Kanakuk Institute Podcast

David and Goliath

August 08, 2022 Kanakuk Institute Season 1 Episode 33
Kanakuk Institute Podcast
David and Goliath
Show Notes Transcript

Chad and Keith discuss the lower and upper story aspects of the David and Goliath narrative in scripture.

Intro (Keith): Welcome to the Kanakuk Institute Podcast, where we continue to equip leaders with biblical skills for a lifetime of ministry.

 

Chad (00:13): And welcome back into the Kanakuk Institute Podcast. Keith Chancey and Chad Hampsch once again with you, and we’re in the middle of a series, Keith, talking through a bunch of these amazing Old Testament stories that so many grew up hearing, learning, even for those that weren’t raised in the church, probably know the story of David and Goliath and some of the stories we’re going to look at today. So, Keith remind us before we jump into talking about David and Goliath, what are some of the things we’re looking for as we look at these Old Testament stories when we talk about the idea of shadows and hints of what’s going on in the Old Testament?

 

Keith (00:52): Well, you know, you have to look beyond the story, you know, we tend to just focus on David’s going to go fight this big giant, and we realize to understand that this is Israel, and this is God doing miracles about what’s going to happen in the future. And so we, just don’t need to be so mesmerized by this story as we are to the bigger story. You know, we always talk about the upper story, lower story, where you see this story that you go “Wow, isn’t that cute. It’s kind of fun, practically, I’m going to go slay a giant.” But then we realize to fail, we fail to understand that that story’s a whole lot deeper meaning than we ever imagined. And that’s talking about something greater about, you know, David would be king, and one day there’s going to be a greater king than even David, and his name’s going to be Jesus. And when you see that and you go, “Wow, these are just foreshadowings of what’s to come.” It makes that story of David and Goliath even a little bit better, you know?

 

Chad (01:54): Yeah, and that is a really good point, you know, we’re so quick to read the Old Testament and to want to move directly to application, and of course, we want application of the scriptures, but we also don’t want to miss that God is doing something much bigger in the history of Israel, and in His plan of redemption, and so that’s what we’re going to focus in as we continue to talk about some of these stories. If you haven’t been with us over the last several podcasts, we talked about the beginning and the story in Genesis of Adam and Eve and some of those shadows of the Old Testament, we’re going to take the next several weeks and continue that story, and we’re going to start with one that is common to not just believers, but also to pretty much anybody that’s ever played a sport.

 

Keith (02:36): If you’ve ever gone to church, or heard some story somewhere that was Christian, you probably heard this story of a guy named David. And you go, “Little guy.” Right?

 

Chad (02:46): So let’s set up the context, Keith, before we jump into the actual, like nuts and bolts of the story, what’s happening? Why does David end up in a place to go fight Goliath? What’s happening with Israel, and this group of people called the Philistines?

 

Keith (03:01): Well, these Philistines have come into the land, and they have taken over, and God doesn’t like that, because God is very possessive of the land which he’s given the people of Israel. And what has happened is that the bad guys, so to speak, have taken over the land and the good guys are being conquered. And God says, “You know what? That isn’t gonna be the way it works. I am in control, and I am God.” And so, when you look at the nation here, you go, “Ok, who’s going to win this battle? It looks like it’s overwhelmingly that Israel cannot win.” And so, there are these people in the land, and they had this giant, and his name is Goliath, and he’s, you know, fee fi fo fuming everybody and saying, “I am the giant and I’m going to kill everybody.” And David hears this, and he goes, “You know what? I want to go see what’s going on.” And his dad says, “Hey take your brothers some food and go check it out in the valley of Elah, and let’s just see what’s going on there.” And so David runs up there, and when he gets there, he looks around and he sees this giant out there saying all those ugly things about God, and he says, “Wait, who’s going to fight?” And nobody stepped up to the plate to go fight this giant because they’re all afraid, even his brothers. And David says, “You know what? I’ll fight.” And here’s the king at that time, and David says, “Hey, I want to go fight the great Goliath.” And the king says, “Oh, there is no way young, you know, little Jedi Warrior, you know, you are so little, there’s no way you can go fight this guy.” And it’s really kind of funny Chad, because, it says that king Saul puts all of the armor, his armor, on this little kid that’s a teenager, and it’s so big and overwhelming that David’s going, “I can’t wear this stuff.” And he begins to fall, and, you know, can’t even pull the sword out. And he’s like, “You know what? Let me just throw all this down.” And he has nothing there that day but a slingshot and a rock. And I love that story as we see, here’s David, going against the greatest warrior of the time, and they, they’re going to try to protect him by putting all this garb on him. And David says, “No, I go in the name of the Lord my God.” Ha, I just love that.

