1 Samuel 17, How to be on the Winning Side, Dr. John B. Carpenter

1 Samuel 17 and the Challenge of Knowing Who Is Really Winning

1 Samuel chapter 17, hear the word of the Lord. Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle and they were gathered at Sukkah, which belongs to Judah, and a camp between Sukkah and Azekah in Ephes Damim.

And Saul and all the men of Israel were gathered and camped in the valley of Elah and drew up in line a battle against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side with a valley between them.

And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a helmet of bronze on his head and he was armed with a coat of mail and the weight of the coat was 5 ,000 shekels of bronze and he had bronze armor on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders.

The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam and his spear's head weighed 600 shekels of iron and his shield bearer went before him. He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, why have you come out to draw up for battle?

Am I not a Philistine and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.

And the Philistine said, I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together. When Saul and all the Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah named Jesse who had eight sons. In the days of Saul, the man was already old and advanced in years. The three oldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle and the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab, the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab and the third Shammah.

David was the youngest. The three eldest followed Saul but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem for 40 days. The Philistine came forward and took a stand morning and evening and Jesse said to David his son, take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain and these ten loaves and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers.

Also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousands and see if your brothers are well and bring some token from them. Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines and David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took the provisions and went as Jesse had commanded him and he came to the encampment as the host was going out to the battle line shouting the war cry and Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle army against army and David left the things in the charge of the keeper of the baggage and ran to the ranks and went and greeted his brothers as he talked with them.

Behold the champion the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before and David heard him. All the men of Israel when they saw the man fled from him and were much afraid and the men of Israel said have you seen this man who has come up.

Surely he has come up to defy Israel and the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel. And David said to the men who stood by him what shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel for who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God.

And the people answered him in the same way so shall it be done to the man who kills him. Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men and Eliab's anger was kindled against David and he said why have you come down.

And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness. I know your presumption and the evil of your heart for you have come down to see the battle. And David said what have I done now. Was it not but a word and he turned away from him toward another and spoke in the same way and the people answered him again as when the words that David spoke were heard they repeated them before Saul and he sent for him.

And David said to Saul let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with the Philistine. And Saul said to David you are not able to go up against this Philistine to fight with him for you have been a youth and he has been a man of war from his youth.

But David said to Saul your servant used to keep sheep for his father 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 rose against me I caught him by his 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.

And David said the Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said to David go and the Lord be with you. Then Saul clothed David with his armor and he put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail.

And David strapped his sword over his armor and he tried in vain to go for he had not tested them. And then David said to Saul I cannot go with these for I've not tested them so David put them off. Then he took a staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's pouch.

His sling was in his hand and he approached the Philistine. And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David and with his shield bearer in front of him. And when the Philistine looked and saw David he disdained him for he was but a youth ruddy and handsome in appearance.

And the Philistine said to David am I a dog that you come to me with sticks. And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David come to me and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.

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 this day the lord will deliver you into 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 this assembly may know that the lord saves not with a sword and spear for the battle is the lord's and he will give you into our hand.

When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David 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. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David.

Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of his sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead they fled and the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shaurim as far as Gath and Ekron.

And the people of Israel came back from chasing the Philistines and they plundered their camp. And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem but he put his armor in his tent. As soon as Saul saw David go out against the Philistine he said to Abner the commander of the army Abner whose son is this youth.

And Abner said as your soul lives O king. I do not know. And the king said inquire whose son the boy is. And as soon as David returned from striking down the Philistine Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.

And Saul said to him whose son are you young man. And David answered I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite. May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of his holy word. All right. Well everybody likes to be on the winning side don't you.

The more a sports team wins the more fans they get the more jerseys they sell. The most popular team jerseys in each sport generally matches the most successful team in that sport. As a lifelong Alabama fan I'm amused by seeing random people wearing Alabama jerseys walking down the Danville River walk.

If Georgia or Michigan keep winning you'll start to see their jerseys. It seems like I'm not seeing as many New England Patriots or Golden State Warrior jerseys. Now as I used to everybody loves a winner.

The trick is knowing who the winner is knowing how to be on the winning side. Everyone wants to know how how am I going to be on the winning side. Now most people just choose. Well it's easy. You wait for somebody to win and then you choose to be on their side.

Many people choose their political candidates their opinions even their morals based on who is winning. We're in an election year and so you'll hear from now until November that the candidate is winning.

He's winning. So don't you want to be with a winner. It's the bandwagon effect. Everyone wants to be on the bandwagon to go along with the crowd. Of course they don't want you to become so complacent.

