Every day he said the same thing, and every day Israel heard it. The passage says they “were dismayed and greatly afraid” (v. 11).
David asks a different question. The men in the camp said to one another, “Have you seen this man who has come up?” (v. 25). They were looking at Goliath. David asked, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (v. 26). In his eyes, the army on this side of the valley was not just Saul’s army. It was “the armies of the living God.” Change the question, and the weight of the whole situation changes with it.
Cold water from his own brother. His oldest brother Eliab was angry with him: “Why have you come down? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness?” (v. 28). The passage does not say why Eliab spoke this way. David answered only, “What have I now done?” (v. 29), and turned to ask someone else. He did not stop to argue. He did not stop at all.
The lion and the bear. When Saul looked at David, he saw that “you are but a youth” (v. 33). David did not argue about his age. He talked about the flock: a lion came, a bear came, and he got the lamb back. Then he said, “The LORD, who delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine” (v. 37). His courage came from remembering what God had done. All of that had happened out in the wilderness, where no one was watching.
Armor that does not fit. Saul gave David his own armor and helmet. David tried them on and said, “I can’t go with these, for I have not tested them” (v. 39). He took them off and picked up the staff and sling he knew. He did not become a copy of Saul to fight this fight.
In whose name. “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 Armies” (v. 45). David did not go empty-handed — he had his sling and his stones. But he said it plainly: “The LORD doesn’t save with sword and spear” (v. 47).
Who this battle is for. David said this fight was “that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel” (v. 46). This story is often told as ‘the little guy beats the giant.’ But in David’s own words, the main character is not David, and not Goliath. It is God. This section ends with a short line: “There was no sword in David’s hand” (v. 50).
When Israel asked for a king, they wanted one to “go out before us, and fight our battles” (1 Sam 8:20). But in this battle, the king did not go out. The one who stepped forward was a young shepherd who had been anointed but was still keeping sheep.
God was showing Israel: what saves them is not the king they picked. It is God himself.
What you are facing may not be a giant. It may be something that has weighed on you for forty days, or four hundred. This lesson does not promise that you will win every fight. It shows you how David moved forward: first he remembered what God had done, then he looked at the fight in front of him.
This week: Write down one thing God did for you in the past — your ‘lion and bear.’ This week, when you face the thing that scares you most, take it out and read it again.
Scripture: World English Bible.