Goliath called to fight for Israel’s champion. David’s brothers, Saul, Goliath, nor any soldier considered David a champion. Saul sent for David to tell him that he wasn’t able to defeat the giant and not to inquire about the possibility. The king should have spoken first but David broke protocol. David broke protocol again by not accepting the king’s answer. Being a head taller than everyone, Saul armor would confirm David’s being too SMALL for the job. There was no cheering of the champion to battle.
Saul had the kingdom from his hands because he didn’t have faith. If Saul was afraid of the people when it came to denying them the plunder in 1 Sam 15, then how could he send untrained boy against the undisputed champion and risk slavery for the entire nation? To say he sudden overcame his lack of faith when the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him (1 Sam 16) and without the help of a prophet does not make sense. Please address these issues in your answer.
2007-05-04 05:00:06 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Christians should use the same standards of interpretation they require the cults to use. The scriptures will not support these conclusions the churches use to justify David going to fight:
1. Saul believed David’s story about a lion and bear. It is extremely improbable for the king of millions of people to risk the lives of the entire nation on the story of given by a shepherd boy about his own unconfirmed abilities….especially when we know the king had already determined David was not able to beat Goliath. This explanation is not realistic because it fails to take into account the gravity of the situation and the need of a successful outcome.
2. Saul couldn’t find anyone else. True! But Goliath had issued the threat 80 times. There was no reason to send someone who was going to lose into battle when the king could order his best soldier to fight or just wait.
3. David was God’s champion. True! But Saul wasn’t obeying God as documented in 1 Sam 15 and 16. This answer skips to the end of the account without explaining why Saul would send David to fight instead of someone more likely to win (from Saul’s prospective.)
There are two ideas that escape most non-military explanations:
1. Saul would have a better chance fighting army to army than man to man.
2. Saul didn’t send his champion.
When you allow your enemy to dictate the rules of engagement, you have allowed them to put themselves in the best position to win. While it is perfectly understandable why the Philistines would want the outcome of the battle to be determined on what happened with a man on man battle with Goliath, the scripture are not clear as to why Israel did not choose to fight army to army ….other than God had not given this vision/understanding to Saul, the decision-maker for all Israel. 1 Sam 15 & 16 confirm this position.
The account begs us to seek the answer to: “How did David get the vision/understanding of how to defeat Goliath?” based on the scriptures.”
We know that
1. If Goliath was holding his shield during the fight,
Goliath would have beaten David.
2. But Goliath had a shield bearer and therefore a shield.
3. David was the King’s shield bearer.
It is very plausible that God gave David the vision/understanding that Goliath’s shield bearer had not been trained to stand as close to the mighty warrior as he had been trained with the king. So David “saw” the distance/opportunity when Goliath came down with his shield bearer and taunted Israel. The other explanations need to explain why a soldier “trained since his youth” would make such a fatal, tactical error as the scriptures describe.
With God’s vision, David had the courage to move forward to the next question God begs us to seek an answer: “Why did David tell his king story of the lion and bear instead of saying he was going to kill Goliath with a sling.?” Most likely for the same reason that Goliath referred to David as the “boy with a STICK” instead of a “boy with a SLING.” David didn’t want either of them to know his plan. Therefore, the story about the lion and the bear deliberately kept Saul from knowing his plan as he kept his sling hidden until to was too late for Goliath. And the fact that he picked up the stones on the way to the battle means David was working off a plan and not “Winging it.”
Having 7 older brothers and being the only one his father did not consider able to be king meant that David had every reason not to assume that others to “play fair.” Further evidence of this point is the fact that immediately after David cut off Goliath’s head, he took the head and sword and went home to his tent.
Most people fail to notice the importance of the head in the account. Whoever held the head would receive the king’s reward. So while carrying around a head and to a lesser degree, the sword, for hours is unpleasant, it also eliminated any debate of who was the one who should be given the reward for killing Goliath. David was as wise as a serpent and as innocent as a lamb.
Along this same line of thinking, who would believe that David came up with the idea of how to kill Goliath if his king (with an evil spirit) decided to claim David’s idea as his own? Or why, because David had the idea, would the king allow David to implement it when there was a whole camp full of men whom the king would think was better qualified to carry out the mission? David’s own father was so NOT impressed with David that he disobeyed Samuel and left David to tend sheep to David’s anointing.
The rest of David’s path to the throne is one example after another how people underestimated David or were caught off guard by delivering what others didn’t think was possible. Vision, (which is what was taken from Saul), not physical ability, is what scriptures say enabled David to do what he did.
David’s brother didn’t accuse David of trying to FIGHT IN the battle. His brother accused David of trying to START the battle. Saul did not want David to START the war either and so call David into his tent told him so. But David wouldn’t be stopped by his brother or king.
What was it that David was saying that would cause a war? Could you imagine a teenager getting in the face of soldier after solder saying, “"What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?" and refusing to stop?
This challenged the manhood as well as the faith of every soldier. Those who weren’t motivated by greed would be shamed by letting a Philistine defy the living God twice a day without lifting a finger in protest.
Therefore, David’s brothers and Saul recognized the danger of letting David continue going from soldier to soldier, rallying the troops as it were. David was sent to fight Goliath and lose because Saul couldn’t afford to let the troops be humiliated by a boy or let a boy rally the troop to battle as he should have done. Better this one die than the whole nation….sound familiar? So David WAS NOT sent as Israel’s champion to kill Goliath.
Again, in typical fashion, God used the lowliest boy to kill the most powerful enemy and undisputed champion of both sides without a miracle. God trained David for this task and God gave David the vision to do it. Even though David walked through the valley of the shadow of death, he did not fear his evil opponent. And all of Israel was delivered by the child’s courage and faith.
Since we have the same God, we can be used like David and those describe in Hebrews 11.
2007-05-05 15:05:42 · answer #1 · answered by DS M 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Anyone who has read the story in 1 Samuel 17 knows that David was the only one who wasn't apprehensive. He was angry at the Isrealite soldiers for not standing up to Goliath, and he volunteered to fight because no one else would. That's the only right answer, even if it were a myth.
2016-05-20 04:36:39 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
David had already been anointedby Samuel (@ God's direction) to be the next king of Israel, so you could say since he was God's choice to be king that he WAS Israel's champion. Everybody else was too intimidated by Goliath to take him on.
2007-05-04 05:34:14 · answer #3 · answered by wanda3s48 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He was God's Champion..saul had already been denied by god and David was to be his successor
You are putting too much emphasis on Saul....what happened was what God wanted to happen
2007-05-04 05:05:47 · answer #4 · answered by Robert K 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
that is the point- God used someone not considered a champion in the eyes of the world to slay the giant. The point of this story is to say the LORD IS THE ONE THAT WON THE BATTLE- not man.
2007-05-04 05:06:20 · answer #5 · answered by AdoreHim 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Easy! He was the only one who would fight Goliath.
2007-05-04 05:05:43 · answer #6 · answered by Jeancommunicates 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Everyone else was too afraid?
2007-05-04 05:04:32 · answer #7 · answered by MrsOcultyThomas 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