Slaying Goliath | What Makes You Dismayed and Afraid | Part 1
Amen. All right, we were there. Am I on? We’re there in first Samuel 17, first Samuel chapter 17. I think I’m just a little too loud, if you could trim me down, thank you. Like we’ve talked about, we are starting a brand new series on the subject of slaying Goliath, David and Goliath. Honestly, this is probably one of the most famous stories in the Bible. I’m sure we all grew up hearing about David and hearing about Goliath and hearing about this great story. I want you to understand the context that leads into the story.
If you look there at first Samuel 17 in verse one, the Bible says this, “Now the Philistines …” and, of course, these are the bad guys. These are the enemies of the Lord. These are the enemies of the nation of Israel. “Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim.”
Look at verse two, “And Saul and the men of Israel …” these would be the good guys. These would be the children of Israel, the people of God, “… gathered together their armies, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array.” Now obviously what array there, the word array means to basically arrange their troops. So they got their troops ready to go against the Philistines.
Look at verse three, “And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side.” So I want you to get this picture, “The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them.” So you’ve got the children of Israel on one side on a mountain. You’ve got the Philistines on the other side on a mountain. You’ve got a valley between them and they are able to see each other. They are able to communicate with each other. The idea is that they’re supposed to meet down in the valley to be able to go and fight against the children of Israel. That’s the context. That is the context that leads us into the story.
Then, of course, you have verse number four, “And there went out a champion.” It’s interesting that the word champion is this is the only time you see the word champion in our King James Bible and it’s about a wicked man named Goliath, an enemy of the Lord. So I’ll be real careful about trying to make heroes out of worldly people today. Everyone has talked about the champions of these sports figures trying to make them heroes. In the Bible, the one guy that was a champion was not a good guy. It’s not something that we want to … Be careful about allowing your children and make a bunch of worldly drunkard, drug-addicted athletes their heroes. One of the reasons we want to tell stories and get into stories like the one about David and Goliath is because we want our kids to have heroes like David, not heroes like Shaquille O’Neal. Want to have heroes like the heroes in the Bible, not these athletes that are just representing the world and the things of the world.
Verse four there says, “And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath …” notice what the Bible says, ” … whose height was six cubits and a span,” whose height was six cubits and a span. Now a cubit and everybody seems to agree on this. I don’t disagree with it myself. I think it’s appropriate. A cubit was an ancient measurement of length. Most people agree and the Bible even teaches this that a cubit was basically the length of a forearm or would be the length of from your elbow to the tip of your finger is what they considered a cubit. That basically ended up being that the average cubit or the average length that was considered a cubit is what you and I would call, would consider 18 inches.
So here the Bible tells us that this man Goliath was a giant, because it says his height was six cubits and a span. So six cubits would be nine feet and a span means that this man was nine feet tall or over nine feet tall was this Goliath who was a giant. Now for us, that would be a very big guy especially for me. Even for the tallest one of you, you would still seem like a grasshopper in his sight, because of a man that’s over nine feet tall is what the Bible teaches us here.
Now we’re going to delve into the story and we’re going to get really … We’re going to get into it this morning and we’re going to get into it in the next several weeks as we develop it. I thought it’d be just kind of a fun thing as we begin the story of Goliath to just look at this idea in the Bible about giants in the Bible. Does the Bible teach that giants existed? Because people will actually look at the story of David and Goliath and say that it’s mythology or that it’s not real or that the word of God is filled with a bunch of stories that they’re nonsense, because nobody ever live that was over nine and a half feet tall or giants did not walk on this earth. So I thought just kind of by way of introduction we would look at this idea of does the Bible teach that giants existed on the earth. Have giants existed throughout history? So give a place there on first Samuel 17, we’re going to come back to it.
Going to the Book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter number two in the Old Testament. If you started Genesis, you’ve got Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. I would think especially children might be interested in what the Bible teaches, because there’s a lot of interesting things in the word of God. As we study the Bible, we can learn a lot of cool things from the Bible. One of them is this idea of giants, because we learn about Goliath over nine feet tall. Goliath is by far the most famous in the word of God. I want you to understand that giants are mentioned throughout the Bible. Giants are mentioned throughout the entire word of God and I’m just going to give you some examples of that. I’m going to run all the references, because it would take too long.
If you’re there in Deuteronomy chapter two, look at on verse number nine and notice what the Bible said. Deuteronomy chapter two in verse nine, the Bible says this, “And the Lord said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession. The Emims dwelt therein in times past …” notice what it says, “… a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; which also were accounted giants.” You see the word giants there? The Bible tells us that there was a people that was great. They were many, they were tall, and they were accounted giants. Here’s what you need to understand. Our word giant comes from the word gigantic. They’re talking about people that when they saw these people they said, “They were gigantic.” They were giants. They were very tall. They were very great, as the Anakims; but the Moabites called them Emims. So I want you to notice that they went by different names there as far as the giants are concerned.
