1 Samuel chapter 16. This is a fun study. I gotta tell you, I wasn't sure when I first said I was gonna do Samuel King, what I was gonna get into here. This is a fun study. I just love doing the research on this. There's a lot packed in here. I titled this, The God Who Raises and Lowers Kings. And that's what you're seeing here. And of course, Psalm 75, it's on your sheet. It is God who executes judgment, putting down one, lifting up another. And we covered that several times. All the nations, whoever is the ruler, if Joe Biden gets the presidency, God put him there. If Trump goes down, God did that. God raises one, lowers another. He's ultimately in charge of all the nations. And we see that in a big way here in Samuel. Again, you see, because of Saul's disobedience, remember, Saul was the first king of Israel. Because of Saul's disobedience, God has rejected him from being king and sent Samuel to anoint a young shepherd boy, David, who will eventually replace Saul. Starting in chapter 16, we start seeing David. This is the exciting part of Samuel, because now David showed up. And David's an exciting study. Again, the importance of David, you can't underestimate this. There's more recorded about David's life than any other Old Testament person, even more than Moses, more than Abraham. There's six books dedicated, basically, to the rise and the life of David. Through David, God will establish the royal line of David, of the tribe of Judah, from which the Messiah will come. Jesus will be known as the son of David. Remember Matthew 21, he's entering Jerusalem and saying, Hosanna to the son of David. They knew Messiah was David, and forever now, from this point, Messiah will be associated with David. In fact, the very last two verses of the Bible, Revelation 22, says, I am the root and the offspring of David. Jesus says it himself. Verse there from Jeremiah, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord. When I will raise up for David a righteous branch, of course, that's Christ. He shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. Messiah is the son of David. That's an important thing to think about. David is the type of the Messiah. The Messiah comes through the line of David. And what God is doing here is setting up the stage, as it were, for the Messiah when he comes. Of course, in many ways, David's life is a foreshadowing. We saw that two weeks ago. I think it was two weeks ago. How David, many events in his life paralleled Christ. They foreshadowed what Christ would do. Not everything, of course, but many things did. He was a type. And of course, David will be given several very important prophecies. David gives us some understanding about Christ in the Old Testament that is essential to understanding it. He's the one who told us Psalm 2. He's the one who told us Psalm 110. The Lord said to my Lord. That's a psalm where it says, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. David told us them. amazing details about the Christ that are very important. In fact, the book of Hebrews is written around most of these prophecies. Who Jesus is, what kind of a king he is, what kind of a priest he is. So David gives you several very important prophecies. So David is very prominent in the Old Testament. 1 Samuel is basically written about David and 2 Samuel, though not all of it. It's history, but it gives a whole lot of time to David. Then after David comes off the scene, then it gets a little Valerie is king, not near as much time from there on in. Now, remember we saw this last week. Look at chapter 16, we're in verse 14. We'll start at verse 13. Saul is king, but he sends Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint David. Remember, David at this time was just a young boy. He's a boy, maybe 10, 11, 12, not sure how old he is. Verse 13, then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him, that's David, in the midst of his brothers. And the spirit of the Lord came mildly upon David from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went through him. So for the next about 15 years, David becomes king when he's 30. For the next about 15 years or more, it depends how you look at this, there's two anointed kings. Saul, who is still king, and this young boy David, who God has told Samuel to anoint. Now look at verse 14. We saw this last week. The spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord terrorized him. Again, note those two words. The spirit of the Lord left him. An evil spirit from the Lord tormented him. There's a big change now in this book. God has rejected Saul. Remember, God gave Saul the Holy Spirit earlier than this to make him a great king, to make him a great military general. And he did many great things in his early days. Saul was quite a warrior. But now, because of Saul's sin, God has rejected Saul. He took the Holy Spirit from Saul. It's already upon David. David's filled with the Holy Spirit. And then this evil spirit. In fact, if you're in chapter 16, notice verse 15. Behold now, an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you. Look at chapter 18, verse 10. 18, 10. Now it came about on the next day that an evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul. And he raved in the midst of the house while David was playing the harp with his hand. And as usual, the spear was in Saul's hand. You know what happened. He tries to pin David to the wall. This demon that God assigned to Saul brings out paranoia, fear, panic. When it comes upon Saul, Saul starts raving. He starts getting crazy. He starts thinking people are out to take away his kingdom. He actually tries to kill David. He tries to kill his own son. It terrorizes him. It brings terror, panic upon Saul. It's a form of mental illness, paranoia. Would it be any different if God sent leprosy upon Saul? Or if God struck him blind? Or if God, like Leprechaun Ezra, drove him mad? No, it wouldn't Here, God says an evil spirit. He tells a demon, go down there to Saul and terrorize him. Now, there's a reason for this. We'll see this as the story goes on here, what's happening here. This begins the story, though, of how David will rise to the throne and how Saul will get worse and worse. This is a turning point in the book of 1 Samuel. Everything changes now. This is actually what the book is written to tell us. David will rise and Saul will get worse. Now, let's start to pick up the story in verse 15. Now this is taking place, the second half of chapter 16 is taking place probably several years after the first half. We'll see why here in a minute. Let's just start