Un-intimidated by the imposing warrior that stood before him, David boldly declares, “This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand! I will strike you down and cut off your head” (1 Samuel 17:46a). Answering Goliath’s assertion that he would feed David’s lifeless body to the birds and the beasts, David adds, “This day I will give the corpses of the Philistine army to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the land” (17:46b). Jesus too would fling Himself headlong into battle. With supreme trust in the faithfulness of God, He too would confront His enemy, brushing off the attempts at intimidation, and saying “The Lord will deliver you into My hand.” Because He trusted that He would be resurrected, according to the promises concerning Israel’s messiah, and that His Resurrection would signal the defeat of death and its decapitation, He could confidently insist that He would strike death down and cut off its head.
His defeat of Goliath, David would add, would prove to one and all that “Israel has a God” (17:46c). Why would that be the case? Because it was inconceivable that this young man, inexperienced in battle and in the art of war, could actually topple this proven warrior. Yet we know that that is exactly what happened. As nobody had ever been able to overcome death, Jesus’ defeat of death would be just as inconceivable; but it would be proven by a physical Resurrection. Then, as now, everybody was well aware that people do not come back to life. So when Jesus returned to life, demonstrating death’s defeat, it was God’s victory over death that was made manifest. Because Jesus’ Resurrection showed Him forth as the Son of God in power---as the King of Israel now ruling in the inaugurated kingdom of heaven on earth---all observers that were willing to be honest with themselves would know and understand that Israel has a God. Furthermore, the fact that the preaching of a crucified and resurrected man had power to convince people to believe in Jesus, submit to His claims in allegiance, and be willing to go to their own deaths for holding to such a claim, was further evidence that death had truly been overcome. If the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ had the power to loose its claimants and adherents from the grip and hold of death, supplanting all fear and replacing it with the truth and hope of eternal life through a trusting allegiance to Jesus, then yes, Israel, God’s people through the covenant, has a God.
David continued and said, “all this assembly will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves!” (17:47a) Of course, we know that David was armed with only a slingshot and some stones, whereas Goliath was undoubtedly out-fitted with what passed for the day’s state-of-the-art military equipment. Those that were in a position to observe David’s going out to meet Goliath would probably have not thought very highly of David’s hopes of victory. Since Goliath’s issued challenge had been a man-to-man battle, with two men representing their respective peoples, in which the loser’s people would become slaves to the victor’s people, one can imagine the grumbling that would have been taking place. Just imagine the attitude of men of Israel’s army as David marched out with no shield, no armor, no sword, and no spear. We can see Saul’s generals and advisors pleading with him, not to be so foolish as to allow this boy to determine the fate of Israel. David however, was sure of the Lord’s salvation and vindication.
Jesus would take up similar words. He was clear and direct in His message to His people, as He would effectively tell them that “it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves.” In Jesus’ day, the enemy that embodied death, and that embodied God’s continued cursing of Israel, was Rome. As long as Israel was in subjection to a foreign power, then they were still in exile from their land, regardless of geographic location. Foreign subjection implied God’s cursing. Extended to all of mankind and all of God’s creation, subjection to death and its corrupting power implied that man continued to stand under the curse inflicted upon it by Adam’s rebellion in the Garden. For Israel, because of this, it was believed that a movement must take place to overthrow the Romans and to drive them from their land, so as to re-assert Israel as autonomous and independent. This would come, they believed, through the leadership of their messiah, who would be a king in the mold of their great warrior-king David. They believed that their messiah would rise up, in revolution, and lead a military revolt that would conquer the Romans and drive them out, thus ending God’s curse and their exile. This led to many false messiahs, many uprisings, and many needless and fruitless deaths. Apparently, they had forgotten that their beloved King David, when confronted with an enemy whose defeat seemed like a hopeless cause, stood and said, “it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves.”
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