Let’s get down to verse number 19, same chapter just for the sake of time. Look at verse 19, Deuteronomy chapter two in verse 19, “And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession.” Look at verse 20, “That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims.” So I want you to notice that different names again, what the people of the land called them. Here we’re told that there was a land of giants and giants dwelt there in old time.
Go to Deuteronomy chapter three. Look at verse number 11, Deuteronomy chapter three and verse number 11. Deuteronomy chapter three and verse number 11 says this, “For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the giants. So I want you to know of giants. Notice that at this point by the time that Moses and the children of Israel are entering into the Promise Land, there’s less and less giants. They are becoming extinct if you will. Here we’re told that only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the giants. “Behold his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon?” Notice what it says, “Nine cubits was the length thereof.” They were talking about the bed of this giant. It says that nine cubits was the length thereof. So the bed was nine cubits long.
Now again, a cubit is approximately about 18 inches. So when we’re talking about nine cubits, we’re talking about 13-1/2 feet. That’s how long this guy’s bed was. It was 13-1/2 feet and notice four cubits the breadth of it. The breadth is how wide. Four cubits would be about six feet. So we’re talking about this guy has a bed that is 13-1/2 feet long, six feet wide. That’s a big guy. Now it’s not necessarily saying that this giant was 13-1/2 feet tall. It’s saying that his bed 13-1/2 feet tall, long and six feet wide. So obviously his bed was probably a little bigger than he is so that he could lie in it. Still if you need a bed that big, you’re probably a pretty big boy. You’re a big guy after the cubits of a man is what the Bible says.
Look at verse 12, “And this land, which we possessed at that time, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, and half mount Gilead, and the cities thereof, gave I unto the Reubenites and to the Gadites.” Look at verse 13, “And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called …” notice what it says, “… the land of giants.” I want you to just notice and again, we can look at a lot of different references, but I want you to notice that throughout the Bible we see this idea that there was a land of giants. There was a valley of giants. There was a place where giants live where people were accounted as giants.
Go to Numbers chapter number 13. You’re there in Deuteronomy, just had one book back into the Book of Numbers, Numbers chapter 13 and look at verse number 32. Numbers chapter 13 and verse 32; Numbers chapter 13 and verse 32. Numbers 13:32 says this, “And they brought up an evil report.” This is one that children of Israel were supposed to go into the Promise Land. They sent in the spies to spy out the land and they came back with an evil report. Remember 12 men went to spy in Canaan; 10 were bad, two were good. The 10 came back and reported. In chapter 13 and verse 32 says this, “And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.” They said, “We saw people there that are very tall. They’re men of great stature.”
Verse 33, “And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, so we were in their sight.” Of course, they’re saying, “When we look up at these gigantic men, we felt like grasshoppers in their sight. We felt like very small individuals in the sight of these people.” So here’s what I want you to understand. The Bible, and this is just a small sampling. We could look at other passages, but the Bible most definitely teaches that there were giants who walked on this earth that there were men of great stature that you and I would look at and say that they’re gigantic who walked on this earth.
Now I’d like you to go to the Book of Hebrews, Hebrews towards the end of the New Testament. If you start at the very end of the Book of Revelation and you head back, you go pass Revelation, pass Jude, pass third, second and first John, second and first Peter, James and Hebrews. I want you to find the Book of Hebrews. While you find that, let me just read for you some men that had lived in modern history. I’ve got some pictures. If you’d like to see them, after the service I’m happy to show them to you. People act like, “Oh, there’s no way that these giants lived on the earth.” Please understand this. When we’re talking about giants in the Bible, we’re not talking about men that are 30 feet tall or 50 feet tall or a hundred feet tall. What we’re talking about is men that are 9 feet tall, 10 feet tall, 12 feet tall, 13 feet tall. Here’s the thing. We’re not talking about 50 feet tall, but you probably don’t want to go into battle with the guy that’s 10 feet tall or close to 10 feet tall.
Here’s what’s interesting, because people will mock at the word of God and say, “Oh, there’s no such thing as giants.” In recent history, because remember Goliath was just over nine feet tall. He was nine feet and a span. This is what we’re told. He is over nine feet tall. In modern history, we have had people that are close to being nine feet tall that have lived in modern recorded history. Let me give you several examples.
A guy by the name of Robert Wadlow lived to be 8’11”. I found an article about him. Here’s what it said. It said, “Robert Wadlow, the giant of Illinois, reached the height of 8’11”. Wadlow is the tallest confirmed person to have ever lived in modern history. He was born in Alton, Illinois in 1918 and he suffered from hypertrophy pituitary gland causing him to produce amounts of human growth hormone.” There was also another man by the name of John F. Carroll who was 8’7-1/2″ tall. He was born in 1932 in Buffalo, New York. He was referred to as a Buffalo giant in medical journals. He had acromegalic gigantism, which is a disease that made him that tall. There was a guy by the name John Rogan. He lived to be 8’9″ tall. He was the second tallest human being in recorded history and the tallest of African descent. He was not measured officially until his death. Although he was less than nine feet tall, he weighed only 175 pounds and part of that was because of the disease that he had. He wasn’t able to walk and wasn’t able to get the nutrition that he needed.
