Thursday, March 1, 2012

1 Samuel 17:38-58

38 Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them.
“I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.
41 Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. 42 He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. 43 He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44“Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”
45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.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.”
48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.
50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.
51 David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.
When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. 52 Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. 53 When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp.
54 David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem; he put the Philistine’s weapons in his own tent.
55 As Saul watched David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is that young man?”
Abner replied, “As surely as you live, Your Majesty, I don’t know.”
56 The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is.”
57 As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine’s head.
58 “Whose son are you, young man?” Saul asked him.
David said, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.”

Points of interest
  • ‘Saul dressed David in his own tunic’--now not only is God giving David the anointing that used to belong to Saul, but Saul himself is giving David his clothes.
  • ‘I am not used to them’--this reminds me of God’s words to Samuel when he was having dinner at Jesse’s house: ‘The LORD does not look at the things human beings look at.’ David is not going to fit into Saul’s pattern. Saul has all of the right trappings: he has the looks of a king; he has all of the right equipment; he even has the title. But he’s not a good king. David has none of the trappings. The armor doesn’t fit; and he wouldn’t know what to do with a sword. But God sees in him the right stuff to be a good king. At this point, the right stuff seems to be an expectation that God will use what little David has to accomplish great things.
  • ‘David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him’--I have to admit that I sometimes think that David doesn’t beat Goliath fair and square. It’s like a duel with one person swinging a sword and the other shooting a pistol. Doesn’t David win just because he picks Goliath off before Goliath can ever reach him? But I must be missing something. The story gives a few clues that David is being brave here, and that his victory is more than just unfair advantage. First of all, Goliath also thinks the fight is unfair, to his advantage; he can’t believe David is coming against him so poorly armed. Secondly, Goliath also has a ranged weapon, a javelin; he just never throws it. And thirdly we have this: David runs toward Goliath. That’s not the smart thing for the guy with the sling to do. David should be hanging back out of Goliath’s reach as long as he can, but instead he closes with Goliath; the guy with the stick and the stone going on the attack against the guy with the sword.
  • ‘David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem’--I think this is a reference to the future. Jerusalem isn’t an Israelite city until David conquers it later in the story, and it’s quite a distance from the battle site. And David has more important things to do right now than take a side trip to safely stow his trophy; there’s an army of Philistines to pursue. I think the author is telling us that David kept Goliath’s head all the way until the time, many years later, when he could carry it with him into his new capital city. Goliath’s head is a sort of down payment on God’s promise to turn David into a king.
  • ‘whose son is that young man?’--like I said yesterday, it’s hard to get a read on who David is and what his relationship with Saul is thus far. Is he a brave warrior, or a punk kid? Is he a stranger to Saul, or one of Saul’s favorites? Yesterday, I hypothesized that we are actually being given two different versions of the story of David’s beginnings. Today, though, I wonder if it’s just that Saul is having such a hard time recognizing David because he’s so different from the David he usually sees. Could Tuesday’s soothing harp player really be the same young man who just chopped off a giant’s head with the giant’s own sword on Thursday?
Taking it home
  • For you: David had to walk around in Saul’s armor for a few steps before realizing that what worked for Saul wouldn't work for him. Often it’s easy to let others, our circumstances, or our roles and responsibilities throw all sorts of expectations and obligations on us, maybe without us even realizing it. Additionally, there is often so much going on beneath the surface of our busy lives that we can fail to listen and really know ourselves. Take some time just to be still and silent in God’s presence. Ask God to sift through all the ‘coverings’ you might be wearing, to show you who you are, and to bring what is going on in your heart to the surface. As you sit silently, pay attention to what your heart is saying. What emotions rise to the surface? Are there certain circumstances, where you need to be like David and say ‘this isn’t me’?
  • For your six: Ask God to bless the uniqueness of each of your six, and to give them the ability to live out that uniqueness well. Write down the name of each of your six. Spend some time thinking about something that makes them who they are. Consider affirming that quality in them today--by phone, text, email or in person.
  • For our church: I picture David as a 5th grade boy saying he’s going to slam dunk over Shaq--clearly impossible and kind of presumptuous. David was willing to step out so audaciously in fighting Goliath because he seemed to know right from the get-go that it was God who was actually going to do the real work. Pray that our church would completely bank on God to be the one who miraculously comes through and makes the impossible possible; and pray that we would then have the courage to act bravely like David.
  • For families: As parents, sometimes we can assume our children are just like us and push them to respond to things in the same way we would. Spend some time talking about the ways your children are similar to you, and ways they are different from you. Ask older children to think about the similarities and differences that they see. If applicable, ask your children for forgiveness for ways you have treated them as though they were you, missing their different, yet valid, way of approaching a circumstance. Bless your children for the ways they are really their own person.