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Most people reduce the story of David and Goliath to a morality tale about bravery. But the more you read about Goliath's dragon scale armor, his blasphemous tongue, and the recurrence of the number six in his measurements, the more you realize that Goliath was a proxy of the devil himself. In Today's study, from 1st Samuel 17, we'll see how Goliath's defeat at the hands of a shepherd from Bethlehem foreshadowed the day that Christ would crush the head of the serpent.

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At the outset of Chapter 17, one of the Bible's greatest villains is introduced, this man named Goliath. Now, what do we know about Goliath? He was big, right? He was a big, gigantic individual. Beyond that, he was a Philistine. And not just a Philistine. He was the champion of the Philistines. When the Philistines said, who's our guy? Who is our national hero? They didn't have to point far. They just looked to the tallest guy among them and they said, that guy Goliath is our hero. He's the one on whom we will pin our hopes. Now, to the Israelites, he was not a hero. He was a monster. And when I say he was a monster, I mean that in really both sense of the words. On the one hand, he was monstrous looking. He was huge, massive and strong as this walking armament wherever he went. So he was a monster in that sense. But beyond that, he was a monster by virtue of temperament. Have you ever encountered some individual in your circle and you said, boy, that guy's just a monster? And what you mean in that context is that that person is unpleasant, that person is difficult. Well, in this particular text, Goliath is both. He's a monster by virtue of size, but also by temperament. And we see that through the blasphemies that he utters throughout chapter 17. Now, in chapter 17, what was this monster doing as the chapter began? Well, way back in verse 1, the Philistine army was approaching Jerusalem. They had to go through Bethlehem to do it in order to go there. There's about five routes they could take, and one of the routes that made the most sense was through a valley called the Valley of Elah. It was a reasonably narrow valley and it had mountains on either side of it. So that's what the Philistines are doing. They're going towards Jerusalem. And of course the Israelites go out to meet them there and a battle would otherwise ensue. However, in this particular case, a battle was not going to ensue in a typical sense. See, typically, you have one army fight another army. Well, they looked around, both sides looked around and said, if this happens in a valley and you fight us and we fight you, and, you know, tens of thousands go against each other, then that means tens of thousands are probably going to die. Have you ever heard of the phrase a Pyrrhic victory? A Pyrrhic victory is a victory that came at the cost of many lives. So many lives, in fact, that Pyrrhus later said, if I have this many more victories over the Romans, I won't have anyone left. So a Pyrrhic victory depletes your own resources. You win, but you don't, because then you've lost a ton of men, and then all that has to happen is some other army has to take you out and you no longer have the men to face them down. So in this particular case, both sides evidently agreed that we don't want to lose tens of thousands of our guys. And we know you don't want to lose tens of thousands on your side. So here's what we'll do. We'll send out a champion. You pick your best man, we'll pick our best man. They'll meet in the middle. Whoever wins, whoever conquers the other, then that nation will become the dominant nation. The others will be oppressed by the victors. So that was the sort of battle that was going to unfold. That's why David was going to fight Goliath. However, initially, no one wanted to fight Goliath. What do we see in the first parts of chapter 17? Well, we see the first parts of chapter 17 that Goliath shows up, says, all right, I'm here. I am our champion. Now you send yours. Now what did the Israelites do? Well, they kind of looked around, looked over their shoulders, said, well, who, who will go for us? Who shall we send right now? Who would be the guy you would think you'd send if they sent their tallest, strongest, broad shoulders man to fight you guys, who would you look for? Well, you look for the same sort of guy who's our tallest, broadest shoulders, you know, strongest guy. Now, on the Israel side, you know where I'm going with this. On the Israel side, who was it starts with an S. His name was what? Saul. King Saul is depicted as their champion. He was taller than his peers. He was this handsome, dashing guy. He looked the part of a king, and he had the armament of a king, which is not small either, because Israelites weren't running around with iron swords. The Philistines had iron, but the Israelites largely had bronze. And there was hardly any swords to go about them. So you have King Saul. He's actually got armament. He's taller than most of the guys on his side. He would think he'd be the natural guy to go out and face Goliath, but Saul wanted no part of Goliath. And so what happened? Well, for 40 days, Goliath goes out and he says, send me your man. Send