The point that I’m trying to make is this that even in our recorded history and we’ve got modern pictures that have not been doctored there. These are legit people that actually lived. Even in our modern history, we’ve had people that have lived to be 8’11” tall. I mean when you’re looking at a man that’s 8’11” tall, you’re basically looking at Goliath. Goliath was over nine feet tall. What I’m saying is it’s not just absurd that people would grow this tall would live this long. Again, we’re not talking people that are 50 feet tall. We’re talking about 9 feet tall, 10 feet tall that height.
Now if you find your place there in Hebrews, keep your finger there, because we’re going to go right through it. Go and look the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament, Genesis chapter number six, first Book in the Old Testament, Genesis chapter number six. Let me say this. They have also … All over the world, they’ve uncovered villages and grave sites where they have found skeletons of people that are nine 9 tall, 10 feet tall, 11 feet tall, 12 feet tall, 13 feet tall. It’s very well documented. It’s been found all over the world.
Look, you say why would we surprise when the Bible tells us that there was people that walked this earth that were gigantic that had beds that were 13-1/2 feet long and six feet wide. Here’s what’s interesting. You might be asking yourself, “Why is it that we don’t hear about this?” Because it’s very well documented and it’s documented by reliable sources, why do we not hear about all these giant graveyards that are found all over the world. You can learn about it if you do research, but I’ll tell you here’s the main reason that science has chosen to ignore the truth of giants living on this earth. It’s because science is not really science as science is falsely so called in our country today. They have an agenda they’re trying to push and it’s called evolution.
Here’s the problem with giants existing thousands of years ago is that it throws a ranch into their fairytale of evolution. You say why? Here’s why. Because evolution teaches that we started off as small creatures and we’re getting bigger and bigger and stronger and stronger. One day we’re going to be like the X-Men and flying around and doing all sorts of … We’re going to become gods. We’re going to become this next. That’s what evolution taches. In fact, if you do research, they’ll tell us that human beings, and this of course a lie; this is not science, but they’ll you that human being all came from an ape relative that average a height of three and a half feet. So there’s this ape that’s like three and a half feet. This ape learned to walk and because it could walk, now I could use his hands to build tools. Because it could build tools, now I learned to cook food. Because it cooked food, it got more nutrition and his brain got bigger. He got bigger and bigger and stronger and stronger and here we are.
Here’s the problem that. When you find hundreds of people that were 13 feet tall that roamed this earth, it kind of messes that whole thing up. Here’s why. The word of God will always … Look, you will never uncover anything in this earth that will contradict the word of God. You will uncover all sort of things that will contradict the world philosophy, the world false signs, the world teachings. So it’s interesting that the Bible tells us giants roamed the earth. They found skeletons of giants all over the world. Even today, there are men alive today that are over eight feet tall. We’ve had people in modern history that are nine feet tall just like Goliath, a little bit less than nine feet tall. Goliath was a little over nine feet tall. The point is this. The Bible is true. You can trust the word of God. The word of God is true.
There is one thing. If you just bear with me for one minute, we’re going to get right back into our story of David and Goliath. There’s one thing that I do want to speak about in regards to giants. Because we have dispensational friends today that teach that giants were the result of fallen angels mating with human women. That is a false doctrine. That is a false teaching. We reject dispensationalism at Verity Baptist Church. It is just a bunch of lies. They get it from Genesis chapter six. I don’t have time to develop the whole thing. One of these days, I’ll preach an entire sermon on it. I just want to show you this from the word of God just to kind of show you up on it. Because I do want you to believe in giants, but I don’t want you to believe in this fairytale of dispensationalism.
So dispensationalism teaches that the fallen angels that came down with Satan basically married women on earth and their offspring are what became known as giants. They get this from Genesis chapter six. Let’s look at what it says, verse one, “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth …” this is early into the history of mankind and the world is being populated, “… and daughters were born unto them.” This is all talking about human beings. Verse two, “That …” notice what it says, “… the sons of God saw the daughters of men.”
Now here’s where we have our first problem with our dispensational friends. Because dispensationalist will look at this term sons of God and they’ll say, “These are angels. They’re not just angels, they’re fallen angels.” Here’s what’s interesting about that. In the New Testament, we learned all sorts of things about the fallen angels that followed Satan. Jesus is constantly casting them out. Jesus is constantly having conversations with them. Here’s what’s funny. You know what they’re called in the New Testament? They are called devils. They are called demons. So our dispensational friends want us to think that what Jesus referred to as devils, in the Old Testament they’re the sons of God. I mean, does that make any sense the sons of God? They’ll say, “Those are the angels,” the fallen angels, the devils. So the daughters of men, those are human women according to them that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose.
