HEROES OF THE FAITH – DAVID
DR. JIM DIXON
1 SAMUEL 17:32-51
FEBRUARY 26, 1984
They were called the Titans. They were mythological giants. According to Greek mythology, they fell from heaven, formed from the blood of Uranus, who was god of the heavens, and they fell, these giants fell into the lap of Gaya, the goddess of the earth. Quonis and Ria were the first two giants to descend from the sky, but the greatest of their number was a giant named Zeus, and he came to rule the council of the gods on a mountain called Olympus. Mythologies are filled with giants. The Walsh mythologies speak of many giants, made famous through the stories of “JACK THE GIANT KILLER.” American mythologies speak of giants such as Paul Bunyan whose stories, were told in the lumber camps of America more than a half century ago. It was said that Paul Bunyan dug out the Puget Sound in Washington that he might float logs to his giant mill in the Pacific Northwest. It was said that Paul Bunyan stripped the trees from North and South Dakota that he might create farmlands and that he scooped out the Great Lakes in order to provide drinking water for his giant blue ox named “Babe.”
But not all giants are creatures of fiction or mythology. Historians, anthropologists, and scientists tell us that there were actually races of giants who lived on the earth in history, and the Bible speaks of three races of giants. It speaks of the Nephilim; a race of giants mentioned many times in the Old Testament scriptures. Some Biblical theologians believe the Nephilim were actually descendants of an unnatural union between angels and men. And then the Bible speaks of the Anakim, a race of giants sometimes called the Sons of Aneck, and some Biblical scholars believe that Goliath, the great champion of the Philistines, was actually one of the Anakim. The Bible sneaks of the Rephaim, a race of giants that at one time dwelt in the Valley of Rephaim, or the Valley of the Giants near Jerusalem. The most famous of the Rephaim was a giant named Og who became King of Bashon, and the Bible says that his bed was more than 13 feet in length. And indeed, archeologists have discovered evidence that proves that there were giants living in Palestine in Biblical times. They have found complete human skeletons, nine or ten feet in height. Scientists know that races of giants lived. They do not know how they came to be or why they faded from earth, but they do know that they once lived, and even today, it is possible for a human being to grow to the height of nine feet if they have an abnormality of the pituitary gland called “gigantism” whereby the pituitary excretes excessive amounts of somatotropin which causes the epiphyseal cartilage to continue to grow.
Now it may be that the Nephilim, the Anakim, or the Rephaim had pituitary problems. We don’t know. But this we do know—they were massive. Goliath stood at least nine feet tall, and he may have been as high as ten and one-half feet in height. The Bible tells us that his armor weighed more than 200 pounds and that he carried a bronze javelin and that the spear tip of that javelin weighed more than 25 pounds. This man was big, and he was strong, and he was the champion of the Philistines, and the Philistines were the enemies of Israel. The Bible tells us that almost 3,000 years ago, the giant, Goliath, stood in the Valley of Elah with the Philistine armies behind him, and for 40 days, he mocked the children of Israel, challenging any Jew to step forward and face him in mortal combat and the Jews were petrified. There came a shepherd boy whose name was David. He was so small that he could not bear the weight of Saul’s armor, but he took a staff in his hand and he chose five smooth stones from the brook of Elah and he went to meet the giant.
When we were in Israel this past year, we went right through the Valley of Elah. I could just imagine Goliath standing there and saying, “Come to me and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.” The Bible tells us that David reached into his shepherd’s bag, and he pulled out a stone and he slung it, and he struck the Philistine in the forehead and the giant called Goliath came crashing to the ground. David was a giant killer. Now it’s not likely that any of us will ever have to face and physical giant, but there are giants that we must face in our lives. This morning I would like to speak concerning two giants that we all must face—giants that David faced and conquered. The first giant is a giant called pride.
Webster’s Dictionary tells us that pride is an “over- estimation of one’s own importance which generally reflects itself in a desire to ascend over other people.” The Greek word for pride “upera phano,” a word which literally means to “appear over.” The Greeks used it to describe a person who thought himself better than any other person. And the Bible tells us that God hates pride. Most historians would agree that Napoleon Bonaparte was a brilliant military strategist, but they would also agree that he was swollen with conceit and that pride was his great downfall.
