After cursing David, what does Goliath say to him? He
said, “Come here to me, so I can give your flesh to the birds of the sky and
the wild animals of the field” (1 Samuel 17:44). Here we find the
language of cursing in relation to covenant violations. When Goliath
speaks in this way, and when the author reports his words, the reader is
artfully reminded, in a way that should not surprise us in the least, of God’s
warnings from Deuteronomy. For Israel at that time, Goliath had become
the present embodiment of cursing and exile that stems from disobedience.
In Deuteronomy we read, that “The Lord will allow you to be struck down before
your enemies; you will attack them from one direction but flee from them in
seven directions and will become an object of terror to all the kingdoms of the
earth” (28:25). More specific to the present circumstance, we can go on
to read, “Your carcasses will be food for every bird of the sky and wild animal
of the earth, and there will be no one to chase them off” (28:26). The
connection between the words of Goliath and the words of God through Moses
could not be more clear.
David, however, does not fear Goliath. He does not
fear exile. He knows that he has been anointed as the king, and as the
deliverer of Israel as the king was supposed to be. Therefore he responds
with “This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand! I will strike
you down and cut off your head. This day I will give the corpses of the
Philistine army to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the land.
Then all the land will realize that Israel has a God and all this assembly will
know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves! For the battle
is the Lord’s, and He will deliver you into our hand” (17:46-47). David
actually verbalizes a reversal of those curses, declaring that what Goliath had
said (most likely in a mocking recitation of the curses that could potentially
settle on Israel if they did not worship their God alone) would actually come
to pass upon him and the Philistines. At the same time, he exalts
Israel’s God as the only God, in defiance of the Philistine gods that had been
referenced by Goliath, thereby presenting a polemic against idolatry and idol
worship. Interestingly, he uses the language of exodus (deliverance) to
present a coming exile for the Philistines (though the
Deuteronomic/Levitical/exilic curses would naturally not apply to them).
When David does eventually prevail over Goliath, we see a
fulfillment of the blessings of Deuteronomy, as “When the Philistines saw their
champion was dead, they ran away” (17:51b). Indeed, Israel’s enemies fled
before them (Deuteronomy 28:7), as the potential exile turned to glorious
exodus at the hands of their faithful God. After chasing after the
Philistines, Israel returned to the Philistine encampment and looted it
(17:53). With this, we see another application of the curse towards the
enemies of Israel, as the Lord has faithfully entered in to engage the enemies
of His people.
Following this, David was afforded great honor in
Israel. “Saul appointed him over the men of war. This pleased not
only all the army, but also Saul’s servants” (18:5b). Eventually however,
this presented a problem that would lead to ongoing difficulties for
David. After a successful engagement against the Philistines, “the women
from all the cities of Israel came out singing and dancing to meet King Saul”
(18:6b). This would not have been a problem, as honoring the king for the
success of his underlings is perfectly understandable and a historically common
practice. The problem arose because “The women who were playing the music
sang, ‘Saul has struck down his thousands, but David his ten thousands!’”
(18:7) As we might expect, “This made Saul very angry,” and indeed, “The
statement displeased him,” (18:9a) as he now viewed David (quite rightly) as a
rival and a threat to his throne. The result was that “Saul was keeping
an eye on David from that day onward” (18:9).
This statement and song by the women would routinely haunt
David, causing him problems on numerous occasions. It would be the
proximate cause for his personal experiences of exile before finally taking the
throne for which he had been anointed. One day, with Saul keeping an eye
on David, “an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul” and “Saul threw the spear”
at David (18:10-11). This would happen on two occasions. Yes, Saul
attempted to bring death to David, but David was spared from that particular
exile. However, there would be two other times that David would
experience trouble because of the song that the women sang. When David
was fleeing from Saul, and went to Gath, it was said of him to the king of Gath,
“Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one that they sing
about when they dance…?” (21:11b) At that point, David had to feign
madness to escape certain death. Later, when David is in service to the
king of Gath, and the Philistines are about to go battle with Israel, the
Philistine generals complain about David going with them, repeating the words
of the women’s song. This, however, was a bit less of a problem, as it
spared David from having to go to war against his own countrymen, which he obviously
did not want to do. Nevertheless, the words were only recounted because
David found himself in exile from his home and his land, in subjugation and
service to a foreign king, while awaiting his exodus and his throne.
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