1 Samuel 17:37-49
Our passage for today is an excerpt from a long story so let me summarize a bit before I read part of it. The Israelites and the Philistines were at battle. Each army was camped in the mountains, with a valley between them. But neither could approach the other without crossing the valley, where they would be extremely vulnerable. So they were at an impasse.
Then Goliath came forward. The Bible doesn’t actually call him a giant, though estimates I’ve read range from 9 feet to merely 6 feet 9 inches. Regardless, he was enormous, with great strength and was extremely well armored. He challenged the Israelites: send one of your men to fight me, and the entire war will be determined by who wins. This was a fairly common practice at the time—to settle the whole war by the fight between two people. Apparently none of the Israelites had the courage or the strength–or perhaps the stupidity–to fight this giant of a man, no matter what he said about them and their God. So the impasse continued. For 40 days Goliath came out and taunted the Israelites, and although King Saul offered all kinds of rewards, including one of his daughters, still nobody stepped forward. (I think that is meant to be a reflection on their fear of Goliath rather than the possibility that nobody wanted Saul’s daughters.)
David, who was probably a young teenager, was sent by his father to bring provisions to his brothers in the army. It is interesting to note here that the author of this chapter appears to know nothing about the previous chapter, when David was anointed by Samuel to be the next king. This is a separate, unrelated story of David and how he came to be famous. Anyway, David heard about the challenge from Goliath, and he offered to fight. Saul told him he was too young to fight the Philistine, and David told the king how, as a shepherd, he had killed both lions and bears. He promised the same outcome for the Philistine.
Picking up now at verse 37:
David said, “The Lord, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine.” So Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you!” Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. David strapped Saul’s sword over the armor, and he tried in vain to walk, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these; for I am not used to them.” So David removed them. Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the wadi, and put them in his shepherd’s bag, in the pouch; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine. The Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field.” But David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and he will give you into our hand.” When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.
This story has become part of our culture and even gained proverbial status. For years it has been appropriated by the underdogs in sports, business, and pop culture. A website aimed toward financial investors recommends “Buying David over Goliath.” Years ago the MAC vs. Windows battle was often referred to as David vs. Goliath. Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort appeal to many of us in part because Harry is the David to you-know-who’s Goliath.
It’s no wonder we like this story. We need this story. We face many giants in our lives: problems that seem so much bigger than us, challenges that we know are beyond our ability to meet, addictions we cannot control without our Higher Power. Some of these giants taunt us with our lack of faith or our unworthiness. They carry swords of shame and javelins of judgment. Their coats of mail are fortified with our own fears.
So we, like Saul and his army, are dismayed and greatly afraid. And we, like David, are woefully unprepared for the fight. When we face our giants, we long for some good, sturdy armor, but the only armor we’re given doesn’t fit us. The helmet of easy answers falls over our eyes. The coat of platitudes drags us down. The sword of truth or dare is too heavy. And what do you know, but we left our slingshot in our other pants. We are left feeling naked and alone, facing a giant we haven’t a snowball’s chance in hell of surviving.
To us this story says, “Don’t be afraid. Use whatever you have–your tools, your gifts, your strengths–and face your giant. God will do the rest.”
This story embodies the hopes of everyone who has faced overwhelming power–not only on a personal basis, but on a larger scale as well. This story has been told and retold by the oppressed and the powerless–those who see themselves as David, faced with the giants of oppression.
This week many people in our country feel like the “Goliath” of oppression against same-sex couples has been defeated. In September of 1996, the so-called Defense of Marriage Act was passed, which declared that as far as the federal government was concerned, marriage was between a man and a woman, and states could refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. Part of DOMA was struck down two years ago, and with the Supreme Court ruling on Friday, the rest of it is gone. Same-sex marriage is now legal in every state of the union. Nineteen years ago, when DOMA was passed, who could have imagined it would change so quickly? Gay Rights Activists were definitely the underdog against the power of the government, public opinion, and much of Christendom. For many people, Friday proved the oft-quoted line from the struggle: Love Wins.
Well we may believe that love wins, but don’t expect hate to give a concession speech.[1]
If you look around, it doesn’t appear that love always wins. This glorious victory for equality was announced on the same day as the funerals for Rev. Pinckney and several others who were massacred in their church by someone whose hatred and bigotry are difficult to comprehend. As the Rev. Dr. William Barber has stated, “The perpetrator has been arrested, but the killer is still at large” . . . because the giant of hatred and bigotry has not been defeated. And on the same day, the terrorist group ISIS killed 200 civilians in a Syrian border town. Around the world, refugees still flee for their lives; tyrants still wreak havoc and despair; violence is still done in the name of God. Many people would say their Goliaths are winning.
So what do we do with this story? The simplest reading of the story tells us: “Don’t be afraid–use your tools and God will do the rest.”
But for most of us, it’s not that easy . . . because our Sunday school teachers didn’t tell us the whole story. Earlier I read: “This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth.” Not only did David promise this, but he fulfilled his deadly promise.
Now, in case this view of violence in the name of God doesn’t chill your very soul, let me rename God for you. What if the words were, “I come to you in the name of Allah, whom you have defied. This very day Allah will deliver you and your armies into my hand.” That feels just a bit different, now, doesn’t it? But it’s just a different name for God.
