Here are teh notes from last night's LightHouse with the discussion questions.
How does the world around us defy God?
How do we respond to that and why? How ought we to respond to that and why?
Ch1-8 of 1 Samuel focus on Samuel’s rule as Judge of Israel, ch9-15 concentrate on Saul’s reign as Israel’s first king and his failure to love God and therefore be the King God’s people needed. From ch16 onwards the focus is on David as a man after God’s own heart and God’s anointed in waiting. Throughout the rest of the book there contrasts are made between David and Saul as the book focus on God establishing his kingdom through his king. We also see the faithfulness and sovereignty of God in keeping his promises and protecting David in bringing him to be king.
There are three central characters in the story, Goliath who defies God, Saul who rules without God and therefore rules poorly, and David whose words and actions are those of the true king and reveal him to be a man after God’s own heart. It is David’s words which provide the teaching points of this chapter because he alone trusts God and brings what he knows of God to bear on the situation Israel faces.
1. Don’t judge by appearance God saves!
Back in ch16v7 we saw in David’s anointing that “People look at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.” Samuel thought Eliab would be a good king **why? Because he looked impressive, but God doesn’t look on the outside God looks at the heart. This chapter following straight after that teaching shows us what it means for the people of God to live that out.
The chapter opens(1-10) with descriptions of the physically imposing appearance of the Philistine armies and especially of Goliath. As the narrator piles up the descriptions of Goliath you can’t help but feel overwhelmed and afraid of him. He is a champion – one who fought in one on one combat to the death as a representative for the people - 9 foot 6 inches tall, encased in thick, heavy armour from head to foot, and armed to the teeth. Everything about his appearance is designed to strike fear into his enemies hearts, he looks unbeatable, and then Goliath roars his challenge to Saul and the Israelites, defying Israel, heaping shame on them.
How do Israel and Saul react(11)? “Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.” And for 40 days they remain terrified as morning and evening day after day this Philistine hulk shouts out his defiance of Israel, and the Israelites hide in fear. So in awe and terrified of Goliath are Saul and the Israelites that even Saul’s inducements of a royal wife, wealth and family tax exemption aren’t enough to prompt anyone to fight Goliath.
But the key thing here is that the appearance of Goliath has so terrified Saul and the Israelites that God has been driven from their hearts and minds.
The writer highlights the contrast between Goliath and David and it couldn’t be more stark, telling us David is too young to be a solider, he just takes the rations to his brothers, he is a shepherd, Saul calls him “little more than a boy”, a phrase repeated as he faces Goliath(42) and emphasised in Goliaths words. A book maker would have refused to take any more bets on this fight. This looks like a total mismatch, so much so that Saul even tries to help David look a bit more like a warrior(38-39).
David alone weighs his actions based on a trust in God rather than in what he sees(37). David counts God as bigger than Goliath, his vision of God puts Goliath into perspective. God is a rescuing and delivering God and so David will not judge by appearance but by theology. His theology determines his reality not the other way round.
We are all prone to Goliath vision, where a situation, problem or person looms so large in our view that it dominates it and drives thoughts of God from our thinking. We need to learn to judge situations in the light of who we know God to be, not the other way round.
David knows God is worth trusting, he knows God is faithful, he has tested God and proven him in the past. He knows that God saves through weakness, it is his pattern. And David’s overcoming of Goliath is not a one off, it sets a kingdom pattern. Which reaches its crescendo at the cross; where God the Son, having taken on weak frail human flesh, dies, seemingly slain by his Goliath and yet he rises again having defeated sin to save us.
Turn to Romans 8 we don’t look back to our killing of a bear or a lion, we look back to the cross. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
We don’t judge situations by appearance we judge them in the light of who we know God to be, the fact we are his loved and redeemed children in his fatherly care. David did not know the outcome as he went to fight Goliath but he trusted God and viewed reality in the light of the God he knew and acted accordingly. David is revealing himself to be the king Israel needs, a king after God’s own heart.
We see two other things about David here. Two more things which mark him out as a king after God’s own heart.
