Useful Bible Studies > 1 Samuel Commentary > chapter 17
David knew clearly that Goliath was much stronger than him. Without God’s help, David would certainly die in the fight against such a strong enemy. However, David was not acting without God’s help. He trusted God to save him; he was not trusting in his own strength.
With God’s help, a weak person can defeat the strongest enemy. That is one of the most important lessons in the Book of 1 Samuel. Its author repeats the lesson on several different occasions.
The lesson appears clearly in Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2:1-10. God is the judge of his enemies’ proud words. He gives strength to his poor people. He acts powerfully to save them from those enemies.
That was what happened to Israel’s men in 1 Samuel 7:7-12. They had to defend themselves against a much stronger army, and they did not have any opportunity to prepare for battle. However, God helped them, and so they defeated their enemy.
Jonathan expressed this principle well in 1 Samuel 14:6. Just two men - Jonathan and a young man who supported him - attacked Philistia’s vast army in 1 Samuel 14:13-15. Then God acted and he gave success to Jonathan.
Now David was ready to act in a similar manner. Even Saul could see that David was trusting completely in God for the fight against Goliath.
Saul then did something which, for him, was very unusual. Saul blessed David. That is, Saul asked God to help David. Saul had become an evil man and he had ruined his own relationship with God. However, he was still Israel’s king, and that gave him the authority to bless David. Saul was not just praying that God would help David. On God’s behalf, Saul declared that God would be with David in his fight against Goliath.
Next part: David refuses armour (1 Samuel 17:38-39)
Please use the links at the top of the page to find our other articles in this series. You can download all our articles if you go to the download page for our free 450 page course book.
© 2014, Keith Simons.