seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
1 Samuel 17:32 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.”
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.”
This is from Bible.org.
While the application of David’s words goes beyond Saul, it certainly focuses upon Saul who is terrified by the foreboding presence of Goliath and the Philistines. David graciously and somewhat indirectly encourages Saul not to fear. The reason David can say this is because he is willing to go and fight Goliath. David is willing to do what neither Saul nor any other soldier in Israel is willing to do – fight Goliath.
Saul gives David every opportunity to excuse himself and go back home to his father and his sheep without guilt or shame. There is a certain kindness in Saul’s words to David when he attempts to talk him out of fighting Goliath. Saul does not say that David is too small to fight Goliath, but that he is too young and therefore inexperienced. Goliath is a seasoned champion with years of combat experience behind him. David is but a youth, with no combat missions at all. At least this is what Saul supposes, but David proves otherwise so convincingly that Saul allows him to represent Israel in fighting Goliath.
David is young, but his seemingly trivial duty of caring for a small flock of sheep has very nicely prepared him to fight Goliath. Eliab was never more wrong than he was about David, as David’s words to Saul show. David sees and hears what every other Israelite soldier does that morning on the front lines with his brothers. The difference is that David views this circumstance as amazingly similar to situations he has successfully faced as a shepherd boy. Is Goliath strong and mighty, able to destroy a man? So are lions and bears, and David has faced them down and killed them. Is Goliath an arrogant loud mouth? Few creatures are more intimidating by their roaring than a bear or a lion (see 1 Peter 5:8). In the carrying out of his duties as a shepherd, David has killed both lions and bears (verses 34-36).
As David risks his life to rescue the sheep under his care, God rescues him. Is David worried about facing Goliath? No, because the God who rescued him from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue him from the hand of Goliath. Notice that David speaks of being rescued from the “hand” or “paw” of the lion and the bear, and not the “jaws.” This is because the wild beast had a lamb in its mouth and refused to release it, so it had to fight David with its paws and claws. Goliath poses no new threat, and since David has, with the help of God, destroyed loud-mouthed lions and bears by his hand, he can also destroy loud-mouthed Philistines. Does Goliath speak (roar) in a way that frightens the Israelite forces? He does not frighten David. He has been here before.
Saul gives David every opportunity to excuse himself and go back home to his father and his sheep without guilt or shame. There is a certain kindness in Saul’s words to David when he attempts to talk him out of fighting Goliath. Saul does not say that David is too small to fight Goliath, but that he is too young and therefore inexperienced. Goliath is a seasoned champion with years of combat experience behind him. David is but a youth, with no combat missions at all. At least this is what Saul supposes, but David proves otherwise so convincingly that Saul allows him to represent Israel in fighting Goliath.
David is young, but his seemingly trivial duty of caring for a small flock of sheep has very nicely prepared him to fight Goliath. Eliab was never more wrong than he was about David, as David’s words to Saul show. David sees and hears what every other Israelite soldier does that morning on the front lines with his brothers. The difference is that David views this circumstance as amazingly similar to situations he has successfully faced as a shepherd boy. Is Goliath strong and mighty, able to destroy a man? So are lions and bears, and David has faced them down and killed them. Is Goliath an arrogant loud mouth? Few creatures are more intimidating by their roaring than a bear or a lion (see 1 Peter 5:8). In the carrying out of his duties as a shepherd, David has killed both lions and bears (verses 34-36).
As David risks his life to rescue the sheep under his care, God rescues him. Is David worried about facing Goliath? No, because the God who rescued him from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue him from the hand of Goliath. Notice that David speaks of being rescued from the “hand” or “paw” of the lion and the bear, and not the “jaws.” This is because the wild beast had a lamb in its mouth and refused to release it, so it had to fight David with its paws and claws. Goliath poses no new threat, and since David has, with the help of God, destroyed loud-mouthed lions and bears by his hand, he can also destroy loud-mouthed Philistines. Does Goliath speak (roar) in a way that frightens the Israelite forces? He does not frighten David. He has been here before.
Wait.... look back at 1 Samuel 17:9 "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.”
None of the commentaries that I found are discussing the consequences of letting David fight Goliath. If David fights Goliath and looses..... well then the Philistines [modern day Palestinians] will rule over Israel.
IMHO.... just my uneducated opinion.... Saul had no choice... he had to let David go fight Goliath. Back in 1 Samuel 16:13, when David was anointed... it says the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on David. IMHO... God wanted David to fight Goliath.