2. A Concern for God’s name
David makes a vital connection here which no one else seems to have made, in defying Israel Goliath is defying God, in heaping shame on Israel he is heaping shame on Yahweh and the rest of the world will see it and God’s name will be dishonoured. We see it in his description of Israel’s armies in (26)David doesn’t call them Saul’s armies but **what? “the armies of the living God?”. And (45-46) as he confronts Goliath “but I come at you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands... and the whole world will know there is a God is Israel.”
David acts, he fights, because God’s name and honour is at stake. In defying God’s people Goliath is defying God. David wants the world to know what he knows that God and he is a great deliverer, he wants God’s glory to be known his fame to be spread, the world to know Israel has a Saviour.
David is a man and a king after God’s own heart to whom God’s honour matters. In this we see that David’s kingship gives us another glimpse of the kingdom values we see in Jesus kingship. David’s priorities are Jesus priorities, kingdom priorities. God’s honour, God’s name and what the world thinks of God matters. As Jesus enters the temple and drives out the money changers and sacrifice sellers his concern is God’s name, he is zealous for God to be known and be worshipped. He is zealous for the world to know God.
How seriously do we take God’s name? We may naturally think about it in terms of challenging blasphemy from neighbours or work mates and it is right I think that we challenge that. But a concern for God’s name goes wider than that, we need to be those who contend for God’s glory, for his name. Who share that kingdom passion for God’s rescue to be known and people to trsut in God’s Saviour.
3. A Concern for God’s people
But there is another concern which David has which marks him out as a king after God’s own heart, and gives us a glimpse of God’s kingdom DNA. He is concerned for God’s people, not just in terms of whether they are defeated or not but in terms of whether they trust in God or not.
(32)In speaking to Saul David says “Let no-one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” Israel are in danger of losing heart in part because of Goliath but also because of Saul. Saul will not lead, he ought to have been the one fighting for Israel against Goliath.
But Saul doesn’t, why?
Turn to Deut 20:1-4 here God gives instructions for Israel for when they go out to war. And Saul has done none of these, he is not leading the people because he has lost access to God’s word and Samuel will no longer see him because he has continually rejected God’s word. Back in ch13 before the battle Saul intends to keep Deuteronomy 20, that is why he sends for Samuel. But now Samuel isn’t sent for and Israel are fainthearted, afraid and panic because they have not had their eyes fixed on the faithfulness of Yahweh who fights for them. Saul has not led as a king after God’s own heart, keeping God’s word, loving his law, leading as an under-shepherd of Israel’s true king.
Saul’s failure highlights all the more David’s right and kingly actions. He is concerned for the people, he doesn’t want them to be disheartened and lose faith, he wants them to trust God who saves. His faith in God leads to actions and his actions have a purpose, look at (47)“All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
In David’s actions and heart we see a glimpse of the values of the kingdom, the values of God’s king. Turn to John 17:20-26 where we see Jesus concern for his people. Isn’t that astounding to think that as Jesus prayed immediately before his crucifixion his thoughts are for God to be glorified in him and for his followers, not just his immediate followers, but you and I, that we would be united and live out our faith in him for God’s glory. And then he gives himself for us on the cross to defeat the enemy we could never face, in our place as our champion.
God’s heart is for his people. To understand God’s gospel love is to find ourselves filled with an overflowing grace fuelled love for others. A love that drives us to pray for one another, but also to act when we see one another discouraged or disheartened, to point one another again to Jesus who wins the battles for us, and promises us he has delivered us and done everything we need.
David trusts God, he knows God, he is concerned for God’s name and for God’s people and he stands as Israel’s champion fighting for them to win the battle they could not win. He is the King Israel’s needs and which God has blessed them with. But he points us to Jesus, to his heart, because this is the DNA of the kingdom.
Discuss
As we face up to living as exiles in a world which defies God does this passage help us encourage one another and spur each other on?
What will it look like practically for us to be concerned for God’s name?
What will it look like practically for us to be concerned for God’s people?
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