1 Samuel 17 Part 2

Mr. Smith, will you open something with a word of prayer?

Heavenly Father, we love you. We love you because you first loved us and you gave us your son. We thank you for this first Lord's Day of the year. And we pray, Lord, that as we open your word, that you would speak to us.

You would use it to strengthen us in our faith and conform us to the image of Christ. We pray that you'd be with Brother Mike as he shares what he's prepared this week. And we pray, Lord, that you would bless the reading of your word and the preaching of your word, that this time would be pleasing to you and that it would be profitable for all of us.

The Lord Jesus Christ, amen.

Amen. Alright. 1 Samuel chapter 17. And the last time we were together, I think we got to the end of verse 11, which would have been the first paragraph. So this kind of brings us back up to speed to those who weren't here.

They've gathered between Soca and Esba to have a fight. They're in a valley. One group from the Philistines are on one side. The Israelites are on the other. They're saber-rattling to one another. The Philistine champion comes out, calls out, sends somebody out to fight.

And nobody, obviously, sends anybody out. Does anybody remember what the word champion means? It does not mean the heavyweight champion of the world. Anybody remember what champion means? The Hebrew word is vinyayim, and it means one in between.

So when we think of champion, when I hear champion, I'm thinking of Mike Tyson or somebody like that. He's not wearing a belt, and he's not out there because he has battled and just beat everyone. This is actually a person that's going to be a representative of the Philistine army, and he is calling out for someone else to be a representative of the Israelite army.

So when we think of champion, don't think of it in the terms that we see on any type of combat sport or anything like that. Think of it as actually a representative, a mediator, a representative of the people.

So, verse 11, it says,. And when Saul and Israel heard the words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. Well, they were greatly dismayed and afraid because, one, this man was over 9 feet tall.

He had a spear the size of a weaver's beam, 15-pound head on it. And if you remember, I brought some pieces of wood to show you about the size of what the weaver's beam would be. It would be 2 1⁄2 to 3 inches in diameter would have been the shaft.

The spear alone, I did the math, with a stick that long and a counterweight at the back, it's going to be somewhere between 33 and 35 pounds, just a spear. That's not including his sword, his javelin, and all of that.

125 pounds worth of bronze to cover his body. He would have been an intimidating dude. So, we can understand, humanly speaking, they see this cat standing out there, calling for somebody to come fight, why they would be at least a little reluctant.

David the Shepherd from Bethlehem and God’s Providence

Now, that brings us to verse 12, and this is going to change the scene. We were down in the valley of Rephidim. Anybody remember what the valley of Rephidim meant? Border of blood. Remember, this is where it's at, this little line at the border of blood, because the Philistines would be pushing their way here, overtaking more of the land of the Israelites.

So, it was a constant battle here. This is a valley. This would be the valley of Elam. We'll get to that here in just a few minutes, hopefully. Maybe we'll kill the giant by the end of the day, maybe.

I doubt it. We'll try. So, it says, verse 12,. Now David was the son of the Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, whose name was Jesse. And he had eight sons, and Jesse was old in the days of Saul, and he was advanced in years among men.

And the three older sons of Jesse had gone after Saul to the battle. And the names of the three sons who went to the battle were Eliab, the firstborn, the second, Abinadab, and the third, Shammah. And David was the youngest, but the three oldest followed Saul.

But David went back and forth from Saul to tend to his father's flock at Bethlehem. And the Philistines came forward morning and evening, I'm sorry, the Philistines came forward morning and evening for forty days and took his stand.

So, here it is, the anointed shepherd boy, back in Bethlehem. And it says that he would go back and forth from Saul. Why would he have been going back and forth from Saul from what we knew from chapter 16?

He played his instruments, being in his court, being his honorary armor bearer. This is why we should understand now, okay, if he was Saul's true armor bearer in the war since, would David have gone home?

No, he'd have been carrying out all of his stuff out there. But David is still being younger, and if you remember what I said last time we were together, the word not are in Hebrew actually means anywhere from infancy to adolescent.

We know he's not an infant because he's old enough to take care of himself, so he would be to adolescent age, so he would not have been a man of war at the age of twenty or so at this point, put into service.

At least that would be my understanding of it. And we see the word Ephrathite, Ephrathite of Bethlehem. That should remind us too, not only at the beginning, when we think about the genealogy of what was going on with Samuel, being his family coming from an Ephrathite, if you remember that from the beginning, it should also take us back to the time when Andy did Ruth, and where did they end up go?