me your man morning and evening. Send me your man. Let's have someone to fight against me. Oh, you don't have someone to fight against me. Well, how good a nation can you be? How good can your gods be? And he would blaspheme both the people and their gods. He would stand. Stand there 40 days, twice a day, meaning he did it 80 times and taunted them. This was trash talk to the extreme. Trash talk. Blasphemy. And meanwhile, you have the Israelites. And what are they doing morning and evening? Well, they wake up in the morning, there's Goliath taunting them. Go, oh, good gravy. Anyone going to go this time? No, no one's going to go. All right. So then they played cards or something for most of the day. Then Goliath shows up in the evening and rinse and repeat. And this keeps happening. Meanwhile, they've got no one to sin. So what goes down? Well, we see towards the end of that cycle, we have Jesse, and he's got some sons who are out there. They're also among those who are not fighting Goliath, but they're there like everyone else is, just kind of staring at the enemy across the field. And Jesse says, boy, my sons must be getting hungry. You know, he looks for grubhub or something. He says, what do we got? We'll send out David. We'll send the young one. He'll go out and he'll take the food. So David shows up, gives the food to his brothers, and then what does he hear? What does he hear? He hears what's going on. He hears Goliath's blasphemy. And he looks and he says, that guy. David is incensed at the idea that there's this uncircumcised Philistine who's not just taunting his brothers, who's not just taunting Saul, who's not just taunting the Israelites, but he's blaspheming the name of God. And that gets under David's skin. He says, what are we going to do about this? What are we going to do? And, of course, his brothers, you know, who are you? Who do you think you are to do this? Whatever the case is, David is incensed at this idea that we don't have someone who's going to go out and deal with him. So he effectively says, I'll go, I'll go. And if you remember the story, he comes before Saul. People hear of his bravado, and he goes up to Saul, and Saul initially says, this is silly. You're a kid. He's a monster. He's been a warrior from his youth. You're still in your youth. It won't work. And David, of course, insists. He killed bears and he killed lions, and so why can't he kill a giant, right? And on the other side, he also didn't ever sense it was up to him entirely. He always appealed the idea that God was with him. That's something we'll see as we dive into these verses in just a moment. He always appealed to the idea that he wouldn't be doing it alone. Saul thought he'd be standing alone there, more or less. He trusted in his own strength and his little bronze sword, and he thought, well, it's gonna be me versus that guy. David knew that God would be with him. And so Saul tries to outfit him, says, here, take my armor, take the chainmail and the like. And, you know, too heavy, can't move or what have you. I mean, he's a youth. Says, no, no, I won't take any of that. Rather, I'll take the armament that I'm used to, or at least I'll take the weapon I'm used to. I'll take a sling and some stones. And so, of course, in the mid part of that chapter, he gathers the stones. And when we come to verse 41, at this point, David is now out on the battlefield. The Philistine Goliath is on the battlefield, and their encounter is about to begin. So let me reread verses 41 through 44 now that we've established the context for what's happening, and then we'll see what happened next and why. It points to Jesus Christ. Verse 41. So the Philistine came and began drawing near to David, and the man who bore the shield went before him. That's the first thing you often forget. It's not just David, and it's not just Goliath. There's another guy right there, too. There's a guy bearing his shield. So verse 41, the Philistine came, began drawing near David and the man and the man who bore the shield went before him. And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him. For he was only a youth, ruddy and good looking. Why does it say that he was good looking or what have you? On the one hand, I'm sure David was good looking, but that wasn't the point. The point was he had no scars. There was no sense that he'd been through battle. Right? This is clearly someone who has not been in wars before. So that's the nature of his disdain when he sees this kid coming to him. Verse 43. So the Philistines said to David, am I a dog? Am I a dog that you would come to me with sticks, little bony, David has come to me. You all must think I'm a dog. That's the nature of what he says here. And the Philistine then cursed David by his gods. And the Philistines said to David, come to me. After doing this 80 times, he was ready to fight anybody at this point. Come to me and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field. All right. This morning Robert read a text for us. It was a New Testament reading. It came from the book of revelation, Revelation chapter 13. Now, if you remember, the text that Robert read was about the beast of Revelation. Well, before we go any further talking about David and Goliath, let's talk a little bit