The Bigger They Are The Harder They Fall-Samuel Chapters 16-31

Then, Goliath said, “Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.” (Samuel 17:8-9) The giant had spoken. Towering over any Israelites, he challenged any one of them to present themselves and battle him to the death. Goliath was confident, maybe too confident. David, a humble Shepard, was the only man, not even, the only boy to summon the courage to battle the giant. Armed with only a sling and several stones, he hurled one straight at Goliath and struck him in the forehead. Before he could react Goliath stood struck dead by a stone from a young man, a boy! David took no credit for himself but praised the Lord and credited Him for delivering the Israelites from the hands of the Philistines. This concept of David and Goliath recurs throughout the Bible and literature. Some huge force rises up, casting a shadow upon some small doomed force, but out of certain death they prevail. David and Goliath, the battle of Thermopoly, Israel against the world, all are situations in which a petty force battles with a formidable, gigantesque force and prevails. David, claims to have had the power of God behind him and that, not his own strength is what prevailed. Saul had been the same, a favored one in God’s eyes, he conquered many lands and prevailed through God’s power but when he saw David’s success he became jealous. They sang of it, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.”(Samuel 18:7) As his jealousy grew, he separated himself from God and eventually was struck by God himself. In the Bible the protagonists are those who have found favor in God’s eyes. If they keep the covenants with God and keep His commandments they will do well and come to be successful, but as they grow further and further from God the less they will be blessed and eventually lose everything.