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 far we've looked at the life of Abraham, god calling him to sacrifice his son Isaac, abraham coming close to doing so, only to be stopped by an angel of God. And then God providing an adult male lamb stuck in a thorn bush as a substitutionary sacrifice. Today we're going to jump forward roughly a thousand years in history and we're going to go to the Valley of Elah for a 1v1 battle. But before we get there we need to get the lay of the land. So at this time, saul is the king of Israel. In 1 Samuel 15, through the prophet Samuel, god communicates that he now rejects Saul as king because Saul stopped obeying him. So Saul desperately protested this, but God made up his mind. Then, in 1 Samuel 16, god sends the prophet Samuel to the home of Jesse, the Bethlehemite, because God had chosen one of Jesse's sons to be anointed the next king of Israel. So Jesse brings seven of his sons before Samuel, but Samuel says that the Lord has not chosen any of them. Okay, jesse said that he had one more son who was sending to the sheep. So Samuel told Jesse to fetch this guy you know, fetch this last son, and that son's name was David yes, that David. So Samuel said that he was the next chosen king of Israel and he anointed David with oil. And at this point David is somewhere in the neighborhood of, you know, 15, 16, 17 years old, so he's not a man yet. So later in 1 Samuel 16, we see that the spirit of the Lord has left King Saul and now he's being tormented by a demonic spirit. So Saul's servants suggested finding someone that could play the lyre really, really well and play that for the king so it could soothe him. And one of the servants mentioned that David yes, again, that David was such a player. So Saul summoned David. David came to the royal palace and was at Saul's service and he eventually became Saul's armor bearer. And anytime Saul was being attacked by a demonic spirit, basically David would play the liar and it would calm King Saul.
Speaker 2:Now we get to one of the most famous chapters in the Old Testament. So we're going to go to 1 Samuel 17. I'm going to start in verse 1. Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle and they were gathered at Succa, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Succoth and Azekah and Ephides Damien Sorry, I don't really know those names, but we're going to keep going. Verse 2.
Speaker 2:And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and encamped in the valley of Elah and drew up in line of battle between the Philistines, and the Philistines stood on the mountain on one side and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. This is about nine foot nine inches tall. He had a helmet of bronze on his head and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of bronze, that's about 125 pounds. And he had a bronze armor on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam and his spear's head weighed 600 shekels of iron, that's about 15 pounds. And his shield bearer went before him. He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourself and let him come down to me, if he is able to fight me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us. And the Philistine said I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together.
Speaker 2:When Saul and all of Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. So, guys, goliath came to the battlefield every day for 40 days, challenging the Israelites to send out a champion to fight him, and everyone was just basically too afraid. So he was literally mocking and spitting in the face of their God Yahweh, basically to a fright. So he was literally mocking and spitting in the face of their God Yahweh, and nobody answered the call. So during this time, david was going back and forth between King Saul's side and to his father's land to tend to the sheep. But he came to the battlefield to meet up with his brothers and he heard what Goliath was screaming in the middle of the valley, and so let's just say that he wasn't very happy about this. So let's go to verse 26 here.
Speaker 2:And David said to the men who stood by him what shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel. For who is this uncircumcised Philistine? That he should defy the armies of the living God. So word ends up getting back to King Saul about what David had said. And so Saul summons David to him and then they have this interaction, starting in verse 32.
Speaker 2:And David said to Saul let no man's heart fall because of him.
Speaker 2:Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.
Speaker 2:And Saul said to David you are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth and he has been a man of war from his youth.
Speaker 2:But David said to Saul your servant used to keep sheep for his father, and when there came a lion or a bear and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and the uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God. And David said the Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this, philistine and Saul said to David go and the Lord be with you. So Goliath of Gath has been jonesing for a fight for 40 days and David, a teenage shepherd boy, says I'm your huckleberry and we'll pick back up with the story 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.