In 1799, through a brilliant coup, Napoleon established his counselor government in Paris, and he became First Counsel of France. In effect, he became Dictator of that nation. He was already a national hero, having won battles—military battles – – in Egypt and Italy, and he wanted to prove himself a brilliant statesman, so he restructured the laws of France—and even today the code Napoleon is the basis of French law. He established the Bank of France and the Legion of Honor, both of which still exist today. But by the year 1801, he grew tired of domestic politics, and he began to long for—he began to crave—military conquest. He set his sights on Northern Italy and Austria and took his grand army there where he won a great victory. In 1202, the people of France made him First Counsel for Life, but he was not satisfied with that title. He wanted a higher title, a title that more accurately manifested his ascension over men and so in 1804, they made him Emperor and his coronation took place on December 2 of that year in the Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Pope, himself, was there to crown him. But Napoleon snatched the crown from the hands of the Pope and placed the crown on his own head because he said he alone was worthy to crown himself. And from the year 1804 until the year 1812, Napoleon conquered most of Western Europe and by 1812 he should have been satisfied. He should have been satiated but he was not. He longed for more and he set his eyes on Russia.
He had made an alliance, he had made a treaty with Russia, in 1807 was Czar Alexander I but he was angry with the Russians because they had refused to uphold their military blockade of British ships and so he gathered an army of 600,000 men from a battle-weary France. He was warned not to do it, but his pride demanded it. He would teach the Russians a lesson, and so he took 600,000 men in a march towards Moscow, and when he arrived in Moscow, he was gravely disappointed for the Russians had withdrawn and they had burned anything of value in the city. The Russians refused to surrender, and the bitter winter was coming on Napoleon had no choice but to turn his great army westward and begin his pilgrimage home. But many of his soldiers died from the bitter winter cold as they tried to march through snowstorms and blizzards. Many others died from starvation and the Russian Cossacks attacked their armies. By the time Napoleon reached France, 500,000 of his 600,000 men were killed. It was the greatest military blunder of his life, and it was the beginning of his downfall.
By the year 1814, he had lost favor with the people. He abdicated the throne. King Louis XVIII came to power in France and Napoleon was placed in exile on the Island of Elba. They planned to leave him exile for life, but he escaped in February of 1815 and his pride was wounded and his ego was swollen, and he gathered men to himself, and he marched on Paris, and King Louis XVIII fled before him and once again Napoleon sat on the throne of France. It was only 100 days between his escape from Elba and the Battle of Waterloo and at Waterloo he met his final defeat as he was defeated by the British and the forces of the Duke of Wellington. He spent his final six years of his life in exile on a barren island called St. Helena off the coast of Africa. He died of cancer on May 5, 1821. He wanted to control the world and he could not, but if he had succeeded, what would it have meant? His body still would have decayed, dust to dust, and his soul and spirit still would have stood before the presence of the Living God for judgement.
Jesus said, “What does it profit a man if he gained the whole world but forfeit his life?” Napoleon always wanted to conquer one more country. He wanted one more title for himself. He once said that he could not bear to look upon an empty throne and resist the urge to sit in it. The truth was he couldn’t look upon any throne, be it empty or occupied, and resist that urge to seize It He was swollen with conceit, and he was filled with pride. There’s a lot of people in the world today who are “little Napoleons.” They are swollen with conceit. They somehow think themselves better, superior to other people, and they long to ascend over others. Maybe their empire is small, maybe their empire is simply their home or maybe it’s their office, or maybe it’s someplace at work, but they long to ascend over others.
You know God wants us to be industrious. He wants us to cultivate our gifts and our abilities. He wants us to be all that we were created to become, but the good things that we want for ourselves we should want equally for others as well, and we should never crave ascendency, certainly not in the sense of thinking ourselves superior to others. Where it was Satan who in the beginning said “I shall ascend above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high. I will make myself like the most high God.” God hates pride. Whatever authority has been vested in you, you should view it as a sacred trust which will one day be evaluated, certainly not something that we have earned or deserved or merited.
