Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 17:50
So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but [there was] no sword in the hand of David.
50. This verse is not found in the Sept. (B).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
1Sa 17:50
So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone.
Davids first victory
I. David was a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. The early fathers of the church were very great in opening up typical analogies. With regard to this particular transaction let us note, at the outset, that before he fought with Goliath, David was anointed of God. Samuel had gone down to Bethlehem and poured a horn of oil upon his head. The parallel will readily occur to you. Thus hath the Lord found out for Himself one whom He has chosen out of the people. With His holy oil hath He anointed him. Jesus, the antitype of David, is anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. The Spirit was not given by measure unto him. See how the correspondence goes on. Our Lord was sent by his Father to his brethren. As David was sent by Jesse to his brethren with suitable presents end comfortable words, in order to commune with them, even so in the fulness of time was our Lord commissioned to visit his brethren. Jesus was roughly handled by his brethren, whom He came to bless. David, you will remember, answered his brethren with great gentleness. He did not return railing for railing, but with much gentleness he endured their churlishness. In this he supplied us with but a faint picture of our beloved Master, who, when He was reviled, reviled not again. We pass on to observe that David was moved by intense love of his people, he saw them defied by the Philistine. The name of Jehovah was dishonoured! That braggart giant who stalked before the bests defied the armies of the living God! A further motive was present to stimulate his patriotic ambition. How could Davids bosom fail to glow with strong emotion when he was told that the man who should vanquish and slay that Philistine should be married to the kings daughter? Such a prize might well quicken his ardour. Now in all this he plainly foreshadowed our Lord Jesus Christ. He loved His own: He was always ready to lay down His life for the sheep. And then there was the joy that was set before Him that He should have the church for His spouse. Goliath is called in the Hebrew, not champion, as we read it in the English, but the middle-man, the mediator. If you put the whole case fairly before your own minds, you will readily see the fitness of the word that is used. There is the host of the Philistines on the one side, and there is the host of Israel on the other side. A valley lies between them. Goliath says, I will represent Philistia. I stand as the middle-man. Now, it is exactly upon that ground that the Lord Jesus Christ fought the battles of His people. We fell representatively in the first Adam, and our salvation now is by another representative–the second Adam. He is the Middleman, the one Mediator between God and man. Mark you well that David did smite Goliath, and he smote him effectually–not in the loins, or on the band, or on the foot–but in a vital point he delivered the stroke that laid him low. He smote him on the brow of his presumption, on the forehead of his pride. So when our Lord stood forth to contend with sin, He projected His atoning sacrifice as a stone that has smitten sin and all its powers upon the forehead. Thus, glory be to God, sin is slain. It is not wounded merely, but it is slain by the power of Jesus Christ. And remember that David cut off Goliaths head with his own sword. Augustine, in his comment on this passage, very well brings out the thought that the triumph of our Saviour Jesus Christ is here set forth in the history of David. He, through death, destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. You will find the analogy capable of much amplification. Make a picture of it at your leisure, and it may prove a beneficial study and a profitable meditation.
II. David as an example for every believer in Christ.
1. You cannot do Davids work if you have not Davids anointing. When you remember that your Divine Master tarried for the heavenly anointing, you can hardly expect to do without it.
2. David, too, stands before us as an example of the fact that our opportunity will come, if our efficiency has been bestowed, without our being very particular to seek it. David fell into position.
3. Learn from David, too, to return quiet answers to those who would roughly put you aside from your work.
4. Learn, again, from Davids example, the prudence of keeping to tried weapons.
5. Next, observe that from the work which David begun he ceased not till he had finished it. He had laid the giant prone upon the soil, but he was not satisfied till he had out off his head. I wish that some who work for Christ would be as thorough as this young volunteer was. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The giants, and how to fight them
All young people like to hear and read stories about giants. I suppose there is hardly a person in this country who knows how go read, but who has read the famous history of Jack the Giant Killer. I remember, when a very little boy, reading it, and thinking what a wonderful history it was. Some people pretend to think that it was hardly possible for David to throw a stone with sufficient force to sink into the giants head. One of this class, a foolish young man, who pretended not to believe the Bible, was once riding in a stagecoach, which was full of passengers. He was trying to ridicule some of the Bible stories. Among others, he spoke of this one about David and the giant. He said he thought the giants head must have been too hard for a boy like David to send a stone into it; and, turning to an old Quaker gentleman, who sat in the corner of the coach, he asked, What do you think about it, sir? Friend, said the old gentleman, in a dry, quiet way, Ill tell thee what I think: if the giants head was as soft as thine it must have been very easy for the stone to get in. I want now to speak about five giants that we should all unite in trying to fight against.