It is so tempting to ignore violence in the name of God if it furthers our cause, if we think God is on our side, if we think we are David and some evil person or system is that giant Philistine. But we can’t participate in or approve of violence in the name of God only if it agrees with us.
Now, in order to be fair to the writers and editors of our story, let me acknowledge that the story of David and Goliath is just that–a story. We don’t know how much of it–if any–is based on fact and how much is legend. I do know that if Saul’s armor was too big for David, chances are that the giant’s sword would have been too heavy, too, and David would not have had the strength to decapitate the giant. But this is the story we are given, and we aren’t doing justice to the Bible if we only pay attention to the parts we like. Nor are we doing justice to the Bible (or our Jewish brothers and sisters in the faith) if we say, “Well, that’s just the Old Testament. The New Testament is different.” That’s true–the New Testament is different, and Jesus did oppose violence in his name. But that’s not enough, because we aren’t just children of the New Testament. Instead, we have to ask, “Was God pleased with this action?” Just because it happened, and just because it was done by religious people, does that mean it was God’s will?
I think we can all agree that everything done in the name of God is not the will of God. For example, whether we are pro-life or pro-choice–and I imagine we have people who hold both positions in this congregation–the solution for unplanned pregnancy is not shooting abortion doctors. God does not demand acts of violence–and is not pleased with them, either.
A German pastor named Martin Niemoeller made this point very well. He protested Hitler’s anti-semite measures in person to the fuehrer, and for his trouble he was arrested and imprisoned for eight years in the death camps. He once confessed, “It took me a long time to learn that God is not the enemy of my enemies. He is not even the enemy of his enemies.”[2]
So what are we to do with this story? Should we claim the good part–the part that encourages us to stand against impossible odds, knowing God will see us through–and ignore the part about violence allegedly approved by and in honor of God?
I, for one, would like to rewrite the story. In my version, after David says “thanks, but no thanks” to Saul’s offer of armor, he walks up to the battlefield and yells, “War is not the answer! Come, let us negotiate a settlement that will be pleasing to all parties.” The Israelites join Goliath in laughing. But then David hands out picket signs that say, “Wage peace,” and “Say No to War.”
And he and treats Goliath with respect, even providing him with food and first aid supplies from the Red Cross, and finally Goliath backs down. “War is not the answer!” he bellows. And he lays down his sword, and he picks up little David into a great big hug. As he walks away, the Israelites hear him singing, “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me!”
OK, so it’s a bit unrealistic. I really would prefer that David try diplomacy and dialogue before slingshots and stones, but, again, that’s not the story we are given. And so we wrestle with it and we struggle with it, and we accept the metaphor while we reject its more violent application.
We do have another option. There is a scholar who offers a different interpretation. Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Blink and Tipping Point and other best-selling books, points out this interesting tidbit. “In ancient warfare, there are three kinds of warriors. There’s cavalry, men on horseback and with chariots. There’s heavy infantry, which are armed foot soldiers with swords and shields and some kind of armor. And there’s artillery, and artillery are archers, but, more importantly, slingers. And a slinger is someone who has a leather pouch with two long cords attached to it, and they put a projectile, either a rock or a lead ball, inside the pouch, and they whirl it around like this and they let one of the cords go, and the effect is to send the projectile forward towards its target. That’s what David has, and it’s important to understand that that sling is not a slingshot. . . . It’s not a child’s toy. It’s in fact an incredibly devastating weapon. When David rolls it around like this, he’s turning the sling around probably at six or seven revolutions per second, and that means that when the rock is released, it’s going forward . . . substantially faster than a baseball thrown by even the finest of baseball pitchers…. So what’s Goliath? He’s heavy infantry, and his expectation when he challenges the Israelites to a duel is that he’s going to be fighting another heavy infantryman.” Saul assumed the same thing; that’s why he tried to give David his armor. “But David [is] not going to fight him that way. Why would he? He’s a shepherd. He’s spent his entire career using a sling to defend his flock against lions and wolves. That’s where his strength lies. So here he is, this shepherd, experienced in the use of a devastating weapon, up against this lumbering giant weighed down by a hundred pounds of armor and these incredibly heavy weapons that are useful only in short-range combat. Goliath is a sitting duck. He doesn’t have a chance.”[3]
So the point is: one of the ways we defeat giants is by changing the game. Just as David wouldn’t have won with spear or sword, we won’t win by fighting hate with hate, violence with violence. And we won’t win by going into battle in someone else’s clothes or shoes, or fighting injustice the way someone else thinks we should.
Maybe you are facing a giant of your own right now. If you’re not, you will be, for we live in a land of giants. Maybe you and God will slay the giant. Maybe you will tame it. Maybe the giant who appeared to be foe will turn out to be a friend. Or maybe you will defeat it by refusing to play by its rules.
Whatever happens with you and your giant, remember this: We don’t really need to question whether God is on our side. We need to make sure we are on God’s.
[1] I heard this quote or something like it this week but haven’t been able to find the source.
[2] “Texts of Terror and the Enemies of God” What should We Do When Religion Becomes Evil?” by Dan Clendenin, an essay on journeywithjesus.net, July 19, 2006.
[3] https://www.ted.com/talks/malcolm_gladwell_the_unheard_story_of_david_and_goliath/transcript?language=en