Today is all about David. It started out with the Lord directing Samuel to quit grieving over Saul and go out and get the new king. The king would be one of Jesse’s sons from Bethlehem. Samuel did what the Lord commanded and went to Bethlehem.
The elders of the city came to meet him, asking if he came peaceably. He said, yes and he had come to sacrifice to the Lord. He told them to consecrate themselves and go with him to the sacrifice. He consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
When Samuel looked at the people before him, he thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed was before him.” But the Lord said to Samuel,
“Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7
Samuel had all the men pass before him to see which one the Lord had chosen. However, none of them were it. Samuel asked Jesse if all of his sons were there. He replied that the youngest was out keeping the sheep.
Samuel had Jesse send for him. When he came in he saw that he was “ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome.” And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.”
Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. “And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.”
At this point, the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him. A person who could play the lyre was sought after, that way when the harmful spirit was upon Saul he could play and be well.
Someone mentioned that they had seen a son of Jesse skillfully playing the lyre. The man was “skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord was with him.”
Saul sent messengers and had David go to him to be in his service. As a result, Saul unknowingly invited the person God chose to replace him. Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer.
In the meantime, the Philistines gathered their armies for battle. The Philistines were on one side of the mountain, and Israel on the other with a valley between them.
A champion named Goliath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels. On his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back.
Goliath shouted to the ranks of Israel for them to send a man down to fight him. He said that if he could be defeated, they would all become their subjects. But if he defeated the Israelite they would become their subjects.
Jesse’s three oldest sons were already at the battle, but David was going back and forth from Saul and tending his father’s sheep. For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.
Jesse told David to take food to his brothers at the battle and see how they were doing. While he was there he saw Goliath come forward and shout his usual defiance.
David asked what would happen to the man who would kill the Philistine and remove the disgrace from Israel. They replied that the king would give great wealth to the man who killed him, and give him his daughter in marriage. He would also exempt his father’s family from taxes in Israel.
David said, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” Saul replied that he could not go and fight him, for he was only a boy and the man had been fighting his whole life.
David explained how he had been keeping the sheep and would often have to protect them from lions or bears. He would chase after them and strike them and rescue the sheep. He had killed both lions and bears, and the Philistine was like one of them. David said,
“The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
1 Samuel 17:37
Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord will be with you!”
Then Saul dressed David in his armor. But he was not used to it, and could not move around well enough so he took it off. Then he took his staff in his hand and five smooth stones from the stream and put them in a pouch. With his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.
*The staff represents God’s newly appointed shepherd of his people, and he went to defend the Lord’s threatened and frightened flock.
**Usually the stones chosen were round and smooth and somewhat larger than a baseball. When hurled by a master slinger, they probably traveled at close to 100 miles per hour.
Then the Philistine started smack talking David. But David responded by saying he was there in the name of the Lord Almighty and Goliath was going down! After he beat him, the whole world would know that there was a God in Israel.
The two ran toward each other, and David took out a stone from his bag and slung it at Goliath. It struck him on the forehead and the stone sunk in. He fell face down on the ground. David triumphed over him with nothing but a sling and a stone.
David ran and stood over him, and with the Philistine’s own sword, he cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran.
When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp. David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem. While Saul was watching this, he questioned whose son the young man was.
*The seeming contradiction here may be resolved in noting that prior to this time David was not a permanent resident at Saul’s court, so Saul’s knowledge of David and his family may have been minimal. Further, Saul may have been so incredulous at David’s courage that he was wondering if his family background and social standing might explain his extraordinary conduct.
When David returned from killing the Philistine, he was taken and put in front of Saul, still holding Goliath’s head. Saul asked him whose son he was, and David said he was the son of his servant Jesse of Bethlehem.