"What To Do with a Giant"
1Samuel 17

November 18, 2007
by C.W. Powell

Please have your bibles open to 1Samuel 17, the passage we read a moment before.

What do you do with a giant? Gath was one of the cities of the Philistines and there was a giant who lived in Gath. This giant had five sons, all of them were giants and the oldest of the five sons was Goliath, but his four brothers were as impressive as he was. Goliath stood almost ten feet tall, and maybe taller, depending on which cubit is meant in the description. A cubit was at least 18 inches long, and perhaps as long as 22 inches. If you take the smaller one, you get 9.5 feet tall, if you take the longer one you get over 11 feet tall. He was no shrinking violet, and certainly not a man you would want to meet in a dark alley in the middle of the night—or the middle of day, either, for that matter. The average ceiling in a house is 8 feet high; in most of our homes Goliath’s head would stick out two feet into the attic.

So his presence on the field of battle that day was an inconvenience. He couldn’t be ignored. Let me set the table for you, make some observations concerning David, and then make some applications to you and to me.

I. Israel was in a very bad way.

A. God had given them a king in their rebellion. Saul was that king, but he had been rejected by God, and David had been anointed by Samuel in secret and no one knew about it except a few members of David’s family.

B. An evil spirit troubled Saul, and he found relief only by the music of David, his armor-bearer, who had been brought to court to play the harp for King Saul. Saul had made him his armor-bearer, but evidently paid little attention to him, for he didn’t even know who he was when David came before him before the slaying of Goliath.

C. As far a natural reason and experience would teach, Goliath was invincible. No one could expect to overcome him. Do not blame Saul or the men of Israel for being afraid of Goliath. You would be afraid of him; I would be afraid of him. The man was huge and he was clothed in chain mail and heavily armed. His challenge to Israel was common in the ancient world: the battle would be settled by single combat between to champions who would represent each of the nations.

D. As Samuel had said, when Israel had demanded a king, they had rejected God from being their king, and they would pay the consequences for their choice. You and I do not get to choose the way that God exercises His rule over us. God rejected Saul and chose David to be king, but God did not put David in power until Saul had reigned for 40 years—forty years of tyranny and oppression—until that entire generation that had demanded a king had passed away. God may give you a choice in order to test what is in you heart; but God will not give you a choice of the results of your choice. You can choose to be a fool, but you must receive a fool’s reward. God let them have a king, but the results that Samuel said would follow, certainly did follow.

E. And so, Israel had come to this. The king that they had chosen; the king they delighted in, was helpless before Goliath, the giant of Gath. For 40 days he mocked and challenged the armies of Israel. I am sure that reports were brought every day to the tent of Saul, who must have been in despair.

II. Though they had rejected God to be their King, God did not reject them from being His people. How we thank God for that.

A. David had been anointed king by Samuel, and after serving Saul for a time, he returned to his father in Bethlehem. Perhaps is was when Saul took to the field with the armies of Israel to engage this new excursion of the Philistine that David returned to his home.

B. Your King James Bibles say that Jesse his father went as an old man in those days. I suspect so. He had eight sons. His father sent him with provisions for his three older brothers. We do not know how two of the brothers reacted to David, but we do know who the eldest, Eliab, reacted. Remember that this is the one that Samuel wanted to anoint king, but that God rejected, saying that man looks on the outward, but God looks on the heart. Something in the heart of Eliab was rejected by God. The heart has occasion to reveal itself, however, and Eliab scoffed at David, “And why are you here? Have you left your few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and arrogance—you just want to see the battle.” Thus, Eliab despised his younger brother and disappears from the biblical record.

C. How much better the words of David, the future king of Israel:

1. Before his brothers:

“And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1Sa 17:26 av)

a. God has a people;
b. faith discerns the people of God and does not despise them.

2. Before Saul

“And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. David said moreover, 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. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee.” (1Sa 17:34-37 av)

3. Before Goliath

“And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine. And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and the man that bare the shield went before him. And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance. And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field. Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD’S, and he will give you into our hands. And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.” (1Sa 17:40-51 av)

a. David’s act was supremely an act of faith and trust in God.

b. When Samuel anointed David to be king, God had given David his Spirit, as we read.

c. You and I do not get to choose whom God will chose to recover and reclaim the church. He chooses His own servants and we are to trust Him. Jesus cleansed the temple, but every Israelite did not have the right to go into the temple and start rearranging the furniture. Jesus didn't dodge the questions as to His authority, and we must not either.

d. David was appointed by God to slay Goliath; do not teach this story as an exercise in humanism, that you can do anything if you set your mind to it. The power to slay Goliath did not come from David’s self-esteem or positive thinking, and certainly not from pride and contempt of others, but from the Spirit that was given to him and the enabling that God gave him to the task, and the success that God gave him.

e. David understood this clearly: ‘I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts” If God had not anointed and sent David these words would be a transgression of the 3rd Commandment.

f. David’s anointing was to be the true king of Israel, to deliver them out of the hands of the oppressors and bullies.

In this David is a figure of the Lord Jesus: of Mary;s unborn child, the Zacharias prophesied: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;” (Lu 1:68-71 av) Zacharias knew that his son, John the Baptist, would herald the coming of the true Savior.

g. This brings us to the application. For you and for me.

