The story of David
and Goliath is a bit of polarizing story for me. On one hand, I love it because
of its triumph. On the other hand, it really frustrates me because most people
get it wrong. Really wrong. Read on if you care.
In I Samuel, we see
David as the youngest brother given the tedious task of tending sheep (I Samuel
16:11). This entailed herding them into an open space where they could eat and
the young shepherd could observe all of them and keep them from harm. David had
to keep himself occupied during those long hours in the field, and he hadn’t
heard of an ipod, cell phone, or hand-held game stations yet, so David spent
his time with a sling. David toiled with the sling day in and day out. 5 times
we see in I Samuel 16 & 17 that David was always where he was supposed to
be, “….tending the sheep…” and the implication is that David never missed his
responsibilities and consequently never missed time with his sling. Hours,
days, weeks, months, and years passed as David worked with his sling out of
human sight. David had no idea that he would have to use his finely crafted
skill against the greatest hand-to-hand combat soldier the world had ever
known. (I wrote about the implications of this here)
Goliath. History
estimates that he was 9 feet tall, 500 lbs when wearing armor. Nimble under all
of that weight. (he would’ve shown up to battle David on a horse or chariot if
he wasn’t able to move under all of that weight). The head of his spear weighed
roughly 20 pounds and he yielded it with precision and athleticism. He was
Terminator before Arnold. Maybe I shouldn’t be so frustrated that so many feel
Goliath winning was a foregone conclusion.
Let me point out
an important historical fact and an important perspective. First, there were three types of soldiers in that culture: infantry
men, archers, and slingers. The Philistines sent Goliath down to take part in
hand-to-hand combat as an infantry man. It was cultural tradition to send in
your best infantry man for a one on one battle and to the winner would go the
losing countrymen and their territory. It was the way that countries in an apparent
mis-match would avoid unnecessary blood-shed. Sending a slinger to the battle
was ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking and was like sending a man armed with a water pistol to fight a five-alarm fire. But, David
in fact had a huge advantage over Goliath because he wasn’t just any slinger.
He was a highly skilled slinger, and despite the appearance of Goliath, David was better at what he did (stone slinging) than what Goliath was at what he did (infantry, hand-to-hand combat).
Second, what everyone perceived as a disadvantage (sending in the
young David to fight the mighty Goliath) was actually an advantage. Despite his
perceived superiority, Goliath actually had little chance against David! How
often do we perceive our life full of disadvantages when in fact many of those
circumstances are advantages?
On the day that
the on-on-one encounter took place we all know how it ended. The more highly
skilled warrior won (as is often the case in competition) despite the perceived
disadvantages. For David to place that stone between the eyes
of that massive killing-machine was simple.
I’d like to close with two
applications:
1) David earned his victory. He inconspicuously, for years, developed his skill with the sling while tending sheep. Read about the concepts of tending sheep here. David was only ready to take advantage of his circumstances because he was prepared.
2) David's purpose did not allow him to be distracted by other's opinions of advantages and disadvantages. David's purpose was to defend the honor of his God and his country. David Brandt, who won multiple NCAA national soccer championships while building the dynasty of Messiah College soccer said, ‘the only thing worse than running is running without purpose.’ David’s mission was accomplished because he had an overwhelming purpose.
1) David earned his victory. He inconspicuously, for years, developed his skill with the sling while tending sheep. Read about the concepts of tending sheep here. David was only ready to take advantage of his circumstances because he was prepared.
2) David's purpose did not allow him to be distracted by other's opinions of advantages and disadvantages. David's purpose was to defend the honor of his God and his country. David Brandt, who won multiple NCAA national soccer championships while building the dynasty of Messiah College soccer said, ‘the only thing worse than running is running without purpose.’ David’s mission was accomplished because he had an overwhelming purpose.
When you continue to work and have a bigger-than-yourself purpose, you can turn your disadvantages into advantages.
Keep on, keeping on, friends!
BLOG BIO
‘Bite Down and Don’t Let Go’ is a collection of writings on
being intentional about life in a way that produces great persistence. Read
about it more here.
Dr. Chris Hobbs is an educational leader and Director
of Athletics at The King’s Academy in West Palm Beach, Florida. He’s earned a few degrees
and won some awards. He’s happily married to his high school sweetheart and
they have three teen age children. Life is messy and complicated most of the
time. You can follow him on Twitter
for all sorts of inspirational thoughts and good laughs.
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