1 Samuel 17:52-58
1 Samuel 17:52-58 – “A Blessed People”
Scripture Introduction: At this time, I would encourage each of you to turn with me in your own Bibles to 1 Samuel, chapter 17, as this morning we will conclude our study of this long chapter.
Goliath had repeatedly stood between the army of the Philistines and the army of the Israelites. He defied the army of Israel to choose for themselves a man to fight him – a trial by single combat. If Goliath won, which everyone assumed would be the case, then the Israelites would surrender and become servants of the Philistines. But – if Goliath was defeated by Israel’s champion (however unlikely that seemed), then the Philistines were to surrender and become servants of the Israelites. But no one from Israel was willing to step forward to fight Goliath – in fact, for 40 days every man of Israel stepped back, including her king. Unwilling to stand up to Goliath himself, Saul then offered a reward for any man who would fight and kill Goliath. When David stepped forward, he ran to face the enemy, and he took him out with just a sling and a stone – and then finished the deed by cutting off Goliath’s head with Goliath’s own sword. But then, instead of surrendering to servitude, as was the stipulation of the champion vs. champion arrangement, it was the Philistines fled.
So how would this episode end? That we will see this morning as we look, once again, to God’s Word. But before we do, let us seek first the face of the God who has delivered us – the God of our salvation – let us seek our Father’s face in prayer.
Prayer
We turn now to the inspired account of the aftermath of David’s stunning defeat of Goliath. We will hear of God’s great blessing – this we will do as I read
Read Text: 1 Samuel 17:52-58.
Hear now the Word of the Lord.
52 And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shaaraim (shay-uh-ray-im) as far as Gath and Ekron. 53 And the people of Israel came back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camp. 54 And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.
55 As soon as Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this youth?” And Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.” 56 And the king said, “Inquire whose son the boy is.” 57 And as soon as David returned from the striking down of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul – with the head of the Philistine in his hand. 58 And Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”
Thus ends the reading of God’s most-holy Word.
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.
Introduction: While preparing for the Men’s Bible Study two weeks ago, I was reading Iain Duguid’s commentary on Daniel, chapter 10. And in the opening of his remarks, he referred to the hollow threat/promise that many parents make to their young children throughout the year. “If you are bad this year, your Christmas stocking is going to be filled with lumps of coal.” Perhaps you have made that threat in the past – I know that I was frequently on the receiving end of it. But, as Dr. Duguid notes, no one ever receives a stocking full of those black, lumpy rocks – I know that I never did. Such promises of judgment were actually never intended to be fulfilled. Rather than giving me the coal that, to be honest with you, I truly deserved for most Christmases, my parents instead always blessed me – as I am sure that you all did with your own children when they, too, deserved the lumps of coal.
We bless our children – and Yahweh blesses his children. Even in this account, even when for 40 days, twice per day at that, Israel displayed a great lack of faithfulness, a tremendous absence of faith in the living God who had rescued them time and time again. You would think that the Lord would have handed them over to the Philistines, or, at the very least, would have filled their stockings with coal. But instead, what we see is that
Proposition: Yahweh always blesses his people.
Yahweh blesses his covenant people – because he is united to his people by covenant promise – “I will be your God, and you will be my people.” Therefore, what we see in verses 52 and 53 is
Main Point 1: Yahweh’s Covenant Blessing.
“52 And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shaaraim (shay-uh-ray-im) as far as Gath and Ekron. 53 And the people of Israel came back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camp.”
“The Israelites, suddenly energized by the triumph of their unlikely champion, also rose up and [now] pursued the fleeing enemy, strewing the paths between Elah and the Philistine cities with enemy bodies.” (Philips, pg. 310-311) Shaaraim (shar-uh-ray-im) is an unknown location, but the Hebrew word means “two gates”, so perhaps it was located somewhere in the middle of the Philistine cities of Gath (Goliath’s hometown) and Ekron. But having chased the Philistines out of Israel, and having killed many of the Philistines along the way, the Israelites returned to the Valley of Elah where they
Point 1: Plunder
The Philistine camp. They collect all of the food that was left behind. They collect all of the weapons which were hastily left behind (and from the dead soldiers along the road as well). They collect armor. In other words, they are enriched with the spoils of war.
But it was a war that they had previously, and repeatedly, cowered from. It was a war that they had repeatedly fled from. In that, we see that Yahweh’s covenant blessing is
Point 2: Given to a frequently unfaithful people.