Who ended up being in Bethlehem? Boaz, that's right. Who would have been the great-grandfather of who? David. Yeah, and it says that right in the end. So when we see that, that should point us back to how the providentially, even from the time of Ruth to now, how God has continually prepared for this to happen.

God's providence is on all of this, and we should keep that in mind that these aren't by chance things that have happened, that God's working out his eternal purposes, and he's working out his purposes in three categories.

You remember what those three categories were a few weeks ago? We got personal history. What's the next one? Remember? Personal history, national history, and what's the last one? Redemptive history. All of them are theological in nature because of who they're dealing with.

Every one of them. You have the personal history of Samuel, Saul, David, and you have the national history of what's taking place, these armies battling. The monarchy has been set up. You have a chief executor of the army, which would have been the king, and now we're getting into redemptive history is how God's going to use these prophet, priest, and king to carry out his purposes in redemptive history.

That's what's taking place. So it says that Jesse, well, Jesse had eight sons. It tells us who the three of them were. We get to Eliab. Eliab was the first one that Samuel thought should have been anointed as king, was it not?

Back in chapter 16. Eliab was the firstborn from our understanding of it based on not explicitly what it says, but say when God says don't look on his appearance or his stature, we take it that he was a sharp-looking dude.

He was probably a big man because he said don't look at his stature. And the second would have been Abinadab, the third Shammah, David being the youngest. Now the three oldest followed Saul. Well, the three oldest would have been obviously in service to fight.

They're going out to the battle. David went back and forth from Saul. We understand that as him going back and forth from playing, being an exorcist, carrying his armor around, being a showman in his court, to taking care of his first and primary responsibility, which is being a shepherd.

And it says Philistine would come out in the morning even for 40 days, and he took his stand. So for 40 days this big old joker would be coming out there running his yap, calling out for somebody to come fight.

Jesse Sends David to the Front Lines

And then we get to verse 17. It says, and then Jesse said to David his son, now take your brothers and ephod some roasted grain, ten loaves, and I want you to run to the camp to your brothers. Bring these ten cuts of cheese to the commander of the thousands and look at the well for your brothers and bring back news of them.

For Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines. So here it is, David is being taken from pasturing the sheep, and he says, hey, I want you to take, basically, take you some Hebrew hoagies to your brothers at the front line.

Take them some sandwiches and take them some cheese, and when you go I want you to take some food to the commanders there as well. It's interesting, you got the end down there, it says, for they had gone out with Israel in the valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines.

Boy, this big old joker is coming out here for 40 days running his yap, wanting to fight. Have they fought for 40 days? Ain't nobody done nothing for 40 days but just hollered back and forth. And if they're up on Soca and Isca, you have basically this valley like this.

So you have the Israelites over here, them here, hollering back and forth. You get the big old dude running his mouth. The first charge down here, for them to come down, what's going to happen? This army, hey, you got to send this dude.

These guys here are going to start picking them off with swords and spears. And so you understand the standoff is the first one that makes the run makes themselves very vulnerable as they go down into the valley to fight.

So there really has been no real fighting other than trash talking. And we get to verse 20. David arose early the next morning, and he left the flock with the keeper, and he took the supplies, and he went as Jesse had commanded him.

David didn't just abandon the flock. He was still making sure his responsibilities were taken care of, and what did he do? He left somebody to tend the flock. He didn't go, you know what, Dad said for me to go.

He still cared enough about what he was leaving behind that he left somebody there with it. And he took the supplies, and just as his dad told him, he came to the circle of the encampment while the army was going out in battle array shouting.

David Hears Goliath and the Reward for Killing Him

All right, so here it is. Every morning the sun would come up. Here it is. They go hollering the battle cry, both of them, and it's really senseless because it's doing nothing but just hollering. Well, you've got to remember the camp's going to be just over here.

We'll talk about it as we get in. The camp's going to be this way. They would come up to the mountain, and they would begin to holler at one another, basically wanting the first one to make that charge.

And when they make, just like when, you know, in the Civil War, the first one, hey, we're just waiting for somebody to either pop a cannon, throw a brick, something. And when that happens, Katie barred the door because then the fight's on.