I. The first giant I am to speak of is the giant heathenism. This giant doesnt live here. He is found in countries where the Gospel is not known. His castles may be seen in Africa, and in India, in China, and in the islands of the sea. He is a huge giant. This giant is very strong, and very cruel. Well, what are we to do to this giant? Why, we must fight him, as David did Goliath. The Bible is the brook to which we must go. The truths which it contains are the stones that we must use.
II. The second giant I would speak of is the giant selfishness. The giant selfishness never sees, or hears, or does anything for anyone but himself if you find that you are getting to think more of yourself than of others, then be sure the giant is after you. We must fight this giant by self-denial.
III. The third giant I want to speak about is the giant covetousness. This giant is very large in size, and very strong in limb; but he has the tiniest tittle bit of a heart you ever saw, might put it in a nutshell. The only wonder is how so huge a frame can be supported by so little a heart. But this is not all, for little as his heart is, it is hard as stone. He is ashamed of his name, and wont answer to it. He pretends that his right name is–frugality. But this is a great story. Frugality is a very different person. He is a good, true, honest fellow If you ask, How are you to fight him? I answer, by learning to give.
IV. The fourth giant of which I will speak is the giant ill-temper. But how are we to fight against, this giant? I answer, By trying to be like Jesus. We always think of Him as–the gentle Jesus, meek and mild. Do you suppose that this giant ever got a single link of his chain on Jesus? No.
V. The last giant I wish to speak about is the giant intemperance. He is a very ugly-looking fellow When he is in a good humour, and feels jolly, he puts on a silly face, and looks very foolish. But when he gets in a passion he is awful looking, and it makes one shudder to see him. (R. Newton, D. D.)
David and Goliath
The moment the words are read the instruction will be seen.
1. Helps may sometimes be so multiplied as to become hindrances. We reserve a measure of our pity for the modern Davids in the pulpit who imitate popular preachers, and in the classes who seek to reproduce the rare excellences of famous teachers more tall and more brilliant, and so fail because they stalk around in unnatural panoply, and are borne down by a greatness they cannot fill out to its full swell.
2. There is always room in the Divine purposes for proper originality in human methods.
3. The best instrument for Gods service is generally that which God has bestowed on the individual worker. It is simply silly for any spiritual martinet to bluster when he sees that Christians are doing well in winning souls, and insist that David shall put on armour like Sauls when he can accomplish far more in his own way as a slinger with his brook stones. Let all wise men and women take what Providence has put within their reach. Here comes again in a new history the old demand once made of Moses: What is that in thy hand? The crook he had used with the sheep in Horeb became the rod which divided the Red Sea. Shamgar took his ox goad, because he was accustomed to it. Samson seized the jaw bone of an ass, because he found it moist and ready when he put forth his hand. Dorcas did glorious good in Joppa with the needle her hand loved.
4. Giant killing is yet the chief calling of the Church. We may call the apparently mismatched combatants Good and Evil, Right and Wrong, Truth and Error; it is invariably the worse which seems colossal, and the better which appears insignificant. Error can generally find an obsequious armour bearer; Truth sometimes has to stand alone with a sling. Often great leaders will contribute their cast-off clothing, but they do not offer to put their extra height, into risk. And the lesson is full of counsel and cheer for chivalrous souls who are valiant for the truth, that they have patience, fight with courage, and trust God forever.
For the God of David still guides the pebble at His will:
There are giants yet to kill–wrongs unshriven;
But the battle to the strong is not given
While the Judge of right and wrong sits in heaven.
5. Here seems to be a register of the real worth of mere muscular Christianity. A few calm words from Canon Charles Kingsley might well be quoted here: Better would it be for any one of you, young men, to be the stupidest and the ugliest of mortals, to be the most diseased and abject of cripples, the most silly, nervous, incapable personage who ever was a laughing stock for the boys upon the streets, if only you lived, according to your powers, the life of the Spirit of God, than to be as perfectly gifted, as exquisitely organised in body and mind, as David himself, and not to live the life of the Spirit of God, the life of goodness, which is the only life fit for a human being wearing the human flesh and soul which Christ took upon Him on earth, and wears forever in heaven, a Man indeed in the midst of the throne of God.