reading verse 15. Saul's servants then said to him, behold, now an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you. Let our Lord now command your servants who are before you. Let them seek a man who is a skillful player on the harp. It shall come about when the evil spirit from God is on you that that he shall play the harp with his hand, and you will be well. So Saul said to his servants, provide for me now, notice that, now a man who can play well and bring him to me. Then one of the young men said, behold, I have seen a son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite, who is a skillful musician, a mighty man of valor, a warrior, one prudent in speech, and a handsome man, and the Lord is with him. Now just stop there. I have a quote there, a famous quote from William Congreve. Music has charms to soothe the savage breast. By the way, it's not savage beast. Everybody says savage beast. It's savage breast. There's some debate, even in the commentaries. Is music spiritual? There's a sense where it can be. Of course, not all of it is. But it can be. Music moves your spirit. Someone said music is what emotion sounds like. And that's true, music can be, you see it with the great hymns and the great songs of the faith, they can raise your spirit and raise your emotions. By the same way, evil, horrible, vicious music can get you in a bad, ugly, horrible mood. There's a sense where music can affect your spirit. Now, in this day, court musicians were common. Almost every king had music playing in his throne room. It was just common. It was all over the place. Now, there would have been many good musicians in Israel, because music was important to their worship. God commanded them to sing and to have music at their worship. And there were probably many, many musicians in Israel. There had to be. They loved it. You don't say how the Jews loved their music. They loved to sing and dance. It's just part of their culture. In this day, there were many musicians. In fact, Judges 511 says, to the sound of musicians at the watering places, there they repeat the righteous triumph of the Lord the righteous triumphs of his villages in Israel, it was just part of what they did. Everything, marriages, funerals, music around the tabernacle, everything they did was music. That wasn't unique to them, it's just that's how it was. So there were many musicians. In fact, when Elijah was before Jehoshaphat and Ahab, when they tell him to prophesy, he calls for a musician, as in 2 Kings 3, for someone to come play. And then it said literally, and the hand of the Lord came upon him while that guy was playing. There is a spiritual aspect to this. Elijah asks for music, he puts him in the mood, and all of a sudden the Lord comes upon him and he starts prophesying. We'll get to that when we get there. But notice this. Again, notice verse 18. Then one of the young men, now these young men weren't soldiers. These were just, not children, teenagers, young people who would hang around the throne room. They were errand boys. They would fetch water and food, just like servants. One of the young boys, behold, I've seen a son of Jesse. Wait a minute. Gasol said, right now, get me a musician. It just so happened, this young guy says, wait, I know a guy who's very good at this. He just happened to know about David. Now, notice how it describes David here. Yeah, yeah. I have his, all of their albums. This young guy knew David. He knew what David, just happened to, there are many musicians I'm sure he could have picked. This guy just happened to know David, and David just happens to live about 12 miles away. Let's read that again in what he says there in verse 18. Jesse the Bethlehemite, a son, who is skillful musician, a mighty man of valor, a warrior, one prudent in speech, and a handsome man in the Lord's will. That's how we know this is probably several years later. Back in chapter 16, verse 13, David's just a young boy. Here, he's a mighty man of valor, a warrior. Let's walk through this description here. It's pretty cool what he's saying here. First says there he's a skillful musician. Remember, music is a gift. If you have musical abilities, it's a gift. Some people have no musical ability at all. I used to wonder about Lorraine's dad. I loved him dearly. He couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. And music meant nothing to him. When I'm out working or doing something, I almost always had music on somewhere. He would work in total silence. Music just seemed to have nothing. And there are many people like that. Musical talent is a gift from the Lord. God gave this gift in a big way to David. David must have been quite the musician. He was quite good at this. He must have had a real good singing voice. He could play. It's a gift from the Lord. Notice here how God created an urgent need in Saul that just so happened that nearby David could meet. See what's going on here? God sent this evil spirit to Saul to terrorize him and then moved upon Saul, get me a musician right now. And it just so happened. I know one right nearby here. It's David. So David comes in. 2 Samuel 23 calls David the sweet singer of Israel. Remember, the Psalms are basically songs. And David wrote most of them, not all of them, but most of those Psalms are David's. More than half of them, anyway. They were meant to be sung. They were tunes. You'd sing to them. You'd play music or just sing them without music. So David is a musician. He's well known for this. Not only is he talented, he's well known. He probably stood out among musicians. You should hear this guy sing, you should hear this guy play. That's what they're saying here. Secondly, he's a mighty man of valor, a warrior. See, I mean, he's not a child anymore. Now, David, he had to be 20 to be in the military. You read how many times it says every man 20 years old enough in the military. He's not old enough yet to be a soldier. But it says here he's a mighty man of valor and a warrior. Now, Chris, we know what Proverbs is talking about. Turn to chapter 17, verse 34. David is renowned already for being a brave, tough young man. 1734, David himself says, David said to Saul, your servant was tending his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went out after him and attacked him and rescued it from his mouth. And when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him." That's no small thing. I don't care how old you are. To take on a bear is one thing. Remember, this is a time in Israel's history when the Philistines did not allow them to have swords. There's no