Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.
Speaker 2:All right, guys, this week I'm taking you on a journey to Golgotha. So up to this point we have explored the life of Abraham, how God called him to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. How Abraham was prepared to obey but was halted by an angel of God, the angel of God. And how God then provided a mature male lamb caught in a thorn, bush, as a substitutionary offering. And then we fast forwarded about a thousand years to the reign of King Saul. Saul turned from God, so God turned from him. David, a teenage shepherd boy, was then anointed by the prophet Samuel to be the next king of Israel. And then David found himself in Saul's house as a servant charged with calming him down when he was being attacked by demonic spirits. Then we have the Israelite and Philistine armies squaring off for battle and the Philistine champion, a giant named Goliath, challenges the Israelites for 40 days to send out a champion from their ranks to fight him. Nobody stepped up until David caught wind of this and he volunteered for the fight and Saul said go, and the Lord be with you. So then David goes to the battlefield. He's armed with only five stones and a sling. So let's pick up the narrative back in 1 Samuel 17, starting in verse 42. And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. And the Philistine said to David am I a dog that you come with me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David come to me and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field. Then David said to the Philistine you come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied this day. The Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will strike you down and cut off your head and I will give you the dead bodies of the hosts of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth. And that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves, not with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hand.
Speaker 2:When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David. David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine and David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead and he fell on the face to the ground. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistine saw that their champion was dead, they fled and David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put the armor in his tent.
Speaker 2:So, guys, on this story as a quick side note, people have wondered aloud why David, if he knew that God was with him and that it would only take a single stone to get the job done, then why did he take five stones with him to the battlefield? Well, this is why you should read your Bible, because in 2 Samuel 21, we learned that Goliath had brothers. How many brothers? Four. So essentially, david was like Goliath, I got one for you, and if your brothers come to avenge you, then I've got one for each of them too. I mean, let's go Like he was ready, but let's go and get back to David here.
Speaker 2:So after verse 54, 1 Samuel 17, the Bible goes silent on what became of the head of Goliath. So this is where we have to rely on some early rabbinical writings and some Jewish and Christian tradition. So at this time Jerusalem wasn't the city of David yet. Okay, because David wasn't David yet. So it was a Jebusite fortress. And in this day the conquering king or champion would take the head of the defeated king or champion and put it on display for all to see. So kind of a you know, a run up and get done up kind of a thing. But that wasn't going to fly inside the walls of Jerusalem again, because at this time it's a Jebusite fortress.
Speaker 2:So tradition says that David, the teenage shepherd, lyre player, buried the head of Goliath on the mountainside on a mountainside near Jerusalem. Buried the head of Goliath on the mountainside on a mountainside near Jerusalem. The mountain, the same place. God stayed. The hand of Abraham the same place. God provided a substitutionary sacrifice in the form of an adult male lamb with its head stuck in a crown of thorns. The same place where God promised Abraham that through his offspring, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. The official name of the mountain Mount Moriah, but it became colloquially known as the place of a skull. The Hebrew word for this place is Golgoleth. The Aramaic word for this place is Golgolta. The Latin word for this place is Calvary, where we get the word Calvary, but most of us today know this place in the Greek Golgotha. I'll see you there tomorrow.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to today's episode Before you go. If you want to help equip other men for the fight, share this podcast around and leave us a five-star rating and review. Stay sharp.