That is certainly the case here. But it had been true throughout Israel’s history as well. God blessed them when he should have forsaken them. And the same is true for us! We often like to think that we somehow deserve God’s blessing – but we are “prone to wander,” the hymnwriter says. We are prone to leave the God we profess to love. We are prone to see the world with just our eyes – to covet the things of the world, to fear the challenges that the world presents, to do anything other than offer our whole selves as living sacrifices to the God who saves us – the God who must often save us from ourselves. We deserve – wrath; we deserve – death; we deserve lumps of coal – but instead the Lord blesses, and the Lord blesses, and the Lord blesses some more.
He does so because He is covenantally tied, by his own choice, to his people – even to us. So, he blesses because that is what He sovereignly chooses to do. But then we read in verse 54 of
Main Point 2: Yahweh’s Anointed’s Trophies.
Instead of going with the rest of Israel to pursue, and to fight, and to push back the Philistines, we read that “David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.”
David collects 3 trophies of war as Israel’s champion – as the victorious man of the between – as the Lord’s Anointed. His first trophy is a rather gruesome one:
Point 1: Goliath’s head.
Freshly severed – still dripping blood. A trophy that David carries around with him for a while – he still has it in his hand when we meets with the King in verse 57. And we are told here that he takes it to Jerusalem. But that is a challenging statement. John Woodhouse writes that “David will not get to Jerusalem for a long time yet (2 Samuel 5:6)! Indeed, Jerusalem will not [even] be mentioned again in this story until that day, recorded in 2 Samuel 5, when David, as king, will take Jerusalem to be his royal city. (Meditation) But at this point the writer connects the defeat of Goliath and David’s coming to Jerusalem. It is as though he were saying, this is where David’s journey to Jerusalem, to Israel’s throne, began.” (Woodhouse, pgs. 342-343) I think that there is a lot of truth in that statement – and while it is possible that David kept this trophy of war with him and then, when he conquered Jerusalem, he brought the skull of Goliath with him. But I think that it is more likely that having grown up in Bethlehem – just outside of the pagan, Jebusite city, he may have openly displayed Goliath’s head to its defiant inhabitants as a warning to them of what the God of Israel was able to do, of what he had done, and of what he eventually would do to them. What we read of here was indeed the beginning of his march to Jerusalem and to Israel’s throne.
This we see in his first trophy, but David also took
Point 2: Goliath’s armor.
Which would have also included the sword with which he captured his first trophy. And there is an important point to make about both.
- First, the sword. We will see later that the sword is in the custody of the priest at Nob. It is likely that David must have dedicated – consecrated the sword to the Lord. To the Lord who was truly the victor of the fight with Goliath. The battle belonged to the Lord, and therefore, so did the trophy sword.
- And then there was the armor itself. Again, John Woodhouse notes that “David had not taken Saul’s armor, but he did take Goliath’s, and he would soon take Jonathan’s (1 Samuel 18:4) – [we’ll see that next week].” (Woodhouse, pg. 343) David strips the face-down, beheaded, dead giant – Goliath of his armor, he leaves his body for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the field, and he takes his armor – a trophy of war and deposits it in his third trophy.
The armor is deposited in David’s
Point 3: Tent.
But wait a minute. David had just arrived in the Valley of Elah that very morning from tending his sheep outside of Bethlehem. He carried supplies for his brothers and for their commander, but not for himself. David wouldn’t have had a tent. But, when we remember that the Israelites were at that very moment plundering the Philistine camp, and given that it was the practice in ancient cultures to seize the tent of one’s defeated opponent, the tent into which David took the armor of Goliath – was Goliath’s own tent – a tent which now was one of David’s trophies of war. As David writes in Psalm 27: “And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord.” (Psalm 27:6)
So, Yahweh has blessed his covenant people with the plunder of the Philistine camp. And, Yahweh has provided trophies for his victorious Anointed One. Indeed, Yahweh always blesses his people. But there is one other small matter to take care of, the matter of
Main Point 3: Saul’s promised rewards.
“What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel?” That had been David’s question just a short time before. The answer: “The king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free in Israel.” Will Saul be as faithful to his promises as the Lord has been to his? That we will see in the coming weeks – though we probably already know the answer.
But first, the narrator provides for us a bit of a flashback. “55 As soon as Saul saw David go out against the Philistine (so this is before David kills Goliath), he said to Abner, the commander of the army, ‘Abner, whose son is this youth?’ And Abner said, ‘As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.’ 56 And the king said, ‘Inquire whose son the boy is.’” And then we are transported back into the story’s present as following the battle, David is questioned before the king. Verses 57-58 – “57 And as soon as David returned from the striking down of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. 58 And Saul said to him, ‘Whose son are you, young man?’ And David answered, ‘I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.’”