God hates pride, and if there was one person who had reason for pride it was David–born in Bethlehem, the son of Jesse, a shepherd boy in his youth. When he was still a boy, the prophet Samuel came to him and anointed him and prophesied that he would one day be king and so it was. David became King of Israel, and he ruled Israel for 40 years. It was their golden era. He was their greatest king. It was David who made Jerusalem the capital of Israel. It was David who brought the Ark of the Covenant to the holy city. It was David who united the Jews as one nation under God.” David, like Napoleon, was a brilliant military leader. He had victories over the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Philistines and many others, but he preferred the paths of diplomacy, and he preferred peaceful coexistence. He was a great national leader. He was a musician. He was a poet. Seventy-three of our Psalms were written by David, and it was prophesied of him that from his seed would come the Savior of the World, our Lord Jesus Christ.
If anyone had reason for pride, it was David, and yet the Bible tells us that David was a humble man. It was for this reason and this reason alone that God blessed him, and God exalted. him. David viewed himself as no better than any other person and indeed, he viewed all men as no thing when compared with the glory of God. David said, “When I consider.” . He said “Oh Lord, my Lord, how great is thy name in all the earth. Thou who’s glory is chanted above the heavens by the mouths of babes and infants. When I consider the heavens., the work of thy fingers, the sun and the moon which Thou has established, what is man that Thou art mindful of him. Mere man that Thou carest for him.” And when David ascended to the throne of Israel, David said “Who am I, Lord God, and what is my house that You should have brought me this far?” And at the conclusion of David’s life, David said “Truly, the Lord delivers a humble people, but His eyes are upon the proud to bring them down.” David met a giant called pride and he conquered it Jesus said “You know how the rulers of the gentiles love to Lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them, but it shall not be so among you. He who would be the greatest among you must be the servant of all Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give His life, a ransom for many.’
The Apostle Peter said, “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility towards one another for God opposes the proud but He gives grace to the humble.” A giant called pride.
There’s a second giant, a final giant I want to mention briefly, and it’s a giant called tragedy—a giant that all people must face in their lifetime—a giant that has defeated and conquered many people so that they develop bitter hearts. Certainly, David had must tragedy in his life, more than most people, more than most of us will ever face. There was the tragedy of Absalom, David’s third son, who rebelled against him, who attempted to seize the throne, who would gladly have killed his own father. Absalom led a rebellion of rebel forces against David’s capital, and David took his armies across the Jordan. He did not want to fight his own son. But there in the region of Transjordan as Absalom followed with his armies, Absalom was killed, and David cried. He said “Absalom, Absalom, would I have gladly given my own life for you, my son Absalom.”
There was the tragedy of the death of David’s firstborn son through Bathsheba. David fasted. David prayed. David cried, but the child died. There was the tragedy of the death of David’s closest friend, Jonathan. Jonathan was killed by the Philistines in the Battle of Mt. Gilboa and his body was affixed to the wall of Bethshan. It was David who brought Jonathan’s body back and buried it in the sepulcher of Kish in the territory of Benjamin. Perhaps in all of history, there have been few friendships so close, so pure, as the friendship of David and Jonathan. There was the tragedy of Adonijah, David’s fourth son, who in David’s old age as life was fading, tried to seize the throne against David’s will. Ultimately David’s son„ Solomon, wound up killing Adonijah, his half-brother. There have been few people in all of history who have had so much tragedy in their personal and family lives as David had and yet he kept his faith through the midst of all of it He continued to trust the Lord. He did not allow his heart to grow bitter and he remained confident of God’s steadfast love.
More than 400 years ago, there lived a price who was destined to be king of a great nation. The time came for him to pick his princess who would one day be queen. And so, all the noble families of his realm brought their eligible daughters before him—2,000 women—but he was attracted to only one and he grew to love her, and she grew to love him. There were other women who came from more noble families and could have provided greater wealth. There were other women who could have provided a marriage of greater political convenience, but he only loved this woman, and she loved him, and so they were married, and it was one of the great love stories of history.
In the year 1547 this man became king, and she became his Queen. In their devotion to each other, they decided to create a kingdom of love, where every citizen in their kingdom and realm would be cared for, and for the first time in that nation’s history, the poorest citizen had access to the throne by petition. This king became a particular friend of the poor, a humanitarian. He devoted himself to charity and to the alleviation of suffering throughout his realm. He was a benevolent king, and he was a godly king, a builder of churches. He spent much time in prayer and in fasting. But the inspiration for his life, the motivation for his actions, was always his wife, the queen. It was her virtue which inspired his godliness. It was her love and compassion that inspired his benevolence. And for 13 years, it was a kingdom of glory and goodness.