III. What do you do with a Giant? To put it another way, “What do you do with a bully?”

A. What is a bully? Definition: A strong person who seeks dominion over others for his or her own advantage and refuses to abide under the rule that God has established. The weak suffer from the dominion of such people and we must beseech the Lord that he delivers us from them.

B. What are the kinds of bullies? What are the giants in our lives? You can be certain that you have them.

1. Some of them are not people: diseases, weaknesses, circumstances, etc. The communist party and the nazi party were bullies to the Soviets and the German peoples. But I do not speak of such today.

2. The most difficult bullies are people, and they use various means to establish their illegitimate control over people. They do this to get their own way. But they all use some kind of power in order to gain advantage over weaker people:

a) Physical power: Goliath. Illustration [DeWayne Paugh]

b) Economic power: rich bullying the poor; the poor bullying the rich.

c) Emotional power: Anger, or tears, or pity. “Slothful man says, there is a lion in the street.” Seven men that can render a reason. Emotional manipulation is one of the great powers of bullies and can be devastating to families, to churches, etc. You hurt my feelings; hence you are a bad guy. Everybody is held in bondage to your hurt feelings. Shame on you.

d) Power of the will: refuse to be persuaded. My family used emotional bullying; but especially the bullying of the will. There were awful battles in my mother’s family as powerful wills clashed. It was weakness to be persuaded; the will was strong. I WILL HAVE MY WAY, FOR I AM VALIDATED BY MY WILL. THIS IS WHO I AM.

e) Power of the intellect: the ability to turn an argument upside down; to use clever devices to show that black is white and white is black. There are intimidating intellects that seek to gain power over others by arguing them down, pouring scorn upon them, ridiculing them, slandering them.

(f) Some bully by withdrawing, seeking to intimidate and force behavior by withdrawing friendship and love. They refuse to talk to their friends or relatives in direct defiance of the command of God; they go off in a huff if they don't get their own way. There are churches where people have not spoken to each other in years. They are pouting because they did not get their own way years ago and are still punishing people for not bowing to their will.

3. Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.” (Jer 9:23-24)

4. So what do you do with a bully?

a) First of all, realize that your first business is always with God. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” (Heb 4:12-13) David was the only one that day who had had business with God. He is therefore a figure and type of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only one who has really done His business with God, just as David was the only one on that day of conflict many years ago.

b) Bullying is an act of unbelief: illustration: Arminian bullies believe that God is too much of a gentleman to infringe upon your free will, and so they bully you to have you do for them what God would not persuade you to do. The Calvinist believes that God's will is done in all thing, and so they bully you to make sure that your will is conformed to the will of God, so that predestination doesn't go awry. Cure for both: God is supreme; we obey Him, and trust in Him. We do not have to have our own way. It will be all right.

c) If you are the bully, then you really have business with God. Do you think that God cannot do without you, that His work will fail if you don't bully people into conformity with your will? If Jesus must sweat drops of blood so that His [human] will would be conformed to God's, do you think that you can know the will of God without struggle and pain. Who do you think you are?

(1) For crying out loud, quit it!! realize what a fearful thing it is to fly in the face of God; to bully people into getting your own way. If you have been lying and cheating by manipulating emotions, intimidating others by your willfulness; lying and cheating by absurd arguments and rationalizations in order to bully people into obedience to your will, you will need to take inventory of your whole approach to this business of being a Christian.

(2) You need to seek to your Savior, to see how He would have your family governed; how you should treat your friends, and how the church is to be governed under the Lord Jesus. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Are you the giant in somebody’s life? Would you like to be and keep trying so that there is endless strife because other’s won’t let you bully them? Quit it! You don’t have to be that way. If you are a bully then you are very weak in faith. Even Jesus recognized that it was the Father that drew men to Him. Jesus was no bully, but was very hard on those who were.

(3) Enter into your closet; do your business with God, and he who sees you in secret will reward you openly, and your life will be so rich you won’t have any need or desire to bully others, to try to whip them into shape.

(4) These agitated people, throwing fits, getting their feelings hurt, trying to control others with anger or pity; their hearts are far from the Lord; they need to spend more time with God. They have not because they ask not; hence their lives are filled with strife and discord, as James tells us.

d) If you are bullied: Once again your business is with God. Israel made a great mistake if they thought their trouble was with Goliath. He was not the problem. The problem was in their own hearts. Goliath was there by the decree of God, to show Israel about the true nature of their salvation. David put it distinctly when he said to Goliath: “And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD’S, and he will give you into our hands.” (1Sa 17:47) Goliath didn’t know the peril he was in, for he thought he had to do with David. But Goliath also had to deal with God, and this was the day of judgment for him.

e) If you are in a place of God given authority: God gives authority to people to protect his people from bullies:

(1) Fathers. They must not be the bullies, and they must not allow mothers to bully or children to bully. This is the primary reason for authority. Bullies of all stripe are to be resisted by the authority given by Christ. The weak are to be protected from them. Children cannot be bullied into being good citizens, but are to be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

(2) Elders. Your duty is to protect the weak from bullies: children, old, discouraged, tempted, etc. You are not to bully, but provide a place of refuge so the weak can grow and be nourished.

(3) Magistrates: God has provided them in His common grace to put down social, economic, and other lawless bullies, so that the godly may live at peace, keeping the covenant of their God.

May God bless you.

Amen and Amen