 

Chad (05:24): That’s good. And what’s fascinating about this story too is, the armies had decided they didn’t want to have massive loss, and so they said, “Just pick one man to intercede on behalf of the people.” And like you mentioned, what’s fascinating is David’s not even really there. He’s not even really a part of the story. He’s bringing lunch.

 

Keith (05:44): He’s the lunch bearer, you know?

 

Chad (05:46): The big brothers are out there supposedly fighting the battle.

 

Keith (05:50): Brought McDonald’s in, you know, with the fries.

 

Chad (05:52): Yeah, and here’s what’s going on, and he is so upset that the Philistines are defaming the name of God. The God of Israel. And he moves to action. 

 

Keith (06:06): And Chad, you know something that’s really interesting there is that, you know, we tend to be lulled to sleep when we hear people, you know, say the Lord’s name in vain, or talk about our God, or, you know, make fun of Christians, rather than go, “You know what? That’s wrong.” And in our society today, we are very capable of those things. I seems like the church in itself is so against each other within the church, that we’re fighting the wrong battles, and David comes up to a situation where there’s this Giant out there saying ugly things against God, and he says, “Uh uh. I am having nothing about this.”

 

Chad (06:38): Yeah, I will not stand.

 

Keith (06:40): Yeah, and I love that because to me that’s even a better part of the story than even the battle.

 

Chad (06:46): Yeah, and what a great lower story, like practical application, like, it’s so easy to take this story and be like, “Overcoming the giants in your life” And there’s that narrative, but David is frustrated not just with Israel, but with the fact that people are using the Lord’s name in a way that does not represent him accurately.

 

Keith (07:08): And what I love about that is that as they do that, you know, David, and I really think this about my own life. There was a time in my life that I’m a senior in high school, I was angry at God, and I blamed God for everything that was going on because I had a wrong view of God. And sometimes, I think that even happened a long time ago. These guys kept thinking God was going to fight their fight for them, and yet there was the young man named David that was going to go fight it, and yet so many people didn’t want to fight the fight because they were afraid. And today, we’re afraid of fighting. What if we say something and it’s misunderstood and we’re going to get in trouble for it? I’d rather say the right thing and stand on truth and say the wrong thing and be on the wrong side. And so David, there’s a great story here of that. Of who is your God? And if you believe in the one true God, that created the heavens and the earth, and you believe that all of humanity and all of our history lies upon that one God that became a man, that died on the cross, that rose from the grave, and we truly believe that, then we ought to be pumped up to go fight that battle.

 

Chad (08:15): Yeah, and Keith, don’t you think there are some parallels? Here David is fighting for the name of God, and it’s offensive. And here in the New Testament, the name Jesus, we believe Jesus is God, obviously, the Son of God, and look at our culture today. You go and pray to some, in a public setting and you pray to God, people might get frustrated, but the moment you name Jesus, now you’ve drawn a line in the sand.

 

Keith (08:44): It’s not a politically correct statement.

 

Chad (08:45): No, it is not.

 

Keith (08:47): You get a lot of people that don’t like you. And even Christians, we try to dress it up. We want to put the big armor on you, and rather than, you know what, let me just get you on your knees and let’s pray that God does something greater than we ever dreamed imaginable.

 

Chad (09:05): So that’s a great lower story application. Give me another one or two that before we jump into the big picture, upper story, here’s what God’s doing in Israel, what are a couple other practical things that come out of this story that we can take and apply to our life?

 

Keith (09:19): Well, you know, David. You know, he refuses to wear the armor bearer of the king. But what he does is he grabs a stone, one stone.

 

Chad (09:29): Something he knew.

