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.
For forty days the valley of Elah had gone quiet, because Israel's army had no answer to the giant. Then a shepherd boy changed the terms: this was not a fight about weapons, but about the God whose armies the Philistine had insulted.
Two Sets of Weapons
Goliath listed metal; David named a Person. One writer explains why weapons like David's always give offence, and how David's answer changed the terms of the fight.
The Bible TreasuryThe flesh always thinks itself insulted, because our weapons are not the kind it uses. The flesh likes to see sword opposed to sword, helmet against helmet; the flesh loves its own. But David said, "I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied." So David puts the question on its true basis. It is now simply a question between the Lord of hosts and the Philistine. David takes David out of the picture altogether, and brings God Himself in as Goliath's opponent. It does not matter what we are, or how mighty the foe is. Will God not defend His own name? Here is the might of faith: faith always brings in almighty power.
The Name Itself
In Scripture a name tells you who someone is. That is why David had already won before the stone flew.
Truth & TestimonyHe had a resource greater than Goliath with his armour and weapons. He confronted Goliath in the Name of Jehovah of hosts, the living God. In the Bible a name usually describes the person who bears it. When David invoked the Name of Jehovah he was depending on all that God is in unlimited power. Goliath was doomed from the moment David invoked the Name of Jehovah.
A Title Born in Weakness
"Lord of hosts" is not a title from Israel's glory days. It first appears when everything was at its lowest, on the lips of a woman who was alone and shamed.
The Bible TreasuryThe first chapter of this book reveals still greater weakness. Hannah was alone and shamed. Around her was either spiritual deadness or shameless wickedness. The Lord had been dishonoured in His sanctuary, and His judgment hung over them. It was at such a moment that it pleased God to reveal Himself by a name which He had not taken before... Hannah was the first that we read of who cried to the Lord as Jehovah Tzebâôth (the Lord of hosts or armies, 1:11). David also met and overthrew Goliath in the might of that name (17:45).
What "Defied" Carries
The word David uses of Goliath is heavier than mockery. Only one man on the field heard it for what it was.
F. A. HughesDavid could see more than the desperate position of the people. He saw how the situation affected God — "this uncircumcised Philistine... has defied the armies of the living God." The word "defied" or "reproach" holds the double thought of blaspheming and placing in jeopardy. Goliath did more than put the people in desperate danger. He defied God Himself, and David alone saw it.
Confidence Learned in Private
Words like these have a history behind them. And they are not the boast they sound like.
The Bible TreasuryNow David could never have stood like this at this hour, if he had not learnt God as his God in secret... The name of the Lord must be our strength against every evil, whether outside or within... You have only to put God in remembrance of His own name, and He will be jealous for that name. So there was no pride in David's heart here. He was shrinking himself into nothing, and making God everything. His most confident words are his most humble ones.
Why the Sling Mattered
David had refused Saul's armour a few verses earlier. Had he kept it, the result would have proved nothing.
C. H. MackintoshIf David had used Saul's armour, no one would have learned that the Lord does not save by sword and spear. His fight would have looked like any other. But the sling and the stone gave little prominence to the man who used them. They gave the glory to Him from whom the victory came.
The Greater David
One writer reads the scene as a picture of Christ, setting David's aim and Christ's aim side by side.
H. L. RossierHe is here the representative of God whom the Philistine had defied. David's purpose was to glorify this God whom Satan had dishonoured, and that was Christ's purpose too. Their strength lay in fighting in His name... David had no doubt at all about how the contest would end... here is absolute faith, which has the secret of the Lord and counts on great things. Here David is the true type of Christ, for he represents God before the enemy.
Summary
- Defiance. Goliath's words blasphemed God and put His people in danger. David was the one man who heard the insult aimed at God.
- Name. A name describes its bearer; to call on "the Lord of hosts" is to lean on all that God is in unlimited power.
- Weakness. That title first appears in Israel's lowest hour, on the lips of Hannah. It is the same title David now uses against a giant.
- Stand aside. David takes David out of the fight. It is no longer boy against champion, but the Lord of hosts against a Philistine.
- Glory. The sling kept the winner small, so only God could take the credit. In that, David pictures Christ, who represents God before the enemy.