You need to think well he's winning so I don't have to bother to vote for him. And so they play this careful game that the candidate is definitely winning. So he's a winner that you want to be associated with.

But it's going to be close. You know it's going to be really close. So close that they desperately need you to vote. He depends on you to vote for him. So it's critically important that you vote for the candidate who is definitely going to win.

They say that after presidential elections polls show that more people say they voted for the winning candidate than actually voted for him. We all love winners. Our problem is knowing who is going to win before they win.

A comedy movie lady ballers had the tagline winners are losers who win. People support the winners after they win. They support a cause because it looks like it has more people on his side in the same-sex marriage lost in north carolina by about 62.

That's against it in 2012. But now a poll reportedly shows about that percentage or even a little bit more of north carolinians now in favor of it. It was imposed on us by the supreme court and many say it's on the right side of history.

And so about a quarter of the people just change their views based on that. They want to be on the right side of history. They want to be with the winners and so they change their views about morals on that.

That's the depth of many people's ethical thinking. We love winners. But the problem is knowing who the winner is now. It's easy in sports the winner is the one with the highest score our lowest. If it's golf easy right.

It's easy with god too really in the end he wins if he hasn't won yet. It's not the end. It's so certain that he's going to win that you would think no one would dare oppose him. Who would play a team that you could never beat.

Who would fight an army that can't lose. It just makes no sense right. But still god has enemies the world the flesh the devil. And they look very imposing sometimes. Sometimes they look certain to win.

And we see god in his enemies here in first samuel chapter 17 one of the most well-known and most misunderstood stories in the whole bible we see that here in two major parts the enemies of the living god and then the victory of the living god.

The enemies of god come also in two parts the external and the internal. The external enemies of god here are the philistines. They have been the major enemies for the entire book of samuel. Israel was at war with the philistines when samuel the boy was a boy in the tabernacle.

And they were so afraid of the philistines that they brought in the ark of the covenant. Remember that story. They bring in the ark of the covenant to the israelite camp to go with them hoping it'll be kind of like a lucky charm.

So when they go out to battle with the philistines they think well god has to be for us because we have his ark with us. But the lord would not be manipulated by israel and so he allowed israel to be defeated.

And the ark fell into the hand of the philistines who put it into the temple their temple the temple of the god dagon the fish god philistine god where the idol fell face down before the ark. And then the next day they had to set it back up again and the next day it fell down again when his head was cut off.

The lord afflicted the philistines until they sent the ark back with a sacrifice. Later samuel led an attack on the philistines and then later jonathan's all son did the same thing attacking a philistine outpost a forward operating base deep in israelite territory.

But despite these occasional defeats from israel against the philistines the philistines still have an upper hand against israel. Here they invade israelite territory. It looks like almost like israel is losing the promised land.

They got in the promised land and now it looks like they're losing it. They're a place called soca and azica and which is about halfway between the philistine cities what we now call the gaza strip. Between that and bethlehem which is just south of jerusalem it's where david's from saul brings the israelite army to oppose them camping just north of them in a valley called between them is a valley called elah and there they face off.

They don't fight yet. There's no really battle going on. There's just two armies looking at each other. Now sometimes wars begin by two sides just facing off for for a time deciding kind of waiting and wondering do we really want to start this war deciding whether they want to pull the trigger and begin the real fighting in the civil war.

South carolina seceded on december 20th 1860 but it had a u .s military base fort sumter in the middle of charleston harbor invisible site was a u .s military installation when they faced off for over three months almost four months.

In the meantime president lincoln said in his first inaugural address in your hands my dissatisfied fellow countrymen and not mine is the momentous issue of civil war. So for months both sides faced off against each other to see who would shoot first.

And then on april 12 1861 the south finally fired on the fort and world war ii after nazi germany invaded poland on september 1st 1939 the allies just immediately france and germany and some others declared war on germany but then basically did nothing.

Facing off against germany for about eight months what is now called the phony war. That's what's going on here. In the beginning part of first samuel 17 the philistines have invaded israel's armies meet them and then they just kind of stare off at each other for 40 days.

It's a phony war. Then out comes goliath. He's called a champion and the word is literally a man between he's between his army and the enemy army. He dares step forward from his lines to face the enemy on his own.

Verses four to seven are all about describing him. There's like four verses there just describing this man now famously he's incredibly tall six cubits and a span is nine feet and nine inches. So he's he's huge and apparently he's a descendant of the anakim and he's also well equipped.

He has a bronze helmet in verse five and he's covered in mail literally scales. So the hebrew word means like fish or snakes have scales as other words it's a flexible kind of armor that protects him and allows him to be flexible and freely move about.

