1 Samuel 17:32-58
Q.1. Why did Saul try to stop David from fighting Goliath? How did David support his offer to King Saul? Why did David refuse Saul’s armour? How did he prepare to meet the Philistine giant? – (1 Sam.17:31-40)
News that a man was offering to fight Goliath quickly spread to King Saul, who called for him (1 Sam.17:31-32). Like Samuel before him, Saul looked at the outward appearance, and dismissed his offer because David was still a youth, and Goliath – has been a warrior from his youth (1 Sam.17:33 c.f. 1 Sam.16:7). However, David bore testimony to his previous successes against a lion and a bear and added – this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God (1 Sam.17:36 c.f. 1 Sam.17:34-35 & 37). Saul had no other offer, so prepared David for battle, by helping him get into his huge armour (1 Sam.17:37-38). It must have been comical, as David told Saul – I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them (1 Sam.17:39). Instead, David selected the weaponry he was familiar with, which was five smooth stones and his sling, and approached the giant Philistine warrior (1 Sam.17:40). There was more than one giant in Philistia (2 Sam.21:18-22). David was not afraid of giants and was well prepared to face all of Goliath’s offspring, since we learn that – four were born to the giant in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and his servants (2 Sam.21:22).
Q.2. What was Goliath’s attitude to David and his God? How did David respond? How did David defeat the giant? How did the battle go? Why did Saul not recognize David? – (1 Sam.17:41-58)
Goliath, resplendent in his massive armour, and with his shield bearer walking before him, approached David. He was arrogant and sneered at the young David coming toward him. David had no protective armour and had only a slingshot in his hand (1 Sam.17:41-44 c.f. 1 Sam.17:5-7). David was not short on courage and was filled with the Spirit. He called out to him – 45 …You come to me with a sword, a spear, and 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 taunted. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands (1 Sam.17:45-47 c.f. 1 Sam.16:13). He then sent the stone like a bullet, and it sunk into Goliath’s forehead. He then took Goliath’s sword from its sheath and decapitated the giant (1 Sam.17:48-51). When the Philistines saw their champion dead, they fled, and were pursued by the Israelites (1 Sam.17:51-53). Why did Saul not recognize David? (1 Sam.17:55-58). David had probably grown a beard since he had been selected to cheer up the troubled king when he was an adolescent (1 Sam.16:18-23). Saul had at least three thousand chosen soldiers under his command, and David was not even one of them (1 Sam.13:2; 17:13). The most likely explanation is that Saul was quite deranged for the remainder of his days (1 Sam.18:10-11; 19:9-10; 20:30-34; 22:14-19).