Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Samuel 16-17.
I have long perceived there to be conflict between the account of David beginning to play the lyre for King Saul and the account of David facing down Goliath. In the former we are told that Saul made David one of his armor bearers and asked Jesse to remain in his service, while the latter has David take supplies from his father to his eldest three brothers, who were with King Saul’s army. However, that latter account tells us that David went back and forth from Saul to tending his father’s sheep. Before today, it never occurred to me that that referred to the service mentioned in the former account. As for the ending of the account of David and Goliath where King Saul and Abner do not know who David’s father was, that actually makes sense. There is no reason that the commander of Saul’s army would know who King Saul’s lyre player was, and it is not surprising that Saul did not make the connection between David, the lyre player, and David, the giant killer.
Having written the above, I want to take a look at David as a budding leader as revealed here. Every time I read this, I see a different way to interpret David’s actions here. Today as I read David’s reaction to hearing Goliath I read it as him trying to encourage someone, anyone, from King Saul’s army to take on Goliath. David’s reaction to Goliath was, “Who is this guy to defy the armies of the living God?” As an aside, I want to note the distinction David makes here between the God of Israel and the idols worshiped by other nations: God is alive, the idols which others worship are not actually real beings. But back to what David did when he heard Goliath. He attempted to encourage one of King Saul’s warriors to step forward and take on Goliath. When Saul heard what David was doing and summoned David, David responded by saying that if no one else would take on Goliath, he would gladly do it. When Saul told David that he could not do it because he was barely more than a boy, while Goliath was an experienced warrior, David had an answer. David replied (paraphrasing here), “I have taken on lions and bears to protect my father’s sheep, why would I be afraid to take on someone who is defying God and threatening His people?” David did not take on Goliath for glory. He took on Goliath in defense of God’s people. He had faith that he could defeat Goliath because Goliath was defying God. Further, when he entered into battle with Goliath, he gave credit to God for his victory before battle was entered. David faced down the giant because the giant was defying and threatening God’s people.
I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.
