“DAVID dā’ vĭd (דָּוִ֔ד, beloved one?). The son of Jesse of Bethlehem.
“I. The life of David
“A. His family. The genealogy of David is given several times in Scripture, the first being in Ruth 4:18-22. He is a direct descendant of Judah, Perez, Hezron, Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon, Salmon, Boaz (the husband of Ruth), Obed (the son of Boaz and Ruth), and Jesse, his father (cf. 1 Chron 2:5-16; Matt 1:3-6; Luke 3:31-33).” Encyclopedia of the Bible ”
Samuel
“a. God’s choice made known. When God determined to reject Saul as the king of Israel, He sent Samuel with oil to anoint another: one of the sons of Jesse of Bethlehem. When Samuel arrived at Jesse’s home, he had the sons of Jesse brought forward one by one. Samuel favored Eliab, the eldest, but God showed him that he should not look on the outside but in the heart for truly kingly qualities. God passed by seven of the sons of Jesse until only the youngest, David, remained.” Encyclopedia
“Up amongst the hills, perched like the nest of a bird on one of the long low ridges, lies the little town of Bethlehem. It was but a small town at the time this story begins, and there was nothing about it to make it at all famous. It lay out off the beaten track, and any one wanting to visit it must needs climb the long winding road that led from the plain beneath, through olive groves and sheepfields, up to the city gate—a steep, difficult road, leading nowhere but to the little town itself.
“It was in these fields on the slope of the hills that David, the shepherd boy of Bethlehem, spent his days watching his father’s flocks. That father, whose name [pg. 6] was Jesse, was one of the chief men of the town, and David was the youngest of all his sons
“There were seven big brothers at home, and it was no wonder Jesse was proud of his sons. They were tall, splendid young men, all of them doing men’s work now, and taking very little notice of the youngest, who was still only a small boy, chiefly useful in looking after the sheep.
“But though David was but little thought of, no one could say that he did not do his work well. There was not a more careful or watchful shepherd on all the hills around Bethlehem. He knew each one of his sheep, and never allowed one to stray. He always led them to the best pasture, and found the coolest and freshest water for them to drink. Then, too, he was as brave as a lion, and if any wild beast came lurking round hoping to snatch a lamb away, David was up at once and would attack the fiercest beast single-handed. Nothing could ever do any harm to his flock.” Steadman
“We do not know the age of David when Samuel appeared in the little village with the horn of sacred oil in his hand. ….His father’s household seems to have been one in which modest frugality ruled. There is no trace of Jesse having servants; his youngest child does menial work; the present which he sends to his king when David goes to court was simple, and such as a man in humble life would give—an ass load of bread, one skin of wine, and one kid—his flocks were small—”a few sheep.” It would appear as if prosperity had not smiled on the family since the days of Jesse’s grandfather, Boaz, that “mighty man of wealth.” David’s place in the household does not seem to have been a happy one. His father scarcely reckoned him amongst his sons, and answers Samuel’s question, if the seven burly husbandmen whom he has seen are all his children, with a trace of contempt as he remembers that there is another, “and, behold, he keepeth the sheep.” Of his mother we hear but once, and that incidentally, for a moment, long after. His brothers had no love for him, and do not appear[Pg 17] to have shared either his heart or his fortunes. The boy evidently had the usual fate of souls like his, to grow up in uncongenial circumstances, little understood and less sympathised with by the common-place people round them, and thrown back therefore all the more decisively upon themselves. …
“A breach in all the tranquil habits of this modest life was made by Samuel’s astonishing errand. The story is told with wonderful picturesqueness and dramatic force. The minute account of the successive rejections of his[Pg 19] brothers, Samuel’s question and Jesse’s answer, and then the pause of idle waiting till the messenger goes and returns, heighten the expectation with which we look for his appearance. And then what a sweet young face is lovingly painted for us! “He was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to” (1 Sam. xvi. 12)—of fair complexion, with golden hair, which is rare among these swarthy, black-locked easterns, with lovely eyes (for that is the meaning of the words which the English Bible renders “of a beautiful countenance”), large and liquid as become a poet. So he stood before the old prophet, and with swelling heart and reverent awe received the holy chrism. In silence, as it would seem, Samuel anointed him. …
“There are none of David’s psalms which can be with any certainty referred to this first period of his life; but it has left deep traces on many of them. The allusions to natural scenery and the frequent references to varying aspects of the shepherd’s life are specimens of these. 22 …
“But though we cannot say confidently that we have any psalms prior to his first exile, there are several which, whatever their date may be, are echoes of his thoughts in these first days.This is especially the case in regard to the group which describe varying aspects of nature—viz., Psalms xix., viii., xxix.” Maclare
Psalm 8[a]
For the director of music. According to gittith.[b] A psalm of David.
