Enter the Hero

When we left off we were discussing fear, and how we are all subject to it. It is a debilitating enemy that robs us of fulfilling the calling God has placed upon our lives. We saw that the Lord owns the battlefield, that He is with us, and has been victorious on it before. We saw the reproach of the enemy is usually waged in the appearance and in the words spoken against us, and that usually results in our reacting in fear. Yet, God is our champion. He promises us that nothing will overtake us that we can’t handle without Him:

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. 1 Cor. 10:13

This week we’ll see that what God needs to defeat the enemy is the characteristics of submission and obedience.  When a person has those characteristics God can take a shepherd boy whose only claim to fame is being background music while the king tries to sleep, and make a hero for a distraught, disheartened people out of him.

Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse, and who had eight sons. And the man was old, advanced in years, in the days of Saul.  The three oldest sons of Jesse had gone to follow Saul to the battle. The names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah.  David was the youngest. And the three oldest followed Saul.  But David occasionally went and returned from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. And the Philistine drew near and presented himself forty days, morning and evening. Then Jesse said to his son David, “Take now for your brothers an ephah of this dried grain and these ten loaves, and run to your brothers at the camp. And carry these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and see how your brothers fare, and bring back news of them.”  Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. So David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, and took the things and went as Jesse had commanded him. 1 Samuel 17:12-20

David’s spirit of submission stems from him being the youngest of eight brothers of an elderly man. Many youngest children are submissive because they learn a lot by watching the older siblings. They understand the importance of just doing what they’re told to do. They get to see what happens when children try to go off and do wrong despite their parent’s warnings. This youngest son had also learned to be submissive by serving in the king’s household and learning from those who submitted to Saul’s will as well, even when Saul was troubled in spirit. We see this in 1 Samuel 16:14-23. David had learned how to be an armor bearer to Saul which was definitely a submissive position. It was a position in which he ‘cleaned the weapons’ and made sure that all Saul had for battle was kept at the ready. What is interesting about this passage of scripture is that it says that Saul loved David. It’s hard to love a rebellious kid, but to love someone who submits to your authority is easy. David’s experience as being the youngest was a blessing of God on his life.

Jesse’s three oldest sons had already had been conscripted into the army and were camped with their unit. David had returned home and was sent back out to shepherd the sheep since the family was shorthanded due to the brothers being in the service of the country. Yet, he was called in and sent on the errand of running supplies to his brothers, probably because he was familiar with and to the leaders of Saul’s army. They knew his face and he knew theirs, but that might have been about it. He was the harp player, the armor bearer, the servant.  Everything he’d experienced positionally in life was about being in a submissive role. He was quite used to it.  Taking supplies to his brothers was nothing new to David. It would have been something he would have done as an armor bearer to the king as well. As a shepherd he was used to running provisions around for sheep. He also knew one thing about provisions, without God there were none.

In our society being under submission is frowned upon. Everyone is supposed to be looking out for number one, which is usually one’s self in the world’s view. It’s not looking out for God’s interest according to man’s philosophy. It’s not even looking out for another person’s interests if it doesn’t benefit one’s self. Submission is the opposite of that. Submission has some benefits that we tend to forget in our society. First, submission provides a covering that keeps us from being exposed to things we can’t handle. Second, submission keeps us accountable to an authority, making us behave ourselves and perhaps act better than we would if left to our own devices. The final blessing is the provision we get from submission. When we are under submission it means we are not ‘where the buck stops’, and there is someone having to take it on for us. An authority has to make sure we have what we need to complete the task they’ve got for us. When we are under submission, it means we’re being taken care of so we can participate in the mission.  It is a blessing, if we choose to see it that way and not fear. It is a humbling yet wonderful position to be in.

In the midst of this errand there is the mention of Goliath still going out and mocking the army of God, which he had been doing for forty days relentlessly. Day after day this beast of a man mocked them, taunting, calling for them to send out a warrior to fight him, just one, and it would be over. Yet, not one Israelite had gone out to fight against him. It would have been different if there had been a slew of bodies piled up in the valley that Goliath had ripped to shreds. There was no such corpses filling the valley floor; just the relentless barking and growling of the threatening bite that wore on the anxious army gathered already in defeat.