blacksmiths allowed in Israel. Remember that? He may have had a dagger of some kind or a knife, don't know, or even a sharp rock. But a bear comes up. And here's this young guy. He takes on a bear and kills it. But even more than that, he takes on a lion. A lion. How do you do that? No gun. Maybe a bow and arrow. I don't know what he did to save a bow and arrow. But he ran after them. I guess his lion would grab one of the sheep or something and run off. And David, get back here. And he teared his lion apart. He's just a young guy. He's probably a young teenager. You've got to be, first of all, very brave to even attempt that. And quite the warrior, as it says, a valiant, mighty man of valor, a warrior. And when he did that, I'm sure he got famous for it. In the small little town of Bethlehem and the surrounding areas, did you hear what Jesse's son did? He killed a bear. Remember Daniel Bill and killed the bear against this tree? He killed a bear and a lion. It also says there, whenever. That means he probably did this more than once. Most shepherds, remember Jesus said, the hireling flees. Not David. You're not getting these sheep. Give me that back. He'd go after it and kill it. A bear and a lion. He's quite the guy. And of course, word would spread. That young, you know, Jesse's youngest son, boy, he's quite the fighter. He's quite the young man. He's a little whippersnapper, boy. Don't mess with him. He risks his life and does these amazing feats. So the word would get around. Bethlehem's not that far away from Gilgal where Saul is. No small feat when he says that. It also says, number three, he's, one, prudent in speech. That word prudence, based on a root word, that means a this and a that. All through Proverbs, you see the word prudent or discretion. That means a this and a that, meaning you have the wisdom to choose what's better, this or that. It's saying here, in David's speech, he knew how to speak well. He wasn't one who ran off his mouth or said foolish, dumb things. He was an orator. He was good with words. He's probably poetic. We know that because of the psalms. Some of those psalms are quite clever. There are several, at least four of them, that have these acrostic psalms. I think they're all David's. And he put a lot of work into these psalms. He would sit down and think this through, that they could be memorized and sung, and there were stanzas. He was quite good at this. And when he spoke, he didn't speak like just some young teenager. Teenagers have always been teenagers. He was known for being one who knows how to speak well. He didn't speak foolishly or frivolously. He could tell this and that. He could choose his words carefully. It's the word I want to use here. He thought before speaking, as the proverb says. Number four says he was a handsome man. Literally, in Hebrew, he was a beautiful man. He was good looking. Remember as a young boy he was good looking. He had these beautiful eyes, beautiful eyes, and ruddy looking he said. Now this young little ruddy boy has grown up now to be a handsome young man. He's an eye catcher. He's what the ladies would call a hunk. He's quite a good looker. He's handsome. You know, something about him, he walked by, I go, wow, look at that guy. I'm sure the girls would be twittering, he walked by, oh there's David. You know, he was probably very good looking. You know, he had beautiful hair, whatever. We don't know how he looked, but I've seen a lot of paintings of this. He looked good. He would catch your attention. He's not just your average young Jewish boy with a hook nose. He was a handsome looking guy. God had blessed him. And of course, the last one, number five. And the Lord is with him. That's the big one. Nine times in Samuel it says the Lord was with David. How would they know that? How would they know the Lord's with him? I'm sure he was very kind. We see that later in his life, how he spares people and does kindness even after their fathers are dead. David is an honorable man. He will not kill Saul because God's anointed. You just see that in people. There's something about them. They're like Joseph. Wherever Joseph went, his life was blessed. He made out. God blessed him. You could see that the hand of God was on David. And people would probably say, that young boy, God's with that young boy. They didn't know where he's going yet, but God's with that young boy. God was with him in a powerful way. David became quite well known around Bethlehem and the environs around there, and admired. You would admire a kid like this. That good looking kid, he's pretty good with a knife. Boy, he took out a bear and a lion, and he's kind, and he's trustworthy, and he's not a big mouth. David's becoming famous. Even in the little Bethlehem. And in Saul's palace in Gilgal, This young man heard about David. I know, I got just the guy for you, Saul. I know just who to get you. And this indicates, again, as some time has passed, David's older now than he was back in the first half of chapter six. He's probably a late teenager. Again, you can't even join the army. When he goes out to meet Goliath, he's still not a soldier. It means he's not 20 yet. She's probably 17, 18, 19 hereabouts. Now, David becomes a... Let's just read, starting at verse 19. So Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, send me your son David who is with the flock. Notice David still tending the sheep. Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread and a jug of wine and a young goat and sent them to Saul by David his son. Then David came to Saul and attended him and Saul loved him greatly. He became his armor-bearer. Saul sent to Jesse saying, let David now stand before me. He has found favor in my sight. So it came about whenever the evil spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the harp and play it with his hand, and Saul would be refreshed and be well, and the evil spirit would depart from him. David now becomes established in the royal court. Now think about this. Imagine David several years before this, he's just out tending his sheep. There's a big celebration going on because the prophet Samuel's coming to town, but David's out in the field watching the sheep. He's not part of this. He hears all the noise, sees all the lights, hears the food cooking, or smells it. All of a sudden, one of his brothers runs out. Hey, you've got to get in here now. They want to see you. He comes in, and there's this big celebration. There's Samuel, the prophet. He says, come here, young man. And he anoints him with oil. David's probably shocked, as everybody