1 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?[c]
5 You have made them[d] a little lower than the angels[e]
and crowned them[f] with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their[g] feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
‘The eighth psalm is a companion picture, a night-piece, which, like the former, speaks of many an hour of lonely brooding below the heavens, whether its composition fall within this early period or no. The prophetic and doctrinal value of the psalms is not our main subject in the present volume, so that we have to touch but very lightly on this grand hymn. What does it show us of the singer? We see him, like other shepherds on the same hills, long after “keeping watch over his flocks by night,” and overwhelmed by all the magnificence of an eastern sky, with its lambent lights. So bright, so changeless, so far,—how great they are, how small the boy that gazes up so wistfully. Are they gods, as all but his own nation believed? No,—”the work of Thy fingers,” “which Thou hast ordained.” The consciousness of God as[Pg 29] their Maker delivers from the temptation of confounding bigness with greatness, and wakes into new energy that awful sense of personality which towers above all the stars. He is a babe and suckling—is that a trace of the early composition of the psalm?—still he knows that out of his lips, already beginning to break into song, and out of the lips of his fellows, God perfects praise. There speaks the sweet singer of Israel, prizing as the greatest of God’s gifts his growing faculty, and counting his God-given words as nobler than the voice of “night unto night.” God’s fingers made these, but God’s own breath is in him. God ordained them, but God visits him. The description of man’s dignity and dominion indicates how familiar David was with the story in Genesis. It may perhaps also, besides all the large prophetic truths which it contains, have some special reference to his own earlier experience. It is at least worth noting that he speaks of the dignity of man as kingly, like that which was dawning on himself, and that the picture has no shadows either of sorrow or of sin,—a fact which may point to his younger days, when lofty thoughts of the greatness of the soul are ever natural and when in his case[Pg 30] the afflictions and crimes that make their presence felt in all his later works had not fallen upon him. Perhaps, too, it may not be altogether fanciful to suppose that we may see the shepherd-boy surrounded by his flocks, and the wild creatures that prowled about the fold, and the birds asleep in their coverts beneath the moonlight, in his enumeration of the subjects of his first and happiest kingdom, where he ruled far away from men and sorrow, seeing God everywhere, and learning to perfect praise from his youthful lips.” Maclaren
Psalm 19[a]
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice[b] goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
5 It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
6 It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is deprived of its warmth.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect,
refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
8 The precepts of the Lord are right,
giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.
9 The fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever.
The decrees of the Lord are firm,
and all of them are righteous.
10 They are more precious than gold,
than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
than honey from the honeycomb.
11 By them your servant is warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
12 But who can discern their own errors?
Forgive my hidden faults.
13 Keep your servant also from willful sins;
may they not rule over me.
Then I will be blameless,
innocent of great transgression.
14 May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
“The nineteenth Psalm paints for us the glory of the heavens by day, as the eighth by night. The former gathers up the impressions of many a fresh morning when the solitary shepherd-boy watched the sun rising over the mountains of Moab, which close the eastern view from the hills above Bethlehem. The sacred silence of dawn, the deeper hush of night, have voice for his ear. “No speech! and no words! unheard is their voice.” …The heavens and the firmament, the linked chorus of day and night, are heralds of God’s glory, with silent speech, heard in all lands, an unremitting voice. And as he looks, there leaps into the eastern heavens, not with the long twilight of northern lands, the sudden splendour, the sun radiant as a bridegroom from the bridal chamber, like some athlete impatient for the course. How the joy of morning and its new vigour throb in the words! And then he watches the strong runner climbing the heavens till the fierce heat beats down into the deep cleft of the Jordan, and all the treeless southern hills, as they slope towards the desert, lie bare and blazing beneath the beams.” Maclaren
Psalm 29
A psalm of David.
