Height= 10 Feet

Helmet of Bronze

Coat of Mail = weight = 280lbs

Bronze Shin pads

Bronze javelin

Spear with 25lb iron head

Shield-bearer in front

In this description we see the immense Size of the enemy. We also see his Strength. To be able to tote around all that heavy armor is proof alone of his brawn. The armor together weighed more than David ! The giant was invincible in terms of protection and formidable in terms offensive might compared to David. Our enemy(s) are great in number, crafty and of immense strength. David was no match against Goliath. We are no match for the devil and his arrayed hosts.

Goliath expressed his defiance in 17.10. David took note of it in 17.26&36. This is not the only time we see defiance. Nebuchadnezzar defied the Lord when he said "who is that God that shall be able to deliver you out of my hands" when Shdrach, Meshech and Abebnego were cast in the fiery furnace. The devil

is described as a ROARING lion. But we shall see what our David can do with lions!

"this uncircumcised Philistine"

David referred to him as "this uncircumcised Philistine"

Circumcision was a Jewish rite that denoted that all that was past of the associations of the flesh is cut away and disposed of. To be circumcised meant to be at one with Jehovah, clean, separated from the flesh and the worldly systems of religion and its defilements. The term uncircumcised grew to be a term of derision which the Jews would heap upon their enemies. But here was no mere term of derision. David was describing his enemy not as decorated in splendid battle dress, prepared for combat.

David described him based on a spiritual discernment. He was not impressed with his height or his equipment. He looked at him through spiritual eyes, he was uncircumcised. He viewed him as unclean, connected to the world, linked with the false gods which he later cursed David by. Samuel earlier said the man looketh upon the outward appearance but the LORD Looketh upon the heart. David saw Goliath for was he really was. not what he appeared to be. May God help us to have spiritual evaluation of the people of the world who may in any way threaten us. Let us not be impressed with their position or rank. This does not mean that we disrespect our unsaved relations, our boss or leaders of the community or the nation. It does mean, though, that we look at them the way the Lord does, as unclean. As such we will not have to worry about self esteem or any esteem. We will hold things in their proper perspective.

He also recognized that this man defied the armies of the living God, not just the armies of Israel (although that was true). He looked at the armies of Israel as being connected with the living God. Do we look at Christians as a whole and especially the Assembly as revealed in the Word of God as connected with the Living God? All such are linked with the resurrected Christ. He is alive forever more! He has the keys of death and of hell. The grave could not hold him. Death could not claim him. Sin could not defile him. He is risen from the dead. We should not be afraid? David said in verse 32, "Let no man's heart fail because of him" fear should not be in the vocabulary of the Christian. Our David has gone up against the giant and felled him. His head has been wounded ! The seed of the woman, the Lord Christ, has bruised the serpents head. Gen.. 3.15! That prophecy has been fulfilled. Sin has been blotted out by the shedding of His precious blood. What have we to fear? The victory is ours because it was His. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" May God help us to pray for and use discernment, to see things as He see them. The enemy is unclean, not separated and already defeated. All of our present foes are the same as this noisy doomed giant.

David had experienced the Lord's deliverance before. See verses 34-35. He smote lions and bears. He said to Saul, "Your servant has killed both lions and bears. .." He had the confidence to know that "this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them.." He compared Goliath to a mere animal of the field who interfered with the peaceful grazing of his fathers sheep. Although David killed the lions and bears he gave the credit to God. "The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear...."

He knew that the same Lord who delivered him before, "will deliver me from the hand of the Philistine.. He knew that the battle was the LORD's. not his. May we realize this as well that our jobs our health our position or our wealth depends on our relation with the Lord and his purposes in our lives. We have to kill the giants (so to speak). We have responsibilities to perform, deadlines to meet, work to do. We should eat well, work diligently, read, pray, witness and live for God. But the RESULTS are not ours they are the LORD'S. He does not deliver us through academic degrees or through diplomas our intellect, philosophy, programs, devices, ingenuity or any tools of our making. He delivers by his own power and might, in his own time and way.

David brought the time element into his circumstances, verse 46. "This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand. " The time element was in the circumstances of the Lord Jesus as well when he said, " Now is the hour come. Father glorify the Son that thy Son may glorify thee.." He entered into a more terrible battle and won the day.

The ultimate purpose in all of this was seen in the statement that David made to the giant, "that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Self glory, our skin or our secret agendas will not avail. May we perform our tasks for God with one desire, that world may know that behind us is one solitary force, the living and true God. This is not unlike the prayer of the Lord Jesus in the 17th chapter of John, "that the world may know that thou hast sent me ..." In other words that God alone might have all the glory and not man, any man, in the world or in the Assembly. As far as the Assembly is concerned, it is interesting to note that there are lessons for the church of God as well as the world. In verse 47 another purpose is declared, "...that all this Assembly may know that the Lord does saves not by sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's..."

May God help us to see the divine purpose to things and may the Assembly of God appreciate anew the fact that God does not win battles the way the world does. The battle belongs to him and is fought in his own ways. How often do Christians act on the principles of the world to fight the battles (or supposed battles) for God. David rejected the tools of Saul, his helmet, his sword, his armor. They were the instruments of man's invention. We are in a spiritual battle against the arrayed forces of the world, the flesh and the devil. We wrestle not against flesh and blood.

Yet we often take up the tools of the flesh to battle with invisible forces. It is curious that later in his struggles against Saul to take his rightful place, David took the sword that was taken from Goliath and said, " there is none like that" when he asked Ahimelich the priest for a sword. No doubt he used that same sword when "they made a great slaughter" and delivered the inhabitants of the Keilah from the Philistines. Note that this was the same sword which David used to kill Goliath after the stone felled him. He then used it to cut off his head. Apparently he had left the sword on the field of battle. It was no trophy to David. He was not hanging his war memorabilia in his trophy room. It was probably rescued. Later it was found wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. Is there a connection here that David was a man of war and could not build the temple? David continued to experience the deliverance of God in the battles to follow. At least twice we find when confronted with the Philistines, he prayed to the Lord and asked , "Shall I go up and attack these Philistines?" David later used swords as the scope of his warfare broadened. However, his reliance was not upon them any more than it was upon the stones taken from the brook. His trust was in his God.

May God help us to be men like David, a man after God's own heart, who was prayerful, discerning, purposeful and experienced the deliverance of God.