Now many wonder about these interactions because of
Point 1: Saul’s apparent ignorance
Of who David is and, and more specifically, who his father was. Many question how Saul can apparently know so little about the one who was introduced to him in chapter 16 by one of his servants as the remedy for Saul’s evil-spirit malady. “I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him.” (1 Samuel 16:18) Saul is specifically told in chapter 16 that David is a son of Jesse from Bethlehem. And then David faithfully serves in the court for some unknown period of time personally comforting Saul. And Saul has also interviewed David when David volunteered to go and to fight Goliath – and that was just maybe even mere minutes ago. How can it be that all of a sudden Saul seems to know nothing about David’s lineage? Some argue that that just doesn’t seem to make sense.
But I would answer that it certainly does make sense. Why would the king know the lineage of one who at the time was merely a musically-inclined shepherd boy? Yes, he was told that David was the son of Jesse, but he probably paid no attention to that matter: “I don’t care about who he is – just get the boy and bring him to me so that he can soothe my troubled mind” – that was all that Saul cared about. And the same was true when it came to meeting with David prior to giving his stamp of approval for David to be Israel’s champion. The king believed it was some relatively unimportant lad from some backwater town – who was about to die soon anyway – but to think that Saul ever made the effort to get to know David – that seems a bit ignorant to how things in the world really work in the world. David was, to this point, only important for what he provided to Saul – and not for who he was.
And the same is sadly often true of us. Instead of listening to others, learning about them – we are frequently too busy thinking about what we want to say next, what we have to do next – we are often more concerned with satisfying our needs than we are with hearing what someone else has to say.
David was only important for what it is that he had provided for Saul – but now he has been promised to receive something (actually 3 somethings) from Saul. Therefore, we should see these verses as
Point 2: Saul’s practical enquiry.
Saul has promised 3 things to the man who defeats Goliath – so he needs some information – because he wasn’t paying attention before.
- Saul promised wealth – well, that he can provide without any information being given ahead of time.
- But Saul also promised that the champions father’s house would be free in Israel – that is, that his father’s house would be a tax-free household. For that, Saul needs to know who David’s father is to fulfill that promised reward.
- And finally, Saul promised his daughter’s hand in marriage to the victorious champion. So, what kind of family does this faithful warrior come from? What is their social status? Just whom am I aligning myself with?
You see, Saul’s enquiry at this time actually makes total sense. He would have remained willfully oblivious to David’s family line – But – but now he could not do so – he was forced to know – he had to know so that he could fulfill his promised rewards.
Conclusion: One thing that has become so clear to me over the past couple of years is just how much the Lord blesses – how much he blesses even when we have been unfaithful – how he blesses when we don’t deserve it. I have seen it so abundantly in my own life – and I have seen it in the life of his church. We are a people greatly blessed – greatly blessed in and greatly blessed through the Lord’s Anointed, in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. He has given to us the plunder – he has blessed us with all that we need – and with so much more.
So, if God blesses his people – even when they have been unfaithful – does that mean that we should just go on being unfaithful? Why worry about it? In the strongest possible way, may we quote the Apostle – “By no means!” God’s blessing should lead us – not to unfaithfulness – but to covenant faithfulness. God’s blessing should lead us to constantly praise God from whom all blessings flow – to praise him all creatures here below – to praise him with the heavenly host – to praise the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And God’s blessing should consistently lead us to then be a blessing to others – a blessing to those who are often unfaithful to us – a blessing to those who rub us the wrong way – a blessing to those who do not look like us, talk like us, or even worship like us. As you are abundantly blessed, so we are called to abundantly bless.
Think of Jesus – The Anointed One – he emptied himself – he took on our flesh – he, our champion, faced our enemy in the in-between – he died our death – but he was raised – to give us life – and he is seated at the right hand of the Father and has received his proper reward – the name above all names – the inheritance of nations. And as we are in Christ – only by grace alone through faith alone – so we too are promised our reward – not riches, not tax-free status, not a royal wife – but we are given life in him – eternal life – abundant life – even the champion’s own life.
In Christ, we do not receive the lumps of coal we so richly deserve – no, in Christ, we are given all things. Indeed, in Christ, we are truly a blessed people.
Amen? Amen.
Let’s pray.
Prayer