Now here’s another problem. Jesus persistently told us that angels are not given in marriage that angels do not get married that angels they are spirits. They do not have fleshly bodies to be able to have these type of relationships anyway. According to them, they took them wives of all which they chose. Verse three, “And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” Verse four, “There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God …” again, these are supposedly the angels or the devils, “… came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.”
So here’s what they’ll say, because in verse four it says, “There were giants in the earth in those days.” As they see, it’s talking about giants. You’ll say, “Where o the giants came from those days?” Well, the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bear children to them, the same became mighty men. They’ll say, “Those mighty men, those were the giants which were of old, men of renown.” Now there’s a couple of wrong with that. Throughout the Bible, the term mighty men is used. You know what it means in the Bible? Here’s what mighty men means. It just means a warrior or a soldier, someone who fights for a living, someone who … Their career is to fight battles. That’s what it is everywhere else in scripture, but here we’re told no, no, it’s the giants.
Let me just give you a couple of things to consider. Because they want us to believe that the sons of God in Genesis chapter six were devils, were demons, were fallen angels. They came in unto the daughters of men and they produced these mighty men. Keep your finger right there in Genesis chapter six. We’re going to come right back to it. Go to Hebrews chapter number one and look at verse four. I hope you’ll think this is interesting. I think it’s interesting. I think anytime you study the word of God it’s interesting.
Hebrews chapter one and look at verse number four. Notice what the Bible says, Hebrews chapter one and verse four. You say, “Are the sons of God fallen angels according to the Bible?” Can the sons of God and all that, because here’s the thing. We don’t go to a theological book. We don’t go to a commentary. We allow the Bible to define itself. We allow the word of God. We compare spiritual things with spiritual. We allow the Bible to tell us can the sons of God be angels and even more than that fallen angels, what we would refer to as demons or devils.
Hebrews chapter one verse four, notice what the Bible says, “Being made so much better than the angels.” Now I want you to understand the context is Jesus. You can read verses one through three to get that context. We’re not going to read it for sake of time. We’re speaking about Jesus here. Here’s what the Bible is saying, “The God the Father made Jesus so much better than the angels,” talking about that Jesus is a higher authority than the angels. He, talking about Jesus, has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they, a more excellent name than who, than the angels. That’s the context that Jesus is better than the angels and he has a more excellent name than the angels.
Verse five, “For unto which of the angels said he.” Now the he there is referring to God the Father, because God the Father is the one who made Jesus better than the angels who gave him a more excellent name than the angels. In verse five, he said, “For unto which …” He is trying to explain to us how he made Jesus better than the angels, how he made Jesus more excellent. He gave him a more excellent name than the angels. He says, “For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?” Did you catch that? Here’s what he is saying. He is saying, “I never looked at an angel and said thou art my son this day have I begotten thee.”
Again, what he is saying is he is restating. He is saying, “Okay, how about this? To which of the angel said he I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son.” The context if you study is that he is saying, “I never told an angel that he is my son. I never told an angel that I am his Father and that he will be my son, but I did tell Jesus that he is my son and that’s why he has a more excellent name and that’s why he is better than the angels.” So look, Hebrews chapter one is telling us that God never looked at any angel much less a fallen angel and called him his son. Yet dispensationalist want us to believe that in Genesis chapter six the sons of God were fallen angels, demons. Look, when you say the word of God, it’s not so, it can’t be. Look, it made good sci-fi movies, but it’s not true. It’s just it’s not the word of God.
They’ll say, “Okay, well then, who are the sons of God?” Well, go to first John chapter three. If you’re there in Hebrews, you’re going to go pass the Book of James, pass first Peter, second Peter, first John, first John chapter number three. First John chapter three and look at verse one. They’ll say, “Who are the sons of God?” Here’s what Jesus said. At Verity Baptist Church, we allow the word of God to tell us what terms mean, what they are. So here’s the thing. When you study that term sons of God throughout the Bible, there’s just one consistent theme. While we’re talking about the son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, but there are other sons of God in the Bible. Who are they?
First John chapter three verse one, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we …” this is John speaking, “… that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” You know who the Bible calls the sons of God all throughout scripture? It’s Christians. It’s believers. It’s people who have believed on Christ. John 1:12, you have to turn there. In fact, you go back to Genesis chapter number six, but John 1:12 says this, “But as many as received him …” talking about Jesus, “… to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” So who are the sons of God throughout the entire Bible? It’s one group of people. It’s those who believe on Jesus Christ, those who believe on the Lord, those who call upon him for salvation. So you’ll say, “Well, who are the sons of God in genesis chapter six?” I think it’s his believers.