1 Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of his[a] holiness.
3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is majestic.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon leap like a calf,
Sirion[b] like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord strikes
with flashes of lightning.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the desert;
the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord twists the oaks[c]
and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
10 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord is enthroned as King forever.
11 The Lord gives strength to his people;
the Lord blesses his people with peace.
“The twenty-ninth psalm, like both the preceding, has to do with the glory of God as revealed in the heavens, and with earth only as the recipient of skyey influences; but while these breathed the profoundest tranquillity, as they watched the silent splendour of the sun, and the peace of moonlight shed upon a sleeping world, this is all tumult and noise. It is a highly elaborate and vivid picture of a thunderstorm, such as must often have broken over the shepherd-psalmist as he crouched under some shelf of limestone, and gathered his trembling charge about him. Its very structure reproduces in sound an echo of the rolling peals reverberating among the hills.[Pg 32]
“There is first an invocation, in the highest strain of devout poetry, calling upon the “sons of God,” the angels who dwell above the lower sky, and who see from above the slow gathering of the storm-clouds, to ascribe to Jehovah the glory of His name—His character as set forth in the tempest. They are to cast themselves before Him “in holy attire,” as priests of the heavenly sanctuary. Their silent and expectant worship is like the brooding stillness before the storm. We feel the waiting hush in heaven and earth.” Maclaren
“…in their tranquil beauty, they resemble the youthful works of many a poet whose later verse throbs with quivering consciousness of life’s agonies, or wrestles strongly with life’s problems. They may not unnaturally be regarded as the outpouring of a young heart at leisure from itself, and from pain, far from men and[Pg 23] very near God. The fresh mountain air of Bethlehem blows through them, and the dew of life’s quiet morning is on them. The early experience supplied their materials, whatever was the date of their composition; and in them we can see what his inward life was in these budding years. The gaze of child-like wonder and awe upon the blazing brightness of the noonday, and on the mighty heaven with all its stars, the deep voice with which all creation spoke of God, the great thoughts of the dignity of man (thoughts ever welcome to lofty youthful souls), the gleaming of an inward light brighter than all suns, the consciousness of mysteries of weakness which may become miracles of sin in one’s own heart, the assurance of close relation to God as His anointed and His servant, the cry for help and guidance—all this is what we should expect David to have thought and felt as he wandered among the hills, alone with God; and this is what these psalms give us. …
“Thus, then, nature spoke to this young heart. The silence was vocal; the darkness, bright; the tumult, order—and all was the revelation of a present God. It is told of one of our great writers that, when a child, he was found lying on a hill-side during a thunderstorm, and at each flash clapping his hands and shouting, unconscious of danger, and stirred to ecstasy. David, too, felt all the poetic elevation, and natural awe, in the presence of the crashing storm; but he felt something more. To him[Pg 36] the thunder was not a power to tremble before, not a mere subject for poetic contemplation. Still less was it something, the like of which could be rubbed out of glass and silk, and which he had done with when he knew its laws.” Maclaren
“Now it happened that one day while David was, as usual, out in the fields that a sudden stir of excitement awoke in the little town of Bethlehem. Men gathered round the city gate, and with anxious, fearful eyes looked down the long white road that led up from the plain below. And yet there seemed nothing there to make them look so terrified and anxious. Only an old feeble man was slowly climbing up towards the town. He was driving a heifer before him, and carrying what looked like a horn in his hand.
pg. 7
An old feeble man was slowly climbing up towards the town.
Samuel
“But the people whispered together that the old man was none other than Samuel, the prophet of the Lord, who carried God’s messages. He must be bringing a message to them, and who knew if it was good or evil. They tried with uneasy minds to remember if they had been doing anything wrong of late as they watched the old man drawing nearer and nearer. Then at last the chief men of the town went out to meet him.
“’Comest thou peaceably?’ they asked anxiously.
