Goliath’s defeat was God’s doing, but the oversized man’s arrogance was a factor in his downfall. A shield-bearer walked with him (1 Samuel 17:7) to deflect arrows or spears. Goliath and his shield-bearer saw the teenage shepherd as no threat. Big mistake!
In the Bible, shields picture faith. “Above all, taking the shield of faith”, wrote the Apostle Paul. These days, police officers and soldiers wear body armour to shield their torsos from bullets and blades.
The element of surprise can bring about the defeat of a superior enemy. As an army tactic, it can cause dismay and disarray. A stone from a brook that targeted the one vulnerable spot — who’d have thought? Surprise in a battlefield encounter can bring widespread fear and a sudden fright that turns fight into flight.
These days, it’s words that are slung instead of stones, and those that hit the mark end all debate. David’s surprise and opportunistic attack ended a forty-day Philistine morning and evening challenge to Israel’s army.
The stones in the brook were made smooth by running water — prepared over many years for David’s use. Wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill polished and rehearsed powerful sentences in front of a mirror before slinging them at his opponents in England’s parliament to great effect.
Almighty God used words first. He did so when creating our world and all that is in it. He called things into being, and His words took on substance. He calls those who believe in His Son Jesus “new creations” — as though we were part of a new and everlasting humanity, which indeed we are.
We live in a world of words, and their power can be heard and seen over the ever-encroaching media and displayed in sign advertising.
It’s time we selected the words we use more carefully so we will hit the mark more often. We should delete inappropriate words and expressions from our vocabulary. How else to defeat media giants that mock us daily in an increasingly secular and hostile world?
Before David chose the five smooth stones from the stream that separated him from Goliath, he had more than matched Goliath’s shouted threats with his own, more graphic taunts. David was never lost for words.
Neither was Jesus, the Son of David. Nor should we. But I suggest that we need to get to know more of our Lord’s words than we do a lot better than we do because each one is perfect for its purpose. Selective words are effective words that can be ‘swung and slung’ to better effect.
Why five stones? Goliath had five brothers, and the Philistines had five cities (Goliath came from one of them: the city of Gath). David had extra stones in reserve in case the giant’s brothers appeared on the scene. The shepherd lad had practised his ‘swing and fling’ while guarding his father’s flock and had already killed a lion and a bear that threatened them.
I work with words every day, much in the way that a carpenter works daily with hammer and nails. Delicious is a good word, but ‘deluscious’ is more descriptive; it makes me think of biting into a ripe plum or pear and feeling the flavour explode in my mouth. YUM! Likewise, I have ‘flavourite’ Bible verses — especially those of Jesus — that taste so good, so ripe, that they make me want more!
But the bottom line is that David had to quit returning Goliath’s abusive threats with worse, more descriptive threats and cross that stream! Only then will we prove the words that we’ve tested among the flock by using them out in the field of battle.
David never did kill the brothers of Goliath, but one of his brothers and some others did. They just needed someone to show them that it could be done. Like Jesus, the Son of David, did for us (John 14:12).