Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Samuel 16-17.

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I first thought to title today’s blog, “The Battle Is the Lord’s,” but as I began to gather my thoughts to write I realized that the message God gave Samuel when he thought Eliab was the one to anoint to take Saul’s place applied to Goliath as well.  When Jesse had his sons pass before Samuel, Samuel saw Eliab as having the qualities we look for in a leader: he was tall and handsome, and probably stood with presence (eldest sons often do, they are used to bossing their younger brothers around).  However, God told Samuel that Eliab did not have what He was looking for in the next king.  After Samuel checked each of David’s older brothers, he asked Jesse to send for David.  The fact that David was not present tells us something about how even his father viewed him.  David was just the kid brother.   In the account about Goliath we get some hints as to why God did not choose Eliab, and clear evidence about why He chose David.  We also see in that account reason to believe that Jesse, David’s father, explicitly chose not to include David in the feast with Samuel.  When Jesse needed to send David with supplies to his brothers, he was able to leave someone else in charge of the sheep while David went.  Yet, he did not think it worthwhile to do the same in order to have David present for a feast with Samuel, the man who had made Saul king.

When David was trying to get someone in King Saul’s army to confront Goliath, Eliab did not just call him to account and correct him, he belittled his little brother.  I do not want to condemn Eliab  for this.  However, Eliab should not have been angry with David.  One should even consider that he may have felt called out by David.  Most importantly, we see that God did not choose Eliab to be king because he did not do what David did.  When King Saul had David brought before him to chastise him for trying to instigate trouble among his men, David immediately said, “If no one else is willing to fight this Philistine, I will go.”  David then dismissed Saul’s contention that he was too inexperienced to take on a seasoned warrior.  David said that he had taken on lions and bears to protect his father’s sheep and God had delivered him.  How much more could he expect God to deliver him from this Philistine who had defied the armies of the living God?*  When David confronted Goliath, Goliath proclaimed that he would kill David and cursed David by his gods.  David replied by saying that God would give him the victory bringing glory to His name because Goliath had defied God.  David did not believe he would win because he was the superior warrior or better tactician.  David outright stated that he would win because the battle was the Lord’s.  We will not emerge victorious from this life’s challenges and battles because of our own greatness, any victory worth having will come to us because God gives it to us.  God chose David to be king because he was willing to rely on God, even when others were afraid to act.

Note: this is one of the earliest references in the Bible where an Israelite compares YHWH, the living God, to the gods of other nations, which were carved out of wood, or formed out of metal.  It is clear that David did not fear the gods of the Philistines because they were man made.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Samuel 16-17.

I have long perceived there to be conflict between the account of David beginning to play the lyre for King Saul and the account of David facing down Goliath.  In the former we are told that Saul made David one of his armor bearers and asked Jesse to remain in his service, while the latter has David take supplies from his father to his eldest three brothers, who were with King Saul’s army.  However, that latter account tells us that David went back and forth from Saul to tending his father’s sheep.  Before today, it never occurred to me that that referred to the service mentioned in the former account.  As for the ending of the account of David and Goliath where King Saul and Abner do not know who David’s father was, that actually makes sense.  There is no reason that the commander of Saul’s army would know who King Saul’s lyre player was, and it is not surprising that Saul did not make the connection between David, the lyre player, and David, the giant killer.

Having written the above, I want to take a look at David as a budding leader as revealed here.  Every time I read this, I see a different way to interpret David’s actions here.  Today as I read David’s reaction to hearing Goliath I read it as him trying to encourage someone, anyone, from King Saul’s army to take on Goliath.  David’s reaction to Goliath was, “Who is this guy to defy the armies of the living God?”  As an aside, I want to note the distinction David makes here between the God of Israel and the idols worshiped by other nations: God is alive, the idols which others worship are not actually real beings.  But back to what David did when he heard Goliath.  He attempted to encourage one of King Saul’s warriors to step forward and take on Goliath.  When Saul heard what David was doing and summoned David, David responded by saying that if no one else would take on Goliath, he would gladly do it.  When Saul told David that he could not do it because he was barely more than a boy, while Goliath was an experienced warrior, David had an answer.  David replied (paraphrasing here), “I have taken on lions and bears to protect my father’s sheep, why would I be afraid to take on someone who is defying God and threatening His people?”  David did not take on Goliath for glory.  He took on Goliath in defense of God’s people.  He had faith that he could defeat Goliath because Goliath was defying God.  Further, when he entered into battle with Goliath, he gave credit to God for his victory before battle was entered.  David faced down the giant because the giant was defying and threatening God’s people.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Samuel 16-17.