But if one of them makes that dissent from the war cry, it's over, man. You're just going to start picking people off from the high point. So we get to Israel 21. And Israel and Philistines drew up a battle array, army against army.

David left his baggage in the care of the baggage keeper, and he ran to the battle line in order to greet his brothers. As he was talking with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine from Gath, his name being Goliath, was coming up from the army of the Philistines, and he spoke these same words, and David heard them.

Okay, same thing had happened for 40 days. David gets out there. He's bringing his brothers the Hebrew hoagies and some cheese and some goat cheese so they can eat. He's going to say hello to the commanders, and he hears that battle cry.

He thinks war. He runs out to the line to see what's going on and to see his brothers because what was his main reason for going? To bring back word to his dad that his three oldest brothers were well.

That's what he wanted to know. So he runs out there to see what's going on. He hears the trash talker, and it says that David heard these words. And here it is in verse 24. And when all the men of Israel saw the man, they fled from him, and they were greatly afraid.

And we understand that they were intimidated because this was a big old joker. 25 says, the men of Israel said, Have you seen this man who is coming up? Surely he is coming up to defy the armies of Israel, and it will be to 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 then David spoke to the man who was standing here. What will be done to this man who kills the Philistine and takes away the reproach of Israel? So here it is. David runs up. Here's this guy running his mouth.

He hears the army men saying, Hey, here's what's going to happen. Let me just put it in plain terms. He says, Look, if the guy goes out there and he beats this dude, you're going to get mad stacks of cash, bucket loads of money.

Not only are you going to get bucket loads of money, you're going to get the king's daughter for a wife, and she is hot. And then on top of that, tax free. Now, I don't know about anybody else, but if I could be tax free, I'd probably go now.

I'd probably be willing to take a swipe at it to be tax free right now. So he's going to get a fine wife, be part of the king's court. He's certainly going to be a dignitary for the rest of his life, his mother and dad and all of this family for the rest of their life, tax free, and bucket loads of cash.

He says this. Now, David heard it. He says, Now, what will be done? Who does that to this Philistine? He's like, Now, hold on a second. Say it again. And it says, For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should taunt the armies of the living God?

David, once again, is making a correction. He says, No, no, no, no, no. He ain't talking about you. He's not talking about defying you. He's defying the God of all creation. He is defying the God of heaven and earth.

Well, we'll get to that in a minute. So, when we see uncircumcised, is it just a fact that this man still has foreskin? Think about it. What's the point of it saying this uncircumcised Philistine? Were there uncircumcised people within the community of Israel?

Certainly. Proselytes? Man, them men draw the line in this area. They said, Hey, we'll convert. We'll be God-fears. But we ain't going to be a full proselyte because we're not being circumcised. So, there were men that were part of the outskirts of the community that were followers of Yahweh, but they stopped at circumcision.

No, no, no, no, no, no. We're all lying there. But, when he says here, this uncircumcised Philistine, he is saying, what were the Philistines supposed to have been done when they went into the land? Kill every one of them.

They were part of the Canaanites. They were part of the ones that were inhabited land that were under, basically, the band and to be exterminated. When it says this uncircumcised, he is outside of the covenant.

He is not under the grace and mercy of the Almighty God that he is defying. Therefore, we ought to go out and shut his mouth. Why? Because he is defying God, not defying Saul. Look, it's not Saul's not the enemy.

Don't see it in humanistic terms. See it in the fact that he's hollering at you. If you remember, a couple of weeks ago, he was hollering out, you are the servants of Saul. No, no, no, no, no. They were the servants of Yahweh.

This is the army of Yahweh, not the army of Saul. And the people answered him according to this word saying, thus it will be done for the man who kills him. Once again, they were just reiterating, hey, you go out and you kill this dude, mad cash, fine wife, into the court, and tax-free, you and your family forever.

Eliab Rebukes David and David Volunteers to Fight

Now, Eliab, the oldest brother, heard when he had spoke to the men, and Eliab's anger burned against him, and he said, why have you come down? And whom have you left those few little sheep in the wilderness with?

Now, maybe Eliab was already a little sensitive because he was not anointed king. I don't know. Could be. But we know this, he was chiding his little brother for coming out there thinking he was just coming to see a scrap.