“The old man lifted his head and looked at them kindly as he echoed their words.
pg8“’Peaceably,; he answered at once; ‘I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord.”
“A great sigh of relief went up from the people. The visit was a mark of God’s favour and not of His displeasure.
“It was true, indeed, that Samuel had come to offer sacrifice, but he had come also on a secret errand about which no man knew but himself. God had bidden him take his horn of oil and anoint one of the sons of Jesse to be king over His people instead of Saul, the present king, who had displeased Him. But it was to be done secretly. Saul must not hear of it, or his vengeance would be swift.
“It was in Jesse’s house that the feast of the sacrifice was prepared, and Samuel ordered that all the sons of the house should pass before him as they went to attend the sacrifice.
“The first to come was Eliab, Jesse’s eldest son, and when Samuel saw him he felt sure that this was the man who was to be anointed king. He was a splendid young man, tall and strong and handsome, looking almost as kingly as Saul himself.
“Surely this is he,” murmured Samuel to himself.
“’Surely this is he,’ murmured Samuel to himself. But God’s answer came quickly. No, this was not the man. Samuel saw only the outward signs of strength and beauty, but God saw deeper into the heart.
“So the eldest son passed on, and one by one the six brothers followed, all sons that a father might well be
pg. 9 proud of. But God sent no sign to show that any of them was the chosen king.
“Samuel was puzzled. What could it mean? Then he turned again to Jesse.
“’Are here all thy children?’ he asked.
“Surprised at the question, Jesse suddenly remembered pg 10 the little lad, his youngest son, who was out in the fields tending the sheep. Was it possible that Samuel had any use for him?
“Send and fetch him,” ordered Samuel instantly, “for we will not sit down till he comes hither.”
“So a messenger was sent in haste to bring David; and presently he came hurrying in, and as soon as Samuel saw him he knew his search was ended.” Steedman, Amy. David the Shepherd Boy.
Shepherd
“He was only a little shepherd lad with the breath of the hills about him, his golden hair tossed by the wind, his fair face flushed, and his sunburned hand holding his shepherd’s crook. But there was no doubt that God had chosen him.
“’Arise and anoint him, for this is he,’ said God’s voice in Samuel’s heart.
“Slowly, then, the old man rose and held the oil aloft and poured it upon the boy’s bowed head, while the rest of the company looked silently on.
“They were puzzled to know what it all meant. Perhaps the elder brothers were envious, and wondered why this mere child should be singled out for special favour. But no one dared to question God’s messenger.
“Nothing further happened just then. Samuel returned as he had come by the winding white road, and before long his visit was forgotten as the people settled to their work again.” Steedman
“David was then keeping the sheep of his father, and Jesse did not consider it important to bring him before Samuel. He was described as ruddy and beautiful of countenance. When Samuel insisted and David was brought before him, God indicated that this was His choice. David was anointed that day, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily. It is not certain that his family understood at that time why he was anointed (1 Sam 16:1-13).” Encyclopedia of the Bible
“b. God’s favor shown. In the meantime God’s spirit departed from Saul and an evil spirit from God came and troubled him. On the advice of some to call a harpist to soothe him, one young man in the court recommended David as a cunning player and a mighty man of valor, a man of war and prudent in speech. Saul sent for David, thus giving him an early opportunity to see and know court life.
“Jesse sent David with an ass loaded with bread, wine, and a kid. When he arrived before Saul, Saul loved him at first sight and made David his armorbearer. Saul sought and received Jesse’s permission for David to stand before him. Encyclopedia
Saul
Saul sat day after day in his darkened tent.
“Saul, the King of Israel, sat day after day in his darkened tent ill and full of misery. No one dared to go near him, and his servants whispered together, ‘It is an evil spirit from the Lord that troubles him.’
“Then some one suggested that perhaps music might help to cheer him and drive the evil spirit from him.
“’Let our lord now command thy servants to seek out a man who is a cunning player on a harp,’ they said to the king, ‘and it shall come to pass that, when the 15evil spirit from God is upon thee, he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.'” Steadman
“Whenever the evil spirit fell on Saul, David was at hand with his harp to soothe him. He undoubtedly composed many Psalms in this period (16:14-23).” Encyclopedia
“There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep.”1. Sam. xvi. 11.