God sent Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as king to replace King Saul.  When Samuel saw Jesse’s eldest son, Eliab, he was sure that this was the man God had chosen.  Eliab was tall and handsome, the very picture of what we imagine a king to be.  But God told Samuel that Eliab was not whom He had chosen.  God does not look for the things in a leader for which people look.  We judge potential leaders on outward appearance, but God judges based on what is in their hearts.

The passage then goes on to two accounts about how David entered into King Saul’s service.  At first glance these two accounts seem to be in conflict.  However, I noticed in the second account it mentions that Jesse’s oldest three sons followed King Saul, but that David went back and firth between serving Saul and tending his father’s sheep.  That suggests that David was already in Saul’s service, but only on a part time basis, which would be consistent with the first account where David was only called to play for King Saul when an “evil (or harmful) spirit from the Lord came upon him.”  However, what I really want to focus on from this account is what it reveals about David’s heart.  When David heard Goliath’s challenge to the Israelites, his response was, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”  On several occasions in this account David repeats similar sentiments.  The capstone on understanding what in David’s heart led God to choose him as the one to succeed Saul as king over Israel when David confronted Goliath.  At that point David said, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty,…”  David was confident in his skills and abilities, but he knew in his heart that his success would only come from serving God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Samuel 16-17.

Before today, I never really noticed that the elders of the town of Bethlehem trembled when Samuel first arrived there and asked him if he came in peace.  Samuel calmed their fears and invited them to a sacrifice.  I need to give some thought to whether the elders feared Samuel because of what he had done, or if they feared him because of his connection to King Saul.  The next thing which occurred to me is not something new, but worth mentioning now: The two books of Samuel (and most of the other “historical” books of the Old Testament) are compilations of accounts which had been passed down independent of one another.  The above is very clear in today’s passage.  Today’s passage contains three stories about the early years of David’s career.  First, there is the account of Samuel anointing David as king to replace King Saul.  Second, there is an account of how David entered Saul’s service as a musician.  Finally, there is the account of David and Goliath.

Now, because the accounts contained in today’s passage had been passed down as separate stories, there are some apparent conflicts between them.  First I want to look at Eliab’s (David’s eldest brother) reaction to David coming down to see the battle.  Eliab had been present when Samuel anointed David, but nevertheless he interpreted David’s asking about what reward Saul had offered for the man who defeated Goliath as David trying to stir up trouble (I will come back to this later).  The next, and biggest, conflict among these stories comes from the account of King Saul sending messengers to bring David into his service as a musician and then not recognizing him when he came forth to face Goliath.  This has always bothered me: how could King Saul not recognize David if David had been in his service playing music for him when he became agitated?  The answer came to me today.  Before the incident with Goliath, David would probably only be around Saul when Saul became agitated and someone called for him to play his lyre.  In fact, David probably did not spend much time in Gibeah, since his father lived less than a day away.

After Samuel anointed David, the passage says “from that day on, the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. ”  I think we see what the passage meant in the account later of David and Goliath, as much in what David said to the Israelite soldiers when he first saw Goliath come forth as in what he ultimately did that day.  David tried to encourage one of the soldiers to stand forth against Goliath in faith that God would be with them. “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”  When no one else would do so, David himself stood forth, trusting in God.  I believe that this was not the first time David had “stirred up trouble” by pushing people to act in faith.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Samuel 16-17.

We normally think of David’s father as being a man of no particular note.  However, reading between the lines a little bit in this passage, combined with some of the things we learn in later passages about David’s nephews, suggests that Jesse was a man of great prominence in the tribe of Judah.  In this passage we see that Samuel knew who Jesse was, and was worried that King Saul would quickly learn that he had gone to see him and anoint one of his sons.  Additionally, Jesse was an important enough person that the idea that Samuel would go to him to conduct a sacrifice was believable.

Then we have two stories which seem to describe different ways in which David entered into King Saul’s service.  While the two stories conflict with each other, they do not contradict each other.  If one realizes that the book we are reading is a compilation of oral traditions you realize that each story came from different oral traditions and each needed to end with David in King Saul’s service.  The first story explains how David came to play the lyre for King Saul, the second story explains how David came to be a war chief for King Saul.  I believe that David began playing the lyre to soothe King Saul before the Goliath incident, but did not fully enter into King Saul’s service until after the incident.  But since the oral tradition did not contain the account of David vs Goliath, it needed to explain David entering into long term service with King Saul and thus talks about David becoming Saul’s armor-bearer and then remaining in King Saul’s service.    For those who wonder about how an armor-bearer became a war chief, remember the account about Jonathan going up against the Philistine camp accompanied by just his armor-bearer.  Jonathan’s armor-bearer fought alongside him there.   As such, I am convinced that both stories took place, but that the part where King Saul made David one of his armor-bearers and took him permanently into his service took place after David defeated Goliath.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.