And he thought that's what he was there for, and he was actually doing what his dad told him to do. And he said, why have you come down, and what of your responsibility, he's saying, was those sheep, and who did you leave them in the wilderness with?

He says, I know your insolence, and I know the wickedness of your heart, David, for you have come down to see the battle. That's poor judgment on his part. He is making an assumption that that's what he was there to do, and he was there to bring his brother some food, some sustenance, and to bring back good report to his dad.

But David said, just like every little brother does, what have I done this time? Was it not just a question? Then he turned away from him to another and said the same thing, and the people answered the same thing as before.

Once again, they told him again, a large bunch of cash, a fine wife, he'd be a son of the king, tax-free. Verse 31. And when the words which David spoke were heard, they told them to Saul, and he sent for him.

David said, I'll be that dude. I'll shut that guy's mouth. He's going to talk about the armies of the living God that way. He is going to blaspheme Yahweh. I will shut his mouth. I will take care of that.

I will be the man to go out and be a representative of the people of God. Understand, this champion's over here, at the beginning in verses 1 through 10, it was, you fight me, I win, you serve me. David goes out.

If he fights, he wins, they serve them. So you have national representative. So when David goes out to go to battle, he represents not only one people or one army, he represents a nation. He represents the covenant people of God, and he's going to go down in that valley, and he is going to fight.

Understand this, that when they go down and fight, the destiny of the people is on the weight of the shoulders of those two men. That's what's going to take place. It says that Saul heard it, and he sent.

It's interesting, the Hebrew word that's sent is lakak, and it actually means to take. What has Saul done with people and stuff the whole time of his reign? It actually should have said, he took him for himself.

What did it say that he was going to do? He finds anybody that's valiant, he finds anybody that's going to benefit him, that he was going to take him and put him in service, and that's what Saul does.

He takes him. It says, let no man's heart fail you on account of that man. Your servant will go out and will fight this Philistine. And Saul said to David, you are not able to go and fight this Philistine, for you are only but a youth, while this man has been a warrior from his youth.

That's that word na 'ar there. And both times, speaking of David being a youth, na 'ar, and then speaking of Goliath being, since his youth being a na 'ar, an adolescent, has been a warrior. But David said to Saul, your servant was tending his father's sheep, and when a lion or a bear would come out to take the lamb from the flock, I went out after him, attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth.

When it rose up against me, I seized it by his beard and struck him and killed him. And your servant has killed both lion and bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be just like one of them. And here's the reason why.

Because he has taunted the armies of the living God. He ain't going out there because he's taunting Saul. He's not going out there because his brothers are in danger. He's going out there because this man has blasphemed Yahweh.

Verse 37,. And David said, The Lord who has delivered me from that paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. So is David putting trust in his own ability?

Who did he see delivered him from the lion and the bear? God. Now, was there something in his mind that said, oh wow, this isn't normal. Look, men killing lions was not a normal thing. It's only happened three times.

One man did it when they were in the pit. We understand that's probably hitting them with spears or something while it was in the pit. The other two did it under the power of the Holy Spirit with their bare hands.

Samson and David. That's the only two. Barehanded. Saul said to David, Go, and may the Lord be with you. Yeah, I can imagine Saul saying that. I mean, kind of, yeah, go ahead. Man, you know what? May the Lord be with you.

You're going to need some help. And then Saul clothed David with his garments. He put on a bronze helmet on his head, and he clothed him with his armor. And David girded his sword over his armor, and he tried to walk.

This is funny to me. He puts all this stuff on. It'd be a little like me wearing your daddy's clothes. You know how big Tim Stewart is? It'd be like me wearing Tim's clothes. His sword would be much longer than what it's supposed to be because it's built to his stature.

It'd be dragging. You know, the clothes would be hanging off like this. We know that Saul was head and shoulders above everybody. Average man size 5 '4 to 5 '9 in that time for a Jewish man. If he was head and shoulders, he'd be anywhere between 6 '3 and 6 '6.

He was a big old guy, you know, in comparison, head and shoulders above everybody. So we know that those things aren't going to fit. But I made the statement two weeks ago. Why would he want him? It's an inference.

What would be the understanding of why would he want him to wear his battle clothing? Yes, right. You've got guys over here. You've got guys over here. I mean, they weren't binoculars. There wasn't no 4K HDTV, okay?

