(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
1 Samuel 17:12–30, “Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehemjudah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul. And the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle: and the names of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next unto him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. And David was the youngest: and the three eldest followed Saul. But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days. And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren; And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge. Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. And David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the trench, as the host was going forth to the fight, and shouted for the battle. For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against army. And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran into the army, and came and saluted his brethren. And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words: and David heard them. And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid. And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father’s house free in Israel. And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him. And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle. And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause? And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner: and the people answered him again after the former manner.”
So far we have met David in two different contexts, firstly he was chosen and anointed by Samuel to be the next king of Israel and, secondly, he was the sweet psalmist of Israel who was able to play for Saul and calm the king when he was troubled. We are now meeting David in a third context. Jesse’s three oldest sons went with Saul to fight against the Philistines. Before the Philistines mustered their armies, David left Saul’s service and went home for a furlough. When he arrived home he went back out to look after the sheep because he cared for his sheep. His father wanted to know what was happening at the battle front because he had three of his sons there. He sent his youngest son to find out as much as he could. He took some food for his brothers and for their commanding officer as well. When David arrived at the battlefield both armies were dressed in battledress and were ready to go and fight. While David was watching, the Philistine giant, Goliath, came out into the valley and challenged Israel to send out a champion to fight against him. Everyone was scared and hoped that Saul wouldn’t sent them out to be slaughtered by the giant. The soldiers told David that the king would make anyone who was willing to fight against the giant his son in law. David was just a boy but he had a simple and profound faith in the Lord. He was horrified that someone should defy the Lord God. David’s oldest brother found him talking to the soldiers and he was very angry that his cheeky baby brother was asking such questions. He reprimanded David and told his brother to get back to the sheep. David wasn’t upset by his brother but was still horrified by the fact that an unbeliever should get away with blaspheming the Lord God of heaven and earth.
No comments:
Post a Comment