You’ll say, “What’s the big deal then?” I think the problem is that these believers were being unequally held with unbelievers. They ended up producing these mighty men, men of renown, these great men just normal men that went out, conquered the land, but they became very violent people. Because look, whenever you connect yourself to worldly people, they don’t make you better. They make you worse and the world ended up becoming so violent. That’s what the Bible says that God ended up flooding earth and started over with Jonah. I want to show you one more thing and we’re going to get back to David and Goliath, Genesis chapter 6 verse four. Because in verse four it says, well, it says there were giants in the earth in those days, so it’s got to be talking about giants.
Look, even if you don’t connect Hebrews one, first John three, John chapter one, even if you don’t connect when Jesus said that angels are not given to marriage that in the resurrection we will be like the angels and it says that we’re not given to marriage, even if you forget all that, just a reading of the text will tell you that what they’re teaching is not true. Look at verse four, “There were giants in the earth in those days; and also …” notice these two words, “… after that,” after that. After what? After the fact that there were giants in the earth in those days, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, because they tell us the sons of God coming in the daughters of men is the fallen angels going into women and they bear children, then the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. They’ll say those are the giants.
Here’s the problem with that. The Bible tells us that there was giants in the earth in those days and the sons of God going into the daughters of men didn’t happen until after that. So how in the world did these sons of God who are actually devils produce giants when the Bible tells us that there were giants in the earth in those days already? They were already there. So even just a simple reading of the text, even just looking at when he says, “And also after that, he tells us this thing happened between the sons of God and the daughters of men.”
You might ask the question, “Well, why does he mentioned giants?” Why does he mentioned that? Here’s my opinion on that. My opinion on that is that God is telling us that before the flood, giants were way more in number than after the flood. After the flood, you have Moses going into the Canaan Land and they talked about there’s a land of the giants. There’s a valley of the giants. There’s a kingdom of the giants. By the time you get to David and Goliath, there’s like five giants left that they have identified. I think the Bible is telling us that before the flood, giants were more just numerable. There was many more giants in the earth in that day. After the flood a bunch of them did die, but they weren’t there as a result of the sons of God coming into daughters of men. Because it says that the giants were there and the whole thing between the sons of God whatever you think that is happened after that. It says that it happened after that. So you can’t tell me that the giants were the result of that if that happened after the fact.
Anyway, I just … You’ll say, “Why would you look into that?” Here’s why I’ll look into that. Because we need to allow the Bible to be our final authority. This is why you need to be careful with listening to preachers that are just following commentaries. It’s interesting. It makes good writing, I get that, but it’s just not real. It’s not the word of God. It’s not true. Let’s go back to our story. So that’s a little … I hope you found that interesting this kind of laying a context about giants, giants in the Bible and giants in the word of God. Again, the most famous giant is Goliath who was over nine feet tall.
Now let’s go back to our story there, first Samuel 17. Let’s look at just as we begin, because we’re going to dig into the story for the next several weeks. We’re going to really dissect it and learn about the truth that we can learn from the story of David and Goliath. For this morning, what I’d like to do is I like to look at the two sides of this giant story, the two sides of this giant story. The first side is of course what I’m referring to as the formidable adversary, the formidable adversary. What does the word formidable mean? It means inspiring fear or respect through being impressive, large, powerful, intense or capable. That’s who Goliath was. He was a formidable adversary. He was someone who inspired fear and respect. Why? Because he was impressive, because he was large, because he was powerful, because he was intense, and because he was very capable when it came to the art of war.
Look at verse four. As we go to the story, the first thing that’s introduced was he’s the champion, “And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits,” that’s nine feet and a span. So he’s over nine feet tall and he had an helmet of brass. Notice how the description of this warrior is given to us in detail. There is a reason for this. We believe that it’s Samuel who probably wrote this down and obviously under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. There’s a reason why Samuel has given us the details and telling us about this man Goliath. It says, “He had a helmet of brass upon his head. He was armed with a coat of mail.” A coat mail of there does not have to do with the post office. It’s metal rings or plates that are joined together to be armor upon his body. The weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of brass. The point is that his armor was very heavy because he was a very big man, very strong man.
Verse six, “And he had greaves of brass upon his legs.” Those are pieces of armor used to protect his shins and a target of brass between his shoulders. So he has a brass plate. Just get the picture. You got a nine-foot man. He’s got a helmet on his head. He’s got metal, a coat of mail, lengths of mail throughout his body as a shirt that he would put on to protect his body. He’s got a metal on his shins. He’s got a brass plate on his breast, on his chest.