So when this guy comes walking down here, and he's in the king's battle clothes, from the perspective of the other side, who's it going to look like is coming down to fight? Saul. Saul. Once again, Saul's wanting somebody else to do what he was supposed to do.

Why did they want a king of their choosing? And fight for them. Fight for them. Fight for them. We want a king that'll go out and fight our battles for us. Now, is it the fact that Saul is, in and of itself, in no other circumstance, intimidated by a nine-foot-tall man that's an absolute killer?

Yes, that could very well be the case. But understand, the spirit of the Lord's departed from him. Samuel has told him, you are no longer going to be the king. Not only has your dynasty been taken from you, your kingdom's been ripped from you.

He could be looking across the way going, that could be the instrument by which my kingdom is ripped away. So you have two parts of that. Yeah, big old joker. He could swing his axe one time, or his sword.

My head's gone. And the other is, if I do go out, that could be the way in which my kingdom is completely done away with. So there's the double quote fear, per se. So we get to Saul's clothes are on David.

He can't walk around. He takes the sword. Understand, David, look, this sword he can't really use. But you understand that that sword would have been smaller than the sword he actually picks up and then decapitates Goliath with and then carries it around for booty, meaning as spoil, as the weapon of honor.

He can't use Saul's, but he's going to wind up using a nine-foot tall guy's weapon. And then he keeps it with him. He winds up putting it in. It ends up in a tabernacle in Nob. Later when we see, he shows up, and he says he don't have a weapon, and he asks Abimelech, hey, I need something.

He goes, hey, man, I got that sword that you killed that Philistine with. And he says, ooh, that's a good one. So that's the sword he winds up using. So David said to Saul, I can't use this. For I have not tested them.

And David took it all off. He took his stick in his hand, and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's bag, even in his pouch, and his sling in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.

David’s Sling, the Stone, and the Defeat of Goliath

So David takes off the gigantic clothing. He says, what do you want me to do with it? He says, give it to this guy. I got a valet who hangs all that stuff up for me. So he gets somebody else to hang his stuff up.

David says, forget it. I got this handled. He says, I'm going to go down there, and I'll use the weapon that I know how to use. A shepherd's sling was something that was normal for them to use. They have a high velocity.

Anybody ever have a wrist rocket when they were? Yeah, I had a wrist rocket. I mean, I was in Miss Conn's class in fourth grade. Your mama was in that classroom, by the way. Wrist rocket, you could really get a

I mean, you could take something, it would fly. It wasn't like your regular old little Y thing. It fit around your wrist, and it had these rubber, not rubber bands, rubber tubes. And you would pull it.

I mean, you could pull that thing back like an archer and let it go. Well, I thought, you remember those little rubber balls? Hang on, the little rubber balls you would get out of the bubble gum machine for 25 cents, and you could slam them on the ground, and you could see how high they go.

Well, I thought, in fourth grade, in those old desks, you know those desks you'd sit in like this, where all your books went in? Well, I thought it was cool to during the class and it would bounce around in there.

Then I was like, man, a marble would really work good.

So, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. I missed it, and it went all over.

Oh, man, Miss Conn grabbed me by my ear. She pulled me. Those aren't the kind of slingshots we're talking about. These actually had some more velocity than those because of the way that it slung. Obviously, y 'all know what a sling looks like.

They're usually three to six feet long with a pouch. If you've ever seen somebody use one, we made them when we were kids, and when you sling it, that pop that comes at the end, does anybody know what that pop is?

If it's not popping, the velocity is not fast enough to usually knock down a person or an animal. That pop is the end of the leather or the piece of nylon or whatever you're using, and it's actually breaking the sound barrier.

That's what that pop is. So, that's how you know when you've got it working. When it pop, that means, hey, that rock's coming out there fast enough. Now, how they slung them then were different ways. You'd sling them over your head.

They did the figure eight. Some of them was just a straight over sling, but it's moving fast enough that it can kill someone if it hits it. I mean, just look on YouTube if you want to see some of this stuff.

I mean, they're still used in the Middle East for shepherd boys for keeping away wolves and bears and stuff like that because they're quiet. You know, there's no gunshot. So, David says he's going to go down and he's going to choose five smooth stones, all right?

Now, allegorical interpretations go all over the map with this. This is the inconsistency of the allegorical interpretation, okay? Some of them will say this is courage, love, peace. It's just all over, okay?