about the beastly nature of Goliath and how it corresponds to the beast you see in Revelation chapter 13. Let me read just briefly a few verses from Revelation, chapter 13. John the Revelator says this. He says, I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and and on his horn ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now, the beast that I saw was like a leopard. His feasts were like that of a bear and the mouth was like that of a lion. Now the dragon gave him his power, his throne and great authority. He was the proxy for the dragon, this beast. And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded. And his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, who is like the beast, who was able to make war with him? Listen to this in the context of Goliath, who's like this guy, who's like the beast, who was able to make war with him. And he was given a mouth, speaking great things and blasphemies, and was given authority to continue for 42 months. Then he opened his mouth and blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name. All right, so revelation, Revelation chapter 13 talks about a fierce beast that is given great power and authority by the devil, by the dragon himself. The beast is the proxy for the devil. That's what we see here in verse 13. And much like Goliath, way back in 1st Samuel, chapter 17, this beast is perceived as being invincible. Who can make war against him? Right in the same way as Goliath, where all Israel stood back, all of God's people looked at Goliath and said, who can make war against him? The same is true of the beast we see in Revelation chapter 13. And just like Goliath, this beast in Revelation chapter 13 is known for what he's known for, his great blasphemies against the name of the Lord and the people of the Lord. Beyond this, you also Notice In Revelation 13, the beast of Revelation had received a mortal head wound in times past. Of course, much like Goliath, that head wound might point to more than one thing. In fact, it probably does. But at the very least, it reminds us of Goliath's own fate. Finally, the Last verse, Revelation 13, had this to say about the beast. The very last verse in chapter 13 said this, and you're probably familiar with this verse, said, let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 6. 6. 6. Guess what? First Samuel 17, the number 6 comes up multiple times in its description of Goliath, including this. His height, he's what, he's six cubits and a span. Beyond that, he has six pieces of armor and equipment, if you add them up across the chapter. Beyond that, his spear weighed 600 shekels. Now, does any of that or all that mean that Goliath is the beast of Revelation? No, he's absolutely not the beast of Revelation. He is not. He is a type of the beast. He is a type, a shadow of the beast, just as David is a type of shadow of who? Of Jesus Christ. We're starting to see, and I'm going to draw that out here in just a little bit. So that does not mean, as I just said, that Goliath is the beast of Revelation, but he was a typer shadow of the beast that is to come. He had the number of a man, 6. He had the scaly Armor. It was described like dragon scales. That's how they understood it. That's the word, the Hebrew word that's used to describe it. So he had the number of man, he had the scaly armor of a dragon, and he had the blasphemy of the devil himself. So if you want to understand 1st Samuel 17:41 44 correctly, you need to see these verses through typological eyes. The battle between David and Goliath in 1st Samuel 17 is not simply small man versus big man. The battle between David and Goliath is a spiritual foreshadowing of Christ's battle with Satan. Just like David, Jesus was what? He was a shepherd. Just like David, Jesus came from where? Where was he born? Bethlehem. Just like David, Jesus was a king of his people. Just like David, Jesus overcame God's enemies. And just like Goliath, the devil is a raging, blaspheming monster who makes war against God's people. All right, let's look at the next verses. Let's see verses 45 through 47. As we see David's response. We've heard the Philistine, we've heard Goliath. He comes forward and he just rips David. He said, this is the best you've got. You send me. This little fellow is who you sent to me. So the Philistine has set his part, and he said, I'm going to kill you. I'm going to crush your bones to make my bread. I am going to destroy you. I'm going to feed your blood, your flesh, to the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. So then in verse 45, David gets to respond. What does David say? Verse 45. Then David said to the Philistine, you come to me with a sword. You come to me with a sword, with a spear, with a javelin. But I come to you with in the name of the Lord of hosts. I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day, the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you, and I will take your head from you. This day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth. See how we turn that around. That all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands all right. In verses 45 through 47, David takes inventory. He takes inventory of the weaponry that exists on the battlefield that day. So verses 45 