Saul had been duly informed that he was no longer favored by the Lord as king over Israel, yet he is behaving as a man in leadership and ready to fight the Philistines, again, he is not seeking the Lord, nor His will.
But, remember, Israel wanted a king. God wanted to be their only King, yet they did not want to see that reality and now they are laden with a foolish, self-seeking man who has lost his power of God's Spirit. Saul is acting entirely out of his own ideas and flesh and continues to make poor choices.
As Spirit-filled followers of Christ, we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us at ALL times. Unlike in the O.T. when God, at times, 'filled' men and would leave them, we are always God's ambassadors, always on His mission, always directly able to be led by God's Spirit. What a privilege!! Do we listen to His voice? Do we realize the power and importance of our lives' purposes? Are we not greater than Saul and David and Samuel in that the Holy Spirit continually dwells in us as we experience the New Covenant relationship with the same exact God that dealt with them in the O.T.?
This would indicate that Goliath was over 9 feet tall!
Goliath's stature grew at the hand of narrators or scribes: the oldest manuscripts — the Dead Sea Scrolls text of Samuel, the 1st century historian Josephus and the 4th century Septuagint manuscripts — all give his height as "four cubits and a span" (6 feet 9 inches or 2.06 meters); later manuscripts increase this to "six cubits and a span" (9 feet 9 inches or 2.97 meters).
Regardless, whether Goliath was almost 7 feet or 9 feet, David was no match for this large, experienced warrior! King of the jungle and a puddy tat!
vs 17:17 ESV
And Jesse said to David his son, “Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers.
An ephah is simply a measurement. Now an "ephah" was as much as ten men could eat in a day. This grain was wheat or barley dried in a furnace or oven, and ground into meal, and being mixed with water, or milk, or butter, or honey, or oil, was eaten, and reckoned very delicious; and besides this, there was another sort of "kali", the word used, which was dried beans or peas.
17:25 Ok, so perhaps this Goliath forgot his helmet, armor and found a pair of Adidas XXXL shorts to put on this day and maybe little shepherd boy, David, just had a recent buzz cut at the local barber and threw on his polyester red basketball shorts, but you can imagine that there had to be a 'You gotta be kidding me!" attitude Goliath had when he saw this young man who was ill prepared for battle and tiny in stature. Yet, it was no biggie for David, as he kept his cool, knowing that if he could take on an attacking bear or lion, he could easily take on this man who roars like a toothless lion! It's no match for David and he approaches, fearlessly.
"Have you seen the giant?" the men asked. "He comes out each day to defy Israel. The king has offered a huge reward to anyone who kills him. He will give that man one of his daughters for a wife, and the man's entire family will be exempted from paying taxes!" Most other versions of Scripture say, "make his father's house free in Israel" instead of paying taxes.
It is likely that Saul had not required or formally instated the paying of a tax and therefore being 'free in Israel' likely refers to freedom from personal service in the army; though it is quite possible that on special occasions contributions may have been levied, and presents, no doubt, were constantly being made to the king.
17:36 Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
May each of us be as bold and confident as David when we hear or see someone defy the Living God! May we defend our Lord when anything is being purported that is untrue about His character, His nature, His I Am-ness.
Exodus 3:14 (ESV) God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you.’”
____________________________________________________________________
17:48 When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49 And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.As I looked into this, I found an interesting commentary on the never to be officially referenced, Wikipedia, although it is a fascinating comment:
The biblical account describes Goliath as falling on his face after he is struck by a stone that sank into his forehead. British rabbi Jonathan Magonet has discussed some of the textual difficulties this raises. In the first place, he notes that archaeological information suggests that Philistine helmets generally had a forehead covering, in some cases extending down to the nose. Why (he asks) should David aim at such an impenetrable spot (and how did it hit with such force to penetrate thick bone)? And why should Goliath fall forward when struck by something heavy enough to stop him, rather than backwards? An answer to both questions, Magonet suggests, lies in the Hebrew word meitzach, normally translated forehead. A word almost identical with it appears earlier in the passage — the word mitzchat, translated as "greaves" — the flexible leg-armour that protected Goliath's lower leg (see I Samuel 17: 6). It is possible, grammatically in the passage, for the same word to be used in verse 49, a reconstruction of which, replacing meitzach with mitzchat, would imply that the stone sank down behind Goliath's leg-armour (as his leg was bent), making it impossible for him to straighten his leg, and causing him to stumble and fall. Then David removed the head of Goliath to show all that the giant was killed.
