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Like many men, I like sports. Specifically, combat sports or mixed martial arts. I religiously watch and follow the UFC, the Ultimate Fighting Championship. When two fighters are set to fight the one thing that gets fans excited is the promotion leading up to the event and many times this includes the trash-talking that goes on between combatants. Now, I am a Christian and this does sometimes fly in the face of my Christianity, but when two fighters are done fighting, they typically will do nothing but respect each other afterward. They do this because they both are typically fighting for the same things: their family, their country, to make a better way of life for themselves, or to get to the pinnacle of a life’s work of trying to be the best at what they do. It’s that utmost respect afterward, those Have Character messages, that allows me to reconcile my hunger for the competition and the trash-talking that can go on leading up to the fight. Sometimes it goes a bit too far and that I don’t like, but sadly it can happen in any sport whether it be a football field, a baseball diamond, a basketball court, or an ice rink. It is what it is…and as a man, it feeds the beast in me, I guess. I surely can’t be perfect.
In part 3 of this blog series, Now Is The Time: Real Men Step Forward, I am going to show you the best trash-talking that was ever done in the face of the biggest odds all while showing just how important it is for us men to have FAITH in the one true living God. This real story in human history preserved for us in God’s word is probably the best story I like. This was the UFC long before the UFC was ever thought of and the stakes were way higher than the bragging rights of winning a fight. Time to get to it. This is crazy good!
We are heading to 1 Samuel Chapter 17. Everything I am about to talk about is in this chapter and it is a must-read! We are going to break down the popular story of David vs. Goliath. We are going to go deep into this as I believe there are details in this story that should leave us with a new appreciation for two things: One is just how much faith David had to have in what he was facing and, two, how that faith shows simply how big God truly is. That latter part of how big God is…I think we, at best, lose track of it, or at worst, don’t consider it to really comprehend it. But today, we are going to try.
David is a young shepherd boy probably 16 years of age or maybe even younger if you do some cross-referencing in the Bible. He is the youngest son of his father Jesse who had 8 sons. Jesse’s 3 oldest boys were in Israel’s army fighting alongside King Saul against the Philistines. Jesse sends David to the battle lines to take some food to his brothers and the King and for him to bring word back to Jesse that they are ok. When he gets there this is where it gets interesting. Here he finds that Goliath has been trashing Israel’s army, their God (which is our God), and challenging any of them to a one-on-one fight. It was a challenge to the death with the loser’s army having to be servants to the other’s army. Each army, Israel’s and the Philistines stood on a mountain opposite each other. Goliath would come down into the valley both day and night issuing this death challenge and did so for 40 days.
By all accounts, Goliath was an incredibly large man with heavy armor and a warrior from his youth. The Israelite army was scared of him and no one was moving to accept the challenge. When David gets there, he overhears Goliath and then hears the Israeli army talking about what King Saul had promised if someone would go fight the Philistine and win. He asks again to confirm what King Saul had promised and he is called out by his oldest brother who thinks David is just there to cause problems and watch the show. David responds to his brother as if to say, “Hey I was just asking the question.” But David was there for so much more. When word got back to Saul of David’s inquiry, he sent for David. Here is what David said to Saul, “…Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” Saul’s response was this, “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.” David did not back down but instead gave up his resume credentials by responding, “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 the beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” David wasn’t done. He continued, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” King Saul could only respond by saying, “Go, and the Lord be with you!” Man, I wish I could have seen King Saul’s face when David let that confidence fly!
But before letting him go, the King decided to try and give David his armor, his helmet, and his sword. This was kind of getting downright comical as David was a young boy and no way was this going to work, but when we break down the details here soon, I think it becomes quite telling. David, after having tried to make the overly large equipment work, decided there was no way he was going to go fight that way. So instead, he got rid of the conventional armor that didn’t fit him, grabbed his staff, grabbed 5 smooth stones from the brook, and put them in his shepherd’s pouch to go along with the sling he held in his hand. He then went to face Goliath.
…and then the trash-talking began!
Goliath started when we saw David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” and then he cursed David by his gods. Goliath then continued, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.” Then David spoke, “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, who you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you in my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all his 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.”
