5.+David+and+Goliath+Bible+story+by+Jay

__** David and Goliath by Jay Chambers **__



__** Aim: **__ The story of David and Goliath is part of biblical history. The story is about a guy named David, who was a shepherd and the youngest son of Jesse of Bethlehem. Goliath was a giant and King Saul’s army was afraid of him and no one would fight him, but David stepped up to the plate and kills Goliath with a stone. The point to the story is that Goliath thought he was more powerful than anyone and no one could defeat him, even God himself. David, on the other hand, stepped up and proved Goliath wrong, in which he defeats him. This shows that most of these people were damaged by fear because Goliath was so tall and powerful, but “David’s faith was so strong that he was willing to believe that the Lord would go with him and enable him to defeat Goliath” (GotQuestions). God’s grace boosted David’s confidence to go up and overcome the fears of Goliath and this ended up in Goliath’s defeat. The purpose of the biblical story is to show that God is powerful and is able to defeat any giant out there, whether it’s fear, depression, etc. If we trust him and He trusts us, we will be able to overcome anything because we know that he is on our side and will help us. Goliath represented fear in the story, while David represented the spirit of God who defeated the fear.

__** Audience: **__ The story of David and Goliath has a message that explains how having God on your side will help you become more confident and overcome giants, such as fear and depression. The main aspect is trust and while David did overcome Goliath, the point is that he trusted in the God of Israel when other Israelites, especially King Saul, did not (Ritzema). David accepted God and puts God’s trust in him, therefore he was able to take out Goliath because God was by his side and defeated the mighty giant. The other people were afraid of Goliath, but did not accept God’s trust, therefore it did not make the difference; for David, it did. The point to this is that accepting God can really make a difference and it can really help people overcome obstacles, such as fighting fears and such. The audience to this would be people who do believe in God and do trust God because this story teaches people how to trust God because he can make all the difference. Anyone who believes in God and worships him dearly will put His trust in them. Those people know that He is there to help me accomplish my goals and He is there to help me through these obstacles and overcome my fears and such. He is there for me, just like He was there for David when he defeated Goliath.

__** Cultural: **__ David and Goliath has been so well known in biblical history that it has been interpreted differently throughout different traditions and such. Traditions include Jewish biblical history, Irish biblical history, etc. In the Jewish version, it’s has the same concept. In the story, Goliath says, "Hurry and kill me and rejoice;” after that David says "Before you die, open your eyes and see your slayer,” and then slays him (Wikipedia). At the end, the king gave his younger daughter Michal to David for a wife, thus fulfilling his promise to make the victor over Goliath his son-in-law; he then commenced a great friendship between the king's son Jonathan and the future king of Israel which became proverbial of truly selfless friendship and devotion (Chabad). In the Islamic version, Goliath is called “Jalut” and his mention is concise, but remains a parallel to the account in the Hebrew Bible; Goliath also became a kind of byword or collective name for the oppressors of the Israelite nation before David (Wikipedia). Those two traditions are the primary ones, in which they tell the same story, just interpret it differently. This shows that David and Goliath has made a cultural impact throughout the world.

__** Historical: **__ The story of David and Goliath is in 1 Samuel 17 in the Bible and it starts off with King Saul and his army in a fight against the Philistines, in which Goliath was a part of. Goliath was insulting God, the people, and King Saul because he was big and thought he was powerful than all of them combined. David then said he was up for the challenge, shoots a rock at Goliath with a sling, killing him, then cuts off his head. As said in In 2 Samuel 22, David credited God for delivering him from the hand of the Philistines and saving him from "the snares of death," in his psalm, "David’s Song of Praise” (Wikipedia). According to this, David thanks God for being by his side and gaining his confidence to take down the giant, therefore showing that David put God’s trust in him and so he accomplished to goal of defeating the giant with the help of God’s spirit. David later married Saul’s daughter and he was named commander, putting Saul’s son Jonathan beside David. David later became king to the people, according to history. David went from being a shepherd to the slayer of Goliath to a commander to a king of the people. David eventually became a member of the Nine Worthies, a group of heroes encapsulating all the ideal qualities of chivalry (Wikipedia). The Worthies include Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, and many others.

__** Sources: **__ "David and Goliath - Jewish History." David and Goliath - Jewish History. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2015. "David and Goliath." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2015. "Later Traditions." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2015. "Nine Worthies." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2015. Ritzema, Elliot. "The Real Message of David and Goliath." LogosTalk. N.p., 24 Sept. 2014. Web. 01 Apr. 2015. "What Should We Learn from the Account of David and Goliath?" GotQuestions.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2015.