Look at verse seven, “And the staff of his spear was like the weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed 600 shekels of iron.” Here’s what he’s trying to say. He had this spear that was a very heavy spear. This spear was not meant to be thrown. It’s not like a javelin that was meant to be thrown. This was a very heavy spear. The spear was meant to use as a tool of attack, as a tool of offense. So this spear is not something that he will be throwing. It would be something that he would be using to stab with. Get the picture. Notice verse seven, “And the staff of his spear was like the weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed 600 shekels of iron.” This is a heavy spear and one, notice, bearing a shield went before him. His shield was so heavy another man carried it for him. When he went on into battle, he went on into battle as a group.
You got to understand this. When you understand the way that military battles were fought back in the Bible times and in ancient history, today we fight battles from far away. We send missiles. We have snipers. When it’s people fighting, we’re using rifles and we’re using guns. During the time in the Bible, the fight was in your face. The fight was hand-to-hand combat where you could look into the eye of your opponent. You could smell the breath off of his mouth. You got up close and personal. Oftentimes, what these people would do is that thy would create a wall of shields. As they went in to battle, the soldiers would stand behind this wall of shields. Here’s what you need to understand. If that wall was breached, if that wall as breached, if the men next to you was hurt, injured, killed or if you ran off scared, you would most likely die, because the only safety in this battle was to stay behind this shield and try to kill your opponent while they’re behind their shield.
Here’s where Goliath comes in where he’s got these two-man tag team. One man’s only job, one man’s only job is to hold up a shield to protect Goliath. This strong man with this huge weapon over nine feet tall would literally be able to stand over the man that’s protecting him with a shield and over that man just stab the opponents over that wall of shields. This man was literally a killing machine. He was a man who had been in battle since his youth. He was a man who knew battle, understood battle. When you went into battle during ancient times, we were told in history that many men would go into battles completely drugged up. They would take drugs what we would call modern day drugs. They were taken those in ancient times and they would take those drugs just to be able to build up enough courage to go into a battle like that. They would go into those battles completely drunk just to be able to get the courage to be able to go into a battle like that.
When you went into a battle like the battles in the Old Testament, would often look into the eyes of your opponent and you would see a glaze, because they were drugged up, because they were drugged. You would often look into the eyes of your opponent and you would see fear. The worst thing, the worst thing that you couldn’t see when you look into the eyes of your opponents was to see calm. Because when you saw a man who was calm during the battle, you knew that you were dealing with an experienced warrior who had been doing this for a long time. They knew what they were doing and they were not afraid. This was Goliath, this formidable adversary who would strike fear and demand respect simply by his large, powerful and intense physique.
So we start with our formidable adversary. There’s a second player in this story and it’s the frightened army. Look at verse 11. We saw the formidable adversary, but no notice the frightened army. First Samuel 17 and verse 11, “When Saul and all Israel heard those words …” I’m sorry. You know what? I skipped few verses. Let me go back. Look at verse eight real quickly. Not only that I want you to see the champion, but I also want you to understand the challenge. Notice the challenge that came from Goliath. Verse eight, “And he, Goliath, stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, ‘Why are ye come out to set your battle in array?'” So Goliath comes out and he says, “Why have you come out to set your battle in array? Why are you arranging your troops to go into battle with us? Am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul?”
Notice, he didn’t say that they are the servants of the Lord. He didn’t say that they are the servant of God. He said that they are the servants of Saul. Notice what he says. Here’s the challenge, “Choose you man for you, and let him come down to me.” So here’s where Goliath puts his challenge. He says, “Look, there’s no reason why we should all descend into this valley and have many casualties and have many people die.” He says, “Why don’t we do this?” This was something that was commonly done in ancient time. He said, “Let’s just have a representative battle.” We actually see this in scripture at other times. We see it in the word of God itself. They said, “Just count out sir and men.” In this example, he says, “You choose one guy and he will fight against me.”
Notice what he says, verse nine, “If he be able …” that’s really the question. “If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.” So we have our champion and we have our challenge. He says, “Let’s not all go fight. There’s no point of so many people dying. Just choose one man, meet me down in the valley. If he kills me, we’ll surrender to you. If I kill him …” I mean, the man that would take on this challenge was not only taking his own life into his hands. He was taking the life of his entire nation. Because the outcome of this battle would determine, the outcome of this battle would determine the fate of the rest of the nation of Israel. That leads us into our frightened army.
Look at verse 11, “When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistines …” I want you to notice these words, “… they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.” They were dismayed and greatly afraid. The word dismay means the feeling of worry or anxiety concerning an outcome of a hopeless situation. The word dismay means that they look at a situation that they said was hopeless. There is no hope. There is no man. There is nobody who can go down and kill Goliath. Goliath puts his challenge and he says, “Just give me a man to fight,” and the Israelites and Saul said … The Bible tells us they were dismayed. Why? Because they said there is no hope. There’s no hope. No one, no one can beat Goliath. Not only were they dismayed, the Bible tells us they were greatly afraid. What does the word afraid mean? It means an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain or harm.