Shepherd
“Only David, out in the fields, thought more and more about what had happened, and grew more and 13more certain that it had been a call from God to do some special work for Him. The wonder of it filled his mind, but it never interfered with his work.
“There was little time for idle dreaming in the boy’s life. He was as watchful as ever in his care for his sheep and as courageous as ever in guarding them from prowling beasts. Even in his leisure time he was busy too, and there was not one of the sunny hours of daylight that he wasted.
“He loved music, and he taught himself to play on the harp, practising so carefully and patiently that his 14fingers grew most wonderfully skilful. Then he made songs to go to the music, some of the most beautiful songs that ever have been made in all the world. Almost every child to-day knows his beautiful song about the Good Shepherd: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”
“There was another thing, too, that he learned to do with the same care and patient perseverance, and that was to use his shepherd’s sling. There was no boy in all Bethlehem who could shoot as straight as he could. He never missed his mark.
“It was no great thing, perhaps, to make music and aim straight, but it was a great thing to do what lay nearest his hand with all his might. Perhaps some day God would make use of his singing or have some work for a boy who had a quick eye and a sure aim. Who could tell?
“So David learned to do his very best, and before very long God’s call came to him
“Now the fame of David’s playing and singing had spread even beyond Bethlehem. “We must send for David, the son of Jesse,” said the king’s servants at once. He was the very person they wanted. Not 16only could he sing and play, but he was a good boy, brave and fearless, and best of all, as the servants said, “The Lord is with him.”
“So the shepherd boy was brought to the king’s darkened tent, ready to do his bidding. Sitting there in the dim light, he drew such magic music from his harp’s strings, and sang such sweet songs, that the very song of the birds seemed to be filling the tent. The king, as he listened, seemed to feel the breath of the mountain fields, to hear the call of the sheepfold and the murmur of the dancing streams. It acted like a charm. The black misery was lifted from his heart, and the evil spirit was put to flight by the song of the shepherd boy.
“It was no wonder, then, that the king, for a time at least, loved the boy with his bright face and sunny hair, and wanted to keep him as his armour-bearer. But perhaps, as Saul grew well and had no further need of the music, David was no longer wanted, and so he went back again to the Bethlehem fields to look after his sheep. Steadman
David drew magic music from his harp’s strings.
David and Goliath
“God had made use of David’s skill in music, and before very long another call came to him. This time the need was for one who could aim straight, who had a quick eye and a steady hand.
“War had broken out. The fierce Philistines had come up with their great armies to try and conquer the land. Every man in Israel who could fight was called 17up to protect his country. Already David’s three elder brothers had joined Saul’s army, which was preparing to fight the enemy.
“On either side of a narrow valley, divided by a stream which ran along over smooth stones, the two armies faced each other. There they were encamped, 18like wild beasts ready to fly at each other’s throats. At any moment the fight might begin, and that stream be stained red with blood. Only the Philistines were far the strongest, and the Israelites had but little chance of victory.
Jesse sends David to the camp.
“This valley was seven or eight miles distant from the little town of Bethlehem, and Jesse waited anxiously, day after day, for news of his three sons. At last he could bear the anxiety no longer, and he determined to send David to the camp to carry food to his brothers and bring back news how they fared.
“So, very early one morning, David set out on his errand. He had carefully put his sheep under the care of another shepherd, and he took with him parched corn and loaves of bread for his brothers, as well as ten cheeses which his father was sending to the officers under whom they served.
“It was not long before the boy came within sight of the valley, and his heart began to beat with excitement, for he saw that he had arrived just as something was about to happen. The armies were drawn up in battle array, and suddenly a great shout went up from both sides. It was the battle-cry of the two armies which sounded in his ears.
“There was no time now to carry food and gifts, so David quickly left his load at the entrance to the camp and hurried on to search for his brothers. He had learned to find his way about a camp, where for a short 19time he had been Saul’s armour-bearer. So now he went swiftly among the soldiers, until at last he found his brothers. “’Were they well?’ he eagerly asked them; ‘and what were they doing?
