1 Samuel 17 brings us to that all so familiar battle. Yep, the one between David and Goliath. Goliath came out to the middle of the valley to fight for the Philistines and challenged the Israelites to send out someone to fight for them. Some features of Goliath really stand out in the Bible. Goliath stood over nine feet tall and wore a coat of armor that weighed five thousand shekels. Five thousand shekels to us would equal about 125 pounds. Now his height and what would have to be an impressive statue would scare I think just about anyone. I mean to wear something that weighed 125 pounds and still be able to fight with ease he must have been pretty well built. Now David was coming from the fields to give food to his brothers who were severing in the army. While David was there he heard the words of Goliath and wondered why no one had taken him on. David goes to Saul and tells him that he will confront Goliath in the name of the Lord. David is outfitted with everything for battle and finds it to be to bulky and cumbersome for his style. David gathered 5 smooth stones and went out to confront Goliath. Goliath basically laughed and David replied by saying that he comes in the name of the Lord. As they ran towards each other David drew a stone from the bag and slung it into Goliath's forehead. Goliath then collapses to the ground. At this point most people assume that Goliath was killed with a stone, but I read it a little different. It reads to me like Goliath was simply knocked out and David killed him with his own sword and then cut off his head. I could be wrong on that point though. Saul then has David brought to him to find out who he is. I find this to be a bit confusing because I thought that David was already part of Saul's entourage.
Chapter 18 continues with David in Saul's service. Saul has begun to become jealous of David and all the success he has. Saul decides to put David in charge of an army and hopefully he will die in battle. Sadly, this does not happen and David continues to have success at all that he is put in charge of. Saul tries to trap David but putting him in a hard battle to win his daughters hand in marriage. David returns triumphant and Saul becomes even more scared.
Luke chapter 20 finishes out with talking about resurrection. The Sadducees come to Jesus and ask Him what I feel to be a very appropriate question. Jesus's answer to the question on the other hand is not what I expected at all. I guess I had always assumed that when we die we would be rejoined with our first wive or husband if more then one were involved. Jesus however says that we will all be like children in Heaven and marriage will not be recognized. The last portion of this chapter I really do not understand. It seems like there is a lot of that lately.
I apologize for still being behind. Work has been pretty busy lately and keeping me busy. Hopefully after the new stuff is installed this week at work my life will slow down a little bit and I will be able to catch back up. I want to thank all of you for continuing to read and hope that you are getting a lot of use out of this blog.
Tomorrow's reading is:
1Samuel 19, Psalms 23, 59, and Luke 21:1-19
17. I think it's a little weird that David is walking around with Goliath's head. Anyway, I'm assuming at the end that Saul never really took notice of David. You know like some people don't really ever look at their waiter. I think to Saul, up to this point, David was just a servant and he never really paid him any attention. But I bet he looked a lot different carrying the head of the giant that everyone else in your army was afraid to fight.
ReplyDelete18. "1 When he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul." I think this is a very interesting verse. First off I love the image of God knitting them together; and I just think this is a big foreshadowing moment.
20. I'm a little confused by this too. It says they didn't dare to ask anymore questions and I don't really see why. His answer wasn't angry or tricky. I don't really get the part about David either. I think that the last little bit means beware people who only wish to looks righteous and faithful.
I always look forward to your posts. It's helpful to see what you think of chapters especially when they are a little confusing. Sometimes I think to truly understand what is going on in the Bible you need a group discussion about what everyone took from a particular bit.