Here’s what you need to understand. The word dismayed is connected to a situation that is hopeless, to a situation that has no hope, that there is no hope that you will come out on top, that there is no hope that you will actually win the battle, that there is no hope that you will actually win. The word afraid is connected to the fact that it would be hurtful. Not just that there is no hope, but when it’s done it will hurt. There will be pain and there will be suffering. There will be women and children and other men and elderly people who will pay the price. This is why the children of Israel were dismayed and this why they were afraid, because of Goliath. Because when they look at Goliath, they look at a situation that in their minds and in their heart was hopeless and would be hurtful.
I want you to know just one more thing. Look at verse 11 there, “When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistines …” I want you to notice that Saul is mentioned there. Saul is the king. Look down on verse number 19, “Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.” That phrase fighting there is used loosely. They are not really doing a lot of fighting, if you know what I mean. I want you to just understand a couple of things just as we develop the story. Saul is mentioned several times and here’s what you need to understand. If there was anybody who should have gone down to fight Goliath, it should have been Saul. It should have been Saul for a couple of reasons. Number one, he is the king. He is the leader. He is tone that everyone is looking at for leadership and everyone is looking for him to take the initiative. More than that, the Bible tells us that Saul was actually the tallest man there.
Go back to first Samuel chapter nine, look at verse two. First Samuel chapter nine, we’re going to be done here soon just stick with me. First Samuel chapter nine and verse two; first Samuel chapter nine and verse two says this about Saul, “And he had a son, whose name was Saul …” this is one Saul who is being chosen to be king, “… a choice young man, and a goodly: and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people.” So the Bible tells us that Saul from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people of the children of Israel. Saul was the tallest man in the side of the children of Israel. Now here’s what we can gather from that. Here’s what we can gather from that. God loves short people. I’m just kidding. It seems to me like every toppers in the Bible is not a good guy. Anyway, maybe that wasn’t the application.
The point is this. Saul was a tall man. Saul was the leader. Saul was the king. Saul probably should have been, Saul should have been the man who took Goliath on, but Saul is paralyzed along with the rest of the children of Israel. Why? Because they were dismayed. They saw no hope for their situation and they we’re afraid. They felt that the outcome would be hurtful.
Go back to first Samuel 17, look at verse 20. The Bible says this, “And David …” Now we’re not going to spend a lot of time on David this morning. We’re going to deal with David more next week. Just so you understand, this is our unlikely hero. This is our underdog. “David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him.” Jesse is his father. Jesse had commanded David to go where the army was and to run an errand. “And he, David, came to the trench of the host …” the host is a large number of people, “… and was going forth to fight, and shouted for the battle.” Now here’s what I want you to understand. Jesse tells David his son, “Go to where the army is and check in on your three elder brothers who are fighting with Saul.” We’re going to get into that next week.
I want you to notice when David shows up to the battle, I want you to notice what it says there at the end of verse 20, “And he came to the trench, as the host.” The host is the large number of people, talking about the children of Israel, because he’s on that side of the children of Israel. “As the host was going forth to fight, and shouted for the battle.” Here’s what I want you to understand. It’s not the children of Israel, because the Bible tells us that Goliath came out for 40 days and game this challenge over and over and he would defy the children of Israel. What defy means he would openly shame them. He would embarrass them. Every day he would go out and say, “Give me a man. Find a man who is willing to fight with me. Find a man who is willing to take the battle on. Find who is willing to fight and we will serve you or you will serve us.”
When David shows up, the Bible tells us that he came into the trench and the host was going forth to fight and shouted for the battle. Here’s what I want you to understand. The children of Israel every day, every day they woke up. They we’re actually trying to psych each other on to go fight. They were trying to encourage each other. They were telling each other, “Let’s not go fight Goliath one on one. We’ll never be able to do that, but let’s just all go fight. Let’s just all go fight together and we will just fight them head on. Maybe one of us can’t kill Goliath, but maybe in the battle many of us can take him on.” That’s what it was going on when David showed up. David showed up, look at verse 20, came to the trench, as the host was going forth to the fight, and shouted for the battle. They’re growling each other up. They say, “Yeah, let’s go do it. Let’s go fight.” They’re getting themselves ready and psyched up to go fight the enemies of the Lord.
Verse 21, “For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against army.” They were actually getting ready to fight and they did this over and over and over again. You say, “Well, what happened? Why would they not actually fight?” Verse 22, “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 …” remember they’re getting ready to go because they’re psyching each other up and say, “Let’s just go fight. Let’s just go do it. Let’s just do it together.” They ere shouting for the battle.