else is. And then they leave. David goes back to tending sheep. But David would be wondering, what's this all about? What is God going to do for me? What does God want from me? I've been anointed by the Lord. He's now filled with the Spirit in a powerful way. And for the next couple of years, he'd be thinking this through as he's tending his sheep. He'd be praying. He probably wrote some of the Psalms during this time. He's thinking, Lord, what are you going to do? What do you want me to do for you? And all of a sudden, this strange request comes in from the palace. We want your youngest son to come to the palace immediately. What is he thinking? Don't know how strange this would be. And the rest of 1 Samuel now is about how David rises higher and higher and gets more and more famous. And of course, then Saul is falling. David here becomes Saul's personal assistant. Verse 21 says, my version says, was within, actually in the Hebrews before his face. Saul, Saul loved what David was. Not only just his playing, but just who he was. And notice it says there, he became his armor bearer. Now that's your personal attendant. Your armor bearer was basically your personal assistant. I mean, wherever you went, you had some young man carrying your stuff and getting everything you need. David became like his assistant, his personal assistant, and his musician and therapist. He would stand by the throne and play. Whenever Saul would get, like, worked up, David would start playing his harp, probably singing, and calm him down. And it says there, Saul loved David. He fell in love with this young boy. He's such a blessing to my life. And David, just remember, David's very well with words. He's filled with the spirit. He's exactly what Saul needs at this time. And of course, this is when Saul meets David for the first time. But again, I have your sheet there. From the time of David's anointing as a young boy until now, which is several years, he must have been wondering what God's plans were for him. And then he gets this strange summons. And now, through no effort of his own, He's an integral part of Saul's government. He's Saul's right-hand man. Not that he's a leading the nation. He's just Saul's personal attendant. But now he's Saul's right-hand man. An armor-bearer would follow the king every place he went. Even when the king would lay down, the armor-bearer would lay down very near him with his armor. At a moment's notice, if he needed his sword or his armor, he'd give it to him. Even when the king went out using Bible turns to relieve himself, the armor-bearer would sit nearby Sword in hand, waiting in case Saul needed him. He would be his right-hand confidant. He would be the one to talk to him a lot, because he was near him. And he also now has this musical ability to calm Saul down. And Saul just falls in love with this boy. He sends back to Jesse and says, give me your son. I want him around me all the time. Of course, Jesse sends this big gift, which he would. If a king asks for your son, you don't send an empty hand. He sends all this food as a gift, as a tribute. which a righteous man would do. This tells you something about Jesse. He was a good man. Imagine Jesse's pride in his son. My youngest son serving at the palace. He's Saul's right-hand man. He's Saul's attendant. That's a big thing. That's a big thing in Israel. And I'm sure they were very pleased. I'm sure his older brothers were probably jealous. We'll see that when the next lesson, when David comes to the camp, when they're fighting, standing before Goliath. But just think what just happened there. Through no effort of David's part at all, he's now in the palace, right in the throne, right next to the throne of Saul. God just put him there. God raises up and God takes down, and through all these seemingly random events, things are falling, like I like to say, things aren't falling apart, they're falling into place. Everything here is falling into place, what God's about to do. It'll still take several more years, but God is working, this is God's sovereign, this is what sovereignty looks like. All these little things that just seem to happen, that come together. Now, chapter 17, let's read the first three verses. And this is all of God as well. God is moving here, God is working here. Chapter 17, verse one. Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle, and they were gathered at Soco, which belongs to Judah, and they camped between Soco and Ezekiel and Ephesdamim. Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and camped in the valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array to encounter the Philistines. The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, while Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, with a valley between them." There's a lot of reading on this. This valley of Elah is a long, almost a mile-wide valley with two hills on either side. It's a dry riverbed, and in the rainy season it becomes water, but it's pretty much dry most of the year. The Philistines They make these wars. Let's go attack Israel. And they're attacking Israel again. And a massive army of Philistines comes in over this mountain. And Saul and his armies go on the other side of this valley and stop them. They're basically blocking their way. You can't come in here. We're going to fight. That's how you do things. And they can see each other across this valley, clearly see each other in this valley of Elah. That's a valley about a mile wide. And then this giant killing machine shows up. Let's start at verse four. Then a champion came out from the armies of the Philistines named Goliath from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was clothed with scale armor which weighed 5,000 shekels of bronze. He also had bronze greaves on his legs and a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam. The head of his spear weighed 600 shekels of iron, His shield carrier also walked before him. Just stop there. Philistines on one side to the east, Israel on the other side to the west, facing each other. And all of a sudden, this guy walks up, this guy named Goliath. We've all heard this story. It calls him there a champion. And that word is only used here only one time in the Bible. There's a lot of debate what it means. It literally means a man between two. Which probably means, it's not a Hebrew word, it probably means when two men fight, he's the one that survives. There were two men, he's the one. He's the man between two men. In other words, he's a fighter. He's a warrior. He's a winner. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Good way of putting it. But it also says there, whose height was six cubits and a span. Now, a cubit was your middle finger to your elbow on a man. A span was your thumb to your forefinger. He is six cubits and a span, or nine feet, nine inches tall. Now think about that. We've seen some basketball players push seven feet, maybe eight. Nine feet, nine inches tall. But it says there he was covered in, he's like a giant iron man. He's covered in metal. Remember, the Hebrews are not allowed to have blacksmiths. The Philistines basically killed them all, outlawed blacksmiths. Remember when David comes into the camp, only Saul apparently has armor. He tries to put it on David, but David can't wear it. No one has armor that fits David, because they don't have any armor. This guy comes out looking like Iron Man, covered in metal. Remember, the Jews, as Jews are normally, Jewish men are usually quite shortish. Yeah, they're short. Five feet six, five feet five. They're not, that's why Saul stood up, because Saul was probably six feet, about a head taller than most of them. Most Jewish men are short. They still are. And here's this nine and a half foot monster standing there. Think of it, picture this. This is actually happening. This guy's like a monster. And it says there, he had a bronze helmet. He had scale armor, meaning like fish scales, metal, all around him that weighed, what's that? Yeah, yeah, exactly like that. And it says it weighed 126 pounds. That's probably about what David weighed. He's just a young, he's just a teenager. He probably didn't weigh more than 126 pounds. This man's armor, this man's coat of mail, his armor weighed 126 pounds. He had bronze shin guards guarding his legs out of bronze. He had a bronze javelin. The word javelin is probably better translated as scimitar. He said it was hanging on his back. One of those things you could reach back and pull out. It was curved. He had this long sword on his back where you could just reach back and pull it out. That's the sword David kills Goliath with. Later, David uses this sword. But it would be a long, probably several foot long sword on his back. With a handle up here, you could just pull it out and start fighting. A scimitar, long thing. He said he had a spear like a weaver's beam. You've seen weavers when they had those big looms where you put the thing back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. The big ones where you made like tents out of or you made blankets and big sheets were like eight feet long. It probably means he had the spear itself, the wooden part, was about six to eight feet long. And this guy's nine feet tall, that's about right. He would hold this thing, it would be like a normal sized spear to us. But notice what it says next. It's tipped with an iron point. Everything else is bronze, but bronze is malleable. Bronze is kind of soft compared to iron. The spear tip, the point, is iron weighing, if you do the math, 15.1 pounds. The largest bowling ball that's legal is 16 pounds. This thing's almost a large bowling ball heavy. Imagine that. None of us could even use a spear like this. It would be hard to pick this thing up. You certainly would have a hard time throwing it. He's like a giant Iron Man. And it says, before him, his armor bearer carried his shield. And there's several words for shield. The word used here means the big shield. Probably three or four feet wide, maybe six feet tall, this massive shield. This guy probably has a hard time even carrying this thing. Goliath would grab that, pull out his scimitar, and just fight. Again, try to picture this. That's scary. And of course, let's read on what he did. Well, I'll get ahead of myself. On your sheet, where did this giant, who is this giant and where did he come from? There's a lot of talk about that. I should almost turn this over to Cindy at this point. There's a lot of talk about this. And I've done a lot of reading on this and I have videos at home and there's a lot of theories. I'm sticking to the scriptures. There's a lot of legends. There's a lot of Greek mythology involved in this. There's a lot of weird legends. Behind most of those legends there's some truth, probably. But you can't rely on a lot of that. Some think he belongs, there's a medical condition called gigantism. Many years ago, Lorraine and I went up to Niagara Falls, before it was all casinos. And they had a Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum, which I luckily went into. And in there was Robert, doesn't matter. He was almost nine feet tall, this guy. He was huge, but he was real skinny. He couldn't fight anybody. But he was a victim of a thing called gigantism. He was a real sweet, I felt bad being there. Everybody's gaping at this guy, little kids. He's like, that's how he makes his money. He stood up, and he was nine feet tall, this guy. He had long arms, big, big hands. Real sweet guy. He's dead now. Yeah, but he wasn't like Goliath. I mean, this guy, Goliath was a massive, muscular, big fighting machine. We do know this, he comes from a family of giants. This is in the scriptures. He had four descendants, don't know if they're sons or grandsons, all giants, and one of them had six fingers and six toes. That's found in 2 Samuel 21. Did you notice when, we're not there yet, when David goes out to meet him he grabs five stones, Goliath and his four brothers, probably. But anyway, this guy comes from a family of giants, and it says they're all about the same size as this guy. They were all killed in battle by David's men. All of Goliath's brothers were killed by David's men. He had a giant brother. I think he's also named Goliath. I may have read that right. In 1 Chronicles 20, verse 5, he was also killed by David's men. So these giants were around, and they're big. Now, the Bible mentioned several races of these giants in the Old Testament. Nephilim, the Anakim, the Emim, the Rephaim, In fact, when Joshua was given his charges to go into the canyon, he was told they're in there. Remember when the first time they came, they sent the 12 spies, remember what they said? We were like grasshoppers in their sight. That's not an exaggeration. There were cities in there full of these giants. And he said, we looked at these guys like, oh, we're never going to take this land. We're like grasshoppers to these guys. They were giant. I gave you a picture. I have a whole file of this stuff. A lot of this stuff I don't trust, because Photoshop is so easy to do. This one comes from a pretty reputable site. This is just a bone they