through 47, David identifies the weapons that each combatant is relying upon specifically. Again, he points out Goliath's sword and his spear and his javelin. I don't know why he needed all three, but he's got his sword and he's got his spear and he's got his javelin. David didn't have a sword or a spear or a javelin. David didn't even have armor. But here's the thing, he didn't need it. And that was his point. He says, you got all that stuff on human level. This would be over before it began. This huge giant, nine foot tall guy versus tiny little pipsqueak David. The big guy's armed to the teeth, the other guy's barely armed at all. This should have been over at a human level almost immediately. And if David had been lying inward as Goliath was, Goliath relied on his strength. When Goliath went on the battlefield, he knew who he was. He was Goliath. And in case he wondered, everyone told him he was Goliath, told him how great he was. You know, he just had to walk through crowds and they got out of the way. Goliath trusted in himself. Beyond that, he had all the armament again. He was a walking armament factory. Everywhere that he went. He had all the tools, he had all the means. He trusted inward. David trusted up. David said, there is, there is something I bring to the battle though, that you don't have. For all that you've got, for all the weapons, for all that I see, there I am coming to you. And the name One is greater than us both, the Lord of hosts. And when he comes for you using my hand, I'm going to feed your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field. So David reframed the encounter. Goliath thought it was him against little boy, me against you. But David reframed the whole thing and he says, ah, no, no, no, this isn't about you versus me. This is about you versus God. And you're about to find out the hard way. You know, another thing that we do, you'll find this when the story David Goliath is related. It's oftentimes described. Just Google up, like David versus Goliath for artwork. What are you going to find? You're going to find two guys. Two guys. But as we already said earlier, there's at least one More guy, right? Who? The shield bearer. At the very least, we see back. I think it was verse 41. You see, there's at least one other person. There's not just two guys standing there on the battle. If you picture that in your mind, let me disabuse you that right now it wasn't two human beings standing there. There was a third. There was a shield bearer. The shield bearer. His job was to what? To bear and hold the shield and give the guy behind him some protection. By the way, great job, shield bearer. Things worked out really well for him. So there's the shield bearer, there's Goliath behind him, and then there's David. That's three. But David says there's a fourth. There's not just two here. There's not me and you, and there's not even three here. Me, you, and your shield bearer. There is a fourth, and he's the one you've forgotten, but I'm remembering. The Lord hosts His name and I am fighting in his name through his power and through him you will be defeated. This is not principally about me or any weapons I bring to the table. If a word, this would be over. This is about you going against him. And guess what? He always wins. The outcome is as certain as the day follows the night. That's what he conveys, and that's why he conveyed it. It wasn't bravado for bravado's sake. It was faithful faith that God would protect and provide. All right, let's look at our final verses. Our final verses, verses 48 through 51. And so it was when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to David that David hurried. Interesting. And ran towards the army to meet the Philistine. Then David put his hand in his bag and he took out a stone and he slung it. And he struck the Philistine in the forehead so that the stone sank into his forehead and he fell on the face of the earth. And so David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone. And he struck the Philistine and he killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore, David ran, he stood over Philistine, he took his sword, Goliath's sword, and drew it out of the sheath, and he killed him. And he cut off his head with it. If a man was running at you with a sword, what would you rather have in your hands? Would you rather have a sword, too? Or would you rather have a gun? You ever see Indiana Jones? You know Indiana Jones, he's fighting all the guys and one guy's got the guy he meets, he's the most impressive guy on the battlefield. He's got the sword and all that. Indiana Jones takes one look at him, he just basically sighs, takes out his gun, just, and he's gone. Right. If you're gonna face someone who's coming at you with a sword, it's a good thing to have something other than a sword, especially if that individual is stronger than you. It's a good thing to have a better weapon. Well, one of the things that's commonly misunderstood when it comes to slingshots. I don't know what you picture when you picture a slingshot. It's a leather pouch of swords. It's got leather straps and you whip like this, and that's how you hurl the stone at whatever it is that you're aiming at. Now, David was experienced with a