Why did he choose five smooth stones? Because he chose five smooth stones. They don't represent anything. They don't represent anything. Charles Spurgeon, he even says that the one that he slung represented the atonement and that Goliath represented sin.

Okay, that may sound fancy and cool, but that ain't true, okay? Just because something is appealing does not mean that it's compelling from Scripture. The Scripture never says that those rocks represented anything.

It was the method by which God was going to use and the mechanism by which God was going to hit this Philistine to the ground for David to stand over top of him and then cut off his head. That's what the means was, okay?

So, he goes down there. He picks up five smooth stones. He put them in his bag, which he had even in his pouch. He took a sling and he approached the Philistine. And Tom was like, he's walking, and he's just like, say when, say when.

And here it goes. It says thus, oh, I'm sorry. And then the Philistine came and he approached David with his shield bearer. I think it's funny that here it is, this little boy, you know, from his perspective.

He's going to do some trash talking in a second. The Philistine's coming out and he's got his shield bearer. I mean, would you imagine how big the shield was? This is probably as big as that door, you know.

It's got to be big enough proportion to his size. It was probably like an interior swinging door. And here it is, David's coming out there. He runs out with the shield bearer in front of him. And the Philistine looked and he saw David and disdained him.

And it says why he disdained him. For he was youth, he was ruddy, meaning red, redhead. He was a ginger. And he was handsome in appearance. So he's like, man, look at this. They're sending a little kid out to play.

And the Philistine said, am I a dog that you would send to me, that you send someone out to play with me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. All right. He's cursing David by Dagon.

I just, all right. You remember when the tabernacle got passed around and all them little, it's like, all right. Now you're cursing the very God that gave your ancestors on your family tree hemorrhoids.

Okay. So think about what you're saying. Do you not remember not too long ago that your family was cursed with hemorrhoids and they were dying and you all did everything you could to get that thing out of here so that God would be from your presence.

And you're going to curse David, who's the representative of that. And then in verse 44 it says,. And the Philistine also said to David, come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.

And here it is. Now David, it says that David back when he was chosen to be anointed to be king, that he was well-spoken. Well, we're going to see David now do some sanctified smack talking. Because here it goes.

The Philistine says, I'm going to feed your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field. And David said, oh, you hold on a second. You come to me with a sword and you come to me with a spear and you come to me with a javelin.

But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts and the God of the armies of Israel whom you have taunted. And this day the Lord will deliver you into my hands and I will strike you down. I will remove your head from you.

I will give the bodies of the armies of the Philistine to the birds of the sky, 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 does not deliver by sword or by spear.

For the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into my hands. I tell you what, that right there may make you just want to start preaching. So he tells this uncircumcised Philistine, here it is. This is exactly what's going to happen.

Anybody remember Billy Jack? He'd be in there and he's like, all right, I'm going to take my left foot and I'm going to put it on the right side of your head and he'd kick them. That's David saying, all right, here's what I'm going to do.

I'm going to knock you down and then I'm going to come over there and I'm going to take your sword and I'm going to cut your head off. That's what I'm going to do. And the guy's like, there ain't no way.

Well, here it is. Now, when it says, I will give your bodies to the birds of the air, the wild beasts of the earth, don't just take that as they're just going to be eaten up by animals. Understand that the last degrading thing for a person under Middle Eastern culture was to not have a proper burial.

Understand that. That was one of the reasons why when we get to the end in chapter 31, if you all remember when I said that Jabesh Gilead was taken by Nahash, the first great deliverance that Saul did, he delivered them from Nahash, the king of the Ammonites.

Well, when at the end of the book, chapter 30, he dies before then, but he dies right there at chapter 30, 31. They take his body and they nail it, decapitate his body, and they steal all of his armor and they nail his body to the city wall.

That was just a trophy. Well, what did the people of Jabesh Gilead do 40 years later? They remember what Saul had done for them. They travel all night. They remove his body from the wall so that he can have a proper burial.

Because his body had decomposed, they burned it and buried his bones. Proper burial because of respect. David says, look, there's nothing to respect about you. There's nothing respectable about you. So what's going to happen is you're not even going to get a proper burial.

What's going to happen is when I take your head off and all the other guys that are going to try to come out and fight for you or with you, we're going to kill them and they're going to be eaten up by the beast of the field because you don't deserve a proper burial.