found over in Turkey, where they found all these grave sites of these giants. This guy shows you a femur there. He would have been, where is it there, 14 to 16 feet tall. Now that's actually real. And there are other pictures where they show these graves, and they show these bones, Some of that's real, and some of that's photoshopped. I'm never quite sure which one to trust. That comes from a pretty good website. They were around, cities of them, in fact, entire races of them. And God commanded them and promised them he'd deal with them. Look at your sheet. Deuteronomy 9, as they're about to go into the land, God says, listen, Israel. Today you're about to cross the Jordan to go and drive out the nations known as greater and stronger than you with large cities fortified to the heavens, meaning those walls go way, way up because they're giants. The people are strong and tall, the descendants of the Anarchy, meaning they're giants. There are cities in Canaan, he says, filled with these giants. Big, big, 13, 14, 16, 18 foot tall men. They were terrified of these guys. That's what God says, though. You know about them, and you've heard it said about them, who can stand up to the sons of Anak? You would think, who could ever defeat an army of these guys? But understand that today, the Lord, your God, will cross over ahead of you as a consuming fire. He will devastate and subdue them before you. You will drive them out and destroy them swiftly, as the Lord has told you. They were ordered to exterminate these giants. Now, they didn't. They killed most of them. They didn't kill them all. That's why David here is still facing. That's why they're still around even later in the Bible here. God wanted them exterminated, just like the rest of the Canaanites. Get them off the face of the earth. These guys are horrible. There's an Egyptian papyrus dated about 1700 BC that describes Canaanites over nine feet tall. This is interesting. In 2005, in the place called Tel Es Shaffa in Israel, where Gath used to be, Goliath comes from Gath, They found a foundation in this town that's much larger than all the other houses. Everybody has their house, and they find the foundations that are left behind. They found one foundation that's much larger than the rest, and they found a piece of pottery with the name Goliath on it. That was probably his house. Of course, you know, for years, the smart boys said, oh, this is all myth. This didn't really happen. There were no such thing as Philistines. Well, they know now there was. They actually found Goliath. They probably found his house. versus a piece of pottery with his name on it, Goliath. That was probably his home. Interesting enough. Big house. Yeah, a big house, bigger than the rest. Now let's read on, verse 8 through 10. He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel and said to them, why do you come out to draw up in battle array? Am I not the Philistine and you the servants or slaves of Saul? Choose a man for yourself. Let him come down to me. If he's able to fight with me and kill me, then we will become your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you should become our servants and serve us." And the Philistine said, I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together. Again, they can see each other. They're about half a mile apart in this valley. And out comes this iron man, this 9 and 1�2 foot, almost 10 foot tall iron man. Stands there, puts his spear in the ground and says, I defy the armies of Israel. Send me a man to fight me." Those lizards, he shouted. I imagine he probably had a very deep voice. A guy that tall. I remember that guy up in Canada had a very deep, deep voice because he was so tall. Everything was so big. And he challenged them. Now Israel had never fought like this. This was something not real common among the nations. You know, just not fight army to army. I'm the champion. You send one man out to take me. If he beats me, we'll all be your slaves. If we beat you, you'll be our slave. Representative battle. That happens off and on that time to time. Though Israel never did this. That's probably why he's explaining it to them. By the way, when David defeats Goliath, they go back on their promise. They don't become their slaves. They all run and flee. And the Philistines still exist for quite a while yet. They lie. They don't stand by this. But he's shouting this. Notice he says there. Literally in Hebrew, am I not the Philistine? In other words, I represent the whole nation. I am the Philistine. And he says there, and you are Saul's slaves. Word's probably gotten out how Saul has been failing, how Saul has been losing stature among the people. Maybe he knows this. But he says, I'm the Philistine, and all you are is Saul's slaves. I defy you. The word defy means I cast insult upon you. I denigrate you. You're nothing, Israel. Send me a man. A challenge for one-on-one battle, winner takes all. And note that they don't follow through, obviously. Now think about this. Here's this tall, tall man. Who's the tallest one in Israel? Saul. You know what you're thinking. All right, Saul, go get him. Remember, they were so impressed with Saul when he first got chosen because he was so tall. He was probably a foot taller than the rest of them. Muscular, big man, muscular. Go get him, Saul. That's usually how it would happen sometimes. The kings would go out, or the king would designate somebody. They're probably looking to Saul to save them. I defy you. And it says there in verse 40, or not 40. This went on morning and evening for 40 days. Think of it, he'd come out early in the morning and start shouting curses and blasphemies against Israel. I defy you, I dare you. For 40 days, picture that. Again, this is kind of like Noah's Ark. Noah's Ark, I think, we've ruined that, the church has. It's become this cute little children's story. You know, there's the Ark with Mr. and Mrs. Noah with a rainbow, and they're waving hi, and there's a giraffe. The story of Noah's Ark is meant to be terrifying. So is this. I mean, kids in Sunday school color pictures, I get it. It's a great story. But don't lose track of how terrifying this would have been. There's not a man in Israel that's fit to take this guy on. And Israel's about to become the slaves of the Philistines. Imagine what they're thinking. But kids, this is a scary story. This could be a major turning point in Israel's history. This is one that comes to his point. This is, again, an example of Genesis 3.15. the seed of the serpent fighting against the seed of the woman. And