 And he came to the camp as the army was going out to the fight and shouting for the battle. For Israel and the Philistines had drawn up in battle array, army against army. And David left his supplies in the hand of the supply keeper, ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers. Then as he talked with them, there was the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, coming up from the armies of the Philistines; and he spoke according to the same words. So David heard them.  And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were dreadfully afraid. 1 Samuel 17:20-24

Enter our hero. David arrives, the servant of Saul, not dressed for battle, but on an errand for his father, delivery man. He comes, a very young man, possible a teen, to see that the army is arrayed for battle. He thinks the fight is on. I know a lot of teen boys because I’m a high school teacher. There is a lot of hormones that boil in these young men at the very mention of the word “battle”. The idea of a hand to hand, sword swooping battle was probably enough to make David’s face flush with excitement. He was too young to fight, but he wanted a piece of the action none the less. He expected the men to be the same way, but what he saw was that they pulled back at the sight of Goliath. His excitement waned, disappointment filled his heart, and something began to take hold of him that was missing from the other men around him--obedience.

For David it was clear there was a job to be done. There was a battle to be waged. It did not matter who the enemy was before them. God had sent them to fight this battle. David knew the history of the battlefield. He knew the enemy. He knew his king had defeated many enemies before this time. He also knew how it had been done because it had been done in his life, and he knew how to submit himself to the will of God. When he looked at the valley below him he saw what the others saw, but he saw it in the light of a submitted spirit. He knew that to obey willingly meant he would be provided for by God, because he’d seen it happen time and time again in his life. It took a lot of courage for David to speak up and say something at this point, since he was only a youth. Obedience is the working of the submitting spirit. It’s the complying with what must be done.  For David, it really was a part of his spiritual make up to just do what he felt called to do, which was to spur on the Israelites to fight.

 ^“ So the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel; and it shall be that the man who kills him the king will enrich with great riches, will give him his daughter, and give his father’s house exemption from taxes in Israel.”  Then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall 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 defy the armies of the living God?” And the people answered him in this manner, saying, “So shall it be done for the man who kills him.” 1 Samuel 17:25-27

 I don’t believe David was asking what would be done for the man who would kills Goliath because he was interested in getting the reward. It wasn’t that he was interested in the riches, or the princess, or the tax exemptions. If we look at those one at time we can see that with the position he had through his submission to Saul and his obedience to those in authority over him, he had no need for any of those. He lived in the palace when he wasn’t with his father, so he had no need for riches. The exemption would be nice for his father and brothers, but being the youngest he had no real inheritance to be taxed. As for the princess, what would he have to give her? He was the least in his father’s house, and no princess would live where he kept the sheep. His question wasn’t meant for himself. His question was meant to rouse the aspirations of those disheartened soldiers who needed motivating. If they couldn’t see beyond their current situation, perhaps they could see the reward for the one who would step out, if only in the physical. Sometimes we have to be motivated by what’s in it for us in order to move. David’s question wasn’t self-serving, it was prophetic. David would have all those things because he would become king, not because he killed Goliath, but because he obeyed and submitted to God.

^“Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger was aroused against David, and he said, “Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.” And David said, “What have I done now? Is there not a cause?”  Then he turned from him toward another and said the same thing; and these people answered him as the first ones did.” 1 Samuel 17:28-30

This is an interesting exchange in the Bible between two siblings. This is the big brother giving the little brother a hard time. Eliab is a warrior in Saul’s army, and by this time has served for a while. Yet, he’s not on the floor of the valley fighting Goliath. There is little brother trying to rally the men. What an insult to this man of Jesse. He is the heir, yet his kid brother is there, by his father’s instruction, to give supplies to Eliab and his two brothers. Eliab’s anger is because David is trying to get the army motivated, and Eliab feels he’s being insolent because little brother is not the one that has to face the giant. Eliab believes David just wants to watch the fight for his amusement; that David’s youth is misguided and he doesn’t understand what’s at risk. Eliab isn’t wrong, but like my older brother says, he’s just not exactly right either.

        David responds by asking what he’s done now. He asks Eliab if there isn’t a cause for what he’s saying. Eliab doesn’t answer or reprove his little brother. He says nothing more. Perhaps he was too angry, or perhaps God spoke into Eliab’s heart in that moment and he knew that David was right; there was a cause, there was a reason, there was a fight, but it was not Eliab’s battle because of his own fear and the insolence within his heart.   David continues on to ask those in the Israelite camp about Goliath, to rally them, to bring encouragement to them, just by asking the question and in asking he’s getting them thinking, “What will be done for the man who KILLS this Philistine and TAKES away the reproach of Israel?” His question had an implication that victory was assured. In David’s mind it was because he knew his God was mightier than Goliath. He had a history with God that could not be argued. That’s what we will look at next week.