The Armor of Saul

Today we are going to take a look at David.  He has come to bring some food to his brothers, and – more importantly – to get word on how they are doing for his father.  Imagine his excitement!  He gets to be away from the sheep for a day and gets to go to the front lines of the battle!  He gets to go hang with the warriors.  What young man wouldn’t think that was cool?

He gets there, and it’s not quite what he expected to find.  There is no battle, the warriors are just milling around on their hillside… talking.

David hears snatches of the conversation and his interest is peaked.  Apparently King Saul has made some pretty big promises to the man who will go out and face this Philistine from Gath.  Really big promises.  Like make him part of the family promises.

David is intrigued.  He is asking questions.  He is thinking about things…

²⁶Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?”

Eliab – David’s oldest brother – hears him asking questions and gets a little huffy.  David feigns innocence, but people have already heard what he was saying.

He actually seemed interested in fighting Goliath – and no one else had even considered it.

³¹When the words which David spoke were heard, they told them to Saul, and he sent for him.³²David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail on account of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”

³³Then Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth.”

First, I would like to point out the attitude with which David goes before King Saul.  It is an attitude of humility.  David already knew enough about Saul to know that if he came in arrogance, he would fail.  If he walked in full of himself, he would be ignored.  But he came in with humility – “Your servant” is how he referenced himself to Saul.

And he didn’t call anyone else a coward… especially Saul.

Saul looked at the oung man standing before him and was a bit confused.  David was probably in the range of 16-22 now – having reached his full height, but I’m sure he hadn’t filled out much yet.  He was handsome, but he was not a trained warrior – far from it!  He was a shepherd.  A musician.  How could he fight against this man of war?  This GIANT man of war!

But David had a good argument.

³⁴But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock,

³⁵I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him.

³⁶“Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God.”

³⁷And David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine ” And Saul said to David, “Go, and may the LORD be with you.”

Wow – this kid is claiming to have killed bears and lions with his bare hands.  Defending sheep is apparently a bit more challenging than I thought.  It’s not just sitting around all day playing the lyre and enjoying the idyllic countryside.  You actually do have to do things.  You actually have to fight against large animals.

Apparently it was a convincing argument.

Of course, he also claimed that the Lord would protect him.  That is the most important part of his claim – God was with him.  I’m sure Saul remembered what it felt like to have God’s presence with him, after all, the Spirit of God had been with Saul for some time – leading & guiding him as be began his rule.

So, Saul took young David at his word.

³⁴And David said to Saul, Your servant kept his father’s sheep. And when there came a lion or again a bear and took a lamb out of the flock,

³⁵I went out after it and smote it and delivered the lamb out of its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard and smote it and killed it.

³⁶Your servant killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God!

³⁷David said, The Lord Who delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Go, and the Lord be with you!

³⁸Then Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail.

³⁹And David girded his sword over his armor. Then he tried to go, but could not, for he was not used to it. And David said to Saul, I cannot go with these, for I am not used to them. And David took them off.

⁴⁰Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones out of the brook and put them in his shepherd’s [lunch] bag [a whole kid's skin slung from his shoulder], in his pouch, and his sling was in his hand, and he drew near the Philistine.

Saul set out to make David go to battle looking like he wanted him to look – and like everyone around him looked.  He put his own armor on David (which tells me that David must have been somewhat tall, as Saul was head & shoulders above most of Israel) and girded him for battle as a soldier.

But David was not a soldier, he was a shepherd.

David put on the armor and tried to walk around, but he couldn’t.  He knew that if he were to go out and attempt to fight Goliath in something that was so foreign to Him it would be nearly impossible.  So he took it off.

Instead he took the staff that he had come with and the sling that he used to fight off wild animals.  Along the way he stopped at the brook and chose five smooth stones to use.

He trusted God to be his shield.

He went with what he knew, he played to his strengths.

He was familiar with the staff and the sling.  They were weapons he had wielded before with success.  I’m sure he has played at swords as a child, but he was not trained in hand-to-hand combat with one.  And given Goliath’s size, well, hand-to-hand combat most likely would not go well for him.  I mean the guy was nearly twice his size!  His head was at the perfect height to be cleaved from his shoulders… not exactly a pleasant thought.

So he walked forward with the tools God had given him in the past, and trusted God to provide the rest.  He didn’t even have the stones when he headed down, but he knew that God would provide those too.

He had no armor, he had no shield bearer.  He had no sword.  But he did have God – and that made all the difference.

He walked forward with certainty and purpose and full of faith that God would prevail… and those who taunt God would be destroyed.