Sermon Notes
Underdogs,
Misfits and Giant Slayers
Steve W. Reeves
INTRODUCTION:
A. The time was three
thousand years ago, approximately 1000 B.C. The place was the country
of Israel. On either side of the Valley of
Elah, also known as the “Valley of Blood” the
opposing armies camped.
1. The Philistines camped at Socoh. They
were heavily armored with swords, chariots
and weapons of iron. They hoped to use
their military superiority to gain control of the hill
country in which the Israelites resided.
2. The Israelites had already suffered
embarrassing defeats by the Philistines. In an earlier
battle 30,000 Israelites had been killed
and the Ark of the Covenant had been captured.
3. For
forty days the armies had been at a standoff reminiscent of a modern day cold
war. The
stage was set for one of the most
unlikely battles ever recorded.
B. 1 Samuel 17:4-7
introduces us to the Philistine’s great warrior, Goliath. – “Then a champion
came out from the armies of the Philistines
named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six
cubits and a span. (A cubit is about 18
inches which would have made Goliath about 9 and a
half feet tall). 5 He had a
bronze helmet on his head, and he was clothed with scale-armor
which weighed five thousand shekels of
bronze.(about 123 pounds) 6 He
also had bronze
greaves on his legs and a bronze javelin
slung between his shoulders. 7 The shaft of his
spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the
head of his spear weighed six hundred shekels of
iron (about 15 pounds).
1. Each day Goliath would come out of the
Philistine camp and taunt the Israelites. His
challenge was for them to send someone
out to do hand to hand combat with him. It would
be a winner take all contest. Beginning
in verse 8 – “He stood and shouted to the ranks of
Israel and said to them, “Why do you
come out to draw up in battle array? Am I not the
Philistine and you servants of Saul?
Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down
to me. 9 If he is able
to fight with me and kill me, then we will become your servants; but if I
prevail against him and kill him, then
you shall become our servants and serve us.” 10 Again
the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks
of Israel this day; give me a man that we may fight
together.” 11 When Saul
and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were
dismayed and greatly afraid.”
a. Notice the last verse. Saul, the
leader of Israel, who stood head and shoulders above all
of the other Israelites, was afraid.
He did not inspire confidence in his troops.
b. Israel seems to realize that they are
the underdogs. They are outmanned, under-
equipped and morally shaken.
c. Malcolm Gladwell has written a book
entitled, Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling
Giants. Israel’s army were
underdogs. Most of them were farmers and servants who had
been conscripted to take up arms.
They had not had formal training. They were waging
war with sticks, clubs and stones.
The odds certainly did not look good.
C. If there is one thing
we have learned from the brief introduction to David in chapter 16 it is
that God does not see as man sees. Man
looks at the outward appearance but God looks at
the heart.
1. Into this scene comes the young man
David. He is the youngest of eight sons of Jesse.
His three oldest brothers, Eliab,
Abinidab and Shammah, were serving in the army. David’s
father instructed him to bring food
and provision for his brothers. We pick
up with verse 15
“But David went back and forth from Saul
to tend his father’s flock at Bethlehem. Then
Jesse said to David his son, “Take now
for your brothers an ephah of this roasted grain and
these ten loaves and run to the camp to
your brothers. 18 Bring also these ten cuts of
cheese to the commander of their thousand, and look into the
welfare of your brothers, and
bring back news of them. 19 For
Saul and they and all the men of Israel are in the valley of
Elah, fighting with the Philistines.” 20 So
David arose early in the morning and left the flock
with a keeper and took the supplies and went as Jesse had
commanded him. And he came
to the circle of the camp while the army
was going out in battle array shouting the war cry.”
1. David was obedient to His father.
2. He observed the situation with eyes
that were perceptive beyond their years.
3. David was offended by the taunts of
Goliath. In verse 24 – “Israel and the Philistines
drew up in battle array, army
against army. 22 Then David left his baggage in the care of
the baggage keeper, and ran to the battle
line and entered in order to greet his brothers.
23 As he was talking
with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine from Gath named
Goliath, was coming up from the army
of the Philistines, and he spoke these same
words; and David heard them. 24 When
all the men of Israel saw the man, they fled from
him and were greatly afraid.”
2. From the outside looking in it seems as
if David is an underdog and a misfit. He has no
business being there. He is not a
solder. He is like a kid trying to look through a fence at a
baseball game.
a. He hears about the reward being
offered for the man who will go out and kill Goliath.
Beginning in verse 25. “The men of Israel said, “Have you seen this
man who is coming
up? Surely he is coming up to defy
Israel. And it will be that the king will enrich the man
who kills him with great riches and
will give him his daughter and make his father’s house
free in Israel.” 26 Then
David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, “What
will be done for the man who kills
this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel?
For who is this uncircumcised
Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living
God?” 27 The people
answered him in accord with this word, saying, “Thus it will be done
for the man who kills him.”
b. This reward gets David’s attention.
He asks in vs. 26, “What will be done?
Great riches, given his daughter in marriage and his family will be set free – no longer
Great riches, given his daughter in marriage and his family will be set free – no longer
having to pay taxes. This certainly
attracted David.
c. There was something more important.
Vs. 26 – He was interested in the man who kills
this Philistine and takes away the reproach
from Israel. He saw Israel’s embarrassment.
Where was Saul? This was a need and
an opportunity for the newly anointed King to
step up.
d. David was willing to step up even
when others looked down on him.
1.)