The Bible says in verse 23, “As he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion of 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.” I want you to understand this. Every day they get up and say, “Today is the day. Today we’re going to do it. Let’s go take on Goliath, not one of us but all of us.” They would kept the battle in array. They would get the plan going. They will psych each other up. They would go forth to fight and shouted for the battle. Every day they would go on to approach the enemies and say, “Today we’re going to fight them. Today we’re going to win them.” Every day Goliath will come out and roar and say, “Fee-fi-fo-fum,” and come out and show himself, and every day they would again be gripped by fear. The Bible says, “They fled.”
I want you to understand this is very embarrassing, very shameful time for the children of Israel and here’s why. Not only were they fearful, but they were failing. Every time they said, “Today we’re going to do it. Today we’re going to go. Today we’re going to fight,” they would run out. Goliath will come out and say, “No,” and they will see Goliath and they would run. They were fearful. They were failing and they ere fleeing. They were fearful and they were failing and they were fleeing.
Hey Pastor Jimenez, what does this have to do with us? Here’s what it has to do with us and here’s what you need to understand. The story of David and Goliath is a real story. A real man who is actually over nine feet tall actually lived. His name was Goliath and he fought against children of Israel. The reason that it’s put in scripture for us is because it represents the battles of our lives. See the story of Goliath is probably one of the most famous stories in the word of God, but you find the same story throughout the Bible. Whether it’s Moses gong against Pharaoh the leader father the world, whether it’s Joshua going against the walls of Jericho, whether it’s Gideon and his 300 soldiers going against the enumerable number of military on the other side, whatever major story in the Bible you want to pick you often find that it is a giant on one side and it is a cowardly people on the other side who are paralyzed by fear, who are fearful, who are dismayed and the frightened.
So here’s the question I have for you. Who’s your Goliath? What’s your Goliath? You say, “How can I identify the Goliath in my life?” Well, it’s easy. What makes you dismayed and afraid? What makes you dismayed and afraid? What do you look at and you say, “There’s no hope. It is a hopeless situation. There is no one. There is no one that could fight that battle and win.” See for us it’s not a physical nine-foot man, but for you it may be a relationship. For some of you, it’s a marriage. You look at it and you say there’s no hope for this. There’s no going back. There’s no winning in. It’s gone too far. There’s no hope to recover. For some of you, it may be a child. You have a child who’s gone wayward, who’s gone away from the Lord and you say there just no hope. They’re never going to get saved. They’re never going to get right. They’re never going to come back. Too many years have been wasted. Too many things have been said.
For some of you, it may be a relationship with a parent. My father just hurt me too much or my mother just did too many things and there’s never going to be a recovery to that. There’s no hope for that battle. For some of you, it might be an addiction, whether it’s drugs or alcohol or pornography or gambling. You said, “I’ve tried to fight it. I psyched myself up and say we’re going to win this. We’re going to win this battle,” and then you go and Goliath shows up and you flee and you run and you’re scared. Maybe it’s a health issue.
You see for some of you, it’s a confrontation. You know you have to have that conversation. You know you have to confront that individual, but the present matter is you don’t want to know the truth. You’d rather not know the truth. For some of you, it may be a sign of confrontation. Maybe it’s not a difficult conversation that you know you have to have, but it’s a confession that you know you should make and you know that you should come out. You know that you should come clean. You know that you should say, “Here’s what I did and I’m sorry and I apologize,” but you look at it and you say, “It’s going to hurt too much.” Maybe it’s a decision. You know what God wants you to do. You know what the right thing is to do, but it’s going to hurt me too much. It’s going to affect me too much. I look at the situation and I see it and it is just hopeless and it is hurtful. We look at these giants in our lives and it paralyzes us. We like the children of Israel are dismayed and afraid.
Why would we spend the next couple of weeks studying the story of Goliath? Here’s why. If you look down on verse number 49, first Samuel 17 and verse 49 the Bible says this, “And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he, Goliath, fell upon his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.” If there is one thing that we can learn from the story of David and Goliath is this, that Goliath can fall and you can win. Whatever that is, whatever that Goliath is in your life, whatever that situation is the you look at and you say, “It’s hopeless. It’s hurtful. I can’t win it, I tried. I’m fearful and I keep failing and it’s just easier to flee. It’s just easier to give up. It’s just easier to run away.”
Whatever that Goliath is in your life, the story of David and Goliath teaches us that we can get the victory. Now it’s not by our strength and it’s not by our might, but that’s why, that’s why it’s important to understand this very epic story in scripture. Next week, next week, we’re going to pick up the story right where we left it off. Next week, we’re going to talk about not slaying Goliath, but what we need to do before we slay Goliath and what needs to happen before you get to Goliath.
Let’s bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord we thank you for the story. We thank you for this account in history that literally physically happened. There really was a man named Goliath. There really was a boy named David. There really was a king named Saul. There really was a military of the children of Israel who were dismayed and afraid. Father, I pray that you would help us today. I pray that you would help us to learn to identify the Goliaths in our lives.