New children’s message audio link.
Remember where David was when the prophet Samuel came looking to anoint one of Jesse’s sons to be the next king of Israel? He was keeping the sheep.
Remember how King Saul described David when he called for him to come and play his harp? David who is with the sheep.
Keeping the sheep was preparing little David to be a shepherd for the people of Israel. One day David even told Saul about how he used to keep sheep for his father and when there came a lion or a bear and took a lamb from the flock David went after him and struck him and delivered that lamb out of his mouth and if the lion or bear went on the attack against David then David caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him.
David told King Saul this story after the giant Goliath of Gath had challenged Israel to send a champion to fight him. We left off last Sunday with the Philistine army on the one mountain and Saul and the army of Israel on the other mountain with a valley in between the two mountains. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion called Goliath. He had a bronze helmet, wore a very heavy coat of mail, had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders. His spear was huge and he had someone who carried a shield in front of him. He came out and shouted to Saul and the army of Israel to send a champion for themselves and if their champion defeated and killed Goliath then the Philistines would be their servants but if Goliath killed their champion then Israel would be servants of the Philistines.
David’s three eldest brothers, Eliab, Abinadab, and Shammah were among those in the army of Israel but David was the youngest so David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. Meanwhile Goliath came forward for forty days making fun of Israel and asking who would be their champion. Then Jesse asked his son David to take to his brothers some grain and loaves of bread and take some cheese to one of the military leaders over them. And it was while David was there to do these things that he heard the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, come out and challenge Saul and the army of Israel with the same words he had been using each day before. The soldiers were talking about how Saul would make the one who defeated Goliath rich and give him his daughter to marry and make his father’s house not have to pay taxes. Eliab was upset when he saw David because he figured that David came to watch the battle. But David continued to ask around about the reward that the one who defeated Goliath would get. And word of this reached Saul and he sent for David and David went before him and told him the story about saving lambs from lions and bears and killing them when they attacked him. Then David said, “I have killed lions and bears and this unbelieving Philistine will be like one of them because he has challenged the armies of the living God and the Lord who saved me from the lion and the bear will save me from this Philistine.” So Saul gave him his blessing – he said the Lord be with you.
First Saul tried to dress David in Saul’s own armor but David didn’t want them and took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the stream and put them in his shepherd’s pouch and with his sling in his hand he approached the giant Goliath. And Goliath and the squire who carried his shield moved forward to meet him and Goliath was insulted when he saw David was but a pretty little boy and so he began insulting and cursing David and David replied by saying that he came in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel and that the battle belongs to the Lord. So Goliath got closer and David ran to the battle line to meet him and put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it…and what happened next you’ll have to wait to hear in 2 weeks.
Recent Comments