1 Samuel16 has provided us with a general description of David’s character in his position as the Lord’s anointed and, in a special manner, in his relationship with Saul. 1 Samuel 17 takes up, so to say, the description of his history from another point of view. This is why we have the seemingly superfluous repetition of his family relationship that we find in 1 Samuel 17:12-13.
We have before us now no longer the character but the career and activity of David, a type of Christ, from its beginning to its final and conclusive result, the complete victory over Goliath. In a word, the entire history of Christ, the Victor over Satan, is summarized in this period of David’s activity. The Philistines had already been conquered many times, but not their leader, the giant Goliath. Sure of his strength, he presents himself before the assembled people and challenges them; and when he has succeeded in inspiring terror in those whom he wishes to subjugate, he cries out: “I have defied the ranks of Israel this day!” He does not know that it is not with Israel that he has to do, but with God, and that he is defying God Himself in defying His people. This is his downfall.
As for David, he presents himself here (1 Sam. 17:17) as the one sent by his father to his brothers; his service begins with them. But God’s purpose is a deliverance extending far beyond this limited circle. Joseph had done likewise (Gen. 37:14) and had become not only the savior of his brothers, but also the savior and master of Egypt.
David sets out on his mission, having already exercised a secret ministry in the wilderness where he kept the sheep. That is where he had smitten the lion and the bear, a type of Christ when He bound the strong man. Before entering into combat with the Philistine he had delivered his father’s sheep when the enemy sought to snatch them away and devour them. Christ did the same during His lifetime; not one of the sheep that His Father had given Him had been lost. He bound the strong man so as to set at liberty those who had been bruised and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord (Luke 4:18-19). He stood alone in the breach, saying: “Let these go away.” But He had much more to do than that, for He must abolish the power of the enemy himself.
Like Christ, David is here a true servant. He “[rises] up early in the morning” (1 Sam. 17:20) and takes his charge, so as to accomplish his father’s will. Already anointed, he is the Spirit’s man for this service, while at the same time maintaining his character of humility in the pastures of the sheep.
He comes into the camp, where his brothers accuse his confidence in God and his faith of being pride and naughtiness of heart (1 Sam. 17:28). We too can ever expect the same treatment ourselves in following the simple path of faith. Our relatives can no more understand our motives than the Lord’s brothers could understand His. David answers Eliab: “What have I now done? Was it not laid upon me?” (1 Sam. 17:29). What had he done to deserve being insulted? Did he not have a reason for going down to his brothers, when the God of Israel was daily being insulted by the enemy?
David asks what will be done for the man who kills the Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel (1 Sam. 17:26). He learns that the king will enrich him with great riches, will give him his daughter, and make his father’s house free. But it is not to obtain this reward that he enters the campaign; it is for God, for Israel’s deliverance, to make the Lord known in all the earth, and that all the congregation should know how the Lord saves (1 Sam. 17:46-47). Doubtless his victory gives him, like Christ, great riches, a bride, and the liberation of his father’s house, but this is the result rather than the purpose of his work.
David announces to Saul what he is going to accomplish (1 Sam. 17:32). The king, who can think of nothing but human methods, wants to provide him with his own armor; but David cannot go with weapons belonging to the flesh, and he has never even tried them. He wants no other weapons than those a shepherd uses to defend or regather his sheep. As for us, the Word is that weapon that faith alone can use; it overthrows Satan. Human labor can have no part in such a conflict.
When he presents himself before the Philistine, although David is “a valiant man and a man of war” (1 Sam. 16:18), he does not look like a warrior. Even his beauty, the reflection of the Lord’s grace, is disdained by Goliath (1 Sam. 17:42). He is here the representative of God whom the Philistine had defied. To glorify this God whom Satan had dishonored: such was David’s purpose, and such was Christ’s purpose. Their strength consisted of fighting in His name: “I come to thee in the name of Jehovah of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied” (1 Sam. 17:45). In David’s spirit there was not a doubt about the results of the contest. “This day will Jehovah deliver thee up into my hand” (1 Sam. 17:46). Often when engaged in conflict we doubt; even a Jonathan is not sure of the result and says: “It may be” (1 Sam. 14:6); here, there is nothing of the kind; rather, there is absolute faith which has the secret of the Lord and counts upon great things. Here David is the true type of Christ, for he represents God before the enemy.
With his first blow his sling strikes Goliath on the forehead; he falls, and David kills him with his own weapons (1 Sam. 17:51). Through death Christ overcame him who had the power of death, that is to say, the devil. Then the victor withdraws to his own tent (1 Sam. 17:54), carrying off the trophies of his victory, like Christ who has gone up to His own dwelling place, leading “captivity captive.”
Goliath’s defeat is also the Philistines’ defeat; the world, like its leader, is now a conquered enemy; we may well take courage in facing it, even though, on the other hand, trouble and tribulation are our necessary portion.
Although he was relieved by Jesse’s son, Saul does not know David’s origin. “Whose son is this young man?” he asks Abner. Does this not recall the Jews’ ignorance in John 7 about the origin of Christ and the place from which He had come? Saul does not know him any better when he presents himself, holding in his hands the sure earnest of victory.