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Boy Scout Tr #240

Scripture: 1 Samuel 16:10-13

I’m going to spend two Sundays preaching about David primarily because the Old Testament readings, known also as the Hebrew Scriptures, assigned to this time of year by what we pastors call the lectionary are from the books of First and Second Samuel.  The books of Samuel are located between Judges and Kings.  They are about a radical transformation that occurred in the life of ancient Israel.  Israel made a great shift from being a marginal and unstable company of tribes to being a centralized state.   The books of Samuel are the transition point between the tribal life that was ruled by judges to centralized political power of kings.

The person who was key in bringing about this transformation was King David.  David doesn’t make his appearance until the 16th chapter of Samuel when he comes in from keeping the sheep.  The First Book of Samuel begins with the story of the prophet Samuel and then the anointing of King Saul.  These stories would be known as the prequels to David because everything points to David.  The biblical text is deeply and endlessly fascinated with David.  Walter Brueggemann, one of today’s most well-known scholars and lecturers of David says, “Israel is fascinated by David, deeply attracted to him, bewildered by him, occasionally embarrassed by him, but never disowning him.” He is one of Israel’s heroes whose portrait in the Hebrew Scriptures is fully human.  He was never made into a god.

First Samuel begins with the story of Hannah, a childless woman who bargained with God for a child.  When she gave birth to a son, she named him Samuel, promised him to God, and sang a most incredible song that sounds a lot like Mary’s song, or the Magnificat.  Mary sang her song when she was pregnant with Jesus.  Hannah sang:   ”The Lord raises up the poor from the dust.  The Lord lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor.”  It was a song about God turning the world up-side down.  As promised, Hannah took her child to the priest Eli to be raised in the presence of God.  Samuel grew up to be a prophet who heard the people of Israel cry out for a king.  He was the one who anointed Saul as Israel’s first king.  He was the one who anointed David.   But not without a warning that went something like this:  “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  Samuel said, Kings would take their sons and daughters away from them.  Kings would take the best of their crops, flocks and cattle.  

But the people were insistent and the socio-economic, political climate was changing.  Saul was anointed King by Samuel--which was the prophet’s job--to figure out who God wanted.  While Saul was still king, Samuel went to Bethlehem because God had commissioned him to find a new king.  It was a very uneasy situation with Saul still in power.  The people in Bethlehem knew that Samuel was a kingmaker and a kingbreaker.  With Samuel there, trouble was sure to follow.  Nevertheless, Jesse gathered his seven sons together and they went through the ritual--a secret choosing and anointing of the king who would follow Saul, as ordained by God.  Jesse’s sons were paraded before Samuel.  The first son looked good and Samuel was drawn to him--but God warned Samuel that looks weren’t everything.  God didn’t want another Saul.  God wanted someone with a right and committed heart.  And the drama unfolds.  The next three sons are named and not chosen.  All seven sons are rejected when we, the readers or listeners of the story, are waiting for a choice to be made.  We are waiting for David.  Finally, the question about the eighth son was asked.   The way the story is told draws our attention to the one outside the completed number, the one who was the outsider.  The eighth son, the youngest of seven. Creation was completed in seven days.  The Sabbath is on the seventh day.  Jesse showed Samuel seven sons.  Surely the eighth son was of no importance with no claim to be made and no credentials to be a king.

However, Samuel halted the whole process of review and announced that it would continue only when the eighth son appeared.  We don’t know how long they waited, but it must have taken awhile because the son was outside the house tending the sheep.  So, we wait, Jesse and the seven sons waited, just as Israel waited.  Finally, David came.  And sure enough, he is the one for whom Israel, Samuel, God, and the books of Samuel have been waiting for.  And even though Samuel had heard very clear instructions from God about not choosing because of one’s appearance, the first words used to describe David was his appearance, “He was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome.”  Samuel and the teller of the story were dazzled.  God did a quick heart examination and announced, “He is the one.”  Then in a secret ceremony, David was anointed by oil as king of Israel, the spirit came mightily upon him, the meeting ended, Samuel returned home.  And Israel would never be the same again.

David was introduced as a shepherd king.  David was also introduced to us as a young gifted musician.  The First Book of Samuel has woven together in it the downfall of Saul and the rise to power of David.  Saul was a disturbed man.    His mental anguish was both theological and psychological.  For young David, still tending the sheep, came to visit his king during the Saul troubled times to soothe his spirit with music.  Saul’s spirit was refreshed.  David was a life-giver--even to Saul.  David was God’s antidote to every ailment in Israel.

He was a shepherd king, a gifted musician, and a mighty warrior.  He started out serving part-time in King Saul’s army carrying lunch boxes for the soldiers.  But then along came Goliath, who was a giant Philistine.  We are given all the details of Goliath’s heavy armor--his helmet, coat of mail, breaves, javelin, and spear.  He was dressed with a whole suit of armor, but it was not the whole armor of God.  Goliath was also utterly sure of himself.  We can almost feel the earth shake as Goliath walked, he was so overpowering.  When Goliath came, the Israelite’s knees began shaking.  Everyone’s except David’s.  All Goliath and his Philistine army had to do was flex their muscles and the King’s army was immobilized with fear.

So the little shepherd boy, David, the nobody, King Saul’s “go-fer” and flute player came forward willing to fight Goliath one on one.  His jealous older brothers told him he had better go home to keep the sheep.  The King told little David.  ”You are only a youth; you can’t go against this giant man of war.”