here, all through Israel's history, they come to this point where someone wants to wipe them out. Someone wants to take them down. And here it is again. In fact, David will say later when he comes, who is this uncircumcised Philistine to go against the armies of the Lord Most High? That's the battle here. He's a pagan. They worship false pagan gods. They're godless. They don't know the true God. He's defying the armies of God. But sadly, the armies of God aren't doing so well today. Look at verse 11. When Saul and all of Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. Look at verse 24. When all the men of Israel saw the man, they fled from him and were greatly afraid. They're probably hoping Saul's going to step up. Of course, Saul doesn't either. And of course, then they follow Saul. Saul's their leader. Saul is greatly afraid, greatly dismayed, and they flee. They run back into their tents day after day after day. No one's going to come out to challenge this guy. I'm surprised they waited a month for them. That's sad. And notice there's no account here of Israel seeking the Lord. They don't call for Samuel. They don't count. They should be fasting and praying. They should be calling out for the Lord. There's no account of that. If they were, probably would have said so. Under Saul's leadership, they're just cowering in their tents. What do we do? Waiting for Philistines probably to attack and wipe them out. That's sad. They don't even call Samuel. And of course, what happens next, we'll do it next week. But there's a lot to learn here. There's an awful lot to learn here. There's a lot going on. Let's talk about this, some thoughts here on your sheet. Of course, next thing you know, David gets sent down with lunch for his brothers. He doesn't even know this is going on until he gets there. In fact, notice that quote in the bottom of your sheet. David didn't set out to kill giants. He came to deliver sandwiches to his brothers, and Goliath's gotten away. That's very true. That's more of God's amazing sovereignty here. We'll see that next time, Lord willing. Some thoughts. Letter A, God is sovereignly preparing David for his role in Messianic history. Because of what's about to happen next, David's going to rise in the eyes of the people to a great height. David's going to become the hero of Israel. In fact, so much so that Saul's going to get jealous, as well he probably could be. God's putting David in position to do something amazing. He's already established himself as a very amazing young man. But now he's about to do something spectacular through the power of the Lord. And God is basically moving him into this. David doesn't know what's coming. David's not a giant slayer. He's just gonna bring lunch to his brothers one day, and all of a sudden, who's this guy think he is? But notice here, God is moving all these events into place that bring about, this is, again, this is all about Christ. The whole Davidic, championship, the whole Davidic dynasty is to pave the way for Christ. And God's going to use this young boy in such a spectacular way, and no one's going to doubt that God's hand is upon this guy. When he becomes king, he'll be quite a king. So notice that God is preparing this. Here's some of the ways. So David was equipped with just the remedy for Saul's God-given affliction. God sent this affliction upon Saul. God gave David the gift to ease that affliction, the playing of the harp, the singing, the music. God created a need in Saul's life for David. God's moving all these players around. Again, you gotta see this. Life is, all of life is like this. We don't see this now as much because we don't have prophets telling us. But every little event that goes on in your life is God doing, God's always 25 million steps ahead. He's already there. He's already where you're going. It's already mapped out. As we saw in Psalm 139, all my days are in your book before there were any of them. And here you see that in David's life, every little bit of it. He just so happened to be in that little, he just so happened to this, just so happened this, just so happened this. And all that comes together to produce what God wants to produce. Because God is sovereign. And all of this is about bringing Christ into the world, establishing his throne, his right to be an earthly king by the son of David, tribe of Judah. It's all about that. David lived near Saul, not far away. I'm sorry, David lived near Saul, about 15 miles away from Gilgal. And one of Saul's young men, one of the young men that hang around the court, the Aaron boys, just happened to know about, you should hear this guy play. Well, he's good. This guy can play. Saul demanded of a musician, hey, wait a minute, I know a guy. I've heard about David. You should hear that guy. Saul says, get him here now. It just so happened. It just so worked out that way. What we call coincidence is just God being anonymous. God's doing all of this. It just so happened. Next, Saul himself ordered David to be brought to his throne room. Saul is unwillingly calling his own successor and just doesn't know. God already has plans to rise David to the throne. Saul himself has called this young man to come stand by my side. It's all falling into place. And also, part of this, and this is true, Samuel and the other prophets who are writing this are trying to establish, I believe, the fact that David was not an usurper. He didn't steal the throne. Remember, the common practice was back then, many times, kings would kill their way into the throne. They would fight their way into the throne. They would kill the king and become the king. And then when you were the king, often you would kill anyone else who was a challenge to your throne. David never did that. He never did that. Never did that. He's establishing here, David came to the throne by the hand of God alone. He didn't kill Saul. He didn't wipe out all of Saul's sons. He didn't fight to get there. Just God brought him in. God raised up David to the throne. God brought Saul down. That's very obvious as you read this. David was going to do a lot of kind things. A lot of stupid things, too. A lot of kind things. He was a kind man. He was a good king. He was not like Saul. But this is being written in a way to tell you. In fact, this whole scene here with David and Goliath is the longest narrative in the Old Testament of any one person. The writers want you to see this. This is who he is. This mighty warrior, he could have easily taken out Saul. Remember how the people were so behind Jesus, they thought he could easily go