Vs. 28–30 “Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men;
and
Eliab’s anger burned against
David and he said, “Why have you come down? And
with whom have you left those
few sheep in the wilderness? I know your insolence
and the wickedness of your
heart; for you have come down in order to see the battle.”
29 But David said, “What have I done now?
Was it not just a question?” 30 Then he
turned away from him to
another and said the same thing; and the people answered
the same thing as before.”
2.)
When it becomes apparent David is interested in taking on Goliath the
word is
passed along to Saul. In verse
31 – “When the words which David spoke were heard,
they told them to Saul,
and he sent for him. 32 David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart
fail on account of him; your servant will go and fight with this
Philistine.” 33 Then Saul
said to David, “You are not able
to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you
are but a youth while he has
been a warrior from his youth.”
D. If there was ever a miss-match this
seemed to be it. If there were ever a lop-sided story or
a stacked deck this seemed to be it.
1. God was not looking at the height of
David. He wasn’t concerned about His skill as a
soldier or whether he had been to
the Israeli army boot camp.
2. There were three things God saw in
David that leveled the playing field and made David
a worthy opponent to Goliath.
I.
TRAINING
A. David told Saul about his credentials.
Verse 34 - 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant
was tending his father’s sheep. When a
lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock,
35 I went out after him
and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose
up against me, I seized him by
his beard and struck him and killed him. 36 Your servant has
killed both the lion and the bear; and
this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them,
since he has taunted the armies of the
living God.” 37 And David said, “The Lord who
delivered me from the paw of the lion
and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from
the hand of this Philistine.”
1. We sometimes approach this text as if
David is totally unprepared for the encounter with
Goliath. This is not true. Though he
had received no formal military training this was
hardly the first time David had
encountered a hostile enemy.
2. While tending his father’s sheep he
had killed a lion and a bear. I have seen pictures of
what bears can do to people. It is
not pretty. David was not a wimp. He was strong. His
muscles were toned. His senses were
sharp. His skills that been thoroughly developed.
3. In any area of life where you want to
make a difference you need the training to do so.
This is the importance of education.
Learn to think critically. Learn to reason and
evaluate. Acquire knowledge that
will be a resource for you in the years to come.
4. A farmer and preacher were visiting.
The farmer said, “I wish I had a job where I only
worked a few hours on Sunday. The
preacher didn’t say anything. Later the preacher
rode with the farmer as he hauled a
truckload of grain to the mill. It took about 30 minutes
to unload. The preacher said, “I
wish I had a job that only took thirty minutes. The farmer
said, “I’ve been working on this
crop for months.” The preacher said, “Now you know
what it’s like to preach. You spend
hours, weeks and months working for a harvest.”
B. We sometimes attribute events like
David’s defeat of Goliath to special courage and skill.
The fact is that David was thoroughly
disciplined and trained through the years of faithfully
watching over His Father’s flock.
Richard Shelly Taylor, in The Disciplined Life, discusses
how important it is for us to be
disciplined in the small, every day responsibilities of life if we
want to be ready to meet the great
challenges that come our way.
II.
TOOLS
A. At first appearance it might appear that
Goliath had a great advantage over David in terms
of armament. He wore heavy armor, had a
bronze helmet, carried a heavy spear and even
had a soldier in front of him carrying
his shield.
1. Ancient armies had cavalry, foot
soldiers (which Goliath was) and artillery. Goliath was
wanting to do battle with another
foot soldier with whom he would have a distinct
advantage. He was not prepared for
the artillery. David only had one weapon but it was
just the right weapon.
2. The sling can hurl a rock at a
velocity much faster than a Major League Pitcher can throw
a fast ball and at great distances.
In his book, Finding The Heart to Go On, Lynn
Anderson tells of an instance where
a young man skilled with a sling hurled a rock at a
fig tree sixty yards away hitting it
with pinpoint accuracy and embedding the stone in the
bark of the tree.
B. David was confident because he knew he
was competent with the tool he had. He knew he
could take Goliath out without having to
get close enough for Goliath and his heavy,
clanking armor to lay a hand on him.
1. What if Saul had forced David to wear
armor? David would have been a sitting duck.
2. Sometimes we want to force people to
do things that are not in keeping with their natural
abilities, talents and gifts. Like
forcing an eagle to swim or a rabbit to climb a tree. The
results are disastrous.
3. Whatever tool you are proficient with
– use it. Develop it. There are plenty of giants out
there waiting to be conquered.
III.
TRUST
A. There was one particular thing that
distinguished David from all of the Soldiers of Israel. I
am sure many of them were trained and
many of them were skilled in using the weapons
they had. What they lacked was trust in
their God.
1. They viewed the contest with Goliath
as a human battle to be fought with human
weapons fueled by human effort.
2. How quickly they had forgotten all of
the powerful and miraculous works of YAHWEH
who had led their ancestors our of
Egypt, through the wilderness and into the land of
Canaan.
3. Verse 37 is critical. “And
David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion
and from the paw of the bear, He
will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
B. When you compare David and Saul this is
the difference. David trusted God. Saul trusted
his own ability. In Psalm 25:1-3 David
wrote, “To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. 2 O my God,
in You I trust, Do not let me be
ashamed; Do not let my enemies exult over me. 3 Indeed,
none of those who wait for You will be
ashamed.”
CONCLUSION:
A. With proper training,
the right tools and trust in YAHWEH, David went out to meet Goliath.
The story resumes in verse 41.