His coat of mail weighed about 125 pounds. That's that weight there. And so it proves that he was strong that he could freely move about with 125 pounds of weight on him. This proves how strong he was.

He had apparently plates of bronze on his leg in verse six. So besides being enormous he's he's muscular. He's strong. He's covered from head to toe with armor. He had at least three weapons. A bronze javelin slung on his back.

A javelin jar for throwing long distance. He in verse seven he had a spear for closer in fighting with a iron tip. Iron is new technology so he's also tech. He has the newest innovations and we'll find out later.

He has a sword and a sheath. He's even given a shield. He has a shield bearer going before him. So he's got a someone else holding the shield right in front of him. Probably guys have got a teamwork going on there and that allows him to have both hands free.

So we got a shield to help protect him and both hands free for weapons so we could howl the sword in one hand and a spear in the other. He's got all the gear. In other words top of the line he looks like a winner.

And he comes out of his lines toward israel. Shouts out to israel. In verse 8. Why have you come out to draw up for battle. Am i not a philistine. And are not you servants of salt. Interesting way to describe the israelites.

They're now just servants of a king. Now that they have a king choose a man for yourselves a champion of their own a man in between and let him come down to me. Then in verse nine if he is able to fight me and kill me then we will be your servants.

But if i prevail against him if i'm a winner and kill him then you shall be our servants and serve us later. Remember they don't keep their end of the bargain. They don't keep this deal. But whatever.

That's the challenge from the enemy. Find someone to represent you and fight for you. Now if this sounds familiar a champion representing the army challenging the other army to send out a champion. It's because it's similar to challenges in the iliad greek mythology paris menelaus hector and achilles.

If you remember that remember that from high school i never really read it since then. Challenging each other representing their armies. The philistines are from the sea people who come down from greece the eugene sea and what we now call turkey.

They're westerners. So this is really western civilization versus israel and western culture. Before christianity is barbaric and debased and this was not something israel was used to which may be a reason why they don't respond at first.

You know what is this. We don't do this. It's not a champion. Fight for the whole. We don't. It's not in our culture. Then in verse 10 the philistine that's what he's called over and over again. In this passage we often use goliah.

But his name is actually only used twice in the whole chapter. It's called the philistine. He declares i defy the ranks of israel this day. I defy you. You. You don't have anything better than me. Give me a man that we may fight together.

That's the external enemy. Okay. He's huge. He's strong. He's fully equipped you know all the right gear. High tech defiant threatening intimidating. He's eager for a fight. He's sure he's a winner. But as dangerous as the external enemies appears he's actually no problem for the internal enemies that's fear rooted in lack of faith.

The internal enemy shows up in verse 11. Israel hears the taunt of the philistines and is dismayed and greatly afraid. Dismayed could literally be shattered or terrified. They are shaken with fear. They look at goliath and realize he's bigger.

He's stronger and better equipped than any of them. And no one dares to step forward and take him on because they're too afraid. Franklin roosevelt said courage is not the absence of fear but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.

The problem really was that that israel had fear. And you look at goliath and you know he's. He's too much for you. So fearing him is natural. The problem is that he didn't assess taking all the facts that there is something else more important than goliath that they have someone else on their side who was much stronger than him.

That was their internal enemy is their fear. And it paralyzed them. Then enter david and we're introduced to david again. It's like some businesses remember. Of course we think well he was introduced to us in chapter 16.

What's this going on. It's like some businesses have a soft opening when they just start operating you know with no hoopla or attention. And then there's a grand opening sometime later. Well chapter 16 was david's soft opening.

He was anointed but apparently even his brothers didn't know what that meant. It was in private and there was a grand there was no grand coronation. There were no crowds shouting long live king david samuel was told to pour the oil in him.

And he did. No declaration was made. And now it's time for david's a grand opening his public demonstration of god's anointing. And he does it in one of the most popular bible stories. Now this whole story story david goliath is the story of david's grand opening his real introduction to israel.

David again in verse 12 is the son of jesse and ephraith. Ephraith that's the area around bethlehem. Jesse has eight sons and three are in the army. It's the same three we heard about last week iliab abinadab and shama.

And he's old. David is the youngest and jesse is using him as a gopher supplying food to his three soldier sons and and to their commanding officer probably hoping to get you know. Hey protect my sons.

I'm giving you food. We get lots of details here because we're building up to the main event. That's all these details in this chapter we're told exactly what food jesse gave to david to run over to the three sons of the army parched grain and tin loaves of bread and some cheese for the officer.