But suddenly, in the year 1560, there came a giant named tragedy, and the queen became gravely ill, and the king summoned his greatest medical advisors from throughout his kingdom and the king prayed, the king fasted, the king wept, but the queen died, and the king changed. It was one of the most hideous transformations of history. The king adopted a lifestyle of dissipation and drunkenness. He would seize those he once called friends and he tortured them. He impaled them on stakes, he burned them alive. He would torture and He became history’s most hideous ruler. butcher little children including his own. He strangled his own son with his bare hands and history soon forgot the saint that he once was and remembered: only the demon he became. In his incredible grief, his twisted mine became the supreme instrument of destruction, and he oppressed his people for more than 20 was Ivan III, Czar of Russia, and today years. His name historians refer to him simply as Ivan the Terrible. But you see, but for the death of his wife, the queen—Anastasia, in the 13th year of his reign—but for her death, he might have been remembered as Ivan the Wonderful. Perhaps no person in all of history handled tragedy so poorly as he did, and he is simply a magnification of what is in the heart of man.
So many people, in the time of tragedy, find that their minds become twisted, and their hearts become bitter, but as Christians, we’re called to be different from the world. We’re called to a faith that is not understood by the world. We’re called to understand that ‘all things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.’ We are called to believe that nothing can separate us from God’s love, “neither life nor death nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come, nothing in all of creation can separate us from the love of God” and we bring faith to all of our encounters with tragedy.
I love the story, and with this we’ll close, of Horatio Spofford who was a Christian lawyer. In the year 1873 he put his wife and four children aboard a luxury liner called the Ville de Havor. It was sailing from New York to France. He thought that in three or four weeks he would join them. He had business to finish in the United States, but with the exception of his wife, he would never see them again. For on the evening of November 21, 1873, as the Ville de Havor was proceeding peacefully across the Atlantic, suddenly another ship called the Lochern came crashing into that luxury liner and within a period of 30 minutes, that great luxury liner called the Ville de Havor sunk. Most of the people onboard died. Mrs. Spofford was on the deck with her four children, and she prayed. She said, “Lord Jesus, either save my children’s lives or give them courage to die.” In the moments that followed, a great wave swept over the deck and three of her children were gone. She clutched her youngest daughter. She held her in her arms and another wave swept over the deck and her final memory was clutching her daughter’s dress as her daughter was ripped from her. The next thing she knew, she woke up on the deck of the Lochern. She had been rescued but her four children were gone.
Horatio Spafford was back in the United States waiting anxiously for word of his family. He had heard of the tragedy, but he didn’t know what had happened to his family. It was 10 days later when the Lochern took Mrs. Spafford to Cardiff, a port, and she wired a two-word message to her husband. She simply said, “Saved alone.” When Horatio Spafford received that message, he paced the rooms of his house in anguish and he cried, he wept, as any person would, but then he began to pray, and when he prayed, there came a peace that could only come from Jesus Christ, a peace that “passes all understanding.” He said to some friends who were there to console him, he said, “It’s good to be able to trust the Lord in a time when it’s not convenient to do so” and he sat down, and he wrote the words to the song that we sang this morning. “When peace like a river attendeth my soul, or when sorrows like sea bellows roll, whatever my lot Thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.”
That was the faith of a Christian 140 years ago and it was the faith of David almost 3,000 years ago. It is the faith that we are called to manifest in our life in times of tragedy. It’s why David was able to say. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.” And when David lost his firstborn son, David said, “My son will never return to me, but I shall one day journey to him” and that is the faith of the Christian—that one day we will see our Lord Jesus Christ face – to -face and we’ll be reunited with all of our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. “All things work together for good.”
Two giants—pride and tragedy. They are only two of many giants that we must face in our lifetime, but like David, the Lord calls us to courage, to faithfulness and to battle and He us, promises us that he will not fail us and He will not forsake that ultimately, victory will be ours, and that in our weakness, His strength is made perfect. Shall we pray.