Life of David Part 2: 1 Samuel 17
This Life of David series outlines my study for my current Sunday morning series for the middle school youth group I lead. This writing series will show how I broke down each chapter and what general points I used in teaching this to middle schoolers. Hopefully, it will help you in teaching something on the life of David.
The most famous Bible stories can be some of the most difficult to teach. Teachers naturally feel like their messages must bring some profound revelation to their congregations. The temptation that comes with that is to think that the profound is some new word about a passage. While we should pray for God to give us new insights into passages, we must remember that what makes the Bible profound is that God wrote it. Nothing we can add to Scripture via sermon structure, illustrations, or interesting quotes increase how profound Scripture is. The famous passages test our faith in teaching by asking us whether we trust God's word to carry the day. That question comes now in the form of the story of David and Goliath
1. Goliath Intimidates Israel (v. 1-11)
The chapter begins by bringing us right back into the leadership of Saul. This should be seen as one of the framing narratives for the passage. Last chapter, David was anointed as king by Samuel, but Saul still remained king for some time. This chapter demands that we ask questions about the contrasting leadership merits of David and Saul.
We begin with Saul standing before the threatening Goliath. The description of Goliath puts him at around 9 feet tall, an incredibly imposing man by any measure. Most people would be afraid of a 6 foot 5 NFL linebacker (and rightfully so), but Goliath entirely trumps that. Beyond just his size, Goliath stood before the Israelites shouting threats at them and offering a one-on-one match to determine the winning army. To this threat, Saul responds by being "greatly afraid." In a time where his troops needed a strong leader, Saul sees little hope and clearly lets that show. This transfers to the rest of the Israelite army as they all sulk in despair before Goliath's taunts for 40 days.
2. David's Interest In Fighting Goliath (v. 12-37)
At this point, we see David for the first time, once again not invited initially to the event that mattered most to Israel. Whereas in chapter 16 he was not invited to the sacrifice where a new king would be chosen, here we see him only arriving to the battle as a type of delivery boy for his brothers.
Reading through some of the narrative descriptions can feel a little tedious or can be hard to pull meaningful insights from. It's ok to acknowledge that not every verse will be equally as meaningful to spiritual insights. Verses 12 through 23 mainly help push the story along. I would read these verses adding little insights along the way (that David still took care of his sheep, that he was willing to take the humble position, etc.) without camping out on any of those verses.
When David arrives at the battle, he sees the situation with fresh eyes. His anger is stirred up that the Israelites would allow a person to defy the name of God for so long. For David, the matter was really about defending and honoring God, not trying to build a name for himself. This mindset was ridiculed by his brothers and Saul, but David looked back at moments of God's past faithfulness to find strength to trust God to remain faithful. David recalled the times he defeated lions and bears to say that God delivered him in the past and could continue to deliver him. Even though Saul didn't agree with the strategy, that kind of faith and gusto could not be denied. David would be called on to fight against Goliath.
3. The Battle and David's Victory (v. 38-58)
With the decision made, David prepares to fight Goliath. The text, however, does not present David as a mighty warrior. Instead, the very next thing to occur in the passage is David trying on Saul's armor and it being too big for him to actually wear in battle. Rather than appearing as a dazzling hero, David comes out looking like a kid with a slingshot. Goliath mocks David for coming out to fight him, but David again shows that his real interest in the battle is glorifying God. This is most exemplified in verse 45 when David declares he comes not with weapons as his trust but God on his side.
The chapter goes on to show one of the most famous battle outcomes in history. David conquers Goliath with his sling and the people of Israel rejoice. This outcome is designed to show us that people who stand on the glory of God can find God coming to their side and aiding their cause. This is not to say that you can conquer anything you desire to conquer if you do it in the name of Jesus, but it is to say that God is capable of using people beyond what their own abilities can accomplish. David should have never stood a chance against Goliath, but God was able to slay the giant on David's behalf. For us today, this story should give us some hope that when we step out in faith, God is able to respond and carry us to victory.
This story should also point us to Jesus. While he was never the underdog, he was the man who fought our greatest enemy by himself. The battle of David and Goliath points us ahead to the battle between Jesus and sin, the battle that happened on the cross that Jesus won in His resurrection. Jesus was the one who went alone into that battle and won a victory all of God's people can now enjoy. None of this is an attempt to undo all the chapter means in its own right, but it does point us to a greater truth with which we must grapple. Jesus is the true victor. All of our other victories should come from His strength.