6. It is the weakest sort of so-called honour which has to assert itself in bluster.
7. The calmness of faith is always resolute and self-possessed. The battle is the Lords. There is a motto for all Christian life. John Bunyan has mentioned some of our modern giants: giant Despair, and giant Grim; giant Pope, and giant Pagan. Perhaps we could think of a few more who have come nearer yet to our own experience, and might have been named in the history of Christiana and the children. There is giant Pride, and giant Profanity, giant Untruth, giant Envy, giant Appetite; all of these confront us and with some of them we have had fights. But we can stand before them quite calmly if only we remember we come in the name of the Lord of hosts.
8. The best defence against evil is found in a swift attack.
9. There can be no Providence in Gods government that is not in some sense truly special.
10. The weapons of the wicked are often at the last turned against themselves.
11. The victory of faith belongs only to Jehovah. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
Davids victory ever Goliath
I. Observe, first, from this account, that a humble station is no hindrance to the grace of God. David, unknown and unnoticed, feeding his fathers sheep at Bethlehem, was chosen by God to be an instrument to promote His glory, and to do great good in the world.
II. Observe, again, that faithfulness and diligence in appointed duties is the way to honour and respect. It was so with David. In the performance of his daily duties, in obedience to his father, in submission to man, be was prepared for great and noble deeds.
III. But the lesson especially taught us in this chapter is that which the Apostle Paul elsewhere enforces: My brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. If God be for us, who can be against us? If we trust in Him through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour, we need not fear our spiritual enemies–the enemies of our souls. (E. Blencowe, M. A.)
The victorious races
Look now with me, a moment, at another element of strength in the Missionary Church. Not only is the power of God promised to her fidelity, but the wisdom of God is visible in the choice of her materials. In our modern times, God has put His gospel faith into the best races on the globe. David has better blood in his veins than Goliath. The races to which God has intrusted His staff and five smooth stones of gospel truth are the same races that drew up Magna Charta and the declaration of Independence–the races that have made iron types to talk and iron ships to swim–that have strung the telegraphic nerves through humanitys limbs, and have woven out of revealed law the highest forms yet reached of Christian civilisation. For the spread of His gospel, God has made Great Britain strong, and Holland industrious, and Germany learned, and has saved the American Republic as by fire. The welfare of Christianity has God bound up with the welfare of certain races and nations. If this be so, how vitally important it is that those nations who essay to Christianise other nations should themselves be Christianised to the very coral. (T. L. Cuyler, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone,…. And with them only, without any other warlike weapon:
and smote the Philistine, and slew him; smote him with the stone, which brought him to the ground, and then slew him with his own sword, as afterwards related:
but [there was] no sword in the hand of David; when he engaged with the Philistine, and smote him, for he had put off all his armour, 1Sa 17:39.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(50) But there was no sword in the hand of David.The story of the daring of the son of Jesse dwells, and with good reason, on the extraordinary valour and skill of the young champion of Israel. Had his heart for one instant failed himas, indeed, it well might; had he not possessed a confidence which nothing could shake in an unseen Helperor had his skill as a marksman failed him in the slightest degree, the Philistine with one blow would have laid David lifeless at his feet; or had the active shepherd boy eluded his giant antagonist, it must have been by flight. In any case, the single combat upon which Israel had staked so much would have gone against the chosen people.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1Sa 17:50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but [there was] no sword in the hand of David.
Ver. 50. So David prevailed over the Philistine. ] By the help of his God, and by the force of his faith. Heb 11:32
“ Traiectamque cavo terebravit vnlnere frontem. ” – Prudentius.
With a sling and with a stone, ] Unlikely means to prostrate such a bulk. So Shamgar with an oxgoad, and Samson with the jaw bone of an ass, made great slaughters. So Christ by his cross destroyed the devil, yea, by death he foiled him that had the power of death, Heb 2:14 as David cut off Goliath’s head with his own sword.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
So David prevailed: The tradition of the combat between David and Goliath, in which the latter was killed, is preserved among the Arabs; for he is mentioned in the Koran, where he is called Galut or Jalut. The Arabs also call the dynasty of the Philistine kings, who reigned in Palestine when the Hebrews came there, Galutiah, or Jalutiah. Achmed Al Fassi says, “Those kings were as well known by the name of Jalaut, as the ancient kings of Egypt by that of Pharaoh. David killed the Jalaut who reigned in his time, and entirely rooted out the Philistines, the rest of whom fled into Africa, and from them descended the Brebers or Berbers, who inhabit the coast of Barbary.” It is remarkable that the Berbers themselves should acknowledge their descent from the Philistines. “The name Goliath, which they pronounce Sghialud, is very common among the Brebers, and the history of the champion of the Philistines is very well known to the Moors. When children quarrel, and the bigger one challenges the smaller to fight the latter answers, Who will fight with you? Enta men ulid Sgialud. You are of the race of Golaith.’ The Jews who dwell among them, on the mountains, all call them Philistines.” 1Sa 21:9, 1Sa 23:21, Jdg 3:31, Jdg 15:15
but there was: 1Sa 17:39, 1Sa 13:22
Reciprocal: Jdg 4:21 – took Jdg 20:16 – sling stones 1Sa 2:9 – by strength 2Sa 17:8 – mighty men 2Sa 19:9 – The king 1Ki 20:14 – young men Ecc 9:11 – that the race
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
The results of David’s victory 17:50-58
God used a humble weapon to give His people a great victory in response to one person’s faith. This is another instance of God bringing blessing to and through a person who committed himself to simply believing and obeying God’s Word (cf. 1Sa 14:1). Stoning was the penalty for blasphemy in Israel (Lev 24:16; Deu 17:7). Usually death by stoning required many large stones, but David executed this Philistine blasphemer with only one stone. God’s unseen hand propelled and directed it. One small stone was all God needed to get what He wanted done.