But David replied, “I have killed lions and bear to protect my father’s sheep.  And the Lord who had delivered me from the paws of these beasts will deliver me from the hand of Philistine, Goliath.”

So King Saul prepared David for battle, Saul clothed him with armor and placed a sword in his  hand.  Saul said, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”

But David did not go.  The armor was too heavy.  It weighed him down and the sword was too big for his hand.  David would not go until he took off the armor, threw down the sword, and prepared himself for battle in his shepherd’s armor--a staff, five smooth stones, and a sling.  Little David, the nobody in shepherd’s clothing marched off to battle and struck down the mighty giant, Goliath.

Thus, began David’s public rise to power.  He had been secretly anointed.  He had been welcomed as a healing musician.  He was recruited as an effective, yet unconventional warrior.  He became a popular, beloved, and threatening member of King Saul’s court. He was celebrated as a successful and much honored military hero.  Women began dancing in the streets singing songs of victory about him.  These songs offended King Saul.  One was a hit.  ”Saul has killed his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.”   King Saul became afraid of David and sought to kill him.  He pursued him.  David retreated with his army, not wanting to fight his king.  But Saul would not stop.  He took three thousand men to seek David steadily and relentlessly.  Finally, they had to stop and rest.  Saul left his army and went to a cave to be alone.  Deep inside the cave Saul came upon David and his army.  David’s men rose to attack and kill Saul.  But David stopped them and said,  “This is the day the Lord has delivered my enemy into my hand.”  David spared Saul’s life.  David remained a faithful servant of his king to the day Saul was killed in battle.  David grieved the loss of his king.  David was crowned King, and for the first time, after many more battles, Judah and Israel, the Northern and Southern Kingdom were united.  David was King of the United Kingdom.

It is a remarkable story, and becomes even more remarkable next week.  But today I want to reflect on what we can learn from David’s rise to power.  What can we do when we are feeling small, inadequate, and intimidated?  For today, Goliath comes in many forms, many disguises, many ways.  There are times when I would much rather hide in a cave, than face what appears to be an obstacle I think I cannot begin to confront.   Whether it is an obstacle within my own imagination or a very real and scary obstacle that makes my knees shake.  Here’s what we can learn from David, the eighth son, the outsider, the tender of sheep, as he went before Goliath, the giant.

First, be defiant in the face of fear.  I ran across a quote not too long ago that I liked personally.  It said something like this, “Tell your fear to go to hell.”  David simply said about Goliath to the men whose knees were shaking.  ”Well, who does he think he is anyway, going up against the living God?”  No fear there.  Be defiant in the face of fear for fear immobilizes, paralyzes.   It will keep you feeling small, inadequate, and intimidated.  Tell it to go to hell.  

Second, remember that appearance does NOT count.  Saul took one look at David and said, “You are just a boy, you can’t fight him.”   David did not back down because he appeared small and inadequate and Goliath looked enormous and powerful.  Appearances can be deceiving.

Third, recall a time in your past when God helped you.  David told Saul that he had been protecting his father’s sheep from predators for a long time.  God had saved him from the paws of the lion and the bear.  He was convinced that God would save him from the hand of Goliath.  

One of my favorite people to read and quote is Sister Joan Chittister, a Benedictine nun.  She wrote a book about the Apostles’ Creed titled, In Search of Belief.   In it, while she is reflecting on the statement I believe in God Almighty, she tells a story of her mother who lived for 28 years with Alzheimer’s before she died.  When someone tells me about their loved one living with Alzheimer's I feel quite helpless.  Sister Joan felt the same way with her mother.  She told her friend in the midst of her confusion, “The woman you know is not the woman who raised me.”  First she lost the bubble of her laugh and the balance in her personality, then her emotional control and slowly she lost her sharp, stiletto-like mind, then finally her speech. Sister Joan asks, “Was her life useless?  Where was Almighty God then?”  Then she wrote that the answer became more clear every day of those twenty-eight years.  ”The almighty power of God was in the rest of us who gave her the care, the security, the attention she needed even when she could not give it back.  She brought us all to be better people.  God was clearly almighty still.  Intrusive, no; almighty, yes.”  When facing a Goliath in your life, recall times when God has been almighty, where you allowed God to be God, where you allowed God to work through you, or saw God working through others.

Number four:  Don’t wear someone else’s stuff.  It won’t fit you.  Wear what fits you.  Saul clothed David with his armor.  But David said, I can’t even walk with this stuff on.  I prefer to wear my own shepherd’s clothes, thank you very much.

Number five:  Don’t imitate the giant.  Be yourself.  We are most effective when we use the gifts and strengths that we have and not try to be like someone else.

Number six:  We do our best when we welcome what life brings us and let God’s spirit work within us.  Life is full of obstacles, giants, twists and turns.  It’s part of our journey.  But God is already and always walking with us on the journey.  It’s about accepting and welcoming God’s company.  

By the grace of God, David was anointed Israel’s shepherd king.  He was a gifted musician who soothed troubled souls, he was a fearless warrior who captured the hearts of the common people.  He was the lowly who was lifted from the dust.  He was one of Jesus’ ancestors, he was and is Israel’s hope.  Amen.

Notes:  Walter Brueggemann’s Interpretation: First and Second Samuel        Joan Chittister, In Search of Belief