Eagerly David began to ask them what it meant
“But even while he spoke there was a stir among the Philistines, and all eyes were turned to watch, all ears were strained to hear the enemy’s challenge, which rang out clearly across the narrow valley.
“Out of the rank of the Philistines there had stepped a man so tall and strong that he appeared to be a giant. 20He was more than nine feet high, and the armour which he wore was so solid and heavy that it would have crushed any ordinary man to the earth.
“This was Goliath, the great champion of the Philistines. Every morning and every evening he strode proudly out and defied the Israelites, bidding them find a champion who would come and fight with him. Once again his challenge rang out on the clear air,—
“Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me and to kill me, then will we be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then shall ye be our servants and serve us. I defy the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together.”
“A great silence fell after the champion had shouted his last words of defiance. There was no answer from the Israelites. No man had courage enough to dream of accepting the challenge.
“David looked round him in amazement, and his cheeks burned with shame. What were the people doing to allow this boasting heathen Philistine to defy the armies of the living God? Eagerly he turned to the men around him and began to ask them what it meant. The soldiers answered him shortly. No, there was no one who dared to go forth and fight Goliath. The king had promised great rewards to any man who would kill the giant. But no one had dared to try.
“David’s elder brothers heard his questions, and seeing 21how amazed he was, they began to grow angry. Did he mean to reproach them? Perhaps he thought of offering himself to fight the champion. It was time that this shepherd boy should be put in his proper place. So his eldest brother turned to him with a sneer.
“’Why camest thou hither?” he asked. “And with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thy heart, for thou hast come down that thou mightest see the battle.”
It could not have been very easy to bear this taunt. 22But David had learned to conquer himself before he set out to conquer giants. So he answered quietly instead of flashing back an angry reply.
“’What have I done?” he asked. “May I not ask a harmless question?’
“There were many questions he still wished to ask, and presently the soldiers began to repeat his words one to another, until at last the report was spread that some one had been found ready and willing to answer the challenge of the giant Philistine. And of course the news soon reached the king’s ear. Saul sent immediately and ordered that the shepherd lad should be brought to him. He had quite forgotten about the boy who had charmed away his black moods with the magic music of his harp. And David had grown and changed since those days.
“So now, when David stood before the king, Saul had no idea who he was, and his one thought, as he looked at the slender youth, was that it was madness to think of such a mere boy going out to give battle to the great giant.
“’Thou art not able to go against this Philistine,’ he said; ‘for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.’
While he kept his father’s sheep he had often to defend them from wild beasts.
“But David answered eagerly. He did not boast, but spoke steadily and wisely. True, he had not been trained as a soldier, but his courage and his strength had both been already proved. And he went on to 23tell the king that while he kept his father’s sheep he had often to defend them from wild beasts. Once he had fought with a lion and a bear single-handed and had killed them both.
“It was not in his own strength that he trusted. ‘The Lord that 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,” he ended triumphantly.
“24Faith in God was David’s sure defence; and Saul as he listened bowed his head in shame, for it was the faith which he himself had lost. It was this faith, he knew, which might win the victory. It was an echo of the confidence he had once felt when his whole trust had been in God, and he recognized the true ring of the boy’s courage.
“’Go,’ he said, ‘and the Lord be with thee.’
Saul puts his own armour on David.
“Then the king was eager to put his own armour on David, and he bade the soldiers arm him with the royal sword and put a brass helmet on his head. But David was not accustomed to wear heavy armour, and had never been trained to use a sword. No, he would do his best with the only weapon he thoroughly understood.
“So putting on once more his shepherd’s coat, he took his sling in his hand, and as he crossed the brook at the foot of the valley he filled his shepherd’s bag with smooth stones and fitted one of them to his sling. Then with springing steps he began to climb the opposite side.
“The rage of Goliath was great when he saw the slender, fair-haired boy, without either armour or sword, coming so boldly to meet him.
“’Am I a dog,’ he shouted, ‘that thou comest to me with staves?’
David’s fight with Goliath.
“’I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied,’ rang out the clear answer. ‘The Lord saveth not with 27sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.’