The stone that hit Goliath in the forehead evidently only knocked him out. David then approached the fallen giant, slew him with his own sword, and cut off his head. [Note: Baldwin, p. 128; Ariella Deem, "’And the Stone Sank Into His Forehead’: A Note on 1 Samuel xvii 49," Vetus Testamentum 28:3 (1978):350.] 1Sa 17:50 seems to be a summary of the whole encounter. 1Sa 17:49; 1Sa 17:51 apparently describe what happened blow by blow. By cutting off Goliath’s head David completed the execution of the giant and demonstrated to everyone present that he really was dead. Like the image of Dagon, that had previously fallen before the ark and had its head broken off (1Sa 5:4), so Dagon’s champion now suffered the same fate.
The Israelites chased the fleeing Philistines back home to their towns. The towns mentioned stood to the north and northwest of the battlefield (1Sa 17:52). David took Goliath’s head as a trophy of war to Jerusalem and put the giant’s weapons in his own tent temporarily (1Sa 17:54). They became memorials of God’s great deliverance on this occasion. It is unclear whether David took the giant’s head to Jerusalem, which was still a Jebusite city, immediately, or if he took it there later when David captured Jerusalem and made it his capital. Goliath’s sword eventually went to Nob near Jerusalem (1Sa 21:1-9). The central sanctuary (tabernacle) may have stood there even at this time.
Saul needed to know the name of David’s father to deliver the prize that he had promised to anyone who would defeat Goliath (1Sa 17:25). Perhaps he had never asked David about this before or had forgotten whose son he was. Another explanation of Saul’s strange ignorance is that the events of chapter 17 may have happened chronologically before those of chapter 16.
". . . the text is not focused on chronological reporting but intends rather a dual topical introduction of David, who as a young man already manifested the gifts that would gain him renown as the sweet psalm-singer of Israel as well as the mighty warrior of the Lord." [Note: Longman and Dillard, p. 23.]
Another possibility is that Saul’s words could have been an idiom for, "What is his background?" Perhaps the writer included this reference to David’s family in the text because David’s trust and obedience resulted in his family enjoying special blessings from God through Saul. 1Sa 17:55-58 focus on the question of whose son David was. This event proved that David was a true son of God who had the reputation and interests of his Father and his Father’s people at heart (cf. Joh 8:29).
David emerges as superior to Saul as well as Goliath in this story. We have already seen that Yahweh was superior to Dagon (chs. 4-6). David’s victory over Goliath was a major step toward Israel’s throne for him. It was a turning point in his life. God did not base David’s election for salvation on David’s conduct. God chooses whom He will to save. However, God did choose David to serve as Israel’s king because of David’s conduct, which resulted from his devoted heart. God promotes the faithful to higher positions of service (cf. Luk 19:12-27).
"His victory that day in the valley of Elah made a national hero of him, as well as entitling him to the hand of the king’s daughter in marriage; but it also evoked jealous feelings in Saul, thus indirectly setting in motion the events which fill the rest of 1 Samuel." [Note: Gordon, p. 153.]
In applying this story, I believe it is legitimate to see Goliath as representing the many enemies that frustrate individual believers as we seek to live for God. However, I believe primarily the application deals with defeating those enemies bent on defeating and destroying God’s people en masse. Contemporary movements designed to discredit God and remove Christianity from a land are what Goliath personifies.
We remember too that a great son of David arose who defeated another Goliath in His day, namely, Jesus Christ. While Satan is not yet dead, Jesus Christ has felled him. He has won a great victory over this enemy who was behind Goliath and is behind all the enemies of God and His people.