 

Keith (09:30): Something he knew, because he had learned growing up as a young boy, he was a shepherd boy. And this young shepherd boy, he was in the mountains shepherding sheep, and making sure that lions and tigers and bears oh my would not come and take the sheep. And so he learned a craft, and he learned how to play the harp, and David was prepared. You know, a lot of people want to say, “Well when I get to that moment, I’ll be ready.” But God has given you talents through your life. There’s reasons why you grow up in a certain family with certain adversities, because it grows you up. David had to learn how to protect the sheep. He had to learn how to fight. He was no rookie to learning how to fight something. I mean, he had killed bears, lions, and he was not afraid. And so when he sees this great giant Goliath, he’s not afraid to run to the battle, so David runs to the battle. I love that. Not runs away from the battle, but he runs to the battle. That’s a great lower story that we see and go, “Wow.”

 

Chad (10:32): Yeah, what a great word picture.

 

Keith (10:34): Yeah, what a great word picture that we go, “Am I the type of guy that runs to the battle or do I run away from the battle?” And that he has just one smooth stone. He has a couple in his little baggie, but he says, “You know what? I got it.” And when he slings that rock and it hits the Goliath, and the goliath hits the ground, he doesn’t even stop there. He runs over and grabs that head, pulls it up and cuts the head off. And you know, when I was thinking about that, I went, “You know? The seed of woman will crush the head of the serpent.” And all of a sudden you go, “Wow, could that have been a picture right there, that that’s what’s going to happen one day in the future of the foreshadowing.” That you don’t just need to hit the, you know, the devil in the head. Take his head off. And he’s done. And so I kind of like that.

 

Chad (11:18):Yeah, and I love what you brought up there, because, the Bible we see this, this repetition that often happens, right? Real historical event, Adam and Eve in the garden, and then it’s almost like it’s fulfilled, sometimes multiple times in a pattern, and we see that throughout the Old Testament. So that’s a great parallel for our audience to grab hold of. Let’s move, Keith, beyond just this lower story idea of, you know, protecting the name of God, running to the battle. And let’s talk about what God is doing in Israel and the word picture he’s giving Israel through this Davidic King.

 

Keith (11:55): As we know, from this moment on, he gets raised up through the ranks. And he is anointed as the next king of Israel. And yet, when you watch this, you go, “Here’s a young man that has no fear that raises up through the ranks because he is the anointed one, chosen by God to be that guy that leads Israel into the promised land.” And you go, I love to see that God does raise up individuals that are going to be used for his glory, for his majesty, that are going to do things that nobody ever deems imaginable, yet here’s this guy David, that does it very well. 

 

Chad (12:39): I love that, and when we think about the parallels between David and Jesus, and you see here’s the future king of Israel from the line of David, from the line of Judah, who goes into the valley of death, he intercedes on behalf of the people, one man standing on behalf of the people, facing certain death, and instead of being defeated by death, he overcomes death, and he sets the captives free. What a great reminder and a great shadow of what is to come. 

 

Keith (13:09): What a great picture that is for us. You know, when I look back and I understand what the Old Testament really means, and how that me, a New Testament guy can take understanding of that, and when I look at Matthew, and I see that we as Christians are of the line of David, and that’s very important, of the tribe of Judah, all of a sudden, I go, “I’m no longer standing in mud, I’m standing on the rock.” And I know whom it is that I serve, I know whom it is that wins, and rather than being afraid, I’m drawing all these parallels to run to the battle against all odds, and I’m going, “Man, I am a child of the king.” And I need to be more aggressive with how I live my life to make Christ known. And when evil’s out there, I’ve got to call evil evil, and stand on what is true, because I am on the winning team. 

 

Chad (14:04): Yeah, we don’t need to be afraid to intercede as well. It reminds me of 2 Samuel 7, right? That not only do we have this Davidic king, but we have a future king that David was promised that there was a king coming that was greater than he was that would be from the same line. Matthew makes that connection for us and helps us understand the whole story. 

 

Keith (14:21): The big picture is God is awesome.

 

Chad (14:24): And that’s the win. I hope this is encouraging. It’s fun to talk about for sure. I hope that our listening audience is encouraged and reminded. “Let’s go study in the Old Testament. Let’s not just stay in the New Testament.” The apostles, Jesus, they help us understand what’s going on in these stories, and there’s so much more that we often miss. And so we’ll be excited to bring it to you again next time here on the Kanakuk Institute Podcast, thanks so much for joining us.