09/23/2008
1 Samuel 17:45 - 47 (HCSB) 45David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with a dagger, spear, and sword, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel’s armies— you have defied Him. 46Today, the LORD will hand you over to me. Today, I’ll strike you down, cut your head off, and give the corpses of the Philistine camp to the birds of the sky and the creatures of the earth. Then all the world will know that Israel has a God, 47and 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.”
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I have recently seen TV programs discussing “giantism”, that is, the pituitary tumors that cause certain individuals to grow to incredible heights because their bodies do not cease the production of the human-growth-hormone. These people generally have normal proportions and are proportionately strong for their size. In their younger years, they are merely lanky and a bit awkward because so many things are designed for persons of a 5 to 6-foot stature. But as they progress into and past their 20s, the dysfunction of their glands takes its toll and most dye relatively young.
This verse comes from the context of the confrontation that Israel had with Goliath. Unlike today’s battles where we fight from distances hurling bullets and bombs across the barren battle field, in those days, the armies would line up in ranks and literally charge one another in a hand-to-hand conflagration.
Any soldier of imposing stature had an advantage over his opponents as his reach and strength would be greater. But when we consider Goliath, he is described (depending on how you translate the Biblical measures) from 9 to 11 feet in height. We have no way of knowing if Goliath was a victim of giantism or not. But he is described as a man of greatly imposing stature and strength. His ability in hand-to-hand combat would have been devastating. The mere sight of him was freightening.
David had been anointed as king, but was not yet king. In fact, he was still young and living at home. He only came to the battle front to deliver food to his elder brothers when he overheard the commotion. After David heard Goliath malign Israel’s king, he was determined to defend the honor of his God. His brothers thought he was being foolish and urged him to go back home, but Saul was convinced by David’s passion and allowed him to meet Goliath on the battle field.
As David approached the giant, Goliath once again taunted Israel and her God. David answers with the verses above.
This made me wonder if we have the same passion and faith in our God. Can we stare in the face of our “giants” and declare the strength of our God? Do we have the confidence that David had to declare before the battle has begun that God has already defeated our foe?
These are the reasons that David was chosen as king over his brothers. David’s brothers scoffed at his indignation of Goliath’s taunts. David’s brothers cowered with the rest of Israel’s army as the young boy, with no armor, walked out to meet the champion of Israel’s enemy.
We need a heart like David’s that has this kind of passion for our God.
Jeff Justus
Cleff Publishing
www.cleffpublishing.com
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