down there and take out Herod. David, had he chosen to, with all the fame he's going to get, could have easily rose up and overthrown Saul. They were sick of Saul. He never does. Even when they're begging him, kill him, he won't do it. David's an honorable man. And this is pointing out the fact that David came to the throne legitimately, only through the hand of God. He's the righteous, proper ruler of Israel, just like our Lord. He's a picture of our Lord. Of course, what happens next will make David the new hero of Israel. He already is famous locally. And I'm sure now that he's in Saul's throne room, he's probably gaining some fame too. People are hearing him and seeing him, and this handsome, good-looking man who can play music, who is Saul's armor-bearer, who speaks well, who can sing, he's quite a guy. But now, what he's about to do next is gonna raise him in Israel's sights as their national hero, which is right, what God's gonna do through him. And of course, Goliath is mocking an opponent far greater than he realizes. Goliath has no idea what he's saying. In fact, this is one of those times, I often think back to what Pharaoh said. Remember when Moses went to Pharaoh? Remember when Pharaoh said, who is Yahweh that I should do anything he says? As soon as you say that, you're going down. You see all the time in scripture, you challenge God like that. I often think this, the Titanic, the guy who designed the Titanic, even God can't sink this ship. I tend to think when you say things like that, you're going down. You challenge God. No one's ever challenged God successfully. No one. You challenge God, especially publicly. You're going down. You're going down. This guy, he said, I defy the armies of Israel. And when he came out, 40 days in a row, morning and night, shouting out blasphemy. Can you imagine what he was saying? Your God is nothing. You Jews are nothing. Yahweh is nothing. I defy you. And Goliath is going to go down, as you know. We know that. But imagine now, I always try to do this. Imagine if you never heard, this is the first time you ever hear any of this. What do you think's going to happen? You would never think God's going to do what he's about to do. You would never think he's going to end this one. A lot of Bible stories are like that. The Philistines will be wiped out eventually, mostly by the armies of Israel. But about 200 years later, they will be. They should have been wiped out by this time. Had they listened to the Lord and trusted God, they would have taken Canaan and wiped them all out. But they didn't obey. In fact, today, modern-day Palestine is actually a play on the word Philistine. There aren't any Philistines. There are no Philistines left. But that whole area was where they were anyway. But Goliath here is making a huge mistake, and he doesn't know. And in fact, in closing, turn back to chapter 16, verse 7. They're about to see a powerful demonstration of what God told Samuel. Remember what God told Samuel? Remember when he comes into Jesse's household, and his oldest son comes up, and Samuel goes, oh, this guy has to be our next king. Remember what happened, sir? Chapter 16, verse 7. But the Lord said to Samuel, do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature. Because I have rejected him. For God does not see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. If you were watching this for the first time, you would never think this young teenager has any chance to take this giant down. You would never think it. You would never think that. And physically, that's actually not possible. A hand-to-hand combat between Goliath and this young guy, he'd get slaughtered. God warned them, do not look at the appearance, the outward appearance. God doesn't care how you look. God cares what your heart is. David had a righteous heart. David was filled with God's spirit. David was a man after God's own heart. If you look at, I always often think, when you picture David coming out and freeze frame it, here's David, and here's this giant iron man. There's no way it's gonna end the way it does, unless God is in this. And that's the point of all of this. And we'll get to that more next week. There's a lot to say about this. It might take another week to get through all of this. This is an amazing story. Again, little is much when God is in it. It's part of the story for good reason. It is, for good reason. There's a lot of applications to this story. Any more thoughts or comments before we close? Let's close it. Father, we thank you for your word. Lord, we know these aren't just stories. This is history. And Lord, we see in this history that you were able to do way above what we ask or think. Lord, from our human point of view, this would be impossible. Lord, none of us believe we could pull this off. But Lord, help us to learn from your word that you can do amazing things far beyond what we could even imagine if we just trust you, if we put you first, if we have your values. Lord, we see David here angry over the things that anger you and outraged at this challenge and blasphemy. And Lord, it is you made it clear that it's Our limitations do not limit you. Lord, you are not held back by the things that hold us back. Lord, help us to understand these things. Help us to see in all of this, first of all, your hand. You are absolutely sovereign in all affairs. And David, because he was your beloved, you were working all things out for his good and for his glory and for your purposes, and ultimately, Lord, for the Messiah. Lord, help us to learn to trust you more than we do. Help us, Lord, to learn to see that in our lives, even things we don't understand, There are many things we can't see. We can't see one step ahead. Lord, you are a million steps ahead of us. And Lord, help us to trust you, to trust your providence, to trust your wisdom, your sovereignty. But also, Lord, stretch our faith. Lord, stretch our faith. Lord, you said if we had faith like a mustard seed, we could do amazing things. And Lord, that's true. Help us, Lord, to know that you are mighty. It doesn't matter how weak we are. Lord, through you, we can face or do almost anything. So Lord, help us to believe that. Thank you for your word. Thank you to these things that are in here. As Paul said, this is in here for a good reason. Lord, give us hearing ears and believing hearts, and give us a sense of wonder at who you are, Lord. Stretch our view of you and what you can do, even in impossible circumstances. Lord, all the glory goes to you and to your son for all of this. In his name we pray. Amen.