Morning's First Shadow: David & Goliath

Once again, the Philistines, Israel's primary nemesis, were mounting up an attack. Out from the Philistine camp came an impressive figure – Goliath of Gath. He stood over 9 feet tall, wore over 150 lbs. of armor, carried a 12-foot spear and defiantly boasted against Yahweh and His people. Goliath brazenly challenged Israel to send a representative to fight him in a winner-take-all battle royale.

David sees this challenge purely in theological terms. In verse 26, he speaks for the first recorded time in the Bible: "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God. In verses 45-47 we find that the glory of God motivates David to fight: "that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand."

David defeats Goliath! What spiritual lessons can we learn from this, the most popular story in the Bible? The text has been taught and preached in many ways. Some moralize the story; others solely see Christ as the champion who defeats sin and death; while for others, the story is used as an emotional pep talk. The narrative of David and Goliath is meant to direct our minds back to the Garden of Eden, when God promised that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15). The story also points ahead, as the earthly conflict typologically points to the great spiritual conflict that the Messiah will win when he crushes the head of the serpent.