David and Goliath

This iconic story celebrates the gutsy little guy taking on the giant and beating the odds.

But between the unlikely hero and the big bully lies a small creek-bed – and that creek holds the secret to what the fight was all about.

The valley of Elah was a strategic piece of real estate. It runs roughly east-west at a point where the Judean hills in the east drop down to the coastal plain inhabited by Philistines. The Philistines eye the valley as a corridor to the agricultural interior of Israel. Pushing their way inland up the valley they pose a formidable threat to assert dominance over Israel.

The Israelite forces occupy a hill on the north to defend the valley and the two armies face each other on opposite slopes of the valley. The Philistines have a significant technological advantage with Bronze-age weaponry. And with a hulking warrior the size of Goliath they have a huge propaganda edge.

Across the creek-bed, the giant taunts and intimidates his foes. This battle is about access to water and agricultural land and the economic power they provide. It is also about national honor and whether Israel’s God can be trusted.

David takes Goliath’s taunts not as a threat, but as an insult against his God, Yahweh. They arouse David’s indignation and resolve.

He will defend Israel’s honor and security, not with the latest technology, but with a rural shepherd’s sling. In full view of the armor-bearing military machine on the other bank, David collects his ammunition from the creek, ‘five smooth stones’, naturally-crafted by the winter rains which tumble through this small channel every year. David simply uses the resources at hand and trusts in the living God, the Lord Almighty, the one who keeps covenant with Israel and who David has learned to trust.

The small stream seems militarily insignificant, but it supplies the critical piece that fells the giant. The shepherd boy looks hugely out-matched against a towering trained warrior, but his faith in the power of an invisible God gives him vision, courage, ingenuity and chutzpah. “So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.” 1 Samuel 17:50.

David himself is a smooth stone in the hands of Israel’s Shepherd-God. He has been shaped by the river of circumstance in difficult family-life and adolescent challenges in a hostile world. He has been polished smooth by the flow of God’s faithfulness and grace around him and over him year after year. And then God uses him strategically to protect others and further God’s rule in the world.

And through him, the culture and faith of Israel grows stronger sinews of humility, trust and confidence in God.

Photo credits: Bible Places and Peter Paul Rubens