slingshot. This is not a novice who just picked it up and said, I hope this works out. This is a guy who practiced time and time again. He knew how to aim. He'd killed lions, he'd killed bears. This is someone who protected his flocks because he knew how to use a particular tool that he was given. As a side note, sometimes we wonder, how is God going to help me in this particular circumstance? Well, oftentimes he's equipped us with some experience in times past that fits that moment in a way nothing else would. David had the one tool that actually was the best tool from a human standpoint on the battlefield that day, he had a tool that was capable of hurling a stone over 100 miles an hour. I had to Google this. But when David hurled The stone, about a five ounce smooth stone, at Goliath, it would have traveled 100 miles an hour. And the understanding is that that has the blunt force impact of a.44.45 magnum bullet. The same impact level when you take a stone, a five ounce stone, and hurl it over 100 miles an hour at someone's forehead, it's like getting shot in the head. David had the ability, the knowledge, the skill and the accuracy to do this. But again, the battle was not David's. The battle was God's. Whatever the case is, verse 49 says the aftermath. It says that David took a stone. It's not like he had to keep trying. He said, oh, miss. That was close. Goliath. Here, stand still. First shot, he's down. Verse 49 says that the stone sank into Goliath's forehead. Sank into his forehead. In other words, he crushed his skull. Crushed his skull with extreme force. Now, let me ask you, help me out. Where else in the Bible do we read about a monster, a dragon, so to speak, having his head crushed, especially by a representative of the kingdom of God. Where do we do that? Genesis. In the garden. Genesis, chapter three. The first prophecy in all the Bibles. In Genesis chapter three, right after the fall, when the serpent wiggled into the garden, he was more clever than all the beasts of the field. He tempts Adam and Eve to do the one thing God told them not to do. They do it. And God shows up, says, everybody out of the pool. He talks to the devil. What does he say to the devil? He says, all right, here's what's going to happen. Here's what's going to happen. I'm going to raise up. I'm going to raise up a seed out of this woman. I'm going to raise up a seed, capital S, because it's pointing forward to Jesus Christ. I'm going to raise up a seed. And when he comes, when he shows up, you know what he's going to do to you, O serpent? He's going to crush your head. You will bruise his heel. He will bruise. He will crush your head. That was the first prophecy in all the scripture dealt with the kingdom of God overcoming the powers of darkness, dealt with Jesus Christ overcoming the serpent. We see that in Genesis 3. Well, interestingly and fascinating, when Goliath the monster, the archetype of a beast, when Goliath the monster fell, he fell with his head crushed. Not a coincidence, not an accident. You see how consistent the Bible is. The Bible is so wonderful because it's consistent. The stories and the narratives from the Old Testament point forward to things in the New Testament. When you read the totality of Scripture, you go from here to here. You go from Genesis 3 to Revel and all points in between, and you say, oh, my goodness. This is an amazing, consistent narrative that points to the same thing and to the same person, to Jesus Christ. So he said before this narrative, chapter 17 of First Samuel, way back in the Old Testament, the story of David versus Goliath is really about the cosmic battle between God and the forces of darkness led by the dragon. That brings us back full circle to what we've said before. Dave's victory over Goliath anticipates Christ's victory over Satan. The entire chapter is the gospel and Old Testament clothing. The entire chapter reminds us that victory is ours. Now, Martin Luther wrote a famous hymn. We sang it earlier. What was his hymn? A Mighty Fortress. You got that right. Mighty fortress is our God. Now, Martin Luther had a lot on his mind and a lot on his heart when he wrote A mighty fortress is our God. But among these things I want you to hear. I'm going to read. I'm not going to sing it, but I'm going to read two verses. You don't want that. I'm going to read the two verses from the middle of A Mighty fortress is our God. And I want you to listen to these verses as we close now with the context of everything we just talked about with David and Goliath and God versus the devil in view. Listen to these verses. Did we in our own strength confide did we in our own strength confide Our striving would be losing were not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing. Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus. It is He, Lord Sabua. His name. From age to age the same and he must win the battle. And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear. For God hath willed his truth to triumph through us. The Prince of Darkness grim we tremble not for him his rage we can endure for, lo, his doom is sure One little word. In this case one little stone shall fell him Going forward, when you sing that hymn, remember this passage. Remember the Gospel. Let's pray.