You
can decide for yourself which explanation best answers this question.
Just remember that, as Christians, we are not expected to fully
understand all things in the Bible…but we are expected to believe God.
Because we know that we have an inspired, inerrant Bible — preserved, as
promised by God– we can believe those things which we might not fully
understand, trusting in our God who is sovereign over all things. -
See more at:
http://www.rforh.com/blog/killed-goliath/#sthash.BzoriTen.dpuf
So,
whether Goliath's helmet was open enough to have taken one of David's
fatal stones to his forehead or whether the Word was translated into
English incorrectly and he basically snapped his knee/leg and he fell,
then David whacked off his head, the text tells us what is important.
It's that David's heart was fiercely after God's and defending the true
King of Israel. I can't say if it was Goliath's leg or the forehead
that was struck. But it is interesting to note that the Word of God is
flawless (Proverbs 30:5) and the ORIGINAL
text (which was not written in English), is what is always true and
flawless. Sometimes translations into different languages miss original
meaning or words as God intended them.
You
can decide for yourself which explanation best answers this question.
Just remember that, as Christians, we are not expected to fully
understand all things in the Bible…but we are expected to believe God.
Because we know that we have an inspired, inerrant Bible — preserved, as
promised by God– we can believe those things which we might not fully
understand, trusting in our God who is sovereign over all things. -
See more at:
http://www.rforh.com/blog/killed-goliath/#sthash.BzoriTen.dpuf
You can decide for yourself which explanation best answers this question. Just remember that, as Christians, we are not expected to fully understand all things in the Bible…but we are expected to believe God. Because we know that we have an inspired, inerrant Bible — preserved, as promised by God– we can believe those things which we might not fully understand, trusting in our God who is sovereign over all things. (Reasons For Hope website)
17:58 And Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?”
If earlier we read that David was a personal musician for Saul and was loved by Saul, why would Saul ask this question to David?
In researching, I discovered 4 or 5 possible answers. The two that seem most logical to me are these:
1. First of all, it is imperative for one to recognize that, as with other Bible passages, nowhere in 1 Samuel 16-17 are we told that all of these events are told in chronological order.
2. Second, enough time could have lapsed so that David’s appearance changed significantly since the last time he appeared before King Saul. These photos are of my dear friend's son, David. He is Jewish, so perhaps, the David we are reading about changed similarly to him??
You
can decide for yourself which explanation best answers this question.
Just remember that, as Christians, we are not expected to fully
understand all things in the Bible…but we are expected to believe God.
Because we know that we have an inspired, inerrant Bible — preserved, as
promised by God– we can believe those things which we might not fully
understand, trusting in our God who is sovereign over all things. -
See more at:
http://www.rforh.com/blog/killed-goliath/#sthash.BzoriTen.dpuf
Here is David at age 19.
Here is David at age 14. Here is David at 15.
Okay you turkeys, let's keep on working through this day's blog. I am beginning to think that my blogs are only going to be read by those who love to read long blogs or are truly not stressed, over-worked, nor too busy. I know they are long, but this is what I came up with and I hope someone, one of you might gain something from it. This is my prayer. Selah.
Psalm 59 (ESV)
To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam[a] of David, when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him.
What's a miktam? Nobody really knows. It's a technical or liturgical term used in titles of some psalms that David wrote.
Of all the verses, these three encouraged me the most. I hope you keep them bound to your heart and remember these. Here are some wonderful photos of our brothers and sisters in places of the world where they REALLY hold tightly to God's Word as they are in such danger, peril, and threat. Let them be our encouragement.
Hebrews 13:3
New Living Translation (NLT)
3 Remember
those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those
being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.
9 O my Strength, I will watch for you,
for you, O God, are my fortress
for you, O God, are my fortress
16 But I will sing of your strength;
I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.
For you have been to me a fortress
and a refuge in the day of my distress.
I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.
For you have been to me a fortress
and a refuge in the day of my distress.
17 O my Strength, I will sing praises to you,
for you, O God, are my fortress,
the God who shows me steadfast love.
for you, O God, are my fortress,
the God who shows me steadfast love.
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