When We Reach for Goliath: Reading 1 Samuel 17 Again
A story so familiar it is often borrowed carries more than we tend to remember.
The account of David and Goliath is told in 1 Samuel 17. A Philistine champion named Goliath, from Gath, defies the armies of Israel in the Valley of Elah. The soldiers are afraid. David, the youngest son of Jesse, is a shepherd, not a soldier. He refuses the king's armour. He takes his sling and five smooth stones, and he goes out to meet the giant.
It is one of the most borrowed stories in public life. This month, as Charisma News reported, a Texas Senate candidate, James Talarico, drew on it at a church in Dallas, comparing political opponents to Goliath. We are not told here what moved him, and it is not our place to guess.
What the text itself says is worth hearing again. David tells the Philistine, "All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give all of you into our hands." The victory is credited not to the stone but to God.
When we cast ourselves as David, it is worth asking who, in the story, we actually resemble. It is worth asking whether the battle we name as the Lord's is in fact our own.
For study: read 1 Samuel 17 slowly. Mark where you see trust, and where you see only bravado.
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