And then jesse tells him bring back some word from the brothers. Anyway that's what. That's why david. And this explains to us why david is with the army. But he's not part of the army. He's not a soldier.

He's just a gopher. He's sent by his father to provide food like last week with jesse. You remember last week jesse just assumed that whatever samuel wanted with their sons it couldn't possibly be for david.

He can't be the one to get this blessing. Whatever the samuel is giving out here jesse just assumes that david is isn't fit to be a soldier. He's just a delivery boy. The other sons they could be sold.

Not david. But that brings david to israel's camp in the valley of elah facing off against the philistines. And in verse 20 he takes the provisions to his brothers. He arrives as israel's soldiers that is the host go out to the front lines shouting at the philistines with their war cry you know trying to sound terrifying rather than terrified.

And the philistines come out too facing them probably shouting back. It's just more phony war. In verse 22 david leaves his provisions in charge of the keeper of the baggage the quartermaster they would call him in the army.

He ran out to the front lines to see the two armies lined up against each other yelling their war cries trying to sound intimidating to the other side. He's talking to his three brothers about all this.

When in verse 22 the champion that is the man in between the philistine of gath goliath by name and this is the last time his name is used. He steps toward them steps out of his his army's front lines and issues his challenge again.

And like before israel is terrified shaking running away. But david isn't. He assessed the situation. He sees goliath too and decided something is more important than this champion this enemy of the living god.

Something is more important even than his own safety. But the men of israel in verse 24 they didn't think so. They were still overcome by that internal enemy. And so when they saw the man they fled back to their camp.

Some army. They're all chattering. In verse 25 have you seen this man who has come up. Surely he has come up to defy israel. The same term that david uses over and over again. They use it. They see what's happening.

They just don't assess that there's something greater going on. They don't know what to do about it. And the king they say will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free.

And israel that is the king is offering a bounty to anyone who kills the philistine. And he will get three things wealth. He'll be married into the royal family that he marries saul's daughter. Now he's royalty.

And third his family will be free. Meaning they'll be tax exempt. And when you like to be tax exempt never have to pay taxes again. Sounds like a great deal. A great incentive for lots of men to motivate them to go out and fight that philistine.

But they look at him and assess. Nah i'd rather live. Ah. But david pipes up in verse 26. This puppy a mid teenager to the men standing by what shall be done for the man who kills the philistine. What's the reward.

But notice that david isn't most interested in the reward. He's. He's appalled. The philistine has brought a reproach. This taunt is embarrassing to the people of god. It's an embarrassment that we the people god brought out of egypt brought us to the red sea.

Stop the jordan river. He did all that for us. And you don't think we can't defeat this one man giant or not. The embarrassment is on the people of god and thus on god himself. He's jealous. David is jealous for god's reputation.

For who is this uncircumcised philistine. That is he has no sign of the covenant. So that means he has no covenant with god is god has made no commitment to him to bless him. He's in no relationship to god.

We have a covenant. We have the sign of the covenant. We have it. God has made a commitment to us. How can he defy the armies of the living god. It just makes no sense david. It just takes a while. You can see for him to.

He's just appalled by this to figure out what's going on. Why won't you act. Their god is just a dead statue. He's thinking falls down in front of the arc of the covenant. With his head cut off. Our god is alive.

That's what's driving david. More than the reward. We have the covenant. He thinks we have the living god. We are the winners. Well then there's another internal enemy in verse 28. This is scorn eliab.

The one samuel first thought looked like a king. He's tall. He's handsome. He's regal. He hears his little brother david appalled at how the philistine how can he do this. How can he defy the armies of the living god.

How can we let this happen. Someone has to do something. You know kind of implying oh he didn't look like he said. It doesn't sound like he's being disrespectful. But he's sort of implying how have you been stood around for 40 days and let this man get away with this.

Well eliab speaks up angry. Why have you come down punk. You know with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness. Actually we're told in verse 20 that he left them with a keeper. He was responsible.

But eliab really isn't asking questions. He's he's scorning. We today can be appalled at how sometimes direct commands from the lord jesus or from the apostle paul inspired by the holy spirit commands to the church.

Like to do church discipline or to sing psalms or not to have women pastors. Sometimes you're just ignored. Let's just act like it's not there like god didn't say that. And if you speak up if you're appalled by that you speak up and say how could we let this happen.

How can we ignore jesus's commands. His word. Well if that happens you expect some scorn coming back at you. You're proud. Or you're harsh. Or you're backwards. You just don't get it yet. Well like eliab who says i know your presumption.

Literally it's your pride. You're proud. You think you're somebody great. He's scorning him. I know he. Eliab says i know the evil of your heart. Now think about this. David is actually speaking out of true sincere faith.

