It is in connection with the
rejection of Saul as king of Israel, and of the evil spirit that comes upon him
in the wake of that rejection, that we first meet up with the man who would
become king of Israel, that being David. The introduction is made when
Samuel goes to Bethlehem, to a man named Jesse, to find and to anoint the one
that God has designated as king over his people. When Samuel encounters
Jesse and his sons, David is not even counted among them. After the sons
of Jesse are presented to Samuel and then eliminated from contention one by
one, Samuel, perplexed by this, inquires if perhaps there might be another son
that has not yet been presented before him. He is told, “There is still
the youngest one, but he’s taking care of the flock” (1 Samuel 16:11b).
At that time, David was off in the field, with no idea about what was going on
or about what God had purposed for him. Figuratively, he was in
exile.
When David is brought before
Samuel, “The Lord said, ‘Go and anoint him. This is the one!’ So
Samuel took the horn full of olive oil and anointed him in the presence of his
brothers” (16:12b-13a). This was David’s exodus. He has now entered
into God’s purposes for him and for God’s people, and to that end, “The Spirit
of the Lord rushed upon David from that day onward” (16:13b). We can see
something of a duplication of this scene in the life of Jesus, as after He was
baptized, which represented His own exodus, it was said that the Spirit of God
descended like a dove and came on Him (Matthew 3:16).
The story of Goliath follows
quickly on the heels of David’s introduction, and in many ways, as do so many
other Scriptural stories, it embodies exile and exodus. The story, of
course, forms part of the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Philistines,
which represent, for Israel, that constant tension between living lives of
exile or exodus, depending on their response to their God and to His
righteousness. When Goliath steps out each day to challenge Israel, he
threatens them with exile (subjugation), saying “Choose for yourselves a man so
he may come down to me! If he is able to fight with me and strike me
down, we will become your servants. But if I prevail against him and
strike him down, you will become our servants and serve us” (17:8b-9).
Repeatedly, “all the men of Israel… retreated from his presence and were very
afraid” (17:24). David, however, did not. He seized on the words of
Goliath, and, if you will, accentuated the positive. Where the men of
Israel heard the threat of exile from Goliath, David heard the words of
exodus. Not only did Goliath speak of Israel being subjugated to the
Philistines, but he was also proposing the reverse, which spoke to God’s
promises to Israel to cause their enemies to flee from before them (Deuteronomy
28:7) and that they would be the head rather than the tail (28:13). This
was connected to God’s promises to bless for the obedience of His people.
So, with God’s faithfulness to His
promises in mind, David hears the men of Israel say “the king will make the man
who can strike him down very wealthy! He will give him his daughter in
marriage, and he will make his father’s house exempt from tax obligations in
Israel” (17:25b). Because David has God’s faithfulness clearly in mind,
we can attempt to imagine his response as he hears these words. Not
having to pay taxes is always a good thing, but what else does David
hear? Perhaps he hears more of Moses’ words as reported in Deuteronomy in
connection with the promises that the king is making, in which Israel is told
“the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth… You will
be blessed in the city and blessed in the field. Your children will be
blessed… You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out… The
Lord will open for you His good treasure house” (28:1b,3,4a,6,12a). All
around him fear exile while David grasps on to the continued promise of
exodus. He goes on to inform Saul that he has experienced dangerous
threats before, and that this threat was no different. David goes on to
speak of “The Lord Who delivered me” (17:37), thereby using the very language of
exodus, trusting in the God that had delivered Israel out of Egypt.
After first attempting to use
Saul’s armor and sword, and finding that he was not comfortable with their use
and that they would prove to be a disadvantage to him in his fight, David went
out to encounter Goliath with his slingshot, some stones, and apparently a
shepherd staff in his hand. Goliath said to him, “Am I a dog, that you
are coming after me with sticks?” (17:43) With this, the unity of
Scripture and Israel’s history once again leaps to the forefront, as we are
reminded of Moses coming before Pharaoh, in his role of deliverer of Israel,
and doing so with a staff in hand. Pharaoh was as dismissive of Moses as
Goliath was of David, to their detriment.
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