1 Samuel 17:50-58

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. 1 Samuel 14:1). Stoning was the penalty for blasphemy in Israel (Leviticus 24:16; Deuteronomy 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.] 1 Samuel 17:50 seems to be a summary of the whole encounter. 1 Samuel 17:49; 1 Samuel 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 (1 Samuel 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 (1 Samuel 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 (1 Samuel 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 (1 Samuel 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 (1 Samuel 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. 1 Samuel 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. John 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. Luke 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.