C’mon don’t let this stage get lost on us…here we have a teenage boy giving a giant warrior of a man the business because of his FAITH in our God! Now this is God’s Word to us and he didn’t leave this trash-talk out of the story…why might that be? Think about that for a minute. Could it be that it showed just how strong David’s faith truly was? I believe it does!
The talk was now over and the imaginary bell rang. Goliath came at David to draw near to him and 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 his face to the ground.
The Bible doesn’t say what the reaction was of the armies on both sides when this exact moment occurred, but if you have ever seen a UFC fight when a knockout blow comes out of nowhere, those rooting for the fallen become silent with a shocking look on their face while those rooting for the knockout artist erupt in unison. I can only imagine the battlefield on this day, out in the open, and the reactions on those mountain tops.
And by the way, David was not done. Remember, he didn’t take Saul’s sword with him and yet he told the Philistine he was going to cut off his head! So, David goes up to the Philistine and grabs Goliath’s sword. He lets Goliath’s own sword do the honors and cuts off his head as he had proclaimed before the fight began. When the Philistines saw their champion was dead they fled. The Israeli army rose with a shout and pursued them.
David carried Goliath’s head back to Jerusalem. This kid! Really?
Most know this story to some degree, but now I want to break down the details of just how strong David’s FAITH in God had to be to carry this out. Let’s walk through this:
Goliath was a huge warrior with war experience! Standing 9 feet 9 inches (some information says 6 feet 9 inches), but who cares, David was a boy! Either size would have been incredibly intimidating and downright overwhelming!
All of Israel’s army, including the King, were terrified of Goliath…dude had been ridiculing Israel for 40 days both morning and evening! Twice a day for 40 days the Israeli army looked around at each other shaking their heads and saying, “Nope, not me, and not today”. All the while the King is offering up his daughter and riches for anyone to give it a shot.
David was a teenage boy, maybe 16, maybe younger…a teenage boy folks! He was nowhere near a warrior!
His oldest brother scolded him. Now, listen, I have an older brother. If I was a teenager and my older brother scolded me, if I had any confidence going in, my brother’s scolding would have sucked that confidence out of me in a hurry! Anyone who has an older brother knows what I am talking about at that age!
The King looked at him and doubted him! So not only did his older brother scold him, but the King said, “No way bro! You got no chance!”
The stage was set with massive armies on both sides. We’re not talking about a fistfight in a back alley with a few people watching. We are talking about a stadium full of warriors out on an open battlefield! And this kid was picking a fight with the biggest, baddest one that no one else wanted any part of!
He wasn’t even able to put on appropriate battle gear! As I said earlier, it sounds comical reading it until you put this all together and then it should floor us in this young boy’s faith!
And, as if all that wasn’t enough, this fight was for LIFE! FOR LIFE!!!! Someone was losing their head!
Now, take all that I just mentioned and come back to the beginning of this battle. David didn’t go to Goliath with everything he had against him quivering in prayer begging God to help him. Oh no, this kid went to Goliath talking some crazy trash-talk because of his FAITH he had in his God!
And finally, and here might be the craziest part of this story that might simply get missed but it is right there: Goliath, this big bad warrior, this huge man that was probably so big we couldn’t even imagine his size and strength (his armor was crazy heavy by the way), who was battle-tested, who for 40 days had all of Israel’s army shaking in their boots…you ready folks?…He didn’t even touch David!!!! Didn’t even touch him! I have to say that one more time and capitalize it… HE DIDN’T EVEN TOUCH DAVID!!!! Man, if I was doing a speaking engagement I would be screaming into my microphone right now!!!!
And that, gentleman, is how God delivers when you have the kind of FAITH David had in HIM! This young boy pushed all that was against him aside, put his life on the line, talked mad trash, cut off Goliath’s head with his own sword, and didn’t even get touched!
Boom!
Men, that was a mic drop!
To be strong, real men, look no further than 1 Samuel 17. God did this work through David so many years ago, not to give us a cool trash-talking story to itch our masculine pride, but instead to show us what FAITH in him looks like and, more importantly, what HE does with it!
It doesn’t get any more manly than that….
Have Character!
Next up…Elijah and the strength of an underdog to overcome!
J. Noah Russell