“The great giant lifted his spear, ready with one blow to end this unequal fight. But David did not wait to come within reach of the spear. Before Goliath came near, the boy stopped suddenly and sent a stone whizzing through the air straight at the giant’s head. The stone sank into Goliath’s forehead, and the great figure reeled and fell with a mighty crash to the earth. Instantly David seized his sword and cut off his head.
David seized his sword and cut off his head.
“So God’s people were saved, and so again God made 28use of the shepherd boy’s training and skill, this time to win a great victory for His people.
“The fair-haired shepherd boy had done his duty faithfully in the fields on the hillside at home, where he was but little thought of. He had always tried to do his best, whether he was keeping the sheep or practising with his sling or learning to play the harp. And now, suddenly, the great opportunity had come and found him ready.
“He had entered the camp an unnoticed country lad, carrying provisions to his brothers. Now every soldier in the camp was shouting his name; the king was ready to shower rewards and honors upon him. He was the hero of the hour.
“The pleasant days in the Bethlehem fields were now over for David. There was no thought of allowing him to return to his work. No, the king declared he must remain as a soldier in the army, ready to defend his king and country. Though he was still a mere boy he was placed in command and set over the men of war.
“It was much more difficult work than looking after sheep, and as time went on and dangers and difficulties beset him on every side, David must often have longed for the old quiet days on the hillside. His path was rough and dangerous now, and sad to say his feet often slipped and he wandered far astray, but always he held fast to his faith in God, and found his way back to the straight path.
“29As the years went by Samuel’s promise was at last fulfilled, and David was made king over God’s chosen people. David had often forgotten God, but God had never forgotten him.
“What a change it was from the days when he wandered about the fields in his sheepskin coat, often sleeping out under the stars, possessing only his harp and his shepherd’s sling.
“Now he wore royal robes, and there was a crown of pure gold upon his head. Instead of the starry sky for a roof, he now lived in a palace of cedar wood.
And he knew surely that it was God who had taken care of him; that it was God who had set the crown of gold upon his head, the seal to the promise made in that long ago day when the old prophet had poured the anointing oil upon the head of the wandering shepherd boy.
“Looking back, he saw that he had made many mistakes, that his soul was stained with many sins; but he knew, too, that God would listen when he prayed, “Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”
“As a little shepherd lad he had cared far more for his sheep than his own safety. He had always been ready to risk his life for them. So now, when he became king, his people were just as precious to him as his sheep had been. He cared for them with all his heart. He was prepared to suffer himself rather than any hurt should come near them.
“30So perhaps he was, after all, not unworthy to stand as a type of the great King, “great David’s greater Son,” the little Baby who was to be born in the town of Bethlehem, the Good Shepherd who was to lay down His life for His sheep.” Steadman
Steadman
David and Goliath
I Samuel 17 NIV
17 Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Sokoh and Azekah.
2 Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines.
3 The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.
4 A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span.[a]
5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels[b];
6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back.
7 His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels.[c] His shield bearer went ahead of him.
8 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me.
9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.”
10 Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.”
11 On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.
12 Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul’s time he was very old.
13 Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war: The firstborn was Eliab; the second, Abinadab; and the third, Shammah.
14 David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul,
15 but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.
16 For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.
17 Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah[d] of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp.
18 Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance[e] from them.
19 They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”
20 Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry.
21 Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other.
22 David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were.
23 As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. |24 Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.
25 Now the Israelites had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes in Israel.”
26 David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
27 They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”
28 When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”
29 “Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?”
30 He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before.
31 What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.
32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”
33 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”
34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock,
35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.
36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.
37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”
38 Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head.
39 David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them.
“I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off.
40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.
41 Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David.
42 He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him.
43 He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
44 “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”
45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.
47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him.
49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.
50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.
51 David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.
When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran.
52 Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath[f] and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron.
53 When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp.
54 David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem; he put the Philistine’s weapons in his own tent.
55 As Saul watched David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is that young man?”
Abner replied, “As surely as you live, Your Majesty, I don’t know.”
56 The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is.”
57 As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine’s head.
58 “Whose son are you, young man?” Saul asked him.
David said, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.”
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