But his brother scorns him and says it's evil. It's pride. You have come down. Just you just come down to see the battle. You're just a spectator. Eliab scorns. It's like david. You're like a trash talking monday morning quarterback who doesn't have any idea what you're talking about.

That's what he thinks of his brother david. Now some people make virtues out of their fear. We saw that in the pandemic especially after a couple of months. At first you kind of understand we didn't know what was really going on.

But after a few months four years ago during the middle of the year when it began to seem that this wasn't nearly as bad as many people had feared. But some people just couldn't let go of their fear and would scorn anyone who would challenge them.

People were offended when they questioned that some of the actions taken like the lockdowns they would scorn people challenging what was done by calling them. You know you're a science denier. Fearful people though are offended when their fear is challenged.

Here eliab he's tall he's a soldier but he's shaking in fear. Like the rest of them is offended when their lack of faith their fear is questioned their unbelief in the living god. That unbelief that lack of faith is the internal enemy that keeps them paralyzed.

And david believes and so can't understand how they can allow the living god to be defied. David asking verse 29. What have i done now. Was it not but a word. I mean i was just talking about just asking.

And this is my sincere questions. Just ask how can we allow god to be defied. He's he's a living god. They don't have a living god. We do. And he asked him. So he turns away from his brother. He asked some more people around him.

He said he still can't believe it. So next part two is the victory of the living god. And that comes in five parts the resolve the ridicule the resolution the route and the recognition. Now after a time of perplexity david appalled at how this can be takes him a while to figure out what what's going on.

What should i do. How can we allow the living god to be defied like this he assesses the situation. On the one hand there's this over nine foot tall experienced soldier covered in armor all the gear and high tech newest stuff we have him.

And on the other hand is the living god on our side. David assesses that and thinks yeah we're the winners. And so he resolves. Well if no one else is going to do it all these grown men have been standing around for 40 days looking at this this phony war.

No one else will do anything. I will. So here's about david's appalled questions about how how can they let the philistine defy israel and defy the living god. And so he has david brought to him. David says in verse 32.

After all saul knows david. He's been his liar player for a while. David says in verse 32. Let no man's heart fail because of him. Now sure he's. It's intimidating huge. It's well equipped. But we have something better overcome that internal enemy.

Your fear your servant. David says that was me. I will go out and fight with this philistine. Now saul doubts he can win. He's trying to advise him. You know. Look let this be real here. You're a youth.

You're probably. In other words he's probably in his mid-teens. He's 16 maybe around that age. And saul says he's a man of war. He's been fighting wars since he was your age. And david tells him that he has.

He has some experience. Maybe not with fighting men yet but he says he has experience with lions and bears. Verse 36. Your servant is struck down both lions and bears. And this uncircumcised. Although this uncovenanted philistine he'll be like one of them.

One of those lions and those bears that i killed. So resolved. Saul lets him go. He's this philistine had defied the armies of the living god. We cannot let this go on. He's resolved. So okay david go on.

Here's try my armor. So he gives david his armor and it's just like the philistine's armor. Notice. He's got the bronze helmet a coat of mail and scales. But david says he's not tested them. He's not used to them.

In other words they don't feel right. He can't move right. And it turns out he needs to move quickly. He assessed the situation and decided that he doesn't need them. And so he takes the armor off. He takes only his shepherd staff.

He takes a slingshot. It's probably easily hidden in his hand. And he picks up five smooth stones from a nearby stream. Resolved. Next there's the ridicule. Starting verse 41 the philistine can't believe what he sees now.

If it had been saul or eliab decked out in their armor with a sword and a spear. He'd respect that. But it's just a youth with nothing as far as he could see. But a shepherd staff. Goliath comes forward with a shield bearer in front of him.

Verse 42 says. He disdained david. Meaning he regarded him with contempt. The same word that esau had for his birthright. Birthright. Was it worth a bowl of stew. It's worthless. And goliath looks david.

David. He's worthless. He's not worth anything. He's just a youth. He's ruddy again. He's tanned. He's. It's a pretty boy. Am i a dog. Did you come to me with sticks. Referring to the staff. That's all he can see.

So he cursed david by his gods. You know something. I may dag on strike you down. And then he taunts him ridicules him in verse 44. Come to me and i will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.

And david replies to goliath's trash talking with declarations of faith. In verse 45 you come to me with a sword and with spear and a javelin. But i come to you in the name of the lord of hosts lord sabbaoth his name from age to age the same the god of the armies of israel whom you have defied this day.